Public Health Update: Respiratory Illness

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There have been reports of COVID-19 and other flu-like respiratory illnesses in the community. Taking a few simple precautions can help protect you, your family, and others.

Help Prevent the Spread of Respiratory Illness
  • Stay up to date with recommended immunizations for Flu, COVID-19, and RSV, if eligible.
  • Wash your hands frequently with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
  • Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or the upper part of your sleeve. Throw used tissues away and wash your hands afterward.
  • Avoid touching your face with unwashed hands.
  • Consider wearing a well-fitting mask, especially when you are sick or will be around people who may be at higher risk for serious illness.
  • Clean frequently touched surfaces, such as counters and doorknobs.
  • Improve indoor air when possible by bringing in fresh outdoor air or using an air cleaner.
  • Stay home when you are sick.
When You Have a Respiratory Illness

Stay home and away from others, including people you live with who are not sick, when possible.

Symptoms of respiratory illness can include:

  • Chills
  • Fever or feeling feverish
  • Fatigue
  • Cough
  • Runny or stuffy nose
  • Sneezing
  • Headache
  • Sore throat
  • Decreased appetite
  • Muscle or body aches
  • New loss of taste or smell
  • Weakness
  • Wheezing
  • Vomiting or diarrhea
When Can I Return to Normal Activities?

You can return to normal activities, including work, when both of the following have been true for at least 24 hours:

  • Your symptoms are getting better overall; and
  • You have not had a fever and are not using fever-reducing medication.
Take Extra Precautions for the Next 5 Days

Even when you are feeling better, you may still be able to spread the virus that made you sick.

For the next five days:

  • Consider wearing a well-fitting mask when you are around others.
  • Practice good hand hygiene.
  • Improve ventilation or use cleaner indoor air when possible.
  • Consider physical distancing or testing when you will be around other people, particularly those at higher risk for serious illness.

If you develop a fever or begin feeling worse after returning to normal activities, stay home and away from others again. You may return to normal activities when your symptoms are improving overall and you have been fever-free without fever-reducing medication for at least 24 hours. Then take added precautions for another five days.

If You Are at Higher Risk for Serious Illness

If you are age 65 or older or have a medical condition that increases your risk of complications from respiratory illness:

  • Consider testing for COVID-19 or flu. At-home COVID-19 tests and some combination COVID-19/flu tests are available. Community Health and Healing House are not providing tests at this time. Tests may be purchased at pharmacies.
  • Contact your primary care provider promptly to ask whether testing or antiviral medication may be appropriate. Treatments for COVID-19 and flu work best when started early.
  • If you are an established Healing House patient, contact Healing House for guidance. Healing House does not accept walk-ins. If you cannot see your primary care provider, consider an urgent care clinic.
Managing Symptoms at Home

Most people with mild respiratory illness can manage their symptoms at home.

Helpful measures include:

  • Get plenty of rest.
  • Drink plenty of fluids.
  • Use over-the-counter medications, such as fever or pain reducers, as appropriate. Read and follow package directions carefully and contact your healthcare provider or pharmacist if you have questions.
  • Over-the-counter cough and cold medicines are not recommended for children younger than 6 unless directed by a healthcare provider.
  • Consider using a clean, cool-mist humidifier or vaporizer.
When to Seek Medical Care

Contact a healthcare provider if you or your child:

  • Have a medical condition that increases the risk of severe illness.
  • Have signs of dehydration.
  • Have a fever lasting longer than four days.
  • Have symptoms lasting more than 10 days without getting better.
  • Have symptoms, such as fever or cough, that improve and then return or worsen.
  • Have a chronic medical condition that gets worse.

Seek emergency medical care for trouble breathing, chest pain, or other severe or concerning symptoms.

This list is not all-inclusive. Contact a healthcare provider for any symptom that is severe, worsening, or concerning.

Sources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

  • Preventing Spread of Respiratory Viruses When You’re Sick
  • Manage Common Cold
  • Preventing Respiratory Illnesses

Teaching Our Story

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At tribal gatherings, meetings and community events, it is not unusual to find Suquamish Tribal Elder Barbara Lawrence with her hands occupied.

