SILETZ NEWS
Delores Pigsley,
Tribal Chairman
Brenda Bremner,
General Manager
and Editor-in-Chief
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
Vol. 43, No. 1
Siletz News
Confederated Tribes of
Siletz Indians
P.O. Box 549
Siletz, OR 97380-0549
January 2015
Presorted
First-Class
Mail
U.S. Postage
Paid - Permit
No. 178
Salem, OR
Young and old(er) see Santa during holiday season
Courtesy photo by Cecelia DeAnda
Liz John, Shelley Selsic and Kristi Martin-Bayya (above) visit with Santa (Darin
Rilatos) during the Elders Christmas Gathering on Dec. 11.
Courtesy photo by Mandi Smith
Madison McMillan (right) tells her Christmas secret to Santa (Don Hamilton)
during the Community Christmas Program on Dec. 10.
The Siletz Tribe wishes you
a prosperous and safe New Year.
Fisher represents Siletz as youth ambassador at Tribal Nations Conference
By Miss Siletz SuSun Fisher
This fall, I was chosen as one of the
36 young American Indian youth to attend
the Sixth Annual White House Tribal
Nations Conference as a youth ambas-
sador. When I was selected, I couldn’t
believe it. It didn’t feel real.
When I arrived, we had a meet-and-
greet with the other 35 youth. We got to
know each other during ice breakers and
group talks where we addressed problems
in our community.
We had a special visit from Nike
N7’s Sam McCracken, where he gave us
a motivational speech and told us about
job opportunities and internships. We
also had visits from U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Leslie Wheelock and an
MTV Rebel Music film crew.
Within the next few days, we attended
workshops, went on tours of national
monuments, visited the White House and
attended a screening for MTV’s Rebel
Music on Native America. There also
was a panel that discussed their personal
stories about overcoming obstacles.
I met Frank Waln (cast member of
Rebel Music), Simon Moya-Smith (Indian
Country Today), Billy Luther (director of
the movie Miss Navajo), Nusrat Durrani
(general manager of MTV World), Melissa
Leal and Bill Mendoza (executive director
of the White House Initiative on American
Indian and Alaska Native Education).
We attended the signing of the
Memorandum of Understanding between
IHS (Indian Health Service) and Nike to
collaborate in the promotion of healthy
lifestyles for our Native people.
On Dec. 3, during the conference,
President Obama announced the launch of
Generation Indigenous (Gen I), a Native
youth initiative focused on removing the
barriers that stand between Native youth
and their opportunity to succeed (see
article on page 13).
See Fisher on page 4
Courtesy photo
Miss Siletz SuSun Fisher (right) stands with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and
other youth ambassadors during the Tribal Nations Conference.