Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1984)
S pilyay T ymoo November 21,1984 Page 3 Thousands attend Phoenix education conference A n Oklahoma drum and gourd dancers entertained at the NIEA conference powwow. M any attended the powwow, some just to watch, but m ost to dance. by D onna Behrend F o r som e, it m ay have been the first tim e to be airbo rn e, while others were seasoned tra velers ab o ard the planes th a t carry th o u san d s of passengers cross co u n try daily. W hatever the case, a delegation num b er ing 14, left the early, w inter-like w eather in W arm Springs and h e a d e d fo r b a lm y P h o e n ix , A rizona fo r the nin th annual N ational Indian Education Asso ciation (NIEA) conference Novem ber 7 th ro u g h 10. N early 3,000 educators, p arents students and trib al leaders were expected to attend. Nine W arm Springs com m u nity m em bers were nom inated by T rib al C ouncil th ro u g h an ad hoc com m ittee of the tribal education com m ittee fo r natio n al annual aw ards given by N IEA. Lilly H eath, A ndrew D avid and C aroline T ohet were nom inated fo r S enior C itizen aw ards; Effie C ulpus, Lloyd S m ith, Sr. and Jo d y Calica were nom inated for E ducator aw ards and P am Keo, currently living in Syracuse, New Y ork was n om inated fo r a S tu d en t aw ard. A ndrew D avid, 83, was selected by N IE A as S enior C itizen of the Y ear and was presented a plaque a t a ban q u et on the second day o f the co n ference; C onference participants, who cam e from across the co u n try an d A laska, were offered 132 d iffe re n t w o rk sh o p s ran g in g from Im p act aid, W here Is It, W here is it going? an d Parent-: ing an d E arly E d u catio n fo r In d ian C hildren to W hat Every T eacher T eaching In d ian C hil d ren S hould K now an d the P o w er o f a Positive Self Im age. It was nearly im possible fo r dele gates to atten d each of the w ork shops b u t nearly all were offered m ore th a n once. T here were also w orkshops offered to stu d ents a t different tim es th a t ran g ed fro m im p ro v in g self esteem and financial aid to career choices. In his rem ark s at th e opening session of the conference, N IE A president Jo h n T ippeconnic III ex plained th a t N IE A has a 15- m em ber b o ard of directors, five o f w hom are students. Since N IE A began in 1970, said T ip peconnic, “it has m ade signifi can t co n trib u tio n s to Indian ed u catio n .” K ey n o te sp e a k e r M e rto n M cC luskey, currently D irector o f In d ian E ducatio n P ro g ram s o f the G reat Falls S c h o o lS y s- tem in M o n tan a stated th a t the conference them e “In d ian P o li cies and Culture f o r ‘80s— Vision fo r the 80s” “ m ay cause confu sion. W hat occurred in the first h alf o f the 80s m ay n o t com pare to w hat will happen in the second h a lf .” M cC lu sk ey co n tin u e d saying th a t “th ere is no room fo r politics” in In d ian educa tio n . “ If people are really con cerned, they should let politics go by the wayside. The children com e first.” M cC luskey com m ented th at ed ucation is being offered by the current adm inistration. “C ut backs will drastically affect the program s. T here is little or no com m itm ent to education of th e young. In th e 1970 we were finally given the o p p ortunity to fo rm In d ia n e d u c a tio n p ro gram s. I ’m n o t sure this will co n tin u e.” M cC luskey also stated th at “very little addresses the cultu ral problem s Indian children have. If the trend continues, I suppose we will have a confused cadre o f school personnel. Chil d ren will be m ore illequipped fo r the future. T here’s a con tinue ping-ponging in the'Indian educational com m unity.” H e a ls o sta te d th a t even th o u g h “there is a general feel ing of helplessness, there’s prob ably m uch we can do. We can m ake a difference at the polls. M ake sure th ere’s no waste, m ake do, an d prioritize, m ak ing sure th a t education is a t the to p .” M cCluskey concluded-his re m arks, saying, “share in the ed u catio n p ro cess— work to g ether.” H ow ard R ainer, known for his inspiratio n al presentations to young people across the coun try , presented workshops to stu d en ts and adults dealing with im proving self-esteem. He sug gested th a t “there is a power in the m ind— pow er to think, to do an d to c reate.” He encour aged the ad u lts to use their m inds to th eir fullest