Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
March 8, 2023 - Vol. 48, No. 5
Wiyak’ik’ila – Winter - Anm
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Tribes and Education featuring the Languages
The ‘Healing Through
Our Languages’ conference
is March 26-29 at the
OSU-Cascades campus.
A young student tends to drop
out more often when the student
has little or no connection to the
school and the classroom. On the
other hand, the student will most
likely stay in school when he or she
feels a familiar connection to the
classroom. And most often, when
a student stays in school and gradu-
ates, success is at hand.
Over time, the tribes have ex-
perienced this in both the positive
and the negative sense. For decades
there was a bad drop-out rate in
the Jefferson County school district,
including among Native American
students. The good news is that
this has changed in more recent
years, with the dropout rate among
tribal members improving by 14
percent.
Evidence suggests this has to do
with the acceptance of an actual
Community
calendar
The Warm Springs Easter Bas-
ket giveaway will be on April 7,
the Friday before Easter Sunday,
from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The give-
away, sponsored by Health and
Human Services, will be a drive-
by event by the Family Resource
Center.
The date for the 2023 Warm
Springs Seniors Day is set for all
day on Friday, May 12. The Se-
nior Day Planning Committee and
guests are meeting next Monday,
March 13 at the Senior Center.
For more information, to contrib-
ute or volunteer, speak with Tribal
Councilman Wilson Wewa Jr., Se-
nior program director.
The Warm Springs Farmers
Market is set to begin in June on
the Campus.
Regarding masking: The
state of Oregon on April 3 is lift-
ing the masking requirement in
any setting—within state jurisdic-
tion—where health care is pro-
vided, including medical offices,
dental offices and places that
provide behavioral health ser-
vices.
Some health care settings may
decide to continue requiring masks
even after the statewide require-
ment is lifted.
The Warm Springs Clinic is not
subject to the state guideline, and
instead relies on the Centers for
Disease Control for its recommen-
dation.
Hyllis Dauphinais, clinic chief
executive officer, is in contact with
the IHS Area office regarding the
situation.
Mr. Hyllis and the Response
Team were also scheduled to meet
with Tribal Council this week to
discuss any changes in the mask-
ing requirement in tribal medical
service offices.
D.McMechan/Spilyay
The Language Teachers of Culture and Heritage with students at the Warm Springs Academy.
Native American curriculum, start-
ing with the languages, the history
and culture. Specifically, the drop-
out rate—along with tardiness and
absenteeism—began to improve
quite dramatically along the same
timeline as the greater inclusion of
the Language program of the
Culture and Heritage Department
and tribal Education.
“I think the kids feel more con-
nected to the school, and the par-
ents are more comfortable,” said
Valerie Switzler, Education general
manager.
The Language classes help the
students “know who they are and
where they come from, and that
it’s okay to be an Indian,” Ms.
Switzler said.
The boarding school experience
of the 19th- and 20th centuries is
an example of the complete op-
posite: The Native languages, cul-
ture and spirituality were discour-
aged, and even punished.
The inclusive approach—in-
cluding the languages, tribal history
and culture—“helps give the stu-
dents a connection to their home
and community,” Valerie says. So
the student feels more comfort-
able at school, and for this reason
is much less likely to consider
dropping out.
The teachers of the Culture
and Heritage Language program
begin with students in pre-school
at the Early Childhood Education
Center, continue at the Warm
Springs Academy, then at the high
school, and now even at the col-
lege level.
See LANGUAGES on 5
Grand opening for new skatepark
The big day for the Warm
Springs Skatepark—the Grand
Opening—is coming up on
Wednesday, March 29. This will
be the celebration of a project
that began a little over two years
ago.
The skatepark project started
through one of those good co-
incidences that happen now and
then. In the winter of 2021, the
development team with Tactics
skateboards, a company with
shops in Portland and around
Oregon, wanted to build a new
park in Central Oregon.
Two members of the Tac-
tics skate team were Nacho
Ponce of Madras, and Daquan
Cassaway of Warm Springs.
They pointed out to Tactics
that Madras already has a nice
skatepark, and Nacho and
Daquan suggested a good place
to build a new one would be
Warm Springs.
The Tactics project manager
asked Nacho for a contact per-
son in Warm Springs. By chance,
Nacho was friends with Malia
Collins and Marcel Allen, who also
are skateboarders. Malia is the
daughter of Michael Collins, di-
rector Warm Springs Managed
Care.
So Mike became the initial con-
tact person, and has since worked
with Tactics and The Skateboard
Project on fundraising, planning
and building of the new skatepark
at Elmer Quinn Park.
“When I first started meeting
with Tactics, the idea was to re-
pair the previous skate ramps and
clean up around the area. It was
going to be a small project,” Mike
says.
Tactics brought in The Skate
Park Project, established in 2002,
formerly the Tony Hawk Foun-
dation, dedicated to building
skate parks and promoting the
sport.
See SKATEPARK on 6
A message from the Pi-Ume-Sha Committee
The Pi-Ume-Sha Treaty Days
Powwow and Parade Commit-
tee have set the 2023 powwow
activities for June 23-25, Friday
through Sunday. The powwow
will be in the fields behind the
Community Wellness Center.
This will be the first Pi-
Ume-Sha Powwow since the
summer of 2019, before the
pandemic.
The Treaty Days Celebration
commemorates the signing of
the Treaty of 1855 between the
Indians of Middle Oregon and
the United States Government.
The Treaty established the
Warm Springs Reservation.
The Confederated Tribes first
hosted Pi-Ume-Sha powwows in
the 1960s, during the Vietnam
War, when several tribal mem-
bers were serving in the U.S.
Armed Ser vices overseas. Pi-
Ume-Sha continues to be an ap-
preciation event for tribal mem-
bers who in the past served, or
are now serving in the military.
Vendors interested in setting
up for Pi-Ume-Sha 2023 can
call Louise Katchia at 541-460-
0224 for a vendor contract to
be mailed to you.
Queen candidates can contact
Louise Katchia at 541-460-0224;
or Sharon Katchia at 541-295-
6046.
Dance Specials: For those spon-
soring Dance Specials, the com-
mittee would like to put the Dance
Specials, sponsored by families and
friends, on the Pi-Ume-Sha Treaty
Days flyer and posters.
Please contact Sharon Katchia
at 541-295-6046; Louise Katchia at
541-460-0224, or Ramona Baez at
541-460-0077. That is all for now,
more to follow.
The Pi-Ume-Sha Tr eaty
Days Powwow and Parade
Committee.