The
legends, songs and history of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe are finding
a new high-tech life in the hands of the tribe's young people.
The first
Intel Computer Clubhouse in southern Arizona opened on the reservation
this month giving children ages 10 to 18 the opportunity to learn
how to use audiovisual equipment and other electronics to preserve
the culture of the tribe.
The
Intel Computer Clubhouse Network uses technology to allow young
people to explore their interests and become confident learners.
The program is guided by four key principles: support learning through
design; help youth build on their own interests; cultivate an "emergent
community" of learners; create an environment of respect and trust,
according to the nonprofit organization's Web site.
"If
you want to play games, you have to design them. If you want to
be on the Internet, you have to design a Web page," Clubhouse assistant
coordinator Felipe Flores said.
Students
might not realize it now, but they are learning important interpersonal
and leadership skills, Flores said.
One
Yaqui senior, Rita Coronado, put four days of training to good use,
animating a digital photograph of a Yaqui dancer and setting her
work to traditional music.
"It's
possibly the world's first Pascua Yaqui music video," said Debora
Norris, spokeswoman for the tribe.
The
program is open to kids - from the reservation and the larger Tucson
community - after 3 p.m. at the tribe's Education and Culture Resource
Center, 4747 W. Calle Vicam.
"It's
fabulous," Norris said. "It gives kids a new way to look at culture
and make it their own."
Club
members work individually and in teams on short films of one another
and other projects.
"They're
going to be making these videos and computer games instead of buying
them," Norris said. "It's interesting watching them watch themselves
on television, and their friends and parents. It's not something,
coming from here, that they're used to seeing. They love it."
Yaqui
ninth-grader Chris Herber, the 3-D graphics expert in the lab, spends
a majority of his time in the lab teaching other students how to
create images in the Bryce 5 visual arts program.
"I'm
the only one that knows it," Chris said. Adding, that while he is
still in the process of learning the computer program's intricacies,
he quickly picked up the basics by his third day. "There are a lot
of things you can do here. Learn new stuff, meet new people."
The
entire Yaqui community will be able to take advantage of the clubhouse's
equipment during school hours for a project aimed at preserving
the written and oral Yaqui dialect.
"Very
few people are fluent in the Yaqui language, so that's the priority
right now," Norris said. "We haven't been able to address it up
to this point through the traditional school system, so this makes
the best of a bad situation."
The
Pascua Yaqui Intel Computer Clubhouse is one of 60 worldwide and
five in Arizona. Four are in the Phoenix area, said Jeanne Forbis,
spokeswoman for Intel Corp.
Nancy
Mager, grant administrator for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, said the
clubhouse is funded for three years by a $50,000 grant from the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and a $10,000 grant from Intel
Corp.
Various
companies donated more than $300,000 worth of software and computer
hardware, she said.
"Intel
launches the program with the idea being the tribe will make it
sustainable," she said. "After three years, we'll remain in the
Intel network, which provides training and support. And the kids
will be part of the network through the Intel science fair and things
like that."
Alex
Manuel, a Yaqui fifth grader, said his lucky to have the latest
technology and computers available to him five days a week at the
Clubhouse.
"It's
fun," Alex said. "I'm just trying to figure out how to do things
myself."
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