Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
August 14, 2 0 0 8
Page 3
Student staying busy with many leadership duties
B y L eslie M itts
S p ily a y T y m o o
Ambitious is one way to de
scribe C arina Miller. Busy is
another.
Miller has gone from a nor
mal college student to a future
political pow erhouse w ith her
long list o f activities and com
mittee positions at the Univer
sity o f Oregon.
Currently Miller is the sum
m er senate chair for the student
senate.
In the fall Miller will serve
on the student senate as part o f
the Program Finance Comm it
tee after being elected to that
position last spring.
Last year Miller served as co
director o f the N ative Am eri
can S tudent U nion as well as
working on the Multi-Cultural
C enter B oard o f D irecto rs—
activities that Miller will con
tinue with during the upcoming
year.
Miller is also active as a mem
b er o f th e C oalition A gainst
E n v iro n m e n ta l
R acism ,
Mujeres, U nited States Student
A ssociation, and O regon Stu
dents o f Color Coalition.
As part o f the Program Fi
nance C om m ittee, M iller and
other members are responsible
for setting budgets and helping
to control student fee dollars—
and that’s n ot an easy task when
the student senate controls over
$11 million in student fees.
Soon Miller will travel with
the United States Student Asso
ciation (USSA) to W isconsin
where she’ll participate in a con
gressional conference. As part
o f the USSA, M iller has also
traveled to W ashington DnC.
where she marched the Capitol
Building with fellow students and
lobbied in her local sen ato r’s
office.
T h ro u g h h er in volv em en t
with the USSA, Miller and her
fellow, students pick issues to
lobby each year. Last year their
chosen issue was student loan
debt, Miller said.
Miller is also w orking with
the Shadow Project, which con
ducts surveys with families on
several reservations th at have
Courtesy photos.
Carina Miller at the U.S. Capital advocating education funding.
Below: Miller and her father, Ken Miller, stand with her brother,
Dylan Miller. Ken and Carina Miller danced as head dancers
at the 40th Annual Mother’s Day Powwow.
children from age eight to age
16.
The project aims to pinpoint
areas th a t families need help
with, Miller said.
This fall Miller will begin her
fourth year at the University o f
Oregon. Miller is majoring in
history and plans to m inor in
either anthropology o r a lan
guage.
The daughter o f Sue Matters
and K enneth Miller, she grew
up in Warm Springs and briefly
pursued a career in journalism
before deciding to study history
at the University o f Oregon.
Miller decided to attend the
University o f O regon because
o f the opportunity to play soft-
ball as well as their renow ned
journalism program , and was
even published in T he O regonian
before deciding to change career
paths.
N ow all o f her involvement
in student committees is help-
The Diabetes Prevention Program wants you!
If you are at risk for
diabetes, we want to help
you prevent it!
Get more information
about what your risk for
diabetes is by: calling
Montell at 553-1170 or
Angelena at 553-1178; or
by coming to the Diabe
tes Prevention Program
«
Office at 1142 Warm
Springs Street on campus.
From learning about the leg
islative system to knowing m ore
about certain laws, she said, the
activities she is involved with are
helping her create a future for
herself.
A fter college, Miller added,
she plans to become a teacher—
b u t that’s n o t all she is planning.
“I also kind o f have my own
secret ambitions to be a politi
cian,” Miller said.
As part o f her leadership du
ties, Miller said, she took pride in
serving as a leader for her fellow
Native American students.
“It was really great last year
being a leader for the N ative
A m erican community,” Miller
said.
When she was campaigning for
a student senate position, Miller
said, she experienced a lot o f
negativity from people who criti
cized affirmative action and be
lieved it created reverse racism.
W hile som e suggested that
she received recognition because
o f her race, Miller said, “Its also
because I ’m m ore skilled. I ’m
m ore prepared for a job.”
To Miller, race isn’t som e
thing that she feels is im portant
to her success.
“W hat I really w ant to do is
succeed o u tsid e o f m inority
groups,” Miller said.
For Miller, the experience she
is gaining w hile in college is
som ething she plans to use for
the benefit o f all people.
“I w ant to go and I w ant to
learn and I w ant to help these
organizations,” Miller said. “N ot
just for Warm Springs or not just
for the native com m unity but
for the community as a whole.”
Growing up in Warm Springs,
Miller said, she saw recognition
being given to those w ho ex
celled in athletics but very few
ex am p les o f su ccess in
academia.
T h a t’s som ething th a t she
hopes to help change.
“W hen people from W arm
Springs go to college, we don’t
often know that, or see their
academic success as impressive
as sports,” Miller said. “O ur fu
ture lies in education and the
younger generations, and they
n eed people w ho have been
through college to come back
and prepare them and encour
age them .”
“I want to go far in my higher
education And com e back to
Warm Springs and be a p art o f
the community because I want
kids to know going to school is
so m eth in g they can all do,”
Miller said. “It is hard, b ut its
possible and that isn’t always the
mind set.”
In Miller’s opinion, “We are
all a lot smarter than we think
we are, and we deserve to know
w hat our potential is.”
Birthday dinner
Carina’s family is having a
birthday dinner her on Wednes
day, August 20 at 5 p.m. at 2642
Quail Trail. She will be register
ing new voters. All family and
friends are welcome to attend.
in g h e r g ain an im p re ssiv e
am ount o f political experience
as well as a long list o f creden
tials.
“It’s im portant to be involved
with all o f these things because
its really good life experience for
me,” Miller explained.
G o sp el concert
A gospel concert will be
held from A ugust 25 to
August 30. The event will
take place at Elm er Q uinn
Park, where a tent will be
set up that seats about 200
people. G ospel musicians
from various areas will be
present, including musicians
from M ontana, A rizona,
Utah and Washington. Call
Valerie G ov en o r at 553-
2576, E aston Aguilar, or
A nita D avis at 553-2525
with any questions.
Remove abandoned vehicles
All Products Prepared Fresh Daily
Entrees Roasted Daily
Featuring Hand Cut USDA Choice Steaks
People wishing to have abandoned vehicles
removed from their property can call Tiger Van
Pelt at 419-7379, or Rodney Guerin at 977-6981.
I
Please note: The next deadline to submit items to the
Spilyay Tymoo is Friday, August 22. Thank you.
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