Please use the following link to download the April 20, 2016 issue of the syəcəb:
April 20 2016 syəcəb
Category: Tulalip News
Scholastic Feelin’ Groovy Book Fair, April 18-22
Celebrating our youngest learners
Photo/Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
Article/photos by Micheal Rios
During the week of April 11-15, the Betty J. Taylor Early Learning Academy (TELA) celebrated the Week of the Young Child. The week was devoted to shining a light on the importance of early childhood development.
“All young children need and deserve high-quality early learning experiences that will prepare them for life, and Tulalip has a great opportunity to do our part to help young children,” stated Melinda Contraro, Professional Development Manager at TELA. “Week of the Young Child is a time for Tulalip to recognize that early years are learning years for all young children.”
Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Intended to celebrate early learning, young children, their teachers and families, the weeklong event is the perfect opportunity for early childhood programs to hold activities that bring awareness to the needs of young children.
Young children and their families depend on high-quality education and care, which help children get a great start and bring lasting benefits to Tulalip. Week of the Young Child is a time to recognize the importance of early learning and early literacy, and to celebrate the teachers and policies that bring early childhood education to young children.
“We will share some activities with our families and provide take home ideas for them to do with their children,” continued Melinda. “TELA has nearly 100 early childhood professionals working together to improve professional practice and working conditions in early childhood education, and to build public support for high-quality early childhood education programs.”
The week of fun and family friendly activities kicked off on Monday, April 11, with Music Monday. The reception area was transformed into a musical platform for Alley-Oop and his sunshine band of toddlers.
Music Monday: sing, dance, celebrate and learn. Through music, children develop math, language, and literacy skills all while having fun and being active.
Taco Tuesday: healthy eating and fitness at school. This fun, food-themed day is about more than just cheese and salsa. Cooking together connects math with literacy skills, science, and more. With the rise of childhood obesity, you can encourage healthy nutrition and fitness habits in the classroom by creating your own healthy tacos.
Work Together Wednesday: work together, build together, and learn together. When children build together they explore math and science concepts and develop their social and early literacy skills. Children can use any building material – from a fort of branches on the playground to a block city in the classroom.
Artsy Thursday: think, problem solve, create. Children develop creativity, social skills and fine motor skills with open-ended art projects where they can make choices, use their imaginations, and create with their hands. On Artsy Thursday celebrate the joy and learning children experience when engaged in creative art making.
Family Friday: sharing family stories. Engaging and celebrating families is at the heart of supporting our youngest learners. We applaud family members’ role as young children’s first and most important teachers.
Hibulb United Schools Spring Powwow, May 14
Annual Fishermen’s Meeting, April 21
April 13, 2016 syəcəb
Gathering of Women Sweat, April 21
Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds
By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
Amongst Native peoples, few things in life are as scary as diabetes. And then, after being clinically diagnosed with diabetes, a person must take many steps to resume a normal life, and in most cases, a more healthy lifestyle. What can be just as surprising as the diabetes itself are the unexpected, nonphysical effects, which are equally threatening to one’s quality of life. Although these effects might make the road to diabetes management somewhat bumpy, experts from the Healthy Hearts team from the University of Washington’s Indigenous Wellness Research Institute are demonstrating that life with diabetes not only goes on, but can get better.
The Healthy Hearts team has been working to understand and address cardiovascular disease in the Tulalip community since 2008. The first study, Healthy Hearts Across Generations, collected surveys from 284 randomly selected participants from the Tulalip tribal membership to examine cardiovascular disease risks and look at what coping strategies were most productive. From 2010 to 2012, Healthy Hearts Across Generations also provided 135 community parents and guardians with culturally influenced classes to promote health in their families.
In 2012, planning began for the second Healthy Hearts study called Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds. This was launched in 2013 for Natives in the Tulalip area whose diabetes/prediabetes put them at greater risk for heart disease. Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds provided those who were eligible and wanted to participate with one-on-one wellness counseling to take control of their diabetes self-care. This study came to a close in late February.
Local community resources and input from tribal members were used to develop study materials and programs, which were culturally-adapted and designed to promote sticking with positive, healthy behaviors even when it can be tough in the face of busy schedules and other challenges.
Just as exercise strengthens the mind as well as the body, awareness and education play an important role in nonphysical healing. Optimal diabetes management is more likely when people understand the nature and persistence of diabetes, and the fact that it is treatable. It’s more than just sharing facts; people also must be taught how to return to healthier lifestyles and avoid the habits that likely contributed to their health issues in the first place. This is yet another way in which wellness counselors are beneficial, providing an evidence-based intervention strategy to help participants succeed with diabetes management.
“Our focus was the wellness mental state. With diabetes, one of the challenges is that you are asked to do so many things to take care of it yourself. You have to change how you eat, you have to exercise, and check your blood sugar, you have to take your medicine, and don’t forget about getting your eyes and feet checked. It becomes very overwhelming for people,” says Rachelle McCarty, Project Manager of Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds. “If you are really stressed out, then it’s hard to take care of yourself. That’s where our program aimed to help out. We provided participants with one-on-one coaching and very useful tools and information, so they could minimize their stress level to better manage their diabetes.”
