News

Event canceled: NWIC celebrates MLK Jr.

The event below is canceled due to inclement weather.

“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better,” Martin Luther King Jr.

MLK Jr.’s birthday will be celebrated a couple of days late at Northwest Indian College (NWIC).

On Jan. 17, door prizes will be offered and pizza will be served when NWIC’s Indigenous Service Learning Center honors King’s life with a free event that will include a variety of speakers from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Log Building on main campus.

Are you sure you should eat that?

Free, two-day class will teach students and community which foods are right for them

Not all foods are good for all of us, but figuring out what is good for us can be tricky. That’s especially true when people don’t realize that some of the suffering they deal with every day is a result of food their bodies don’t like.

“Some people don’t know the foods they put in their bodies affects their moods and their digestive systems,” said Lora Boome-Heaton, NWIC Women’s Wellness Project coordinator. “They don’t know why they are fatigued, and most likely it’s their diet.”

Dr. Mystique Grobe, a Naturopathic Physician with more than 17 years experience, will try to eliminate some of these diet mysteries from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 24 and 31 in the Log Building on Northwest Indian College’s (NWIC) Lummi campus.

NWIC’s Fall 2011 President’s list

Congratulations, Northwest Indian College students, for your outstanding work so far this academic year. The following students made the President’s List for fall quarter, 2011:

NWIC continues to grow thanks to community support

The Siletz Tribe and St. Luke’s Foundation both donated $25,000 to new building

Cooperative Extension employees gathered in front of their new building Dec. 22 just before Susan Given-Seymour, the department’s director, cut the red ribbon, officially opening the building.
Northwest Indian College (NWIC) is in the midst of a $44 million capital campaign that has led to the opening of six new buildings on the Lummi Reservation campus.

On Dec. 2, the college continued its growth trend and added a seventh new building to its Kwina Campus location – a $1.3 million Cooperative Extension Building.

“Our Cooperative Extension Building is a gathering place for those who work with our community outreach, wellness, financial literacy and community education services,” NWIC President Cheryl Crazy Bull said. “They will have a place to meet, plan and evaluate. Most importantly, they will use the classroom and kitchen to pass on the skills and resources of our communities.”

NWIC’s annual holiday make and take tonight

The community is invited to eat spaghetti and make holiday crafts starting at 5:30 p.m.

Northwest Indian College’s Cooperative Extension Department will host its annual Holiday Make & Take from 5:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7 in Building 20 and the Log Building on the college’s Lummi campus.

The event, which is free and open to the local community, will feature hot chocolate, a spaghetti and salad dinner catered by the Lummi Youth Academy, door prizes, and crafts for children and adults, including glass ornament etching, roll-on perfume and aroma therapy making, and gift card making.

Tribal College Journal holds student writing, cover art competitions

The Tribal College Journal (TCJ) is holding its annual student writing and cover art contest. The top three entries in each of the three writing categories, as well as the cover artist, will be awarded prizes and published in the TCJ Student Edition, which is distributed to 18,000 readers.

“Getting work published is not only an honor, it’s also great for resumes and portfolios,” said Ryan Wynne, NWIC public information officer. “I hope our talented students here at NWIC will participate.”

NWIC Port Gamble science lab to open with a celebration

The new lab opens doors to students at the site pursuing science degrees

Northwest Indian College Biology 101 students Sandra Horton, left, and Madison Sullivan in the new laboratory at NWIC’s Port Gamble S’Klallam site. They are studying relationships of form and function in various Northwest fishes, including the Pacific Mackerel.
Northwest Indian College Biology 101 students Sandra Horton, left, and Madison Sullivan in the new laboratory at NWIC’s Port Gamble S’Klallam site. They are studying relationships of form and function in various Northwest fishes, including the Pacific Mackerel.

A grand opening celebration for the new Northwest Indian College (NWIC) Port Gamble S’Klallam science laboratory classroom will be held from 10 a.m. until noon on Dec. 6. The lab is located in the Tribe’s House of Knowledge and Education Center.

The event is free and open to the public, and will include an opening ceremony and blessing of the lab by Gene Jones, a S’Klallam elder, followed by an interactive sharing of biology lab student projects and complimentary coffee and pastries.

The new lab, which is outfitted with $30,000 worth of furniture and equipment, opens doors to students at the site interested in science classes that require lab work.

Native arts and crafts fair features handmade gifts

This year’s Northwest Indian College Native Arts & Crafts Fair will feature everything from traditional to contemporary art from local Native artists.

The open, community event will take place from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. Dec. 2 and from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. Dec. 3 in the Cultural Arts Center on the Northwest Indian College (NWIC) campus at 2522 Kwina Road. The Cultural Arts Center will be available for vendor set up beginning at 2 p.m. 

“The holiday season is right around the corner, and this arts and crafts fair is a great way to find individual, unique, diverse, and locally-produced gifts,” said Victoria Retasket, NWIC student activities and leadership coordinator. “Every artist hand crafts each item piece by piece, and the pieces are all made with love, and often a story.”

Today: Lummi PhD to share her story and work for Indian Country

Lummi tribal member Dr. Rose James, a University of Washington professor and member of the Native Research Network, will speak today, Nov. 16, at noon in the Cultural Arts Building – Building 7. A build-your-own sandwich lunch will be provided.

James, who received her PhD in pathology in 2002 from UW, is now Acting Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities for the university.

New NWIC building will open with community celebration

A grand opening celebration for the new Northwest Indian College (NWIC) Cooperative Extension Building will be held from 10:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. Dec. 2.

The event, which is free and open to the community, will include a prayer and blessing of the building, a ribbon cutting, a meal consisting of traditional foods and a guest speaker (to be announced) who will talk about the importance of food sovereignty and of the Cooperative Extension department’s work to tribal peoples.