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Elders are a big part of getting help to prepare for college, whether they’re in the the family or just part of the community, talking with them or listening to them can be a motivation to want to go to college and help your own community.

Cultural knowledge and participation in ceremony helps with preparing for college and getting a better education because it can teach discipline depending on what you do.

Giving back to my community in the future is a motivation to go to college because I want to get a better education in ways to help people in my communities. I want to learn how to help people that are alcoholics or have a drug addiction so it will be less of a problem on the reservation. I also want to become educated in how to help people with diabetes because it is common in native americans and members of both sides of my family have it.

 

 

To me, culture means bringing my family together in ways that cannot really be explained, but expressed through ceremony and tradition.

Three cultural/ community aspects that will prepare me to be successful and lead a meaningful life for me will be:

1) The history of my culture, and what had happened to my people and their struggle will help me tell my story. It will also help me know what, where I come from.

2) The talking circle is really helpful because it is where our elders sit down and really teach us respect, all the old legends of our lands, and how we came to be. It is also where really get to let out our thoughts and express how we feel. Whether it is through song and dance, talking, or praying.

3)  sweat is important to me because sweat really helps us all to drain the toxins out of our body, and I always told that when sweating, “It is suffering, in a good way, it is praying for all of your loved ones, and ones that are struggling.”

Cultural knowledge and participation in ceremony help to prepare me for college and to further my education because I will go on sending out the statement that we as a people are trying to tell. I will go on teaching these things to my family. I will be able to use my traditions for prayer, if I am homesick and miss my tribal ceremonies. It will bring me closer, not physically,but mentally and spiritually.

I prepare to give back to my community by becoming a nurse in the future, so I can help my tribe stay healthy, and most importantly to make them proud. I also plan on talking to younger generations and really explaining to them what knowing our culture really means.

I feel that knowing our language, ancestors, and songs are some of the important aspects of a culture.  Rose, our theater teacher, told all of us that songs are  powerful because it brings us together and makes us strong.  A strong bond with each other makes us more durable with hardship that we may face.  Our conscience is like the very rope we made at Wishtoyo.  When we are bonded together, we are strong and almost unbreakable.  If you are just a single strand, you can’t handle the wear and tear of outrageous events to come.  Language is limited but helps us communicate.  Without this communication, how would we manage as a full?  We can play charades for a little while but there is a wide range of vocabulary that couldn’t be defined by body gestures.  Without language, we couldn’t build villages and learn each other ways. Now ancestors tells us of our past and our people.  We couldn’t manage without them.  They are essential into becoming a better person.  They teach us the language and set the rules.  They keep us safe and steers us away from the wrongness of things.  They help us without needing to be there.

Being able to learn Cultural Knowledge and attending to the ceremonies is an honor.  Although it seems to only benefit being in any future ceremonies, they can help with strengthening your mentality.  Once in college, you’d be stressed daily but when at a ceremony, you can calm down and relax yourself physically and mentally.  When reaching further to quench your thirst of education, having a variety of Cultural knowledge helps find natural solutions into waking up in the morning or just even getting the best yet cheapest food.

Montie taught us that you have to give for whatever you take.  If you don’t give back, then those plants may become even rarer or harder tpo find.  Those plants help us through our daily lives and they helped our ancestors also.  It’s best to have a natural knowledge to items to use in foods and medicines.  You can’t trust what ingredients are actually inside organics.

1) The sweat lodge really helps me clear my mind and makes me focus on the main things that are important and mean the most instead of the little things. Also when I’m singing with my elders it helps me open my eyes and see right from wrong. Another thing that I really is important is learning my language because when I talk to certain people it’s cool that i understand them.

2) It helps me because when I pray I think about my rez and about the others who said they were going to go to college but never did so it kind of makes me say to my self it’s something I need to do.

3)The way I prepare my self for giving back to my community is by telling the young one’s how important it is to go to college or just school in-general and how helpful it is going to be in the future.

Three things that prepare me to be successful are talking circles, songs, and language. Talking circles are important because when you talk together you can understand and get your feelings out. You feel like your not alone when you talk with your peers. Communicating is important it feels better when you get it all out. Songs can help us all be successful because there are healing. They can give you strength when you are weak. And language can help you be successful because you are representing your native tongue and in a way it can be empowering to your people and for you.

Participating in cultural ceremonies can help you be more successful and further your education because when you are putting all your attention and focus on your culture it can help you lift wight off your shoulders.

In the future this cultural experience can help you because one day if you go to a place where people want to know about your culture you will know what to do.

Three aspects in my cultural experience would be ceremony, language, and songs. Ceremony means a lot to my family and me, my sisters and I grew up in Native American Church. Eventhough I don’t attend as much as my younger sister does, the medicine and praying affects me in a great way. This has a lot to do with my college experience because I always pray for a good education and a happy life. Language would be next, being here at Pipeline makes me want to learn my language so bad. I want to be able to represent my nation and just to know my language, it means a lot to me and I plan to take classes in Lummi Language this up and coming year. My nations songs and my family’s Songs would be the most important to me because it keeps me connected to my culture and my sisters. My sisters and I sing and even though I’m working on my confidence skills and the process of beginning to sing, I don’t regret singing afterwards but its difficult for me to accept singing in front of my tribe or others.

These three aspects prepare me to speak for my tribe and to represent Lummi Nation. I want to do good so other youth will look up to me and see that there are other options than become addicted to drugs and alcohol. So they will respect there bodies and minds and try harder in school. This is my plan and I will stick with it.

Remembering that you wouldn’t be here without your ancestors and asking yourself if they would be proud of you defiantly makes a big difference. I have to say that is something i always ask myself to get me through what i want to accomplish. Another aspect is Ceremonies, to help me stay connected with my traditions. It makes me feel happy and that I am one with my spirit. Learning beautiful songs in all sorts of languages makes me feel so great. You always want to share them and sing them, that they play over and over in my head.

While your thinking about the creator and praying for your people. You realize that a lot of us are lost, and straying away from the path that was made for us. So it makes you want to get a good education for your people. So you can actually make a bigger impact in your community.

Getting the knowledge you need to understand politics, so you can defend your people. Its also good to start now, learning ways that you can make a difference. Volunteering for things that are for a good cause. Try to become close to people in your community so they know they can trust you in the future.

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I think that learning and passing down your native tounage is very important. Keeping the language can help you get scholarships because you know more than one language. I also think that ceremony help you too not just to keep your native culture going on but doing ceremonies you have to have patients and a lot of respect. knowing your cultural can help in varires of ways. If your taking a native american class and the knowledge is wrong you can correct them. If you know your cultural you can teach the people in your cummunity the specials of being native.

The three aspects of a Indigenous Culture/Community that prepare me to be a successful and have a meaningful is life is singing, elders, and ceremony.   Ceremonies can have  a story be hide it and it teaches us.  Elders also helps me prepare me for a successful life because they teach the youth and there are very knowledgable. Participation in ceremony help me prepare me in college and further education because they teach me and could help you.

When you and Lia think it’ll be real easy…

When you’re hella wrong.

SQUAD:

Outside:

Inside:

Can’t wait to come back!