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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 2004)
Education 5 SUMMER 2004 A" Gsto mm m& & sm went on several intense hikes this summer, one to Drift Creek Falls, Coast Creek Trail and also Agency creek. They loved it. Many Tribal mem bers volunteered their time to come and teach culture to our children; dance, chinuk, drum ming, stick games, paper making, weaving, lots of crafts and beading. Archery was offered to the children and they LOVED it. Literacy night was incorporated into our program in February and has been well attended by our children and their families. Our goals are to keep the children active, edu cated and having a great time doing it. All of the staff and students participated in our "quiet hour" after lunch, doing reading, math and writ ing activities. Basketball camp, Volleyball camp and a mini-soccer camp were fun and busy ac- . tivities associated with our Summer Program One of the great things about the sport camps we were able to offer is that they were coordi nated by either our high school interns or our substitutes. We were able to offer Culture Camp to the local Tribal children for 6 weeks. 6 Tribal children signed up for our Culture Camp. The Summer Youth Employees started July 6 and spent time training and participating with the K-5 Children. Ten Youth trainees joined us and were a lot of fun for our staff and students. It was a busy and exciting summer. , ; a ) Kids attended archery camp as part of the Tribe's Summer Youth Pro grams. Kids are encouraged to join the summer programs. t i ; '; M. i i t j J ; f -wv xi ' --.4 k. .iv Tribal youth at the summer volleyball camp, which provides a positive outlet for students during the summer. AC A 1 AC-- , J 0 o f-VS A. fajia UlestadVShantell Ulestad, Abigail Bobb Selena Ulestad and rlikla Mooney. TO 1 . -1 ibal Students jump in the pool during a swimming lesson provided by the Triba Youth Education Department. By Marie Heimburg The Youth Education staff contin ues to strive to provide enrichment activities that create a positive ex perience for each Tribal youth. This year, 159, 6-12th grade Tribal youth members were identi fied in the Willamina and Sheridan school districts. Sixteen Tribal youth graduated from high school and all of the 12 local graduates will be attending college this fall! Five graduates received scholarships and just as important, 14 local Tribal eighth graders graduated. Stu dents, parents and Tribal members should be very proud of their accom plishments! Academic achievement does not happen without commitment, disci pline and hard work from the stu dent. Just as important is consis tency and support from parents. Parents can participate in their youth's education in numerous ways. As a parent, consider asking yourself the following questions: In your busy day, do you take time to listen and talk to your youth about their day at school? Do you regularly attend teacher parent meetings, sports or other school events that your youth par ticipates in? B Do you make certain that your youth attends school on a regular basis? D Do you attend Youth Education Parent Committee meetings? B Do you assist your youth with their homework or arrange for someone else to assist? Let's take a moment to discuss these questions. Though our adult lives are overwhelmed with respon sibilities, we need to make time to listen to our youth. Attending teacher and parent meetings keeps us up of our youth's achievement and can prevent academic prob lems. Attending their school func tions gives them pride and self-esteem. Making certain that they regularly attend school is crucial. It is so important that students regularly attend school! Assisting youth with their homework rein forces to them that you care. Fi nally, participating in the Youth Education Parent Committee and other activities lets your voice be all V ""111 Llrv-V-Nt v,, -7. - 1 ' V i I t i I 1L Tribal Youth Education staff (I to r) Brian Campbell, Tiffany Greenberg, Marie Heimburg, Travis Mercier, Ashlee Merrill and Chris Bailey. heard. We encourage all parents to attend at least one meeting a year so that we, the staff, can create pro gramming that you want your youth to experience. We have a luncheon meeting once a month but are willing to change the time to ac commodate others. The staff is here to make a positive difference in all Tribal youth's lives but we need you to participate! The Youth Education Program had many new experiences during the past year. The after school pro gram provided cultural based edu cational, recreational and cultural enrichment activities. 23 students actively participated 1,167 times during the year! Chinook wa wa classes were offered, as well as,
