By Mickey Schommer
Contributing Writer
GREEN BAY – The Oneida Youth Enrichment Services (YES) Program promotes the cultural, educational and social development of Native students at Lombardi Middle School.
One of the program’s amazing attributes is the community that emerges between students who are excited to share and learn about their culture.
Stephanie Stevens, Oneida YES Program Advocate, shared the excitement her students have when discussing their language.
“During our boys group, we would start out with an Oneida word and then during lunch group, sometimes I’ll have kids ask about simple things, like introductions, or they’ll talk about their Oneida name and share what it name means,” said Stevens.
“[Language acquisition] is very much in the dialogue and what we do on a daily basis. Language and culture are so intertwined, that I don’t think you can separate them.”
In addition to discussions about Oneida language, the YES Program seeks to engage students in cultural activities during their downtime.
“The YES Specialist, Kathy Doxtater, will take the students out of study hall to offer homework help. As an incentive, the students can spend their free time doing cultural activities beadwork and working on the loom,” Stevens explained.
“Some students stay after school to get homework help and some stay to engage in those cultural activities.”
Some of the most heartwarming outcomes of the program has been the student impact, Stevens added.
“I’ll go into classrooms and help work with students. Whatever they’re learning, I’ll get a cultural perspective on it,” she said.
Stevens is also part of a white corn co-op and in the fall, she will bring the corn to the school to teach them about the corn and during the next day, the students will learn to husk, harvest and braid the corn.
“So I’m taking their everyday learning and we’re helping to add culture into it,” she added.
Students even got to try corn mush and corn soup — traditional Oneida meals — as a part of a later event at their school.
“The sixth grade history class had two eighth grade students present to them about Oneida history and culture as well,” Stevens added.
Not only do the Native students in the program expand their learning about Oneida culture, but the non-Native students become excited to participate in it as well.
“The non-Native students are asking questions about the culture and I can see the Oneida students getting really excited about that,” said Stevens.
The program impacts the community in more ways than just the school itself.
Lombardi Middle School previously hosted a red-tailed hawk release, in partnership with the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, during which an elder told a story about how song came to the birds.
Through all of its activities, the Oneida YES program helps all students expand their learning and share in the excitement of the Oneida culture.
The program creates a community not only among the First Nation students at Lombardi, but school-wide.