Tribal Election Results Are In - Seminole Tribe of Florida

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The Seminole Tribune 8 May 20, 2005Degrees Help Sisters GiveBack to Their CommunityAmerican Indian Students Can LearnSubmitted by Christine Lambrakis, ASUMESA, AZ — Arizona State University(ASU) will confer bachelor’s and master’s degrees onapproximately 5,800 students in May, which is notunusual, but three of the estimated 150 NativeAmerican students graduating happen to be sisters.Dorthea, Benita and Elvira Litson plan tograduate from various programs offered on the Tempeand East campuses.Michael Begaye, program coordinator seniorfor the Native American Achievement Program(NAAP) at the Tempe campus, is proud that oneNative American family has multiple members graduatingsimultaneously.“I have been here nine years, and I havenever witnessed anything like it,” said Begaye. “It’squite fitting as Peterson Zah is being recognized withan honorary doctorate degree.”Begaye adds that Benita and Elvira are participantsof the NAAP and Dorthea served as an advisor/mentorfor NAAP participants at ASU’s East campus.Dorthea, the oldest of the three, is graduatingwith her master of education degree in education, curriculumand instruction from the College of Educationin Tempe. Benita, the middle sister, is graduating witha master of science degree in environmental resourcemanagement from the Department of AppliedBiological Sciences in East College at the East campus.And Elvira, the youngest of the three, is graduatingwith a bachelor of science degree in agribusinessfrom the Morrison School of Agribusiness andResource Management at the East campus.Education is important to all of them becausethey see it as a way to give back to the people on theNavajo Reservation in Tsaile, Ariz., where they grewup. For their family and for others on the reservation,agriculture is very much a part of their culture andlife.“My father made a business off of raising,trading and selling livestock,” said Benita. “Livestockgave us the ability to enjoy our lives, and I guess Igrew to love and respect animals.”As an undergraduate, Benita focused on preveterinarymedicine, but took a few environmentalresource management courses to fulfill some of herupper-division requirements.“Taking the environmental resource managementcourses made me see that in order to help myfamily’s business in ranching, we had to make optimaluse of the land without further degradation, so Iswitched my focus and pursued my master’s degree init,” said Benita.For Elvira, getting her degree aids in herinterest to improve the way of life for her people whodepend heavily on their livestock and crops for survival.“Growing up on a reservation is indescribable,especially when you come to the city and realizeour people on the reservation are being left behind,”said Elvira. “It gives you a sense of wanting to goback to help change so many things. Getting an educationis the biggest step to being able to do just that;it was my motivation for finishing my degree.”Dorthea, the first of five children to receive acollege degree, sees her education helping the youthand teachers on the reservation.“Based on my own education and experience,I concluded that Indian students continue to performat a very low continuum in terms of educationperformance,” said Dorthea. “This huge learning gapfor my Indian youth is what motivated me to pursuemy master of education degree.”Dorthea has worked for ASU’s East campusfor six years in areas of American Indian studentretention and recruitment and more recently on aNational Science Foundation grant that works withrural schools–schools on Indian reservations andschools serving Hispanic and Indian students–on sustainingand improving mathematics and science learningfor all students.“I would like to help teachers examine theirinstructions in the area of mathematics and science sothey can improve student learning,” said Dorthea.The sisters’ family and friends plan to celebratetheir accomplishments following the variousgraduation ceremonies, including their respective universitycommencement ceremonies on May 12–14.By Dean Chavers, Ph.D.© Copyright, 2005[Editor’s Note: Dean Chavers, Ph.D., is theDirector of Catching the Dream, a national scholarshipand school improvement program for AmericanIndians, located in Albuquerque. His address isCTD4DeanChavers@aoLcom. CTD operates theExemplary Institute each April to teach people how todevelop exemplary programs in their schools.]The school systems established for AmericanIndians by the federal government after the Civil Warwere intended to do one thing: assimilate Indiansinto the “mainstream” of U.S. society. Butlike a fly trapped in amber, these schoolshave not changed in 125 years. U.S.society changed, but Indian schoolsdid not.In 1900, fewer than 20 percentof students in the U.S. finished high school.That number has changed radically; morethan 80 percent of students in the U.S. nowfinish high school. Most of the ones that do not finishare minorities. Fewer than five students out of a hundredwent on to college in 1900. Now, 70 percent ofhigh school graduates go to college. In 1900, almostnone of the Indian students went to college. Todaysome 17 percent go to college, but 82 percent of themdrop out without a degree.The curriculum in American Indian schoolsis very weak by design. Teachers assumethat Indian students cannot learn higherconcepts. In 1975, when I surveyed teachersat four Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)boarding high schools for my dissertation atStanford, the highest math course the fourschools offered was general math. Studentswere leaving school with no exposure to algebra,geometry, trigonometry, and calculus. Almostnone went to college, and the few who went droppedout.My doctoral dissertation was about socialchange at Indian schools. The schools were veryslow to change, and in fact resisted change. Forinstance, one of the math teachers in Gallup, NewMexico whom I first met in 1986 expressed his truefeelings at an orientation meeting the next year.