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6 AUGUST 1, 2001
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Tribal Memmbers Weedimig aura
Tribal member Bryan Langley brings a variety of experience to the job.
By Justin Phillips
He has always done it for the ben
efit of Tribal members.
Improving the lives of individuals
is something that Tribal member
Bryan Langley is very good at.
Langley has a new office in the
Education department under the
guidance of Marion Mercier, Educa
tion Director.
He graduated from Western Bap
tist College with a Bachelor's degree
in Psychology and has worked with
the Tribe for the last 10 years.
Langley has worked with Social
Services and the Housing Authority
before accepting his current position
as the Short Term Training and
Continuing Distance Education Spe
cialist, or in short, Program Coordi
nator. "I basically work with Tribal mem
bers who are going back to school on
a part-time basis pursuing a degree,"
said Langley. "I also deal with
Tribal members in short term train
ing. It could be from a CPR class to
conferences, workshops to job en
hancement or skill development."
Tribal members who work at the
Tribe's Spirit Mountain Casino or
Tribal members who live virtually
anywhere in the world also access
Langley's program.
"The neat thing about the program
is that it is available to Tribal mem
bers who live anywhere," said Lan
gley. "We actually have Tribal mem
bers that access the program from
another country. They attend a
school where they are at and they
just provide us with copies of receipts
that they paid for the classes or they
have the college send the invoice di
rectly to us.
" One thing we (the
education staff) want to (
stress is that the Education t! 1 J
department is there to assist . I I
Tribal members with the .. r I
education process." 1 'r .
, Bryan Langley KijJ j
The Education department can pay
expenses for undergraduate students
up to $800 per term or quarter and
for graduate students up to $1,600.
Langley also coordinates the online
classes through Chemeketa Commu
nity College and Portland State Uni
versity. Langley handles the program's sat
ellite classes as well.
"The classes are on-site at
Chemeketa (located in Salem) and
they broadcast it to the location
where students are at," said Langley.
"There is also a microphone there and
the students can also participate in
the class while it's going on."
Along with his many duties help
ing students, Langley will also be
working on the Education
department's website.
"Hopefully on there we will have
all of the program applications," said
Langley. "We want to have a fairly
extensive web page so they can get
different college and financial aid
applications."
One important goal of Langley's is
to update the current program poli
cies and procedures.
"I want to increase the awareness
for Tribal members to access the pro
gram," said Langley. "Most of the
people who access it are fairly local.
I want to provide courses that Tribal
members are interested in. One of
the ways to do this is with a survey.
I know people are probably surveyed
to death around here, but it will be
just to find out what classes people
need and want, either on-site here
or other locations. One of the things
I want to pursue is to see if there is
enough interest in developing some
budgeting classes or additional fi
nancial management classes."
Langley said he would also like to
focus on the Elders.
"Recently there has been a few El
ders that have been attending some
classes," said Langley. "Not to pur
sue a degree or anything, but for
personal enrichment."
Langley said the education staff is
here to help people.
"One thing we (the education staff)
want to stress is that the Education
department is there to assist Tribal
members with the education pro
cess," said Langley. "Even if that
means sitting down and helping with
filling out the applications or deter
mining what their interests are or
whatever their needs are, we are
Straight as an Arrow
Family man finds time to
perfect his archery skills.
By Justin Phillips
During his spare time, Bryan Langley
likes to bow hunt. Langley and friend
Shonn Leno are finishing up an archery
range that will be open behind the
Tribe's Natural Resources building.
"We built it because we both bow
hunt and we needed a place to shoot,"
said Langley.
Langley has been a bow hunter for
12 years now.
"I like it because it's challenging,"
said Langley. "It's not as crowded as
rifle hunting anymore."
The archery range will be open to
the community and participants will
have to sign a waver form and have to
follow rules and regulations to be able
to use the range. Participants will be
presented with a sticker that indicates
their completion of the wavier form.
He said he loves spending time with
his wife, Rhonda and his three chil
dren, Bryanna, 6, Kara, 5 and Brayden,
2. The family just moved from Dayton
to Lincoln City. - , , . , ,t s s
willing and able to assist Tribal mem
bers in that process.?
Mercier likes the idea of having
Langley on board.
"We are very pleased to have Bryan
working in the Education division,"
said Mercier. "He brings a lot of ex
perience in working with Tribal pro
grams; a lot of knowledge working
with our Grand Ronde people. We
know that he will do a fantastic job."
s, . n
to m St ' in
1
i
if
f
"That Was Sweeeet" - Youngster An
thony Cook (left) finishes just ahead of David
Hofenbredl on the Tsunami Slide which just one of
the many play areas for kids at the Wellness and Den
tal department's Summer Safety Extravaganza held
on Friday, July 13. Kids got to crawl through Winston
the Whale, brave the Iceberg Challenge and risk it all
on the Titanic Adventure Slide.
Summeir
Safety
Extravaganza
J?" f .....
M
A "I'm Going Back For More"
Little ripper Michael Mercier looks like
he wants to try the Tsunami Slide again.
4 Learning Katherine Warren
Steffensmier (left), Jorden George and
Tami George learn about the effects of
tobacco on their dental health from Den
tal Hygienist Sheila Blacketer.
Photos by Justin Phillips