She might be listening to a speaker or visiting with someone while strips of cedar move through her fingers, gradually taking shape as one of the traditional Suquamish cedar hats she is known for weaving — intricate, beautiful and, importantly, made to be used.

Washington state educator Dr. Laura Lynn sees something of that same process in another of Lawrence’s creations, one that has taken years to bring together.

The Suquamish Tribe’s new Since Time Immemorial curriculum, Lynn says, is “a weave of so many of Barbara’s gifts: visionary, researcher, learner, sharer of historic knowledge, storyteller, passion, commitment, and generosity to support students and educators across our region.”

On Aug. 19, that long work reached a milestone as educators from school districts across Suquamish Tribe’s ancestral territory gathered at the Chief Kitsap Academy campus for the first professional development training on the tribe’s newly launched curriculum.

For Lawrence, the day was about much more than unveiling lesson plans. It was about relationship.

“Traditionally, when a big important thing happens,” Lawrence told the assembled educators. “We would send messengers out to go invite our neighbors and friends to come and witness the event.”

Those guests would be fed, given a place to rest and listen, entertained with songs and dances, and sent home with gifts.

“You’re witnessing that,” Lawrence said. “Cultural teachings on top of your academic teachings — and the cultural teachings are more important.”

Telling the Suquamish story

The curriculum gives middle and high school educators classroom-ready lessons developed specifically from a Suquamish perspective, including units on the Treaty of Point Elliott, treaty fishing rights, salmon habitat and the culvert case, housing, environmental issues, and contemporary tribal sovereignty.

The Treaty of Point Elliott unit provides the foundation for the others, beginning with Suquamish ancestral territory and place names and asks students to examine how maps themselves can convey different perspectives about land and ownership.

Later lessons move through the treaty and into contemporary questions — including how treaty fishing rights affirmed in the 1974 Boldt Decision eventually led to another landmark court fight over the state’s obligation to remove culverts that blocked salmon habitat.

The curriculum is designed to be interdisciplinary, connecting history and civics with science, ecology, geography and other subjects.

Chairman Leonard Forsman said its roots reach back decades.

After joining other tribal leaders concerned about low Native graduation rates, Forsman said a state study identified several underlying problems, including the absence of tribal history and culture in public-school curriculum.

That work helped lead to the state’s Since Time Immemorial Tribal Sovereignty Curriculum in 2005. But the state framework was always intended to lead educators toward the tribes whose lands their schools occupy.

The new curriculum allows Suquamish to tell that story directly.

“The more we learn about our first people the more it is good for everybody,” Forsman said. “It teaches us the real, true, factual history of the area.”

It also carries values that extend beyond a history classroom, he said.

“We want to take care of our elders. We want to look after our youth. We want to take care of the land, the water, and the air.”

Built by Suquamish

Creating the curriculum required years of research, writing and review involving Tribal Council and staff across tribal government, including Natural Resources, GIS, Housing, Education, and the Suquamish Museum.

The process was intentionally rigorous.

“Everything was cultivated with a keen eye,” Lawrence said. “If it wasn’t up to standard, for the elders of the tribe, for Tribal Council, for the teachers in the tribe, for administrators in the tribe, then it was reworked.”

In March, Tribal Council formally authorized the materials as the Suquamish Tribe’s Since Time Immemorial curriculum. The public rollout this summer also includes a new curriculum website embedded within the Education section of the Suquamish Tribe’s government website.

The site serves as the curriculum’s central hub, providing educators with lesson plans, teacher guides, presentations, maps, videos, historical documents and other resources. Middle and high school lessons are organized into units teachers can access directly from the site, along with supporting materials and a way to contact the tribe for assistance with the curriculum.

The site also opens with a new video welcome from Chairman Leonard Forsman, who introduces students and educators to the Suquamish people and their ancestral territory and explains the significance of the phrase “since time immemorial.”

“Our history did not begin with settlers,” Forsman tells students in the video. “It did not begin with a date in a textbook.”

