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Day of Cultural Exchange with Native American Students

Small  Inland  Empire  At  Linnea  Keats Group Visit To Native American Cultural Center  April 2014

YES and AFS students hosted in Washington state and one student from Sasayama, Japan (the sister city of Walla Walla, WA), recently participated in a rewarding visit to the Tamastslikt Cultural Center with students from Nixyaawii Community High School in Mission, Oregon.

The Tamastslikt Cultural Center is a museum and research institute located on the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton in eastern Oregon. The institute is dedicated to the cultures of the Native American Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla tribes.

The students from Nixyaawii acted as guides through the Tamastslikt Museum and shared their history with the exchange students from Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South and Central America.  The event included drumming, dancing and a singing demonstration led by the students from Nixyaawii; providing a unique opportunity for the sharing of their culture. The day culminated with a traditional Friendship Circle, in which all of the students present participated in a traditional circle dance.

The activity is one of several throughout the year in which YES students delve more deeply into specific aspects of American history and culture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos: top: Allieu from Sierra Leone and Lennox from Nixyaawi HS share their cultures, bottom: students learning traditional circle dance


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