Tribe wants to climb ladder

TOPPENISH, Wash. – Getting help at home with schoolwork was something Samantha Olney learned to do without. Neither of her parents graduated from high school, and both her older brother and sister dropped out. That left the 18-year-old high school senior at Yakama Nation Tribal School relying heavily on her teachers.

“I used to do my homework three different ways and have the teacher tell me which way was right,” said Olney, who will graduate in May. “The teachers at Kirkwood (Elementary School) were real supportive.”

It’s an all too familiar story here on the Yakama Reservation, where tribal members – like many Native Americans across the country – face more than their fair share of poverty, few jobs, and alcohol and drug abuse, all significant barriers to education.

For decades, these inequities have resulted in a dropout rate among Native Americans in Washington that’s higher than any other ethnic group and more than double the statewide average of 5.6 percent.

In an effort to encourage more children to stay in school, school districts on the Yakama Reservation are teaching traditional languages and customs in the classroom and working more closely with college recruiters.

And this year, students will get financial help from profits at Legends Casino, a move tribal leaders hope will help persuade the next generation of Yakamas to pursue higher education.

Although efforts to increase the number of Native Americans in colleges and universities have had some success, in 2006 they accounted for only 1 percent of all college students, according to Pathways for Native Students, a 2008 report conducted by colleges in Western Washington.

Statewide, only 13 percent of tribal members had a bachelor’s degree – half the rate of the state’s white population, the report said.

Frank Mesplie, superintendent of Yakama Tribal School, has made it his mission to convince more students to attend college and get their diplomas.

He wants to see more Native Americans become role models and says he hasn’t met a parent yet on the reservation who doesn’t want his or her child to be successful. But it’s tough, he said, when the parents themselves are often unemployed and struggling to pay the bills.

Like other members of the Yakama tribe, Mesplie sees education playing a vital part in the tribe’s economic future.

All seniors at the tribal school are asked to apply to at least one college and have to take a class that teaches them how to fill out financial aid forms and write essays, and puts them in contact with college recruiters.

More colleges are offering Native American studies. And the Yakamas helped establish Heritage University, a private college situated on the Yakama Reservation just outside Toppenish, to focus on students who are the first in their families to attend college.

Last year, 13 of 25 graduating students at the tribal school received full scholarships for their first semester at Heritage.