Forsman traces the tribe’s connection to the lands and waters of the region back thousands of years, explains the continuing importance of the Treaty of Point Elliott and tribal sovereignty, and describes the cultural resurgence underway today — from Lushootseed language revitalization to carving, weaving, song, ceremony and the modern Tribal Canoe Journey.

He closes the video by asking students to consider themselves part of that continuing story, learning from the generations that came before while thinking about those still to come.

The rollout also introduces a new visual identity for the curriculum. Its logo, created by Lushootseed language teacher and tribal artist Joey Holmes, was selected from eight submissions by the tribe’s Cultural Co-op Committee. The central image draws from a photograph of Lawrence storytelling with children.

The website also incorporates the Unfolding Fern, a traditional basket design representing youth and learning that Suquamish Tribal Elder and artist Peg Dean originally created years ago as an emblem for the tribe’s emerging Education Department. The fern now appears throughout the curriculum site to identify materials developed and approved by the Suquamish Tribe.

“Everything has meaning,” Lawrence said. “They’re not just a design. They’re meaningful.”

At the Aug. 19 training, educators became the first outside group to work through the completed website and lessons.

Dr. Elise Washines, a Yakama educator who helped develop the curriculum, guided participants through the materials while emphasizing three concepts running through the work: relationship, respect, and reciprocity.

Washines contrasted those values with educational systems that can become focused primarily on evaluation — what students or teachers are doing wrong and what must improve next.

“There are ways to grow,” she said. “But before we even think about that, we have to think about all the moments that we appreciate, all the relationships that we’re building with each other.”

For Lynn, who previously helped oversee the statewide implementation of Since Time Immemorial through the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, that approach reflects Lawrence herself.

“Her tireless efforts to collaborate with districts and organizations establishes the foundation of positive relationships necessary to implement existing lesson resources and grow future learning,” Lynn said.

The curriculum, she added, stems from Lawrence’s “profound love of the Suquamish People, our lands, waters, and relatives of nature.”

From curriculum to classroom

Now comes the test Lawrence has been working toward for years: getting it used.

Seattle Public Schools is already preparing the Suquamish materials for its learning management system and incorporating them into the district’s required scope and sequence, said Shana Brown, a curriculum specialist with the district’s Native Education Program.

The district plans to use Suquamish curriculum during the second semester in seventh- and eighth-grade social studies and in high school U.S. history and civics courses.

“We got the support of principals so that principals can take that to their schools,” Brown said.

But making curriculum available and getting it into classrooms are two different things.

“Just getting the word out is a lot harder than you think it might be,” Brown said.

Educators at the training discussed ways to integrate the lessons across disciplines. One Chief Kitsap Academy teacher described connecting the curriculum with the school’s Ocean to Table program, where students fish for and process salmon.

Students could simultaneously learn the history behind what they are doing — from the Boldt Decision to treaty rights and salmon habitat restoration.

Other educators identified a need for help introducing tribal perspectives that may challenge what students — or teachers — previously understood.

That is where Lawrence says relationships remain essential.

Teachers should also be able to bring Suquamish cultural educators directly into their classrooms, she said — and schools need to recognize that expertise as professional work.

“School districts need to pay for cultural educators to come in, whether it’s storytellers or fishermen, or a clam digger — somebody cultural from the tribe to come and teach something,” Lawrence said. “It’s real work. It’s real, valuable work, and school districts need to plan for that.”

A living curriculum

The website currently includes two middle school units and three high school units, with the Treaty of Point Elliott serving as the prerequisite foundation. Elementary and early learning sections are planned as funding becomes available.

The work will continue to evolve.

 

“This is a living curriculum,” Lynn told educators. “So keep checking back in because we’re going to continue to refine and add resources.”

That includes videos, maps and other teaching tools as well as lessons connecting treaty history to issues unfolding today.

Acting Education Division Director and Chief Kitsap Academy Principal Lucy Dafoe said the launch is the beginning of an ongoing relationship with educators, not just a single training.

For now, Lawrence asked those attending the first training to make their own commitment.

“We’re saying, here we are,” Lawrence told them. “We’re helping you. We’re creating this and we have all these resources and we’ll help you. So please take informed action with us.”

