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A month of human rights awareness at NWIC

NWIC joins Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival to present “Waking Up to the Concerns of our Time”

Snow closed down Northwest Indian College’s (NWIC) campus for a full week in January, causing class and event cancellations. But one of those events, a celebration of the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr., has been rescheduled and revamped.

The Center for Indigenous Service Learning has incorporated the MLK event into their February Festival: “Waking Up to the Concerns of our Times.” The MLK event will kick off the festival on Feb. 8, and will include door prizes, pizza and presentations that would make King proud, and it doesn’t end there.

In collaboration with the 12th Annual Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival, NWIC will be showing films from Feb 16 to Feb 23. The films will be presented in the Log Building, and are free and open to the community.

The journey of the healing totem pole

Feb. 3 at noon at Northwest Indian College

photo by Deshaun Williams
Just four months ago, the healing totem pole, carved by master carver Jewell Praying Wolf James, began a cross-country journey at the historic Lummi village site of Semiahmiah, also known as Semiahmoo.

James, a member of the House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Indian Nation, drove the totem pole by truck across the United States. During its journey, the totem pole received tribal blessings on reservations in 13 states.

Today, the healing totem pole – carved with stories of healing, hope and knowledge – stands at the National Library of Medicine just outside of Washington, D.C., in Bethesda, Maryland.

NWIC continues campus expansion

Site work has begun for four new buildings

An excavator works to prepare four acres of campus grounds for four new buildings. The site work began on Lummi campus in mid January.
Two large excavators are shaking the ground of Northwest Indian College’s main campus to prepare four acres for more new buildings. Site work for the four buildings began mid January as part of NWIC’s $44 million capital campaign.

Site work is projected to be completed by May 2012, said Jay Conway, NWIC construction manager. Shortly after that, construction will begin on the first of the four buildings, the Salish Sea Research Center – an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act project.

The research facility is expected to cost $2.2 million, $1.5 million of which will be paid for by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

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