Author: jmurgo21

1. The main thing I can do is sharing it with my brothers. From the I can take it to a larger scale and share it at my school. Im sure the kids would love the book at my school because much of it will relate to their own experiences and culture. Sure it might seem simple to do this, but it really gets difficult to encourage and influence young kids now a days. Nonetheless, I have learned many skills in this pipeline that will help me further commit to sharing this book with others.

2. All the information gained from this program will definitely be passed to all my friends and community. I believe this has been a great experience and other indigenous kids should experience this pipeline. I will personally share this information with other kids because there is nothing better than a face to face conversation. I believe this can be very impactful.

1.  The common application is an undergraduate college admission application that applicants may use to apply to any of 517 member colleges. This does not include Uc’s and Cal State’s.

2. Students must first sign up for the common application website. There isn’t quite big preparation to this, because the common app practically runs you down in all the instructions. After signing up, you may add colleges to your list and you can get all the contact information you need for that specified college.

3. Researching colleges before applying is crucial in the application process. When you research colleges you are able to find out more about the college. You always want to research to narrow down your choices for college. This is important because you don’t want to apply and go to a college that you never researched and it turned out that the college was not the right one for you.

4. Writing a strong college essay will separate and differentiate you from the rest of the applicants. This is when admission gets to know who you are and they really look forward to a great essay. It is important that you keep the reader entertained while at the same time you write the truth of who you are.

5. When writing a college essay it is vital that you do as many drafts and revisions as possible. Have tons of people read and give you feedback to strengthen your essay. During this, try to stay truthful and be cautious with humor. Something that may be funny to you might not be funny to the person reading your essay. Another great thing to do is to state how you overcome challenges and explain what you have to offer for the college community.

6. I believe that in order to engage the reader when telling your own story is to tell it. Many of the times people will get really creative when writing but you must take into consideration the word limit. Many of the times its 500 words, so you must in a way keep it concise. Another great tip is to tell them how you are able to learn from your story and what you have to offer.

I believe the main aspect in charge of preparing you to be successful are the elders. Elders are very knowledgable and wise and there is a reason for that. Through their experiences and teachings they have learned to become who they are. Therefore, they are the perfect ones to prepare you to be successful. Ceremonies are also very helpful because in ceremonies there is a lot of storytelling. Stories often have a teachings that one can learn from. Another great aspect are songs. Songs help getting people involved in the cultural community. Songs can be very uplifting and can morally support someone.

Cultural knowledge and ceremonial participation further prepares you for college because it will look very good on a college participation. Now a days, colleges are looking for students with these sort of backgrounds. They are looking to bring these students to enrich their programs with indigenous knowledge.

With all the teachings that you are given, you learn to share that knowledge with other people. You learn to be who you want and to take all your knowledge to give back to your community. Our generation has the responsibility to make a change in this world and the first step is always giving back to your indigenous community.

1. I decided to make clapper sticks. Making clapper sticks was super easy but also super fun. Mati was kind enough to help me split my stick and from there on I finished the rest. I shaved it down and sanded it to make it smooth. I also hallowed it to give it a great clapping noise. The most difficult part was adding design to the clapper stick. The way Mati does his design was by burning it with a magnifying glass. That takes a stupendous amount of patience. Patience that I truly do not have, so I just decided to paint on the clapper stick.

2. I resonated with mati’s teachings the most. His teachings pertained more toward us becoming the future. The future that we must embrace and use to protect those lands and to give back to the community. I can relate to this because I really hope to give back to my community using all my information gained from these sorts of teachings.

3. My favorite cultural experience was definitely the crafting. I believe that 1 day at Wishtoyo made more than all the days here at Pitzer. Making the crafts allowed me to connect with the Chumash culture and be able to include a piece of my cultural into the craft, in this case the clapper stick.

1. Throughout the years, native americans used stories to educate others. These stories contained moral values that often taught people a lesson. Stories were also used to tell an experience or memory of oneself or others. Used to recognized those that have passed away. Therefore, native youth should continue these lessons and stories that were taught to them to further the long line of teaching across many generations.

2. I would have to say that my story is still in the making. I have yet way more stuff to do to complete this story. I have lived many things that are worth telling, but for me it is not enough. Not enough to be that inspiration that I want to be. I want to build a legacy that will long be remembered. The story that I will tell will be one to remember.