The lesson of Young Crow

For all the years of research, legal review and curriculum development that brought the project to this point, Lawrence traces her own understanding of education much farther back.

Her first teachers, she says, were Suquamish Elders.

They gathered children to teach them everything from stories and songs to respect and responsibility — sometimes while taking them berry picking, clam digging, or cleaning at the cemetery.

As a child, Lawrence thought the stories told during those chores were entertainment.

Then one day, while the children were berry picking, her younger brother found a creative way to avoid working. Lawrence couldn’t help but notice that an Elder then soon told a story about Young Crow — who worked very hard at not working.

Something clicked.

“I suddenly realized this isn’t entertainment,” Lawrence recalled. “This is education.”

She began listening differently.

Decades later, that understanding is woven throughout a curriculum intended to reach thousands of students across Suquamish territory.

Like one of Lawrence’s cedar hats, the finished work is intricate because the knowledge behind it is interwoven from a history that stretches back thousands of years – literally, since time immemorial.

And it is also made to be used.

“Now the real work begins,” she said with a determined smile. “It’s time to get these lessons into the classrooms.”

 

CKA looks to build on gains as new school year begins

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Chief Kitsap Academy students are now returning to school with the friendly faces of a familiar teaching staff, new take-home laptops, and a faculty and staff looking to build on a year of greater stability and significant academic gains.

For CKA Principal Lucy Dafoe, the progression is important. Last year was about healing and stabilizing the school while beginning to raise academic performance.

This year, she wants CKA to build on that foundation with higher expectations, stronger student engagement, and more opportunities beyond the classroom.

“We have all of our instructional staff coming back,” Dafoe said. “That’s a huge win.”

Looking back on last year, Dafoe gives CKA high marks for rebuilding stability among both students and staff.

“It was truly a year of healing,” she said. “That is all of us together.”

Academically, she said, great progress was made as well. And more work needs to be done. The percentage of CKA students meeting the standard in English Language Arts testing, for example, increased threefold to 56 percent last year.

“We probably did about three years’ worth of work in that one year to get there,” Dafoe said. “And that improvement will continue.”

Eight CKA students also qualified for Running Start and began earning college credits while still in high school, an accomplishment that fits into a larger strategy Dafoe wants to continue developing.

Building more pathways

Her long-term vision is for CKA to provide students with a strong academic and cultural home base, particularly in grades six through 10, while creating more pathways for older students to pursue college courses, career and technical education, internships, and other opportunities.

That includes Running Start and West Sound Technical Skills Center, along with efforts to develop more dual-credit opportunities that allow students to earn high school and college credit simultaneously.

CKA is continuing to work with the tribe’s 477 Workforce Program to help eligible students obtain driver’s licenses, making it easier for them to reach college classes, technical programs, jobs, and internships.

“We know transportation is a barrier for going to Running Start or West Sound or a job or an internship,” Dafoe said. “And we’re going to do more to help fix that.”

Another significant change this year will happen much closer to home.

Take-home laptops

Starting this year, every CKA student will receive their own Chromebook to use at school and take home. Previously, computers were assigned to classrooms and remained on campus, limiting students’ ability to use them for homework.

The new one-to-one devices come with some responsibility. Students will be expected to bring their Chromebook to school each day – charged and ready for the day.

That expectation reflects a broader theme for the coming year.

Dafoe wants students to become more active participants in their own education rather than waiting until the end of a grading period to catch up. CKA will continue emphasizing grades of C or better, providing after-school academic help and study opportunities, and asking parents to become involved early when students begin falling behind.

The goal, she said, isn’t simply better grades. It is helping students develop the habits and confidence that come from discovering what they can accomplish through consistent effort.

“When they’re putting forth the effort, they find out, ‘Wow, I’m really smart,’” Dafoe said.

CKA will also continue expanding place-based education, getting students outside traditional classrooms and connecting their studies with Suquamish lands, waters, culture, and community. College and career site visits will remain another

emphasis.

Belonging and responsibility

Alongside academics, Dafoe wants to continue strengthening the culture students experience on campus. CKA plans to emphasize anti-bullying efforts, healthy risk-taking, gratitude, and helping students become stronger self-starters and self-managers.

