S moke S ignals
JUNE 15, 2016
11
Rose Festival Court makes annual visit
By Brent Merrill
Smoke Signals staff writer
The 15 high school students who
make up the 2016 Rose Festival
Court came to Grand Ronde again
on Tuesday, May 31, for their now
annual visit to the Tribe.
The Rose Festival Court and
chaperones toured Chachalu Mu-
seum & Cultural Center and then
visited the Tribal plankhouse –
achaf-hammi.
Spirit Mountain Casino Sponsor-
ship Administrator Jocelyn Huff-
man worked with the Rose Festival
to arrange this year’s Rose Festival
Court visit.
“Welcome, my name is Jocelyn
and I work at Spirit Mountain Ca-
sino,” said Huffman when greeting
the Rose Festival Court at Chacha-
lu.
Huffman welcomed princesses
Emily Jayne of St. Mary’s Acad-
emy, Olivia Wolfe of Grant High
School, Katie Johnston of Roosevelt
High School, Mariella Fisch-
er of Central Catholic High
School, Melissa Ibrahim of
Parkrose High School, Steph-
anie Vo of David Douglas
High School, Bryana Hanks
of Jefferson High School,
Abby Freimark of Franklin
High School, Kaytlin Gaines
of Cleveland High School,
Helena Raposo of Lincoln
High School, Abigail Reyes
Santiago of Madison High
School, Arianna Webb of
Metro West – Westview High
School, Grace Ramstad of Metro
East – Centennial High School,
Estee Emlen of Wilson High School
and Cynthia Aguilar-Arizmendi of
Benson Polytechnic High School to
Chachalu with the help of Jenny
Moore of the casino’s Marketing De-
partment and Culture Department
Manager Kathy Cole.
Cole provided a tour of the mu-
seum and its exhibits for the Rose
Festival Court.
The princesses asked questions
about the Reservation and they
were interested in knowing more
about the language.
“If I know that somebody speaks
Chinuk wawa I will speak to them
in Chinuk wawa just to keep it
fresh,” said Cole on how she keeps
her language skills sharp. “Speak-
ing a different language really
takes dedication. It has to be a
conscious effort to speak. That’s
my passion is the language. I love
everything I do, but I’m really pas-
sionate about the language.”
Rose Festival Court members
were interested in the Culture
program’s language app for their
smart phones. They seemed to love
the idea that they could download
the app and learn the language.
“One thing that I am so proud
of with our Court is that we hold
up the positive side of our youth,”
said Rose Festival President Frank
Chinn. “They represent their
schools and they represent their
communities very well. It’s amaz-
ing what they are planning to do
with their lives.”
Chinn, who is a retired teacher,
said the targeted professions of
Rose Festival Court members range
from pediatrics and surgery to
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal Cultural Youth Activity Specialist/Tribal Artisan Travis
Stewart drums and sings the “Blue Heron” song as the 2016 Rose
Festival Court princesses dance with the Tribe’s Royalty, led by
Little Miss Grand Ronde Kaleigha Simi, left, and Veterans Special
Event Board Princess Iyana Holmes, at the Tribe’s plankhouse
on Tuesday, May 31. At left, Culture Department Manager Kathy
Cole tells the 2016 Rose Festival Court about the signiicance of
plankhouses to the Grand Ronde Tribe during the Court’s visit to
Chachalu Tribal Museum & Cultural Center.
business, journalism and teaching.
“That’s the kind of girls we get
in the Court program,” said Chinn.
“They are usually great students in
their schools and they want to do
something with their lives. Many of
the experiences that the Court has,
you can get nowhere else.”
Chinn said the Rose Festival as-
signs each student a mentor.
“Each girl is partnered with a pro-
fessional woman in Portland,” said
Chinn. “They do things together and
there is job shadowing. When the girls
get out of the (Rose Festival Court)
program they are connected already.”
For example, Aguilar-Arizmendi
was paired with Amy Nelson of
Point West Credit Union. Agui-
lar-Arizmendi is a 17-year-old se-
nior at Benson High who is planning
to pursue a career in law, medicine
or business. Nelson, her mentor, is
president and chief executive ofi-
cer of Point West Credit Union in
Portland and also sits on the board
of Financial Beginnings, a nonproit
that teaches inancial education.
“It’s amazing to see the girls
when they go into the program and
then six weeks later how they come
out because when they go in they
are kind of shy or timid and when
they come out they are used to pub-
lic speaking and they know how to
answer questions,” said Chinn. “I
love our program because it sup-
ports their educational efforts.”
Huffman says the relationship
between the Tribe and its main busi-
ness, Spirit Mountain Casino, and
the Portland Rose Festival makes
sense and that the relationship to
members of the Rose Festival Court
its with Tribal values of honoring
and assisting youth.
“This year marks the 20th year
we have entered a loat in the Spirit
Mountain Casino Grand Floral
Parade. We’ve been partners for 20
years now,” said Huffman. “Taking
on this title sponsorship has taken
this from a business transaction
to a relationship, and it’s been a
platform that allows us to tell our
story. It’s really been a platform for
us to tell our story about our people
and our ceded homelands.
“The great part is we have been
able to reach out to young students
and we have been able to touch the
community. I think it has been a
positive thing to have the Rose Fes-
tival Court out every year. These
girls are learning that we are more
than a casino, this is a Tribe; people
live here. It’s a community and they
are learning about us and they are
going to go forward and tell other
people about their visit.”
Rose Festival Chief Executive
Oficer Jeff Curtis, who made the
visit to Grand Ronde again this
year with the Rose Festival Court,
agreed with Huffman and said the
relationship between the Tribe, the
casino and the festival is not only
an important one, but one that also
makes good business sense.
“I think the Tribe and Jocelyn and
the casino do a good job of laying out
the opportunity for our Court to ex-
perience seeing the history and the
culture of the Grand Ronde Tribe,”
said Curtis. “The point of educating
them about the Tribe and its history
is that it is still alive and well and
practiced. That is signiicant so it
is really a great educational op-
portunity for 15 young women who
will now have the knowledge base
and some personal perspective of it.
That’s what I think is special about
the relationship.
“It’s important from a business
perspective. What the casino and
the Tribe do to support the Rose
Festival is significant. We are a
nonprofit foundation that works
year-round to produce this huge
festival and it takes resources, so a
great partner like Spirit Mountain
Casino and the Grand Ronde Tribe
is signiicant for us. We really, real-
ly appreciate it and it’s important.”
Curtis said the parade is watched
by as many as 400,000 people
throughout the state when one in-
cludes the television audience.
“I think this is a gift for Portland,”
said Curtis of the relationship and
sponsorship.
Huffman echoed Curtis in that
she said casino staff members work
on digital, print, radio and televi-
sion marketing for the festival event
throughout the year.
“We do the Starlight Parade,
Float Week, the Junior Parade, we
do the Rose Festival Court visit,”
said Huffman. “With the casino, the
demographics match up perfectly.
We’re touching the heartstrings of
the Portland community. It makes
a lot of sense for us to do this. There
is a deinite return on investment to
this sponsorship.”
Chinn said the knowledge impart-
ed on Rose Festival Court members
from visiting the Tribe and learning
about the culture and history will
last for years to come.
“It’s a fabulous relationship in
my opinion,” said Chinn. “You will
see that these girls will go back and
know that there is a culture within
a culture that is trying to survive.
Life is relationships and learning.”