may i, 2003 Smoke Signals 5
She Survived And Now She Lives To Tell The Story And Raise Her Children
HI
O.
In 'fc kt
Tribal member Andrea Verduzco was a speaker on a youth
panel at the 21st Annual National Indian Child Welfare
Conference, held in Portland on April 15.
By Peta Tinda
Speaking to a crowd of over 600 at
the 2 1st Annual National Indian Child
Welfare Conference, Tribal member
Andrea Verduzco told her story of
growing up in the tough neighbor
hoods around Portland, but then
added how much her life has changed
since getting back to her Native roots.
She grew up in Hillsboro, Oregon,
a suburb of Portland. "Hillsburrito,"
is what they call it, she said, because
of the large Hispanic community cen
tered there.
"I always followed the Hispanic side
and not my Native side," she said. "I
enjoy hearing about the culture, and
I feel like its expected of me to learn
as much as I can."
She has two children; Ezra Lorenzo
Pacheco, age 2, and Izika Pashence
Rayn Pacheco, age 11 months. She is
engaged to Roy Pacheco, and is to be
married in July of 2004. She is cur
rently employed as a telephone recep
tionist at the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde's Public Information Of
fice. Although somewhat apprehen
sive at first, she was relieved by the
warm welcome she received from
Tribal members. Verduzco, age 20, is
looking forward to meeting relatives
she never knew she had and raising
her children in the community.
During her teenage years, she was
always running away from home, and
was in and out of correctional institu
tions. When she got pregnant, she knew
then she had to straighten out.
After doing time at several youth
correctional facilities, she got involved
with the Tribal Youth Work Experi
ence Pro
gram, which
is under the
Tribal Youth
Social Ser
vices Preven
tion Program
Three
months ago
social worker
Christina
P e u n t e s
asked her to
speak at the
National In
dian Child
Welfare Con
ference, to which she agreed readily.
As a result of her experiences as an
adolescent she feels like she's a better
person.
"I've been able to put my priorities
at the top and not at the bottom," she
said.
I have plenty of experience on how
not to raise kids. . .In my opinion I'm a
good mom, I always try to do my best,
but there's always room for improve
ment," said Verduzco.
"I feel like this is a good community
to raise kids."
She plans to have her children at
tend the Tribal pre-school when they're
old enough and eventually wants them
to dance in pow-wows.
She plans to be more involved in the
community as well, starting with at
tending membership meetings.
"I definitely feel welcomed," she said.
"Everyone has been so nice. I love the
people in my department; I love the
Smoke Signals guys upstairs; I love
everybody."
"Maybe one day I'll be on Tribal
Council," she said with a smile.
Representatives
from the Tribal
Youth Social Ser
vices Departments
attended the
N.I.C.W.A Conference.
Lisa Leno's Got A New Gig With The Social Services Department
Lisa Leno
By Peta Tinda
"The whole idea is to have a lot of
community activities," said Lisa Leno,
talking about her new position as
Tribal Youth Prevention Coordinator.
Together with David Fullerton, Tribal
Social Services Director, Leno has been
organizing a series of concerts, perfor
mances, wellness days and an upcom
ing youth basketball tournament.
The events have been funded by sev
eral state and federal grants aimed at
preventing high-risk behavior in teens
by giving them activities to get in
volved in.
All of the events are drug and alcohol
free with an emphasis towards provid
ing positive role models for Native youth.
One of the first events was a concert
by Native rapper Litefoot, which drew
a crowd of 300 to a drug and alcohol
free night packed with Native pride
and a strong social message. And ac
cording to Fullerton, it was a success
ful formula, which will be repeated.
"We're trying to get high caliber In
dian role models," said Fullerton. "It's
like your one opportunity to help youth
prior to them having contact with law
enforcement and courts. It's putting
your money into services before prob
lems can occur."
In the coming months, Leno and
Fullerton will be working on organi
zation, doing surveys and planning
activities and events. They have been
working to identify where services are
most needed. Close cooperation with
the Tribal Culture and Youth Educa
tion Departments is planned.
"Right now we're in the planning and
development stage," said Leno. "We
want to educate the community that
the program exists and then get them
involved."
All of the Social Services events are free
and open to the public and community.
In March, they hosted The Fabulous
Harlem Crowns, a professional trav
eling basketball team, to do a drug and
alcohol clinic at the gym followed by a
basketball game with members of the
community.
For April, the Social Services pro
gram put on a boys and girls Wellness
Training Day, with Native movie star
Elaine Miles as a special guest.
Most recently they collaborated with
the Tribal Cultural Department to host
the highly successful Agency Creek
Round Dance.
In June, they are planning on host
ing a Tribal culture and prevention
camp for middle school and high school
teens.
The overall goal, Leno said, is to de
velop a comprehensive youth preven
tion program that address not only the
short term solutions but also the long
term, community oriented goals.
"When we begin to see a reduction
in youth participating in high-risk
behavior and an improvement in high
school performance, that's when we'll
know we've succeeded," said Leno.
"If you look at it, it's simple," said
Fullerton. "We want to provide posi
tive Indian role models they can con
nect with."
"We have a lot of young people who
are really trying to do the right thing,"
said Leno. "We want to give them the
opportunity to do so."
From Japan To The Reservation Michelle Starostka Is The New Career Advisor
By Peta Tinda
The Tribal Education Program has
a new College and Career Advisor.
Michele J. Starostka will help students
further their educational careers by
helping them with the sometimes-difficult
world of college entry. Starostka
just graduated from Oregon State
University with her Master's Degree
in Education. She also has her
Bachelor's Degree in International Af
fairs and Economics.
"She's very qualified," said Tribal
Education Director Marion Mercier.
"We're very fortunate to have her."
Starostka's responsibilities will in
clude advising students on what their
next educational step will be, referring
them to different schools and univer
sities, taking them on campus tours,
and helping them with their resumes.
ti.
4 '
Y
tr fx
m' l X
it' J
Michele J. Starostka
Since she likes helping people, said
Starostka, this job is exactly what she
had hoped she would be doing.
"I try to make a connection with my
students," said Starostka. "My door is
always open."
The Dallas, Oregon, na
tive did some traveling be
fore coming to work in
Grand Ronde.
She lived in Yoshioka,
Japan for three years after
college and she speaks
Japanese fluently. She is
a newlywed and recently
moved to Pacific City where
she lives with her husband.
Though she's only been
with Education for a couple
of months, Starostka has
been very active. She was essential to
making the Annual Career Fair in
Grand Ronde bigger and better this
year. It was held in the new gym at
the Tribal education building on April
3. She lined up dozens of sponsors and
college representatives for the event.
One of the main components of her
job, Starostka said, is helping students
track down funding for their educations.
"A lot of students might not realize
all of the grants and scholarships avail
able out there," she said. "We do our
best to get the word out about any fund
ing. We're an excellent resource to put
students on the right track."
Many of the students that come to
see her are changing careers, going to
college for the first time, or going back
to school while juggling work and chil
dren. "Any major changes in a person's life,
like going to school; can be very stress
ful," she said. "We try hard to make
the experience have the least amount
of stress possible."