For Dafoe, those goals come together in two ideas: belonging and responsibility.

“I want them to come back and feel like they have a sense of belonging and a responsibility to our campus,” she said. “They need to know that they can achieve what they want to achieve.”

Last year showed what can happen when staff and students begin moving in the same direction. This year, she said, CKA staff are ready to ask more of their students — while making sure the opportunities and support are there for them to succeed.

“Our staff are going to lean in more,” Dafoe said. “And our students are going to see even more how much they are capable of.”

UW teaching students learn from Suquamish educators

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A good canoe skipper knows how to motivate their pullers. A great one knows it can take perseverance, humor, and sometimes even an offer of self-sacrifice.

Western Washington University Professor and Suquamish Canoe Skipper Nigel Lawrence offered that lesson to 70 aspiring teachers gathered inside the Chief Kitsap Academy Commons Aug. 11.

The students are part of the University of Washington’s Secondary Teacher Education Program and came to Suquamish as part of an Indigenous-led outing supporting their coursework in Indigenous Perspectives and Language & Literacy Revitalization. Through a partnership dating back to 2016, UW STEP students visit CKA and the Suquamish community to learn directly from tribal students, teachers, and cultural educators as they prepare to lead classrooms of their own.

For Lawrence, the lesson began with a canoe journey when his pullers were running out of energy.

“Have you all watched the movie where the mountain climber gets trapped in a canyon and he has to cut off his own arm to survive?” Lawrence asked, referencing 127 Hours, based on the true story of mountaineer Aron Ralston. “I told my pullers that if that guy could survive, they would too and — bonus — get to keep both arms,” Lawrence said with a laugh. “I thought that would motivate them!”

It worked, but only briefly.

Lawrence tried reminding the pullers that their ancestors had persevered to make their journey possible. When that boost also faded, he made them an offer.

“OK, if you all pull in unison 500 times, I’ll jump in the water.”

They pulled. They counted. They passed 500, then 1,000. They switched sides and did it again. Lawrence kept his promise, eventually jumping into the water four times.

The story carried a lesson for the future educators.

“Teachers, find what motivates your students,” Lawrence told them. “It might be different for every single one of them.”

Lawrence, who teaches Since Time Immemorial curriculum and focuses on culture and diversity in education, was one of several Suquamish educators, students, and community members who spent the day sharing perspectives with the UW cohort.

“Our goal is that every single teacher understands tribal sovereignty and our responsibility to uphold it,” said UW Indigenous Perspectives Professor Kwulasulwut Emma Elliott.

CKA Principal Lucy Dafoe said UW STEP has brought future educators to Suquamish in collaboration with CKA since 2016. Beyond providing future teachers firsthand experience with tribal education, the partnership can also introduce potential educators to CKA.

“Sometimes it even ends up being an avenue for recruitment of our teachers,” Dafoe said.

The UW STEP students received Lushootseed language lessons led by CKA teacher Brandy Boure and recent CKA graduate Elilai Abraham, Barbara Lawrence’s granddaughter. They also visited the Veterans Memorial, House of Awakened Culture, and Charles Lawrence Memorial Pole as part of a community tour led by Suquamish Elder and Since Time Immemorial Curriculum Specialist Barbara Lawrence — Nigel Lawrence’s mother.

At the memorial pole, Barbara Lawrence shared the story of her father, Charles Lawrence, giving the future teachers another family perspective on the themes of perseverance and humor her son had discussed earlier.

She told the group that her father and his brother returned from boarding school so malnourished that the military initially wouldn’t accept them.

“They were too scrawny when they came home from boarding school,” she said, pointing toward the nearby beach. “They went right down there and dug and ate clams until they had put on enough weight that the Army would take them.”

Charles Lawrence served in World War II and was wounded during the D-Day invasion on Omaha Beach. He subsequently contracted tuberculosis and spent time in a hospital, where he met the woman who would become his wife — a “redheaded, freckle-faced Norwegian woman” staying in another wing.

The two passed notes through library books and taught themselves sign language to communicate, Barbara Lawrence said. Eventually, her father finger spelled a marriage proposal — only to misspell it.