“Any math we teach these Indian kidsis more than they would have otherwise,” hesaid. “After all, all they are going to do ispump gas and do beadwork.”To their credit, the other teacherssubjected him to verbal abuse on the spot.He left the next year. His paternalistic attitude,unfortunately, is the prevailing one inIndian schools. Reservation schools have alwaysassumed Indian students cannot learn complicatedconcepts. Starting in 1878 at the first federalschool for Indians, Carlisle Institute, Indianshave been trained to be barbers, welders, secretaries,motel maids, and cashiers. This racistattitude still prevails.Today, only 17 percent of Indian high schoolgraduates go on to college, compared to 70 percentfor the U.S. as a whole. The gap between Indiansand the general population is enormous, and isgrowing every year. More than 80 percent ofthe few Indian students who go to collegenever graduate, mainly because of their weakpreparation in high school. In a study I did fiveyears ago, fewer than 10 percent of Indian highschool seniors had taken four years of math in highschool.Half of all Indian students dropout of high school or middle school beforegraduation. Their daily attendance is thelowest in the nation, as low as 60 percent insome schools. Thirty percent were notenrolled in a science class. Over half theIndian schools did not even have a science lab!Students are isolated within the schools; fewer thanone in five belongs to any clubs.Even the Indian Club fails to attract mostIndian students; only 6.8 percent of seniors belongedto the Indian Club! Indian students leave school withoutthe ability to write, to study, to learn on their own,and with weak or no preparation for college. The realityof life in the U. S., with 70 percent of high schoolgraduates going on to college, has not yet penetratedIndian Country.My organization, Catching the Dream, startedtrying to change these facts about Indian schools in1988. Indian Country needs doctors, nurses, engineers,teachers, computer programmers, and mathteachers more than anywhere else. We want to producea whole new generation of Indian college graduatesto serve Indian people. But the making theattempts to get Indian schools to upgrade their programsto produce a generation of Indian college studentsis a very difficult one, even for Catching theDream.Luckily, we are succeeding. Twenty yearsago, not one of the 740 Indian high schools offered acollege preparatory track. Now, ten of them do, andothers are starting to change. I got a call today from aNew York tribe that is reprogramming its scholarshipfunds to send students to the top college prepschools in the U.S. They wanted a list of the topprep schools in the U.S. Other tribes ought tolook at this option.Reid Riedlinger became Superintendent ofthe Wellpinit School District on the SpokaneReservation in Washington in 1990. He inheriteda fractured system. Daily attendancewas 65 percent. The dropout rate was 60percent. Tests were in the bottom quartile.Almost no students went to college. Reidasked me to visit his district early in his firstyear as superintendent. He asked me toreview all programs and make recommendations forimprovement. To my amazement, he and his staffimplemented almost all my recommendations! Irecommended that they make sure students were inschool every day, that they read a lot of books,and that teachers be required to live in the communityinstead of commuting to the reservation.Reid is still superintendent 15 years later,and the district is still improving. Wellpinit is sendingall its graduates to college, and the dropout rateis near zero. Daily attendance is 95 percent andhas been for ten years. Test scores rangefrom the 40th to the 70th percentile. Thetribe now has its own attorney, who is atribal member and a graduate of WellpinitHigh School.The Chugach School District inAlaska was probably worse than Wellpinitwhen it started its school improvement process in1994. All the test scores were in the bottom quartile.The district had sent only one student to collegein the previous 30 years! The dropout ratewas over 60 percent.They threw out the old curriculum anddesigned ten new curriculum units. Students, parents,teachers, local business people, school board members,and administrators were all actively involved inthe process.Instead of letting time be a constant andlearning be the variable, they have madelearning the constant and time the variable.The results have been amazing. By 2001 alltest scores were in the top quartile, dropoutswere nil, and staff turnover was low. Most studentsnow go on