Participants were asked to meet with a wellness coach for 10 sessions over a three-month period. Throughout the sessions, participants worked with their wellness coach to identify individual goals they wished to focus on regarding their pre-diabetes or diabetes and stress. They also worked with their coach to complete the Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds curriculums, which covered a range of topics and skills like problem-solving, adherence, motivation and relaxation training.
Wellness coach Michelle Tiedeman, who has been with Healthy Hearts since 2009, says “What I enjoyed the most was working one-on-one with individuals and seeing them make one small, positive change at a time that added up to better overall wellness. It has been an honor to work with the Tulalip community the past several years. I have had the pleasure to work with some amazing individuals and see them accomplish great things.”
Healthy Hearts sponsored an informational lunch to share results from Healthy Hearts Across Generations in August 2014, and hosted a community celebration on February 2, 2016 to honor Tulalip’s commitment to health and share results from Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds. You may have also seen them giving out results flyers and booklets at public events, health fairs, and the semi-annual General Council meeting last year.
Here is a sample of some of the findings:
- 42% of tribal members who responded to the health survey said they do participate in traditional activities like culture night, canoe journey, salmon ceremony, talking circles, and others.
- 40% of tribal members who responded to the health survey reported that they had high blood pressure, 50% of the men and 32% of the women.
- 27% of parents reported that they often use their own behavior as an example to encourage their child(ren) to be physically active.
- 77% shared that they have one or more blood (biological) relatives with diabetes.
- Those who enrolled in Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds significantly lowered their depressive symptoms.
- Healthy Heart, Healthy Minds participants rated themselves significantly better at sticking with their goals at the end of the program compared to the beginning.
- 70% agreed with the statement, “I have a responsibility to walk in a good way for future generations.”
For help with your diabetes, contact the Diabetes Care and Preventions Program at 360-716-5642. For more information on the projects or results available to date, email the Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds study at iwri@uw.edu. The projects were funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
Contact Micheal Rios, mrios@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov
April 6, 2016 syəcəb
Make Today Great: Community Members Empower Our Future
by Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
On the crisp spring morning of Friday, March 25, the students of Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary were greeted by some unexpected visitors. Parents, grandparents, siblings, community members, and volunteers lined the student drop-off sidewalk holding rally signs and giving waves of encouragement.
Prior to the commencement of the school day, the sign wielding rallyteers joined the students at their morning assembly. The goal? To show our youth that we do care about their education and support all their efforts.
During the assembly Natosha Gobin, Lushootseed Teacher and coordinator of the rally, asked several students, “How did it feel when you saw your friends and family welcoming you to school, holding these signs?”
These were a few of the students’ responses: “I felt happy.” “Awesome!” “Made me feel good.” “It made me feel welcome.”
Following the assembly, See-Yaht-Sub staff discussed the meaning and impact of the morning’s event with Natosha.
What was the reasoning behind the Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary rally?
“During campaign season, with all the signs that go up and the roller coaster of feelings within the community, some positive vibes needed to be put out there. Not to attach to anyone’s name, not for a campaign, but to uplift, empower and encourage others. After seeing a post where my friend and fellow Tulalip tribes employee, Trisha Montero-Higgonbotham, spent an afternoon holding up positive messages, I knew this would be a great opportunity to spread blessings in our community.”
Why is it important to uplift our young ones? And what did meant to you and our community to hear the students say it made them feel good and welcome to school seeing the signs?
“Our youth are surrounded by chaos at times, no matter how much we try to protect them from it. Some of the simple things like going to school every day can be exhausting. I have five kids and four of them attend Quil Ceda Tulalip. They love their school and are proud to be a part of a cultural rich environment. Everyone is going into Spring Fever mode, so we wanted to show the kids some support and try to start their day off with some positive vibes. Hopefully it would stay with them the whole day as they interacted with others. Everyone says education is important, but how can we really help make sure our students feel supported? This was a success in making them feel loved, supported, encouraged, and welcome.”
Do you plan to hold more rallies like this one?
“We would like to spread these blessings on a regular basis, reaching out to other local schools, reaching out to the various tribal business buildings, our seniors and elders, to show that we all love and care for one another and that simple reminder can change someone’s day for the better, and carry those blessings with them wherever they go.”
How would you like to see them grow and become a common occurrence?
“We also want to create positive signs for our addicts, including weatherproof flyers giving them direction to resources to get clean. We all know where the drug houses are and we can post signs around there. We all know and love an addict, and want to save them. Tough love works sometimes but a silent reminder that someone is loved and has a choice is worth the attempt if it saves someone from walking up to the door of a dealer or down a road to use.”
Was this part of Natural Leaders?
“This was not a part of Natural Leaders, but I knew that the parents involved in Natural Leaders would be more than happy to help. When I shared Trisha’s post and mentioned I wanted to create signs for our community, I had some community members who wanted to be a part of it. Yvonne Williams, Eliza Davis and I spent a Friday night making the first set of signs. I made the remaining signs and put out a call to anyone who was interested to join us at the school.”
Looked like there were three Heritage students taking part in the rally.
“Yes, Yvonne Williams brought her two oldest kids, Roselynne Jablonksi and Nate Williams along with another Heritage student. Our young ones look up to our older high school students. It means a lot to have them participate and support the younger generation.”