“My mom signed back, ‘Did you say marry me?’” she said. “And he told everyone who would listen that she had asked him to marry her.”

The lessons continued that afternoon when about a dozen CKA students and teachers came in during summer break for a question-and-answer panel with the future educators.

For the CKA students, culturally responsive teaching wasn’t an abstract educational concept. It was part of their own experience in the classroom.

“Going to CKA isn’t like public schools,” CKA Senior Corrina Sigo said. “Teachers here are open-minded. We get to do things that matter inour community.”

Sigo pointed to programs such as Ocean-to-Table and field trips to other reservations as some of her favorite parts of attending CKA.

The day ended with one more Lawrence family perspective.

Nigel Lawrence’s son, CKA Senior Dio Lawrence, offered the future teachers a piece of advice from the student side of the classroom.

“Uplift your students however you can,” Dio Lawrence said. “Do that and it will leave a lasting impact.”

Higher Education Program helps turn dreams into reality

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Kali Chargualaf ’s official title is Higher Education Program Manager. But a more descriptive title might be Facilitator of Dreams or even Fairy Godmother.

That’s because through the Suquamish Tribe’s Higher Education Program, Chargualaf helps tribal members pursue higher education degrees, certificates, and vocational-technical training programs.

Whether you’re interested in becoming an air traffic controller, a zoologist, or pursuing any other career path from A to Z, tribal members with a high school diploma or GED may be eligible to apply for financial assistance. And for those who do not yet have a GED, Chargualaf can connect them with programs and resources to help them earn one.

“The accomplishments of the Higher Education Program really come from the students themselves,” Chargualaf said. “Each year we’re seeing more students enroll in the program or return as they continue progressing toward new educational goals.”

Students can continue receiving support as they advance through multiple levels of higher education, from an associate degree to a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and even a doctorate.

In addition to providing educational funding and resources, the Higher Education Program oversees:

• High School Career Fair, connecting students to colleges, trade schools, and military services, now held every spring.

• Graduate Honoring to celebrate students’ achievements from high school and beyond,held every summer.

• Summer Youth Internship Program, in partnership with the Workforce Program (also known as 477 yusawiac) providing students with work experience across tribal government every summer. Applications will open in late spring 2027 for openings next year.

• The Higher Education Program also manages a Computer Lab where tribal members can work in a quiet space and utilize desktop computers, printers, and meeting spaces.

“The Computer Lab is a great place to help higher education students with their applications and essays, as well as a place where people can come to access online

trainings and certifications,” Chargualaf said. “And, if people need a little extra assistance with computers, I am here to help.”

In the four years Chargualaf has served in the Higher Education Program, she’s grown to see the job as a combination of being a mentor, cheerleader, strategist, and believer.

“I was a first-generation college student, and I understand the difficulties of navigating college,” she said. “I’m here to help tribal members pursue their educational goals and find programs that best fit their interests and needs.”

While the Higher Education Program may not turn pumpkins into carriages, what it does is even more impressive. It transforms lives through education, opens doors to new careers, and invests in the future of the Suquamish Tribe.

Higher Education Nuts & Bolts

Higher Education offers support services and funding to enrolled Suquamish tribal members who meet the eligibility requirements.

To apply, students must be enrolled in a program of study, attending an accredited institution of higher education such as technical colleges, community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities. Funding depends on availability.

Application deadlines:

· Winter Quarter/Spring Semester: December 1

· Spring Quarter: February 1

· Summer Quarter: May 1

· Fall Quarter: July 1

The Computer Lab is located in the Old Tribal Center and is open Monday – Thursday from 8am to 4:30pm Questions? Contact Kali Chargualaf at HigherEd@Suquamish.nsn.us or (360) 394-1328.

Graduates honored for achievements, encouraged on journeys ahead

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The Suquamish Tribe celebrated 27 graduates and introduced a new tradition during the Class of 2026 Graduate Honoring at Kiana Lodge on July 8.

Among the evening’s highlights was the presentation of the first Paddle of Honors to Washington State University graduate Shyan Zaiss. Created to recognize a graduate who has gone above and beyond in academics, personal growth, and service to the community, the specially designed paddle was crafted by Suquamish tribal member Ian Lawrence and decorated by artist Brenda Solis.