to college.The Superintendent, Richard DeLorenzo,was the new high school principal when theystarted the school improvement process. He isstill there. Two years ago, Chugach won theMalcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, theU.S. equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize. It wasthe first school district to win this prestigiousprize, which was awarded at the WhiteHouse by the president.Catching the Dream has identified27 exemplary programs such asthese two in the past 15 years. Thesebold new programs are leading the wayto the future of Indian education. ButIndian Country needs thousands of doctors,teachers, nurses, and engineers.Catching the Dream has produced 26 doctors,28 engineers, 100 scientists, 60 business graduates,and 70 teachers from these improved schools.But there is a long way to go yet. The Indian HealthService perennially reports that it needs hundreds ofdoctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, and other healthprofessionals. The failure to have them means thatIndian people have to wait for hours to be seen at aclinic. Unfortunately it means that some of them diewithout treatment.‘Building Native Communities’ Financial SeminarBy Shelley MarmorHOLLYWOOD — The Seminole Tribe’sTreasurer’s Office sponsored a two-day financialworkshop at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on April27–28. Vickie K. Oldman, a Navajo Tribal citizen andprincipal with Kitseallyboy Consulting, gave the seminar.According to the website,www.Kitseallyboy.com, “Kitseallyboy Consulting [is]a 100 percent native-owned business that providesstrategic planning, technical assistance and trainingservices for Native American tribal organizations,community action groups, and nonprofit organizations.”Oldman brought with her the “BuildingNative Communities”curriculum, whichthe South DakotabasedFirst NationsOweesta Corporationdeveloped. She saidshe began teachingthis curriculum in1999, though it hasonly recently caughton as a way to trainNative Americans onhow to better managetheir finances.According toOldman,The objectiveof the seminarwas to train the variousTribal representativesin attendancefrom various departments,including theTreasurer’s Office,Accounting, andLoan departments, onhow to better assistTribal citizens withfinancial questions.Tribal TreasurerMike Tiger saidOldman’s job “is thetraining of the trainers”who would passthis vital information on.Tiger thanked Oldman for coming and saidhe had high hopes that Building Native Communitieswould help the Seminole Tribe’s citizens.“We need to get to there people aren’t takingloans out and can better manage their money,” hesaid.Building Native Communities is a six-partcurriculum; these facets include: Building a healthyeconomy, Developing a spending plan, Working witha checking and savings account, Understanding creditand your credit report, Accessing credit, Part I andAccessing credit, Part II.Oldman stressed the two essential componentsto teaching this curriculum: an interactiveapproach and a focus on traditional native elementsspecific to each Tribe. With every section of the curriculumcame at least one activity that helped peopleShelley MarmorConsultant Vickie K. Oldman from Kitseallyboy led theseminar.to better understand that specific section.For example, in section two, developing aspending plan, attendees wrote down a short term andlong term spending goal and their correspondingmonetary mounts. After that Oldman instructed everyoneto make a list of what they spent during the weekand circle every unnecessary purchase.Next, they totaled the amount spent onunnecessary purchases, multiplied that number byfour to get how much they spend on these itemsmonthly. Oldman then had attendees multiply thatnumber by six to see how much is unnecessarily spentin half a year.To the shock of many the number they calculatedcame close to the amount many needed to purchasethe item theylisted as their shortterm spending goal.Oldman said keepingtrack of spending viawriting it down is theonly way to see whateach person spends.Oldman alsostressed the importanceof conformingthese financial seminarsto the customsand beliefs of eachindividual Tribe. Shesaid before bringingthe seminar to theSeminole Tribe, shefirst consulted theTribe’s website to geta better understandingof cultural elementsshe would have otherwisenot known.“Tailoreverything to yourcommunity,” she said.She saidbeginning every sessionwith a traditionalelement will help anative audience focusbetter. At this seminar,Diane Frank fromthe Treasurer’s Office gave an invocation inMiccosukee.According to Oldman, “Non-native effortshave failed to some degree.”Oldman suggested looking to elders because“these people were master savers.” She gave theexample of Canadian Band Nit Nat and Sooke Indianswhich would save for one full year after the news ofan impending wedding so that everyone in attendancecould enjoy the food, drink, etc. at the wedding.She said this shows that even though traditionallymany Tribes did not have a conventionalmonetary system, they did have set saving practices.Oldman said these training manuals areavailable free of charge thanks to a grant from theFannie Mae Foundation. For more information onreceiving the Building Native Communities manuals,call (800) 659-7557 or visit www.fanniemae.com.
