Smoke Signals 7
SEPTEMBER 1, 2004
"Pounding The Sidewalk" Grand Ronde-style
"Dog Days" Walk encourages a healthy lifestyle, starting with a little exercise.
By Ron Karten
They came in all different sizes and shapes,
wearing stacked heels and sneakers, dental blue
uniforms and medical whites, in ones, twos,
threes and fours for the Tribe's latest health
walk, thumbing their noses the whole way at
the heat of one of the summer's hottest days.
Billed as the "Dog Days of Summer Health
Walk," sponsored by the Tribe's Wellness staff
and organized by Tribal Elder and Wellness
Manager Bonnie Tom, the mid-day stroll brought
almost 50 Tribal employees and members of their
families for a campus-wide stroll that was as
much fun as it was healthful.
Valerie McKnight and Sunni Ulestad, both
employees of the Clinic's Billing section, came
for the obvious reasons: "Exercise, of course," said
Ulestad. "And the nice weather," said McKnight.
Marti Coblentz, Katie Coons, Donnette
Spaulding and Heidi Keyser, all of the Health
Clinic's Dental program were coming back from
their trek to the Elder housing development.
"Marti and I are going to Walk for the Cure
(an annual fund-raiser to fight breast cancer),"
said Spaulding as the crew rambled by, "and
we're getting into shape."
Following the walk, which was as long or short
as anybody wanted to make it, the walkers were
treated to a spaghetti lunch at the Community
Center and drawings for loads of prizes, from
CDs to hand-made pouches to gift certificates.
Jill Haflinger, Administrative Assistant at the
Health Center and Lindy Jirek, Administrative
! NO
PARKING
mis siot
or $im n
II I II I I -
Out For A Stroll Nurses from the Tribal Health and Wellness
Center take part in the "Dog Days of Summer Health Walk," which was
sponsored by the Tribe's Wellness staff. About 50 Tribal employees and
their family members did the walk around the Tribal campus and were
treated to prizes, gift certificates and a free spaghetti lunch.
Assistant in the Vocational Rehabilitation sec
tion of Social Services, had a good old time on
the road, but Jirek, at least, was already think
ing about that lunch.
"Free spaghetti's the motivator,"
said Jirek, who loves spaghetti
enough that it is her annual birth
day dinner.
Tribal Council member Jack
Giffen, Jr., also on his way back from
a stroll to the Elder Housing units,
said he took the walk "so I can enjoy
the blackberries over there!" He was
referring to a patch along the way
to and from Elder Housing.
"We thought the walk went
wonderful," said Tom. "We would
like to see people walking on the
paths every day."
Through a diabetes-oriented
grant given to the Tribe, the
Wellness section intends to buy
some benches and maybe try to get
some shade trees for the benches
donated "so people who can't walk
a long way can stop and rest," said
Tom. "I think that's the key to pre
vention, that Elders can walk the
amount that they can walk and
then rest before moving on."
One of the prizes just for par
ticipating, was a copy of the book,
Walk Yourself Thin. So watch where you step
in the days ahead because, according to Bonnie
Tom, more events are coming.
Science Camp Uncovers Nature's Secrets
Program is set up to teach Youths about the land.
1 1: i
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By Ron Karten and Jack Ham
Jeff Gottfried called it "a culture-based science
camp." And he was happy to say that he got as
much as he gave.
"What I've learned this week again - as inter
esting as I think I am -1 learned that the most
successful things (in teaching kids) are the
hands-on activities and the problem solving."
And there were no shortage of opportunities
for the week-long class split between high
schoolers and junior high schoolers, who each
enjoyed four days worth of outings and educa
tion. The classes drew a small but excited group
of Tribal members, including Smoke Signals in
tern, Jack Ham See sidebar.
At Agency Creek, the group learned how to
gauge the health of the waterway by sampling
the insects that live in it. "Other things being
equal," said Gottfried, "the greater the diversity
(of insects), the cleaner the water.
"Some insects are very sensitive to pollution,"
he added, "and we found some in Agency Creek."
Students also learned to use a global position
ing system, to take "tree cores" to evaluate the age
of a tree, and the use of an "inclinometer," which
provided students a concrete way to use the trigo
nometry that some have learned at school.
An exciting plus from the course for Gottfried
is that once the older kids understand a con
cept, they are encouraged to turn around and
teach it to younger kids.
Gottfried comes courtesy of a Tribal grant for
his first foray here in Grand Ronde. He has
been involved in Native education for many
years, once as Chief of Education and Publica
tion programs at the New Mexico Museum of
Natural History. In 11 years at OMSI, the Or
egon Museum of Science and Industry, Gottfried
started the Salmon Camp for Native students.
As a first generation American whose grand
parents perished in the Holocaust, Gottfriend
has found many "shared values" with Native
communities, and he said, "My experiences (in
Hikers Tribal
Students attend a
"culture based science
camp" where they
learned about care for
the environment in a
series of trips to places
like Agency Creek,
Cascade Head Park and
Tribal property near
Willamina, shown here.
The classes were taught
by Yamhill County Forest
Education Resource
Coordinator Jeff
Gottfried.
Photo by Jeff Gottfried
Native American communities) have always been
positive." These include "hospitality, family and
community."
On camp's last day, he led a personalized game
of "Jeopardy" with questions tailored to the
week's experiences.
"What blew my mind," he said, "is who learned
what. I was not necessarily aware when learn
ing was going on. It pays to check in once in
awhile, to see."
My Experience In Science Camp
By Jack Ham
On Monday, July 12 around 9 a.m., our party got onto the bus and took off to the west. Our
bus drove near the coast to Cascade Head Park. Yamhill County Forest Education Resource
Coordinator, Jeff Gottfried, guided about six kids on this trip. He said he had worked in some
areas of anthropology and paleontology before. When we hiked through Cascade Head, we
saw a great view over the ocean from on top of the grassy hills that settle beside the beach.
Gottfried pointed out that the Columbia River moved to its present day location due to lava
flows.
On the second day, Gottfried led us to Tribal property out by Willamina where we hiked
through dense forest. Here we found a beaver dug a tunnel and a beaver lodge lined with
gnawed wood.
On the third day our group drove to the areas around Agency Creek. Under a microscope, we
viewed insects collected from the creek, such as the Cadis Fly. We also cut a hole through a tree
to determine the age. These are some of the interesting experiences I had with Jeff Gottfried.