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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2015)
S MOKE S IGNALS APRIL 1, 2015 7 Tribal member heads to Japan By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor Tribal member PimNaniHiish “Pim” Nelson is spending her spring term in Osaka, Japan, as a recently selected Chemeketa Community College exchange ambassador at Otemae University. Nelson, 19, of Mt. Angel said that one of her goals as ambas- sador is to experience Japanese culture and become more fluent in the language. She is currently a second-year Japanese language student at Chemeketa. “Japan is something I’ve always been interested in since I was little,” she says. “I have a strange attraction to Japan.” In addition, she is performing outreach activities. She has met with students at Faulconer-Chap- man Middle School and the charter Japanese School in Sheridan and plans on writing a blog about her trip so others can follow her ad- Photo courtesy of Elaine LaBonte Tribal member PimNaniHiish “Pim” Nelson is spending her spring term in Osaka, Japan, as a recently selected Chemeketa Community College exchange ambassador at Otemae University. ventures. 'HVSLWHKDYLQJD´GLIÀFXOWµKLJK school experience in Silverton, which included missing almost a year with medical issues, she enrolled in an alternative high school-early college program through Chemeketa. At the time of her high school graduation on Jan. 15, she had earned 50 college credits with a 3.77 college grade point average. She left for Japan on March 22 with three other exchange am- bassadors and will live in the Ote- mae University dorms on campus through July 31. This is the second year that Chemeketa has offered the exchange program, she said. Nelson started representing the Grand Ronde Tribe when the Lewis & Clark bicentennial commemora- tion events were occurring in the Pa- FLÀF1RUWKZHVWDERXW\HDUVDJR She gave presentations in the Tent of Many Voices in Grand Ronde and at Mount St. Helens in Washington state, and she was in attendance and an active participant at many events, often dancing in traditional regalia or demonstrating basket weaving. She is the great-grand- daughter of Esther LaBonte. She and her mother, Chemeketa biology professor Elaine LaBon- te-Robertson, attended the March 11 Tribal Council meeting to re- quest Tribal support with logo mer- chandise and a Tribal logo blanket to use as gifts in Japan. “Grandma was trilingual, speak- ing English, Chinuk Wawa and French,” her mother said. “Pim is also trilingual, speaking English, Spanish and Japanese. I think that is cool.” Q WALK-IN DENTAL APPOI NTMENTS FOR KIDS <6 NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY FOR DENTAL CHECK-UPS FOR KIDS 5 AND UNDER WHO ARE ELIGIBLE TO BE SEEN AT THE TRIBAL CLINIC. JUST COME ON IN! We will check your child’s teeth during any of our clinic hours without an ap- pointment. Dental check-ups are recommended beginning with the first tooth! Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Dental Clinic Phone 503-879-2020 Hours: Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri 8:00—5:00; Thur 9:30-5:30 Ad created by George Valdez Ad created by George Valdez