3. I dont necessarily have a favorite movie but one that I can and would like to relate to is the movie Gol. The movie is about a young boy who came to the United States along with his family with a tremendous passion for soccer. In order to maintain survival with his family  he joined his father’s gardening business at a very young age. Years passed and he continued to play soccer. And, one day at one of his soccer games he was seen by a man who happened to be an ex-scouting coach and offered him a chance at Newcastle soccer club. He ended up going and fulfilled his dream of playing professional soccer despite the problems that crossed his path. As a young boy I was brought here to the United States and I love to play soccer. My biggest dream has always been to play professional soccer. And, I will continue to work hard to fulfill my dream.

After a long day of academic studies the best thing to do is relax and have some fun. At UCLA, they offer intramural sports as long as actual competitive sports.This for me is the best way to take a break from studying.

1. My favorite part today with Kim Marcus was breaking the shells off the acorns.

2. My job was to break the shells of the acorns. Breaking the wheel of it beneficial because in order to get the nut from the acorn is to break the shell off. This makes the next job easy which was shaving the skin from the nut. Then it is grounded and off it goes.

1. The thing I miss most from home is definitely my family. I miss being able to talk to my mom, my dad, and my brother especially. Although I keep in contact with them everyday, it is not the same. I miss cracking jokes with my dad, we usually spent a lot of time together. What is quite surprising to me is that I miss my brother. Usually this would be the time to take a break from him but I actually miss playing soccer with him. And lastly, I miss my mom’s stupendous cooking.

2. My biggest difficulty for me staying away from home has always been food. My mom is the type of mom that cooks everyday and I hardly ever eat outside of home. She has always been strict on me on eating up to four times a day. But, the thing that makes it really difficult is the meal hours. Im usually never hungry when it is breakfast time because I would usually eat breakfast at around 9 or 10.

3. I think the great thing from being away from home is taking a break from all problems you have back at home. Here you are able to forget about everything and just have a good time.

4. Mount Baldy was definitely the highlight of the day. I had a spectacular time hearing the songs of the elders. It was really fun dancing the songs of the elder today. It was a really great environment and it was really touching.

1. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mediacommunity/19732891406/in/photostream/

When I entered the pomona college museum I felt really happy. The reason I felt happy was because it was good to see and know that not all of our history is lost. The artifacts that I saw today resembled our people and their souls. I can truly say I felt their presence there with us. It was beautiful seeing that today and I can not stress that enough.  Nonetheless, seeing those artifacts there got me sad as well. It hurt me to see that besides the artifacts that were displayed in the room, there was plenty more artifacts in the next door room that were just locked away. They were being treated as if they were test animals. It is truly unbelievable, the amount of sacred artifacts that what stored away. Hundreds of artifacts that told the stories of many native american tribes. We were always told stories about the artifacts we saw today and probably never imagined to ever see such things. Of course it is appreciated that they treated the artifacts with such cautious and care, they even put on a glove before touching anything, but we would appreciate it even more if they return those artifacts back home.

2. Of course native culture and college education can bind together. Thats what education is for. Native culture is history and present, so why not teach native culture just like how US history is taught. US history is only few hundred years old, native culture has been around for thousands of years. An example of native culture and college education coming together is Pitzer College. I love how they take into consideration the culture of native american tribes in their education.

3. Today was a really impactful day for me and for all of us. It was a mixture of emotions, ranging from happiness, to sadness, to disappointment, to hope. After the pomona college trip we were able to reflect on it along side Bingo and Rose Henry. Before anything else, I want to thank Bingo and Rose Henry for their bravery at the Pomona College. I can only imagine the overwhelming emotions they experienced after seeing all of their ancestors and their own stuff locked and in a way hidden in a room. It takes great courage and I thank them for that. I really enjoyed the time that Bingo came into the museum because he shared with us more than anyone can about the artifacts that were present. I don’t know what was more exciting to see, Bingo touching all the artifacts or the face the woman made every time Bingo did so. It was truly an amazing experience to see being share the history of the artifacts that not even the woman knew about. It was an amazing day.

1. I believe the main resource for support to go to college is family. Of course might not be the situation with everybody, but family plays a big role in your desire to go to college. Another resource might be friends. Friends are a great source of encouragement and they can be very uplifting.

2. My parents are definitely helping me prepare for college. Even though they never attended college or got a good education they are my biggest supporters. My mom is always encouraging me to apply for scholarships and school programs like this pipeline program. Where as, my dad is supporting me in the athletic version of college, where he helps me take great steps closer into playing college soccer.

3. I am helping myself prepare for college by staying involved with my community and academic studies. I am also always seeking for help in order to further prepare myself.

4. I will encourage them by sharing my stories and personal experiences toads preparing for college. I will definitely recommend pipeline programs and most definitely the Pitzer Pipeline program. I believe by me telling them how much fun and succesful this pipeline program is then they will lean towards participating.