Education United States Project #20166

Native American Academic Summer Program

by Native American Advancement Foundation

Project Report | Sep 21, 2016
The Special Summer

By Jim Kober | Executive Director

Our Academic Summer Adventure promotes education, builds youth self-esteem, sparks curiosity, and shapes strong, healthy, contributing members of society. This summer our students improved their reading, writing, math, and science skills in a fun and friendly environment. These dedicated youth were also treated to fun and educational field trips to locations in and out of their community.

Thanks to an in-kind donation from Laces of Grace, we distributed 69 pairs of brand new shoes to our students and other children in the community! We also distributed 40 new backpacks and luggage tags to students for the school year among other much-needed school supplies.

NAAF partnered with the USDA and Arizona Department of Education through the Summer Food Service Program to provide healthy and nutritious lunches and snacks to children in Gu Vo District and the Tohono O'odham Nation's capital, Sells District. This was a welcome addition to our program and gave us another opportunity to focus on health and wellness education on the Nation. A total of 3,273 meals and snacks were served over 6 weeks! It was a true delight seeing the youth respond positively to these healthy meals. At the Al Jek Recreation Center in Gu Vo District, we were honored to have guests from the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service team. Among them were Jesus Mendoza Jr., Western Regional Administrator; Sarah Stever, Program Specialist; Michael Ladd, Tribal Liaison; and Suzanne Callor, a Nutrition Program Specialist with the Arizona Department of Education. Our guests were treated to a traditional Tohono O'odham song, sung by three students about the four directions, as well as a warm welcome from Gu Vo Chairman Manuel. This visit meant so much to us as the USDA team traveled all the way from San Francisco to see our vibrant community in action.

This summer our students had an inside look at the roles associated with their Tribal Council at the Legislative Council Chambers in Sells District. They had the opportunity to meet with Legislative Council Chairman Timothy Joaquin and learn about the importance of the Council's work. To commemorate the experience, the students' picture was printed in the local newspaper, The Runner! On the way back to Gu Vo, the students were treated to a tour of the KOHN FM radio station in Ouijota. Many children later expressed how fun and educational the trip was for them. On another trip, our students were thrilled and inspired by the Pima Air and Space Museum, where they learned about the history of aircraft used during WWI and WWII. A few of the older youth were fortunate enough to speak with veterans at the museum. The veterans expressed enjoyment over speaking with the youth about their experiences as many of these servicemen were around the same age when they enlisted. In addition to these exciting adventures, the students loved swimming at the public pools in Ajo and Sells, AZ! What a fantastic summer! :)

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Jun 24, 2016
Academic Summer Adventure Going Great!

By Jim Kober | Executive Director

As we enter the fourth week of our 2016 Academic Summer Adventure, we could not be happier with the way things are going. We have close to 40 youth attending each day who are doing amazing work with their studies, eating a nutritious lunch and snack each day, and taking educational field trips across the state of Arizona.

Fewer than half of the Tohono O’odham community’s adults have completed high school (the lowest rate of all U.S. Native American tribes). A dropout rate in excess of 51% continues to be the norm. Lack of education has an enormous impact on the future, since the population is statistically young: 52.2% of the population is under 25- years-old (compared with 35.3% of the United States).

The goal of the program is to continue academic lessons through the summer, build our youths’ self-esteem, spark curiosity, and shape strong, healthy, contributing members of society. June 6, 2016, marked the start of the sixth year of the program, which benefits 40 students per day for six weeks. The program focuses on teaching reading, writing, math, technology, science and other STEM activities, and health education. Also incorporated are the teaching and development of traditional Tohono O'odham art, handcrafts, language, gardening, and cultural history. The program also combines physical and psychological safety, supportive relationships, appropriate structure, athletics, opportunities to belong, positive social norms, support for efficacy and mattering, opportunities for skill building, and integration of family, school, and community efforts into the program. We follow these and all of the Arizona Quality Standards for Out-of-School Time Programs. Also this summer for the first time we are teaching the youth how to say no to underage drinking and substance abuse through Too Good for Drug Lessons.

As with our academic after-school program, all of the youth involved in this program have already increased their reading, writing, and math skills and are almost caught up to their grade level if not already there!

Thank you from all of us at NAAF for continuing on this incredible journey with us, and thank you from the students. Even though they may not be concerned with the importance of donations or grants or funding, they are thanking you through their hard work, their dedication to their studies, through graduating high school and going on to college and even coming back to help this Tribe that is in bad shape. This Tribe is hurting, but we see amazing, positive change daily, and you are a huge part of that change, so thank you again, so much. We truly cannot thank you enough.

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Mar 29, 2016
Summer Adventure is Coming

By Jim Kober | Executive Director

Dear Friends,

We are in the mid-planning stages for another great Academic Summer Adventure. We are so grateful to you for your past donations and hope you will continue down this path with us as we move into the summer months and our Gu Vo Academic Summer Adventure. This year we are continuing our partnership with the modern, beautiful Al Jek Recreation Center to host our program.

The goal of the program is to continue academic lessons in the summer, build our youths’ self-esteem, spark curiosity, and shape strong, healthy, contributing members of society. June 6, 2016, marks the start of the sixth year of the program, which benefits 60 students per day, 5 days a week, for six weeks. The program will focus on teaching reading, writing, math, technology, science and other STEM activities, and health education. Also incorporated are the teaching and development of traditional Tohono O'odham art, handcrafts, language, gardening, and cultural history. The program also combines physical and psychological safety, supportive relationships, appropriate structure, athletics, opportunities to belong, positive social norms, support for efficacy and mattering, opportunities for skill building, and integration of family, school, and community efforts into the program. We follow these and all of the Arizona Quality Standards for Out-of-School Time Programs.

Below are some great quotes from our students about last year's program:

"My favorite was when we went on the elevator!" Aldrina (age 7)

"My favorite part was reading on the computer and eating!" - Damian (age 6)

"The best was going to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. I love music. I love this camp because it is fun. We do math, reading, and writing in our journals. I think other kids should come to Summer Adventure. I also think we should play with water balloons next year!" - Autumn (age 11)

"I most liked the part when we play games with the staff. I also liked going on field trips, learning and seeing new things. I didn't like that the program was only five hours a day. I wish it could've been longer." - Demetri (age 5)

"I liked when we danced Cumbia in the multipurpose room. That was fun. I loved all the arts and crafts, too. I plan on coming back next year." - Jaleesa (age 8)

"My favorite part is to go to math." - Keira (age 8)

"I like that we get to go on the laptop and do reading and math." - Dilah (age 8)

"I like math and reading on the laptops." - Rose (age 9)

Q: What was your favorite part of camp?
A: Getting wet by the firefighter.
Q: Why?
A: Because I got soaked and wet!
Q: What would you like to see at next year's camp?
A: Water balloons!
Q: Why is that?
A: Because we can get wet by them and cool down.
Q: That makes sense. Will you be coming back next year?
A: I would love to come back!
Q: That's great! Why?
A: Because we learn.
- Amoni (age 9)

The excitement in the village is building to see what we come up with this year. One thing is for certain, this will be our best year to date, as we strive to make each year better than the last! Please join us is supporting this amazing kids!

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