extent. “ Believe in yourself and in w hat you can be. D are to be different. “Also, act like y o u ’re som e body. If you do, people will treat you th a t w ay.” And if people d o n ’t show w hat they have to offer, oth ers will not know th a t they have anything to offer. ■ R ainer was also concerned ab o u t the high d ro p o u t rate am ong Indian students. “If 60 M iss Warm Springs Lena Ike met up with an Alaskan friend at the percent to 65 percent of o u r ju n powwow. io r high students are dropping out, we’re losing o u r fu tu re.” The an n u al aw ards b anquet was very well attended. A bout 1,000 p eo p le a t $25 a h ead crow ded into a room fo r the prim e rib d in n er an d aw ards presentations. Tickets were at a prem ium and h ard to find. It was a t this b anquet th a t A ndrew D avid recieved his aw ard from N IE A p re s id e n t J o h n T ip peconnic. A ndrew was one of m any to be n o m in ated fo r this honor. " Some W arm Springs residents were a bit reluctant to leave the 70 plus degrees w eather in P h o enix, anticipating snow and a treacherous trip over M t. H ood to home. The anxiety was unnec essary. SI Photos by Donna Behrend Lyda Scott, currently a student at Scottsdale Community College, manned a booth at the exhibition hall during the NIEA conference. Thousands of miles from home. . . Keo living in Syracuse, N.Y. by Donna Behrend very busy schedule. P am and a room m ate live in a two bedroom apartm ent th a t’s close to a bus line. P am travels 30 m inutes one-w ay to school and work. P am was recently nom inated by the T ribes fo r the N ational Indian E ducation A ssociation student of the year aw ard and attended the N IE A conference in P hoenix, A rizona. A t that meeting, students formed a Nation al Indian S tudent A ssociation and P am was nam ed to the board of directors. Board m eet ings will be conducted on the telephone as board m em bers are scattered across the United States. Each board m em ber has been assigned to check in to schools with high Indian concen trations. P a m enjo y ed h e r tim e in P hoenix, ‘‘It, was g reat” to see everyone, she said. M ost of the 15 or so W arm Springs dele gates d id n ’t recognize P am as her looks have changed signifi cantly. H er long hair has been replaced w ith a chic short coif and her dress is th a t of a city dweller, som ewhat different than W estern dress. H owever, th a t is all th a t has changed. H er shy, friendly m anner is still present as are her quick smile and spar kling eyes. W h a t’s a nice girl like P am Keo doing 3,000 miles away from hom e in New Y ork State? She’s living, w orking an d attending school in Syracuse—a city two- thirds the size o f P ortland. Som e people m ay shake their heads, unable to com prehend the desire to live in a “concrete ju n g le.” O thers who have tr a veled to New Y ork know that once out of the m ajor cities, there are lush, beautiful forests an d ro llin g hills, m u ch like Oregon. Pam is the 22-year-old dau gh ter and one o f five children of Levi and C rystal Keo w ho live on the n orthend o f the reser vation. Pam graduated from M aupin Third through eighth graders from Tucnospos Boarding School near Four Corners, Arizona, U nion High School in 1980. In Jan u ary of th a t year, P am was perform ed a traditional dance at the exhibition hall. an A FS student an d lived in H astings, New Z ealand for a year. In the fall o f 1981, Pam packed up bag and baggage plus books and moved to S yra cuse to atten d Syracuse U niver sity. P am attended SU for three years studying policies studies, which is a co m bination of polit ical science an d research m et hods. This course of study is recom m ended by school coun selors for pre-laW students. P am felt “b urned o u t” and th a t she “needed a b reak ” from her heavy class load, which ranged from L5 to 18 hours per term and from w orking p art-tim e for de fense co ntracts, a federal p ro gram , 20 to 25 hours per week. P am is enrolled at C entral City Business In stitu te and is w orking tow ards an accounting business ad m in istratio n degree. She also w orks full tim e for a law firm doing w ord process ing. W orking everyday and attend ing school three nights a week, Pam Keo, nominated as Student o f the Year, is living and attending school in Syracuse, New York. A worship dance perform ed by these young people was enjoyed by those attending the powwow. five h o u rs per night m ake fo r a