Higher Education Program Manager Kali Chargualaf hosted the honoring, which recognized 21 high school graduates and six graduates from colleges and universities.

“Today marks not just the end of one chapter, but the exciting beginning of another,” Chargualaf told the graduates. “Your hard work, resilience, and dedication have brought you to this proud moment, and we are here to applaud and recognize everything you’ve accomplished.”

Rather than featuring a keynote speaker, this year’s program devoted more time to sharing each graduate’s achievements, future goals, dreams, and advice for others.

Each high school graduate received a canoe paddle handcrafted by Lawrence, a skipper with the Suquamish Canoe Family. Designed in the shape of an orca’s pectoral fin, the paddles were made for use on the water and symbolize the strength graduates will need to navigate challenges throughout their lives.

Higher education graduates were wrapped in Eighth Generation blankets. Cedar caps were made by Suquamish Tribal Elder Barbara Lawrence.

Paddle of Honors

Paddle of Honors recipient Shyan Zaiss earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with a major in marketing from Washington State University. Chargualaf

praised her academic success, scholarship work, advocacy, kindness, and longstanding dedication to the Suquamish community.

“Shyan has continuously demonstrated her outstanding academic achievements, she is a true advocate and representative of our Suquamish people, she listens and communicates with kindness and respect,” Chargualaf said. “If you have known Shyan since she was young, then you know that her heart has always been in community,” Chargualaf said.

Zaiss was accepted into several honor societies and served as a Native Youth Grantmaker with Native Americans in Philanthropy’s 2026 cohort. Her success in securing outside scholarships also saved the Suquamish Tribe thousands of dollars in higher education funding.

“I could not have done this without my family and my community,” Zaiss said. “To all the other graduates, be proud of yourself, and never give up on yourself or your dreams.”

Made for the Journey: A Paddle’s Message to Graduates

Suquamish tribal member Ian Lawrence was paddling in a canoe before he could ride a bike.

Now a skipper of one of the Suquamish Tribe’s canoes, he also crafts many of the paddles used throughout the tribe.

Each of this year’s high school graduates received one of Lawrence’s paddles as a gift. Here is his message to them:

The design of these paddles is a traditional Suquamish design. The blade of the paddle is the shape of an orca’s pectoral fin. This shape is intended to be hydrodynamic, meaning that it works with the flow of the water and the design maximizes your energy.

These paddles are intended for you, on your journey. Life will present challenges and this paddle is designed to be strong enough to carry you through those tough times. We are not in control of what happens to us, only what we do about it. These paddles provide you with the degree to pull through it.

It is our teaching that paddles have their own spirit and to protect the paddle’s spirit we always hold it and store the paddle with the blade pointed up and the handle pointed down, unless we are in the water.

We are taught that the spirit drains out of the blade when it’s pointed down.

These paddles are ready for the saltwater and they are pretty enough to hang on your wall. However, we encourage you to use them!

Summer internships give Suquamish youth an early start in the workplace

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The interview worried Tataya Fontes-Lawrence the most. So much so that it almost kept her from applying to the Suquamish Tribe’s Summer Youth Internship Program.

As an eighth grader preparing to enter high school, she sat nervously before a panel of adults who asked questions about why she wanted to join the program.

“The interview was what made me terrified of even applying,” she recalled. Now in her second year with the program, you’d hardly guess she was ever afraid of anything.

For decades now, the Summer Youth Internship Program has helped young tribal members take their first steps into the workplace while exploring careers across tribal government. Many tribal employees working throughout the tribe today — in both government and its business enterprises — got their start as summer interns, including several current Tribal Council members.

This summer, 14 students are working across much of government.

Higher Education has again partnered with the 477 Workforce Program to combine paid work experience with weekly professional development sessions focused on résumé writing, practical skill building, and career exploration.

This year, the program is running from late June to early August. “We changed the dates to an earlier timeframe because last year our youth advocated for this,” said Higher Education Program Manager Kali Chargualaf. “Each year we have a pretty phenomenal group.”

