Conference
prepares youth for future
By Monica Levette Clark
On-line Forty-Niner
At
a conference in the student union Friday,
students from Sherman Indian High, an off-reservation
boarding school in Riverside, listened attentively
to the bitter-sweet story of survival and
success told by Cal State Long Beach alumna
Sonia Johnston.
 Tribal
chairwoman of the Juanena Band of Mission
Indians, Johnston was the first of 14 siblings
to receive a college degree at the age of
47, and although her personal journey to
achieve success was a struggle, it need
not be the same for the Native American
youth of today, she said.
“It was a long and hard struggle for me
because of the way I started,” Johnston
said. “But [these] are young, beautiful
Indian people who have many opportunities
now, to get what they want and need,” she
said.
Today, as an employee for the California
American Indian Community Center, Johnston
said she is working on a project to develop
affordable housing in the city of Long Beach
for American Indian families.
Hosted by the American Indian Student Council,
the “American Indian Leaders of Today and
Tomorrow,” was a two day conference, in
which Native American youth from high schools
and middle schools throughout Southern California,
gathered at CSULB to get information on
pursuing higher education.
“American Indians are an underrepresented
population and we are really trying to get
young people from our culture to achieve
higher goals,” said Elena Ledesma, president
of the student council.
A transfer student from San Jose community
college, Ledesma, who has Mexican and Indian
heritage, came to CSULB in 2001 to major
in sociology. She plans to work in the field
of tribal law.
“We want to give the Indian youth of today
support to help them get to college because
there are not a lot of us that do go,” she
said.
Carleen Vernaci, a counselor from the boarding
school, said she believed that students
needed to attend conferences like AILOTT,
to motivate them to want to go to college
after high school. Many students from the
school said they planned to continue their
education after high school.
“I am interested in culinary arts, fashion
design and so many other things,” said Julia
Echeverrria.
With graduation just around the corner,
Echeverria, a member of the Creek Indian
tribe, said she has visited other college
campuses, but had not made a choice as to
which one she would attend.
“I want to be a lawyer so that I can help
people in my tribe,” said Samantha Bird,
an eleventh grader.
A member of the Hochunk Indian tribe, Bird
plans to attend UCLA after high school and
feels that it s important that she pursues
higher education, in order to get a good
job.
As an alternative to attending a university,
Jefferson Cosey, a high school senior from
the Apache Indian tribe, said he plans to
enroll in the Arizona Automotive Institute
after he graduates.
“I have always been interested in fixing
up cars, and I also want to go back home
to Arizona,” Cosey said.
Representatives from CSULB programs like
the Career Development Center, Educational
Opportunity Program and American Indian
Student Services, held education workshops
during the two day conference, giving students
an understanding of the college registration
and financial aid application process, along
with insightful information about programs
available to assist them once they are in
college.
To conclude the motivational conference,
a Pow-wow was held on Saturday afternoon
on upper campus, and continued through the
night. Middle and high school students from
Long Beach, Banning, Los Angeles, Riverside
and other school districts, all took part
in the traditional Native American ceremony.
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