Finding Their Way Native American Teens Study Their Roots, Honor Heritage, Find Strength

This is a place they call home.

This is where they learn to sing and dance, to heal, to pray to their Creator.

At a camp nestled in the woods near Medical Lake, 40 Native American teens are together this weekend to become leaders in their community. They’re here to support each other, they said, to strengthen themselves by practicing the ways of their ancestors.

“I’m with a group of people that understands me,” said Julia Vargas, a 13-year-old member of the Kalispel Tribe. “It’s like a big family. I’m with my own people and culture.”

The gathering is called the Leadership and Academic Challenge Camp, a three-day retreat that teaches Indian youths about native history, drug prevention and self-esteem. For the past 15 years, the event has attracted dozens of teens from more than 20 Indian tribes all over the country.

“We want our youth to be healthy, educated and active in their communities,” said Toni Lodge, executive director of the NATIVE Project, an organization that provides education and drug rehabilitation for Spokane County youth.

“We want them to be able to stand up for themselves.”

To teach those lessons, Lodge and a dozen other volunteers spend three days exposing the students to Indian traditions, such as mask-making, powwow dancing and sweating in a lodge.

“Take care of yourself,” Vaughn EagleBear, a Spokane resident of Sioux and Colville descent, advised the students. “Be responsible. Make good decisions.”

The camp is more than just a getaway for the kids, he said. It’s also a time for them to learn what’s not taught in most schools.

Students started preparing for the retreat a month ago by studying pamphlets on Indian leaders and traditions. They also read articles on how Columbus didn’t discover America and “The White Man’s Debt to Indians,” which discusses food supplies and practices that white settlers learned from Native Americans.

Students at the camp learned about Billy Mills, a Sioux Indian who won a gold medal in the 1964 Olympics; Tecumseh, a Shawnee Indian warrior; Maria Tallchief of the Osage Tribe who became a star dancer for American Ballet Theater.

The campers also met Indians who have succeeded in their fields, including writer-filmmaker Sherman Alexie, a Spokane-Coeur d’Alene Indian.

Unless they live on the reservation or attend a school tailored for Indians, many teens don’t know much about being Native American, Lodge said. The camp helps them understand their traditions and provides them with an identity.

”(Indians) are the smallest minority, the invisible minority,” said EagleBear, who also works at the NATIVE Project. “We’ve lost our culture through assimilation. We don’t know what it means to be Indian anymore.”

The students will be at Silver Lake Camp near Medical Lake through today to learn how to be “warriors, nurturers, scholars and community activists.”

They do this by talking about everything from sex and gangs to tribal councils and the meaning of Indian sovereignty.

They also learn leadership skills by competing in teams of five for a grand prize of $250. To win, they have to do well in a number of events, including a basketball tournament, a knowledge bowl and a speech competition.

Some kids are good at sports while others excel in academics or art, so the camp offers a variety of activities, Lodge said.

The activities also point to the way many Native Americans teach their children. Most schools emphasize only the mental and physical aspects of learning, Lodge said, but native ways also understand people’s spiritual and emotional needs.

“This is my family here,” said 16-year-old Tara Dowd, an Inuit who’s been coming to the camp for three years. “This is where I get support and love.”

THE CAMP The Leadership and Academic Challenge Camp, a three-day retreat, teaches Indian youths about native history, drug prevention and self-esteem.