Category: Uncategorized

I chose a background for my photoshop  picture and i chose a sacred site called malinalco which is a sacred temple of warriors and black magicians located in Morelos Mexico. What i did was I put up a photo of a Mexica warrior to represent an ancestor watching Over me and a jaguar because it is a very sacred and powerful animal in our culture. My quote is to shed light on the fact that we are literally a representation of all those who came before us and it is important to carry ourselves in a way that is healthy and that we leave a positive influence and a paved road for the generations to come

I made this to represent how no matter how far apart we are we are still a family even though most of us are from different places from around the united states or from somewhere else. to make sure that we stay together and never forget each other I propose that we should have a few days each year were we come together to catch up on good times.

i am very thankful for this last couple of days i had a great time. the last two years I’ve came i had a great time, memories i will have forever and never forget. special thanks to my mentor Alejandro for always keeping it cool with me cause i know i get antsy and he never got frustrated with me. to my room mates i know i was pretty loud at night but thanks for not getting mad. thank you to all the mentors we had very meaning full conversation and i learned so much. i cant wait to see what we are going to do next year. my biggest take away of this years program is patience i learned that one of the best way to live a happy life is with as much patience as possible

I was able to work with adobe and create a photo that represents the connection of indigenous people of the Americas continents and those from Africa. no matter where you are in the world you are on indigenous land and its important to recognize them. its also important to come together because we all face the same oppressive forces. I wanted to show with my photo that their are people who are mixed with indigenous heritage from all over the world. Being an Afro-Mexica I wanted to help bridge that gap. so i put myself sharing a fire with a women of an African tribe called Himba. I wanna thank Gina for the opportunity to do this and that she worked her magic on my photo. i defiantly want to get better at Photoshop and hopefully get to work for in the future

YooooO bROOO imma miss these kids . Even though i entered the program as a 14 yr old i leave as a 15. I love to thank the mentors, Lahoci, adrian , aolani, alejandro, mixel, my mentor weliyah she went above and beyond for me and i want to thank santos for teaching me mayan math which took me both weeks to understand . My biggest take away from this program was being able to learn another tribes traditions and more of my own. I will apply what i learned in my daily life with the new martial arts i learned .

It’s the finalllll countdown!!!!!!!. I am very proud of myself for still coming to NY2C right after PAYS, like if ya’ll knew what takes place during PAYS you would understand the challenge and amount of it. Big thanks to my parents and close friends for pushing me and not giving me the option to give up, as well as to my good friend for going through this experience with me even during PAYS and NY2C (we got big thangzzz coming up for us dude). This is my last summer of programming I definitely went all out and really over booked myself but it was worth it, hopefully with these experiences they help me during the  college application process as well as entering University itself. It’s the last summer here for me sadly but I encourage those rising Juniors to take leadership and encourage your community to participate in this program as will I. To all those new students that came this summer I hope that you gained an amazing experience and that you also feel encouraged to come back the following summer if not don’t be lame and challenge yourself. Thank you to all staff’s, professors, mentors, and students for being apart of this journey for three summers with me and making big impacts on myself culturally and educationally. Wish me luck and I hope to see ya’ll soooooooooonnnnnn and if not hopefully in the after life I guess!.

AOLANI IS THE BEST

These past two weeks have been quite an experience. I would like to thank all of the elders and teachers who came out especsially hector and julia. They taught me so many different games and new understandings of cultures. Everyone tauught me so much and gave me an unforgettable experience. My biggest take away was probably the indigenous games because i got to let out all of my strengths and had a really good time. I will apply that at home by using self defense skills that the team taught me.

SHOUT OUT TO MY CHICKEN NUGGETS!!!!!!!

1. Dear mentors, teachers, elders, and my friends,

You have impacted my life greatly. The memories I created in this program will be memories that I will cherish forever and hold dearly to my heart. I appreciate all the knowledge we exchanged, which I will take back and apply to my advocacy for my community. I wish the very best for all of you, thank you.

2. My biggest takeaway from this experience was the knowledge and emotions I developed at the Chumash village, Wishtoyo. I learned how to love, laugh, and learn for myself. I developed self love, which I will take back to my family, school, and community and show them how to spread kindness and love to one another.

I want to thank every mentor that was apart of native youth to college. I learned so much from ya’ll as individuals and the way you all work together. I admire the way they were patient with us and they made sure we were well and cared for. I think the connection that was developed by the students wouldn’t have been possible if the mentors that were with us most of the time weren’t so nice and gentle. I appreciate the moments i shared with all of them. From singing at wishtoyo till the sun set or just sitting in the classroom learning the same thing. i really felt like their equal not some little kid. I wanna thank Violet for the positive energy she always seem to have also for offering herself as a resources so that I could have another opportunity to sweat since the last time so conflicts arised. Aolani  thank you so much for being funny as heck. Your the women I saw give birth to a basketball. lol you recognized us as young adults and I thank you for that cause i hate being patronized. i thank every mentor those who asked if i was okay. my own mentor weliyah so keeping us updated and making sure we were up in the mornings. i’m very grateful to have been given this opportunity it was my first and unfortunately my last year but i believe that it was meant to happen this way.

I appreciated all the mentors, teachers, and the elders. They taught and helped us youth with a lot of things. Like our common app essay, teaching us song and sharing stories with us. I loved meeting a bunch of new people.

I really liked being at wishtoyo, it helped all of us students and mentors bond. It was fun learning all the songs and stories from the Chumash people, and other tribes, this program was a very fun, exciting experience and would definitely join the program again.