Barn Swallow Feeding © Richard Ettlinger

"A Warrior is challenged to assume responsibility, practice humility, and display the power of giving, and then center his or her life around a core of spirituality. I challenge today's youth to live like a warrior."
~Billy Mills~

We Salute
Nicole Crisp

"Right when the buzzer went off I ran to my sister Rainy and I was like, We finally got it! We finally got one!' We were so ecstatic and so happy, you know?" Crisp said. "After we won our state championship, Rainy was teasing me and she was like, You've finally earned the right to be called a Crisp.'"

Our Featured Artist:

Honoring Students

Teri Rofkar
Tlingit Weaver and Basketmaker

Teri Rofkar, whose Tlingit name is Chas' Koowu Tla'a, was born into the Raven Clan. As a young child, she was exposed to traditional methods of weaving by her grandmother.

2009 Outstanding Native American High School Award Winners

The Tewaaraton Foundation is pleased to announce that Trenna Hill of Mohawk descent and Isaac “Ike” Hopper of the Onondaga Nation, are the recipients of the 2009 Outstanding Native American High School Awards.

Our Featured Story:

Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:

Tribe's Forestry Practices Impressive

The Menominee Indian Reservation provides a case study in what is possible when American Indian philosophy toward managing natural resources is practiced. In fact, the reservation's implementation of sustainable forestry was studied by leading German foresters visiting America. They credited the reservation to be the only successful implementation of "Dauerwald" (Perpetual Forest) management in America.

The Indian Priest
Father Philip B. Gordon
1885-1948

Chapter 5 -
Murder and 'Buried Gold'

Living Traditions

Preserving Language

Hallowed Ground - Students Attend CSKT Event

Can you truly honor a river without getting wet?

Not this year - not, at least, on Tuesday, when more than 400 youngsters from the Flathead Indian Reservation and beyond came to hallowed ground along the banks of the Lower Flathead for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' 2009 River Honoring.

The Last Speaker:
UND To Honor Mandan,
Last To Speak Nu'eta As 1st Language

Edwin Benson will wear a cap and gown for the first time in his life since majoring in the language, customs and traditions of the Nu'eta, a knowledge base passed to him from elders who lived in the last historic earth lodge village of the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota.

Education News

Education News

Students Compete In First Navajo Spelling Bee

It wasn't your average word competition.

Not by a long shot.

Farmington Municipal Schools' first Navajo Spelling Bee pitted students from grades four through eight against one of the world's most difficult languages.

Traveling Experiments - UM Exhibit Brings Science Fun To Reservations

After sprinkling iron filings over the curved shape of a World War II radar magnet, 8-year-old Olivia Perez strategically added a few lug nuts, some bolts and screws, then stepped back to admire her handiwork.

Living Traditions

Living Traditions

Pawnee Women,
Filling A Historic Role,
Take The Lead In Preserving The Tribes Corn Varieties

In ancient days, Pawnee women grew the corn for their tribe.

In the 21st century, women have taken the lead in preserving Pawnee corn for the future.

Swapping Knowledge About Wampum

Wampum - tiny, beautiful ground-down shell beads - for centuries wielded an intrinsic power far beyond its size and scale. Sacred to the Native peoples of the Northeastern United States, wampum was essential in many of life’s most profound exchanges, such as negotiating marriages and paying tribute to other powerful nations.

Education News

Education News

The Indian in the White House

"What got me here today is not that I went away to school and got those degrees," she told more than 400 family members and friends surrounding the graduates on chairs and bleachers in UTTC gym. "It really had to do with how I started to understand my purpose."

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs:
Who is Larry EchoHawk?

Larry EchoHawk, President Obama’s choice to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs, was born August 2, 1948, in Cody, Wyoming. A member of the Pawnee Native American tribe of Oklahoma, he is a leading supporter of Native American rights, a Democrat, and a devout Mormon.

Living Traditions

Living Traditions

Sculpting in Salmon Skin

'I don't like to waste anything," said Audrey Armstrong. That includes what some would consider garbage. She pointed to a beautifully formed bowl made from reddish salmon skins. "Those are the leftovers from four of my girlfriends' dinners."

Hay Is For Houses

While it may sound similar to Habitat for Humanity, there’s something decidedly unique about the structures Riley’s crew builds: They’re made out of straw. Despite the experience of the first little pig whose house was blown down, these buildings are sturdy. And an added eco-bonus is that straw is a sustainable building material.

Honoring Students

Fatherhood, Coaching — and A Long-awaited Degree

When Elwood Ott walks across the stage Friday morning during Haskell Indian Nations University’s commencement ceremony in the basketball gym, he said he would feel a sense of pride.

Two Feathers Fledgling Step For Native Engineering Grads

An eagle plume hung from Myrna Littlewolf's braids Friday as friends and family gathered to honor the young Native American woman's accomplishments in earning an industrial engineering degree today during the 159th commencement at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.

Living Traditions

Cheyenne River Youth Project Gears Up For Growing Season

Staff and volunteers at the Cheyenne River Youth Project in Eagle Butte, S.D., are eagerly anticipating the new growing season in the 2.5-acre Toka Win naturally grown garden. Each year, volunteers, children and community participants work to provide nutritious foods to the community while learning to respect the land, the water and the plants.

Organic Angus Beef From Northern Arapaho Tribe

Operated by the Northern Arapaho Indian Tribe on 595,000 acres on Wyoming's Wind River Indian Reservation in West Central Wyoming, Arapaho Ranch received USDA organic certification in 2008. The tribe has raised an all-Angus herd —a breed known for producing tender, highly flavorful beef — on a year-round diet of grass and forbs since the 1940s. Its 3,500 cattle and 2,800 yearlings never enter a feedlot, are never fed antibiotics or growth-stimulating hormones and coexist with predators and a diverse mix of wildlife on Wyoming's high plains.

Living Traditions

Northern Arapaho's Buffalo Hide Tepee Helps Tribe Link With Past

On Thursday, the Northern Arapaho Tribe erected a 16-foot-tall buffalo hide tepee, becoming the first tribe in 130 years to create a tepee in an entirely traditional fashion.

The tepee comes at a time when the Northern Arapaho are doing all they can to preserve a culture. As tribal elders age, the language, the stories are starting to vanish.

Exhibit Features Rare Kiowa Ledger Art

The fully restored pages of a rare collection of Kiowa calendar art are on view in a new exhibition that opened last week at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in Norman. “One Hundred Summers: A Kiowa Calendar Record” features hand-drawn illustrations by renowned Kiowa artist and calendar-keeper Silver Horn representing 100 years of Kiowa tribal history. The exhibit will be on view through Aug. 23.

Humor

Perhaps we should offer the President this idea for his cyber security initiative. Hey! It worked before!!