The Seminole Tribune 9 May 20, 2005DART Network Seeks Social Justice WorkersSubmitted by Ben MacConnell, RecruitmentDirector, DART NetworkThe Direct Action and Research Training(DART) Center is now accepting applications for the2005 DART Organizers Institute. This program isdesigned to give people the skills in grassroots organizingto launch a permanent career in the field withinthe DART Network. The Organizers Institute is acombined classroom and field training covering suchtopics as: entering a community, identifying and traininglocal leaders, strategic planning and issue cutting,relationship and community building, direct action oncommunity issues and fundraising.The DART Network is a nonprofit networkof affiliates, founded in 1982 to assist in the developmentof strong, congregation-based, grassroots communityorganizations committed to democratic principlesand values of justice and fairness. The DARTNetwork currently consists of 21 affiliates spreadthroughout Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia,Indiana, and Kentucky, each with their own leaders,staff, funding base, and accomplishments toward justiceat the local level.The seven day classroom training will takeplace in Richmond, Ind. starting June 20. During theirfour month infield training, organizer trainees (OTs)could potentially be placed with any of the localDART affiliates including organizations in the aforementionedstates. OTs will be informed of their trainingplacement at the culmination of our nationalsearch, approximately six weeks prior to the start ofthe training.We will certainly take into account the OTsinterests in terms of location. But placements will bedetermined based on our interest in providing the besttraining experience possible, and may require sacrificingone’s desire for a specific location. Permanentplacement will be negotiated for successful graduatesto continue with the DART network.OTs will be equipped in mid-June with anintensive classroom workshop, but most of the trainingwill take place while working to build the powerof one of the local DART affiliates. OTs will beexpected to create a work plan based on the goals setby the local leadership, execute the techniques andstrategies they learn during the classroom training, beaccountable to DART and local organizing staffthrough written weekly reports and check-ins, andshould continuously evaluate, their own progresstoward becoming a skilled professional communityorganizer.Qualifications:Although it may be helpful, no direct experienceis necessary. OTs hired to participate in theDART Organizers Institute must demonstrate a desireto pursue community organizing as a long-term professionalcareer. A master’s degree or similar lifeexperience is preferred though unnecessary.Candidates must have a college degree or be graduatingprior to June 20.Also, candidates must display a workmanlikediligence, be driven to produce sustained results, haveproven capacity to build relationships of trust, createand execute a plan, act professionally, feel comfortableworking with congregations, be accountable andwilling to hold others accountable, demonstrate disciplinedthought and action, and work in a team setting.OTs must also have access to a car during their trainingand be flexible regarding relocation. Fluency inSpanish/English is a plus and people of color areencouraged to apply.This is a paid training program. OTs will begiven a living stipend of $6,500 during the fourmonthtraining. DART will also pay all transportationcosts to the classroom orientation and host city, andmileage reimbursements during the field portion ofthe training. Room, board, and tuition will also bepaid by DART during the seven day classroom orientation.After successful completion of the program,DART will work to place graduates into fulltime positionsmaking initial salaries up to $35,000 per year,plus benefits.We encourage anyone to send your resumeto: Ben MacConnell, DART Network, 820 New YorkStreet, Lawrence, KS 66044 or by e-mail at institute@thedartcenter.org.Those with questions shouldcall: (785) 841-2680. Also, you can download applicationsor view profiles from previous OTs at theDART website: www.thedartcenter.org.DART has fought and won across the countryon a broad set of issues like joblessness, access tohealth care, living wage and job source agreements,police misconduct, improved public education, qualityaffordable housing, fair immigration practices, anddozens of others. We are broadening our power intonew communities throughout the country by traininga new generation of community organizers.Seminole Tribe of Florida members,I am writing to encourage anyone interestedin social and economic justice in theEverglades area to apply now for the DARTOrganizers Institute, a paid four month, summerfield school in grassroots community organization.The DART Center has enabled morethan 50 people to gain the experience to begin acareer in community organizing around socialand economic justice issues affecting low-moderateincome communities, and we are acceptingapplications now to train another 20 communityorganizers! Please see below for details and forwardthis announcement to anyone that may beinterested.Sincerely,Ben MacConnellRecruitment Director, DART NetworkPhone: (785) 841-2680E-mail: ben@thedartcenter.orgWebsite: www.thedartcenter.orgStudents Encouraged to Applyfor Beef Industry ScholarshipsDENVER, CO — Applications are nowbeing accepted for the 2006 Beef Industry Scholarshipprogram, sponsored by the National Cattlemen’sFoundation (NCF) and the