Smoke Signals 11
JUNE 1,2012
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Matthew Mosley
Recreation Coordinator
Matthew Mosley, 31, started as Youth Ed Recre
ation coordinator in mid-May.
The 6-foot, 6-inch athlete from Dallas studied health
education at Linfield College in McMinnville and will
complete his bachelor's degree on the job. The Tribe's
V, ' Youth Ed programs will fulfill the internship require-
1 ( , . f ments for his degree, he said.
J I That degree has been eight years coming, he said.
if v Married to a Native of Hawaii, Iwalani, the couple
moved to Maui, where she is from, following comple
tion of his Linfield coursework. He enjoyed an early career working with the
non-profit Maui Youth and Family Services, where he oversaw a program
serving up to 16 youths, ages 13 to 17.
"I liked working with the kids," he said. "A lot of them came in in really
bad shape, so it was good to see the impact we had on kids just starting
out in life." It was a particularly good experience, he said, because "it was
a collaborative effort. Everybody really cared about them."
During his Hawaii years, he also coached Pop Warner football for eighth
graders and was junior varsity girls' basketball coach at schools serving
students with Native Hawaiian heritage.
"The biggest thing for me," he said, "was just being around the whole culture.
It was something I'd never experienced. It's centered around family with his
tory and tradition. People told me I wouldn't be welcomed the way I was."
Iwalani earned her nursing degree and the couple returned to Dallas last
February for job opportunities. Their children are Isaiah, 5, and Jace, 3.
"My personal philosophy is," he said, "they don't care how much you know
until they know how much you care. Guidance means nothing unless you
care, and kids know the difference."
Tahnae Baker
College Intern
Tahnae (T-nay') Baker, 19, came on as a college
intern for the Youth Education program in late May.
Enrolled Siletz, she has faced an uphill battle "from
the day I was born," she said, living in 19 foster homes
along the way.
She was only about 8 years old when potential foster
parents "started judging me," that older children are
harder to work with, and, she said, "I just gave up.
"I didn't want to do good in school and didn't want
to make friends anymore because I didn't know how
long I would be at any location."
Today, she is the first in her family to have graduated high school and
intends to be the first to graduate college. She works three jobs in addi
tion to her internship and a full class load at Western Oregon University.
Nearly finished with her sophomore year, she is studying criminal justice
to become a probation officer.
"I just love working with kids," she said, "anything I can do to help bet
ter them."
The change came, she said, when she had given up hope, when a foster
family "put me in a lot of study groups. They said, "You can change your
life around. You don't have to be like your family.'
"From that day, I would wake up and think, 'What can I do to better
myself, and make things better for other kids in need and in foster care?'
because myself, I always feel that youth have a second opportunity whether
they made the bad choices, or the family."
In her last foster placement, when she was 14, she met her father, Steve
Holmes of Dallas, a member of the Grand Ronde Tribe, for the first time
and lived with him.
"I felt like I finally belonged," she said. "I always knew I was Tribal, but
the state never wanted the Tribe to step in," and until then, she never had
a Tribal placement before.
"I think it's really beautiful, the culture," she said. "From all this, my goal
is to be a youth probation officer to help youth get that second chance."
In both high school and college, she said, she found people and resources
that helped her through.
"And I had faith that I could do better."
As for hobbies, she said, "I love sports cars." She has a '96 Eclipse. Her
boyfriend has an '89 Prelude that they've fixed up.
"I enjoy going to the drag races," she said, and she also plays softball
pitcher and first base. "I have a lot of hobbies."
Now, she said, "I'm showing my family that we have something better
than drugs and gangs and violence."
Recycle Center moved
The Recycle Center has been moved temporarily to 9675 Grand Ronde
Road. For more information, contact Tribal Facilities Manager Michael
J. Larsen at 503-879-2407.
Jacintha (Jay) Stanley
Youth Recreation Assistant
A member of the Navajo Tribe, Jacintha (Jay) Stan
ley, 27, started work as Youth Recreation assistant
in February.
Raised in Arizona, Stanley moved to Oregon in 2009
when she was accepted into the Sapsik'wala Project in
the graduate n roe-ram at the University of Oregon.
V Li, f In 2010, she earned a master's degree studying
V - J Curriculum for teaching Social Studies in secondary
J A scn0l9-
" i r A She returned to the Navaios for a vear to teach at
Monument High School in Kayenta, Ariz., a public school that is about 90
percent Navajo, she said.
She returned to Oregon, she said, "because I wanted to work for another
Tribe, to see what other Tribes do. I want to continue my education either
in Indian law or Native American Youth Education."
Her first undertaking for the Tribe is the community survey (see page
10).
'There will be a hard copy and a Web presence for the community survey,
and we'll be passing it out at Family Night Out in June and also at the
upcoming Youth Ed barbecue."
Stanley is a lifelong runner, starting when she was a child. "My dad
said, T could run before I could walk,' because he would put me up on his
shoulders when he ran. It's a big part of my life, and it's part of our cul
tural beliefs: getting up early, greeting the day; it lets our ancestors and
the gods know you are still alive and capable of doing things."
She sees value in the exchange of cultures. "I like to bring culture, es
pecially my own culture, into the programs. It helps the kids see a lot of
what they might be missing in their own cultures. It's also interchangeable:
they do Canoe Journey stuff and that helps me understand the traditions
and the values that I learned from my Tribe. I see how much the kids here
embrace where they've come from; I commend them for that and it makes
my job a little easier."
"It's been a great, welcoming community," she said.
Tiffany Mercier
Secretary
Tiffany Mercier, 28, was named secretary for the
Youth Education Department in May. She is Tribal
spouse of Colby Mercier and a member of the New
Mexico Tribe Ohkay Owingeh.
"It's smaller than Grand Ronde, but just as proud,"
she said.
Mercier grew up in Georgia, visited her Tribal
homelands a few times and moved to Grand Ronde
in March 2011 when she began working at Spirit
Mountain Casino's buffet, where many Tribal mem
bers and Elders knew her as "Smiley."
A year later, she sought the job in Youth Ed "to spend more time with
my family. I wanted to be close to my children as they grow," she said,
and added, "I am very grateful for all that the Tribe has done for me and
my family. I feel that by doing my best to be a positive role model in the
lives of our Tribal youth, I am able to make a small return contribution
to the community."
Her daughter, Mikayla, 4, is enrolled in the Lilu Chinuk Immersion class,
and her son, Ian, almost 2, is enrolled in the Early Head Start program.
Both are members of the Grand Ronde Tribe.
"My goal," she says, "has always been to work in education." She would
like to be both history teacher and archaeologist "a little bit of culture
and a little bit of education," she said.
"This job will be a real big learning experience that I'm very excited
about," she said.
Chinuk Family Language
Retreat scheduled
A Chinuk Family Language Retreat will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday and Friday, June 28-29, in the Tribal gym.
The retreat will be a fun, family language-learning experience in which
participants will learn some of the language and traditions of the Grand
Ronde Tribe. Previous Chinuk Wawa language experience is not required.
The event will require that the Lilu preschool class close so that all Tribal
language employees can participate. In addition, children must be ac
companied by an adult.
Dinner and lunch will be provided both days.
For more information, contact Esther Stewart at 503-879-1443 or Ali
Holsclaw at 503-879-1490.