These two weeks have been the fastest and the best. It’s sad to say that it’s coming to an end. I feel like I have grown as a person, with both my knowledge and culture. I truly am going to miss everyone from the friends I made to the mentors who helped to take care of us and made this an enjoyable experience. And to everyone who set this program up. I will never forget the songs, ceremonies, and the sweat lodge. Everything was just beyond amazing and I hope to come back next year.
The countdown begins!!
Only two more days !!!!LETS MAKE IT COUNT!!!
The past days-Ashley
These days seem to be going by faster and faster; the days are fully packed that they make you exhausted by the end of the day. I know sometimes I may complain but at the end of the day I have learned more than I could handle. Yesterday we went to Pechanga and learned about the reservation. I have never seen anything that was as beautiful as theGreat Oak Tree.
After we went to Dr. Rega’s her hospitality was beyond amazing. It was just a blast to be with our Pitzer family and have quality time before our time ends together. Yesterday became so surreal because we graduated from Western and received a certificate of completion. One graduation down , now only one more to go.
Yesterday-Ashley
Yesterday wasn’t anything that I would of expected, my first response was.” this is just a dirt field, why are we here?” After I discovered what it was all about, it made me realize how beautiful it really was. I now know to appreciated these little things and not to take them for granted. It was a way to form a bond with the land and to get close to our ancestors.
Misune- Ashley
I was lucky enough to get this opportunity to participate in the Native Summer Pipeline to college. It was a funny story to how I got here, it was like it was meant to be. I had went to a Pow Wow with my Aunt and my Grandma, we were indecisive if we wanted to go and then changed our minds at the last minute to wanting to go. We had walked around at least twice and then suddenly we saw this husky dog, I went up to go pet it because I love animals. Then suddenly this man, Scott, began to ask me if I liked the medical field and if I was in high school, at first I was kind of confused; then he began to tell me about the program and how it was about the medical field and the Native American culture. I began to feel excited and wanted to fill out the application. Even though the applications were already turned in, Scott still gave me the chance to turn it in. Now that I am here I feel so blessed and it has been a wonderful experience so far. There are so many things I didn’t know about my culture, that I now know. Not only do I learn about my culture but also others around us. This program has been something I will never forget. Now that there are six days left, I don’t want to leave and sad to see it coming to an end. I can’t wait to go home and share my experiences and the knowledge that I now have with my family and hopefully pass it on to the younger generations.
A learning experience- Ashley
So far my stay at Pitzer has been amazing. Not only have I learned a lot about my culture but I have also learned a lot more about myself. I came into this program knowing very little about my culture’s tradition and was kind of lost myself. Both my culture and myself go hand and hand. I plan to take these little things that I learned and incorporated them into my own personal life.
TESSA-ASSET by Ashley
Yesterday’s lesson was about assets. We had to come up with ten assets about our community, family, and ourselves. With defining ourself with assets we began than to think about how we could use that to contribute to our community. My three assets would have to be that i am strong, funny, and friendly. I would love to help my community would be to work with the children at the community center. With my positive energy I feel like I could have a good impact on them. Since I already volunteer at the retirement home, my new goal would be to visit them at least three times a week. Just getting to know my elders would help me to grow as a person but to also let them know that someone really does care. Assets play a key role in a community, it can show us how lucky we really are or how strong we could be with just a few simple words.
And the day begins!
Yesterday was the first day at camp, it was such a fun filled day with so many great speakers. We began our day at 7:30 a.m. and all had breakfast together. We then after began to blog which was many of our first time. The biggest event that had occurred was going to Western University, the experience for me was greater than words. Just to be on a college campus full of students who want to be apart of the medical field was a great sight. There were six guest speakers that spoke to us yesterday, they all brought something different to the table. The first guest speaker talked about diabetes and how it plays a role on our community. The second guest speaker were two ladies who talked about our health and what type of foods we should be eating; they showed us multiple ways to exercise without having to go outside. The third guest speaker was probably my absolute favorite, because it was more of a personal experience and he gave us his point of view on diabetes. He was first diagnosed with diabetes when he was seven, its crazy to know that he had diabetes for over 30 years now, that shows strength and courage to me. The last speaker was also one of my favorites, she was a young doctor who gave us her personal story about how she came about choosing to be a doctor and her life growing up. She gave us tips on how to pick our right career and exactly the steps it took to get as far as she did. At the end of the lecture she asked us questions that she wanted us to answer to help her out with the class she teaches. So here’s my feedback to her: Some good experiences I had with a doctor was when my Dad would visit his doctor she would constantly be on him about his health. She built a friendship with both me and him and constantly made him feel at his best. When my father passed away,she was so close to him that she felt a part of her leave, so after I gave her flowers to thank her for all she had done. A bad experience would be my doctor, he doesn’t bother to explain that symptom i may have bothering me at the time, that when I go home I have to do my own person research about it. I would love to have a friendship type of relationship because i believe it makes it easier for the patient to open up. Overall yesterday was a good day and something I won’t forget.
All about Ashley and Pala
Hi my name is Ashley Arizaga. Growing up my culture wasn’t as important and was rarely brought up. As I began to get older I started to wonder more about my culture, so i began to ask my aunt, grandpa, and my grandma about it. My grandpa began to tell me that we are apart of the Pala band of mission brothers. It’s still a blur to me about what my tribe is all about and where we came from. Because of this camp it has made me to become curious about my traditions and my culture. I began to do some research on Bing and this is what I found:
nativeyouth2college.org 