PRESORTED STD
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
PERMIT NO. 178
SALEM. OR
I 'IIiiM'I'MiiiI Ii'l'llii'"
P-2 Pe5
OR NEWSPAPER PROJ. UO LIBRARY SYSTEM PRE
1299 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
EUGENE OR 97403-12Q5
OCTOBER 15, 2011
1 J2 -.ul (jT-cs
A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe
www.grandronde.org
MOLALLA ca ROGUE MVEPL
KALAPUYA
CHASTA
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Recently approved grants are building
a new youth activities addition at the
Tribal Education Department, as well as
furnishing and staffing it, while a third grant
provides money for a kindergarten Chinuk wawa
language immersion class.
The Education Department held its annual
open house on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at the Tribal
gymnasium. More than 50 members of staff and
community attended. The activities addition was
the main focus of the evening as many toured
the new facility, which is currently in the middle
of construction.
The building is expected to be finished in De
cember, and Education Department Manager
April Campbell, a member of the Tribe, said that
work is currently on schedule.
See GRANTS
continued on page 8
Tribal member and Education Manager April Campbell
adds labels to the mechanical drawings of the Youth
Education activities addition during the Education
Department's annual open house on Wednesday, Oct. 5.
Y A
Photo by Ron Karten
Tribal Elder Ellen Fischer named
to Chemawa School Board
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Tribal Elder Ellen Fischer,
an employee at Chemawa
Indian School in Salem for
27 years before her retirement in
2009, has been appointed to the
Chemawa School Board.
"As a former employee," said John
Claymore, Northwest Education
Line Officer for the federal Bureau
of Indian Education, "she was kind
of a natural fit. She knows what's
going on at the school, and she has
always been a real professional."
Claymore oversees nine other
Indian schools in the Northwest
and is acting school supervisor at
Chemawa.
"I loved it there," said Fischer. "I
liked the people that worked there.
And you learned a lot from the stu
dents. I enjoyed that."
Fischer applied for the position
during the summer and was noti
fied of the good news by Claymore
on Sept. 14. She was sworn in to the
three-year position on Sept. 22 at
the first board meeting of the new
school year.
Chemawa serves about 400 stu
dents a year, and board members
are selected from reservations
where the largest proportion of stu
dents live. Forty of Chemawa's stu
dents this year are from Oregon.
Fischer will work with four other
board members, including one from
Alaska, two from Arizona and a
still-to-be-named board member
from South Dakota, reflecting the
Photo by Michelle Alalmo
Tribal Elder Ellen Fischer has been
appointed to the Chemawa Indian
School Board. She was an employee
of the Salem school for 27 years,
before retiring in 2009.
home states of many students at
tending Chemawa this year.
Fischer remained friends with
many students after they gradu
ated and went on with their lives,
she said. "They would call me,
introduce me to family members.
It was always nice to keep in con
tact." "She is real dedicated and com
mitted," said Claymore. "I remem
ber one incident when there was
a real bad storm, trees across the
road; people from the immediate
area could not make it in, but Ellen
See ELLEN
continued on page 7
NCAI coming to Portland
between Oct. 30-Nov. 4
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
The 68th annual Conven
tion and Marketplace of
the National Congress of
American Indians will meet at
the Oregon Convention Center
in Portland in the ceded home
lands of the Grand Ronde Tribe
between Sunday, Oct. 30, and
Friday, Nov. 4.
The Affiliated Tribes of North
west Indians, host of this NCAI
event called "Footprints Into the
Future," has received funding
from Oregon's federally recog
nized Tribes to help underwrite
the event.
Grand Ronde Tribal Chair
woman Cheryle A. Kennedy
served on the local planning
committee to bring appropriate
local culture into the event.
Among the cultural plans for
the week, ATNI has invited the
Grand Ronde Canoe Family to
open the event. The Canoe Fam
ily will paddle the Willamette
River to arrive at "The Bowl"
area of the Portland waterfront
on Southwest Naito Parkway at
See NCAI
continued on page 9
RGBTIDG I
OR
IHHHfliw
Grand Ronde helps Troutdale student get
permission to graduate with eagle feather
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
TROUTDALE Tonie Driver
and her daughter, Mykilee,
members of the Fort Peck As
siniboine and Sioux Tribes who live
in east Multnomah County, took
on Reynolds High School and, with
the help of a Grand Ronde Tribal
member, have become champions
for ensuring that Tribal cultural
practices flourish in high schools
across Oregon.
Driver and her daughter fought a
school practice that has prevented
Native students from wearing an
eagle feather on their graduation
caps.
"I waited 18 years (to see my
See FEATHER
continued on page 12