Chicago MercantileExchange (CME). All entries must be postmarked bySept 30.Twenty scholarships of $1,500 will be awardedto youths pursuing careers in the beef industry. Theprogram identifies and encourages talented andthoughtful students that have demonstrated a commitmentto a career in the beef industry, either throughclasses, internships or life experience.Graduating high school seniors or full-timeundergraduate students enrolled at a two-year or fouryearcollege for the 2006–2007 school year areencouraged to apply.Applications must include a 750-word essaythat identifies a key issue confronting the beef industryand suggests a solution. Applicants must also submita letter of intent and two letters of recommendation.A full description of the scholarship program andsubmission requirements can be found at the NationalCattlemen’s Foundation website: www.nationalcattlemensfoundation.org,or by calling (303) 850-3347.In addition to a scholarship, the first placewinner will receive airfare and lodging to attend theAnnual Cattle Industry Convention and Trade Show inDenver, Colo., Feb. 1–4, 2006.The Beef Industry Scholarship program is acooperative effort of the CME and NCF that waslaunched in 1989 to celebrate the 25th anniversary ofthe Live Cattle Futures Contract on the ChicagoMercantile Exchange. The Chicago MercantileExchange has been a leader in the live cattle marketsince 1964, and the Beef Industry ScholarshipProgram exemplifies CME’s commitment to the beefindustry.The National Cattlemen’s Foundation servesthe beef industry as a charitable institution whose missionis to promote the future of the industry throughresearch and education that will help provide the publicwith a wholesome and economical beef supply.CME is a diversified marketplace offeringfutures and options contracts on livestock, lumber,stock indexes, interest rates and currencies.Unpaid MedicalBills Wanted(L-R) Charlotte Tommie, Naomi Pacheco, Paul Bowers Sr., Paul Bowers Jr., and Brenda Henry.By Iretta TigerPUEBLO, CO — The date is May 7and this is the moment Naomi Pacheco hasworked hard for. Pacheco received her baccalaureate’sdegree in business from the Malik andSeeme Hasan School of Business at ColoradoState University-Pueblo.“The toughest part is being a motherand a wife while going to school,” said Pacheco.“My advice is to go to college before you start afamily.”Pacheco is also a new grandmother; herbeautiful granddaughter is only eight months old.Several relatives from Florida flew in for theoccasion, including Pacheco’s mother SallyAgnes Tommie and Big Cypress BoardRepresentative Paul Bowers Sr.Pacheco said she hopes to bring herdegree back to the Seminole Tribe or assist localColorado Tribes in her area of expertise, businessmanagement.To say the Pacheco now belongs to anexclusive group would be an understatement. Inhis opening speech, Colorado State University-Pueblo President Dr. Ronald Applbaum said thatonly one percent of the U.S. population has abachelor’s degree or higher.Iretta TigerSeminole Earns Business Degree(L-R) Sally Tommie and Naomi Pacheco.Iretta TigerSubmitted by Health DirectorConnie WhiddenAttention Seminole tribalcitizens, we want your unpaidmedical bills. It is your responsibilityto make sure that your medicalbills get paid. If your medicalbills remain unpaid, they will oftenbe referred to collection agenciesand this can damage your creditrating.To prevent this from happening,when you see your doctor,always show them your SeminoleTribe of Florida Health Plan identificationcard. This will indicate toyour doctor that you have medicalinsurance and your doctor will billthe Health Plan directly rather thanyou, for the services provided.So, if you receive aninvoice in the mail for an unpaidmedical bill, this is what you needto do: Please bring the bill to thepatient services coordinator at oneof the following health clinics:Hollywood Health Clinic, KarenLee, (954) 962-2009, BrightonHealth Clinic, Gail McClenithan,(863) 763-0271,Big Cypress HealthClinic, Wendy Powers, (863) 983-5151, Immokalee, Ana Puente,(239) 657-6567, Tampa, SueHarjo, (813) 246-3100.The patient services coordinatorwill in turn forward the billto your Health Plan for review.Covered bills will be processed perHealth Plan benefits and limitations.Or send the bill directlyto your Health Plan office so thatyour bill can be processed.Following is the address of yourHealth Plan and the telephonenumber should you want to contactthe staff directly:Seminole Tribe ofFlorida Health Plan5201 Ravenswood Road,Suite 107Ft. Lauderdale, FL33312(866) 505-6789 or (954)981-7410If you receive a collectionnotice in the mail or a telephonecall from a collection agency,don’t wait! Please contact DebiDeHass directly at (954) 965-1300, Ext. 123 for assistance. Shewill need a copy of the collectionnotice, or if you received a callyou will need to obtain the followinginformation from the caller:* Name of the person calling* Telephone number* Name of the medical provider orcollection agency* Your account number* Date the medical service wasrendered* Amount of the billIn addition, please informthe caller that Debi DeHass maybe calling them for informationabout your bill.Please remember the staffat the health clinics as well as thestaff at the Health Plan is there toassist you. Working together, wecan assure that you obtain all ofthe health care benefits due to you.
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Tribal Election Results Are In - Seminole Tribe of Florida

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