OCTOBER 1, 2002
Smoke Signals 13
His Job Is To Give Away Money To Tribal Members
John Harp is the Tribe's Continuing and Distance Education Specialist.
By Ron Karten
John Harp suspects that not enough Tribal
members know what he does. Listen up: he
gives away money. As the Tribe's Continuing
and Distance Education Specialist, Harp helps
Tribal members living anywhere continue their
educations.
Through the Continuing and Distance Edu
cation programs, Tribal members with a high
school diploma or GED are eligible for up to $800
school term for undergraduate tuition, fees,
books, and supplies; $l,600term for graduate
level courses. The only requirement: earn a
grade of C or better. At public schools and com
munity colleges, $800 could fund two, maybe
three, classes along with books and supplies,
according to Harp, though for private colleges
and universities, the funding will barely cover
one class.
Harp has been working here in Grand Ronde
since July, but has worked as a teacher for more
than 20 years. He started as Education coordi
nator for the Chehalis Indian Reservation in
Oakville, Washington. He also taught at the
Yakima Valley Community College both at the
main campus and the extension campus on the
Yakima Indian Nation Reservation, and most
recently at Chemeketa Community College. He
came out of the Navy and the war in Vietnam
"lost for a little while," he said. He found teach
ing, however, and "fell in love with it."
His travels among Indian education systems
have led him back home time and again. For
example, among his former students, he found
Richard Sohappy and Jan Reibach Jr. here in
Grand Ronde.
Today, the Tribe funds about a dozen gradu
ate students and more than 500 undergradu
ates, said Harp. Of the undergraduates, 435
are Oregon residents including 161 from the
Grand RondeWillaminaSheridan area.
Eighty-one come from 16 states outside Oregon,
and one each come from overseas countries En-
John Harp
gland and Spain.
"These two components help fill out a really
comprehensive adult education program for
Tribal members," said Harp. "It doesn't really
matter whether you want to go full time or part
time, there's probably a Tribal program that
works for you."
So, what does it take to keep these programs
going? "To monitor a smooth flow of communi
cation and interaction between Tribal members
and schools," said Harp. At any one time, Harp
manages active files for three terms the most
recent one, the current one, and the next one.
In each case, he is making sure that students
are enrolled and passing their classes, getting
the help they need if they encounter academic
trouble, checking to see that schools have the
necessary papers, that Tribal payments are on
time and complete, and in the few cases where
students have not satisfactorily passed classes,
that their repayment of Tribal moneys is pro
ceeding. (Students who do not pass classes with
a C or better are obligated to return the fund
ing). The department balances "fiscal responsibil
ity" with the Tribe's intention that every stu
dent "succeed at their coursework...to the great
est degree possible," Harp said.
"We don't want them to feel like the resources
of the Education division are shut off to them
because of a one-time bad experience with their
schooling," said Harp. As an accommodation,
the Tribe allows repayment plans and hard
c ship appeals, and as long as one of these op-
tions is being met, the Tribe will continue to
fund new educational adventures. "We want
( to have several doors open to them to access
n these resources," said Harp.
Harp started out living and teaching on a
rural reservation. He went from there to big
cities and community college campuses. Along
the way, he taught in "a lot of non-traditional
settings," including prisons, migrant labor
camps, and developmental disabilities group
houses. "This job is like coming home for me,"
he said.
Post-secondary programs at the Tribe include
the Higher Education program including adult
vocational training (April Campbell) for full
and part-time students and the Adult Basic
Education program (Joanne Carr) in addition
to the Continuing and Distance Education and
Short-term Training programs that Harp ad
Traditional Longhouse Project Will Be A Gathering
Place For Tribal Members In Grand Ronde
Volunteers needed to help bring project to reality.
By Peta Tinda
The Grand Ronde Tribe may soon have a tra
ditional long house, if enough volunteers can be
found to help build it.
The Cultural Committee has been looking at
the possibility of building a long house or some
other similar gathering place in Grand Ronde
for several
member Don Day, who is also on the Culture
Committee and well known for his knowledge
of traditional ways. Day has gotten permission
from the Bureau of Land Management to go and
harvest fallen cedar trees for the long house.
It's difficult work, partly because Day uses only
"And not just kids. Big guys. Those planks are
heavy."
Even though a long house was tradionally a
very simple structure, with dirt floors and no
windows, getting one built in the modern world
presents challenges that the ancestors probably
never had. For
iSWe need volunteers to get it done. We have all the materials. We
have the know-how. Now we just need some folks to volunteer. And
not just kids. Big guys. Those planks are heavy."
"Grand Ronde Tribal member Don Day
years now.
Traditionally,
such a build
ing was made
of cedar
planks and
had an earth
floor. The
building was
used as a
gathering
place, a place to welcome visitors, and also as a
place of prayer, where funerals and the ceremo
nies would be held.
The Tribal Council has tentatively agreed to
the building of a Tribal longhouse, with the un
derstanding that it will be mostly volunteers who
do the work. It will most likely be modeled after
a long house built by the Siletz Tribe, who built
theirs with all volunteer labor.
"It will be a community effort to get it built,
like and old fashioned barn raising," said Tribal
Council member Ed Larsen.
One of the key volunteers has been Tribal
traditional tools, like yew wood wedges and
wooden mallets to split the cedar into planks.
Then he has to haul the heavy planks up a hill
into the back of his pickup truck. He feels that
using time honored tools and doing the work by
hand is an important aspect to building the long
house "In a good way." It's work he's happy to
do, because he feels that the Tribe needs a more
traditional place to gather. He does concede that
it would be easier if he had some help.
"We need volunteers to get it done. We have
all the materials. We have the know-how. Now
we just need some folks to volunteer," said Day.
example, there
are no blue
prints of a tra
ditional long
house. The
knowledge of
construction
techniques was
all inside the
builder's head.
Nothing was
ever written down and few photos exist to give
clues to the design. Additionally, building codes,
particularly for gathering places, are getting
ever more stringent nowadays. Another obstacle
is that the site for the longhouse still has not
been chosen.
So, despite it's initial simplicity, the long house
is actually quite complicated.
In spite of these difficulties, the Cultural Com
mittee and a few motivated volunteers are work
ing hard to get a long house built in Grand
Ronde.