PHOTOS BY JENNIFER COLTON
The sun was shining, but a chill hung in the air inside Tamástslikt Cultural Institute on Tuesday as students huddled around an electronic campfire and watched the story of Coyote played out in animated pictographs along the domed ceiling.
“Oh wow,” sixth-grader Antonio Barajas whispered in the near-darkness. “This is cool.”
Five middle school students from Umatilla made the trip across the county on the first day of Umatilla’s G.R.E.A.T. Summer Program, a grant-funded initiative based on the principals of the Gang Resistance, Education and Training initiative.
Umatilla has trained officers and hosted G.R.E.A.T. classes at Clara Brownell Middle School and McNary Heights Elementary School for years, but this is the first time the program has expanded to the summer months.
The program is being funding with a $24,000 grant from the state juvenile department. The Umatilla Police Department and Umatilla School District are administering the grant, and Umatilla received the funding because it is the only city and school district in the county to provide the G.R.E.A.T. program.
The field trips will take place every Tuesday afternoon. To participate, students must have graduated from the G.R.E.A.T. program, offered to all Umatilla fifth-graders. Students must also turn in a parental permission slip to officers before boarding the bus.
In G.R.E.A.T., students learn about responsibility, life skills and how to react in negative situations. On Tuesday, they put some of those skills to the test by behaving in an attentive, courteous manner as guide John Bevis led them on a journey of the history of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
“That’s what this tour is about: the Natitayt – the Indian people – and the changes they went through,” Bevis said.
Students followed the tribes through the nomadic hunter-gatherer society to the influx and influence of horses, missionaries and the Oregon Trail. Bevis also touched on the reservation today, Wildhorse Resort and Casino, and the ongoing challenges for the tribes.
“High poverty, alcohol, drug use are common. My children are four times at risk of dying in a car accident, committing suicide or being incarcerated than you are,” he told the students. “I rarely go to a funeral where they died of natural causes.”
“I think it was great. I wanted to learn,” seventh-grader Cody Brittain said after climbing out of a teepee. “I want to go on the next (trip).”
The Umatilla G.R.E.A.T. Summer Program will continue every week through mid-August. Huxel said organizers have planned trips to sites in Umatilla and Morrow counties where students can learn about local history, activities and business.
In addition to the Tuesday field trips, G.R.E.A.T. graduates will also have the chance to participate in family supper nights every Thursday at Umatilla High School. The family nights will provide a hot meal, childcare services and educational programs for adults and children.
Sixth-grader Pedro Alvarez said he enjoyed the tour of Tamástslikt and was looking forward to other trips and the new family meal nights, also hosted through the grant.
“I like field trips, Indians and history,” he said. “I’m looking forward to spending time with family.”
The Umatilla School District is coordinating the family nights, although UPD officers trained in the G.R.E.A.T. program will lead activities and lessons.
“I appreciate the leadership of Chief Huxel and her find staff for this effort,” Umatilla School District Superintendent Heidi Sipe said. “The Umatilla Police Department is always willing to put forth extra effort to help our community and keep kids engage in safe activities. The G.R.E.A.T. summer program is just one more example of the service they provide to us all.”