 

Taking on challenges

Looking back now, as she works at the Tribal Administration front lobby preparing a new handout for Tribal Canoe Journey visitors, Fontes-Lawrence laughs at how nervous she was about her interview for the program.

“They were all so nice,” she said. “I was scared for nothing.”

Now preparing to enter her sophomore year at Kingston High School, Fontes-Lawrence is spending her second summer with the program.

After working at the Suquamish Museum last year, she wanted to challenge herself with something different. This year she is working in the Administration Department, answering phones, greeting visitors, assisting with projects and learning how the department supports the daily operations of tribal government.

Instead of staying at a single workstation, Fontes-Lawrence has spent the summer rotating among several members of the Administration team, giving her a broad look at how the department operates.

She has shadowed Tribal Council Executive Assistant Amanda Carper and Executive Assistants Rosie Bays and Cheayvone Swift.

“She’s been absolutely amazing,” said Swift. The arrangement has allowed Fontes-Lawrence to experience a wide range of administrative responsibilities. She has learned how staff manage schedules, joined them on shopping trips for community events and helped Emergency Management prepare signs and other materials for Canoe Journey.

“She’s just bouncing between all of us, and she seems to love it,” Swift said. “She’s always ready to jump in wherever we need her. She’s awesome.”

One of her biggest learning experiences has been answering phones.

“I don’t always know what people need or where to transfer them,” she said.

But those moments have also helped build her confidence by encouraging her to ask questions and learn something new each day.

An inside view

The experience differs from last summer, when she interned at the Suquamish Museum, where she learned customer service, worked in the gift shop and participated in management lessons with museum staff.

Among her new experiences this summer was sitting in on Tribal Council meetings with Carper, where she helped take notes on motions, resolutions, and council discussions.

Watching Tribal Council conduct business offered an entirely new perspective on how her tribe’s government operates.

The most difficult part, she said, was understanding the unfamiliar terminology and following discussions that moved quickly from one issue to the next.

“It’s a little confusing, but also really interesting,” she said. “I had no idea they handled so many different things and issues. There’s so much!”

Still, attending the meetings gave her a closer look at how council decisions are made and exposed her to programs and career opportunities she might not otherwise have known about.

Growing opportunities

During Tribal Council’s July 20 meeting, council members praised the Summer Youth Internship Program and encouraged organizers to expand opportunities for interns to shadow Tribal Council members and accompany them to regional and government-to-government meetings.

Council Member Jay Mills suggested interns could attend meetings with organizations such as the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission to better understand tribal leadership and advocacy.

Vice Chair Josh Bagley agreed, saying that could create additional opportunities for youth interns to see firsthand how the tribe serves its members.

Tribal Elder Kathy Kinzey also encouraged the interns to consider careers in medicine, law, natural resources, and tribal leadership. She told the students that seeing Native people succeed in those professions can help young people envision those possibilities for themselves.

“Sometimes you just have to see it to do it,” Kinzie said.

That resonated with Fontes-Lawrence, who has been considering a career in medicine.

Indeed, in that same meeting, sitting beside Carper and helping her with notes, Fontes-Lawrence found herself listening to a representative from the tribe’s new Kitsap OB-GYN program brief leaders.

She quietly mentioned to Carper that the work there sounded exciting.

“I would love to do that next summer,” Fontes-Lawrence told her. Carper promptly shared her interest with Council. “Yes!” said Bagley, “So moved!”

Start now

For students thinking about applying for next summer’s internship program, her advice is simple: Start now.

Fontes-Lawrence encourages students to start preparing long before applications open by getting involved in school activities, sports, or volunteer work. Those experiences, she said, not only strengthen a résumé but also give applicants something meaningful to talk about during interviews.

“Learn how to talk yourself up,” she said. “Talk about what you do well and make sure you’re very vocal about that.”

It’s advice a favorite teacher shared with her before her first interview and it helped.

Looking back, that interview she once feared became the first step toward discovering greater confidence — and perhaps now the career she hopes to pursue someday.

Early Learning Center celebrates preschool graduates with Aloha-themed send off

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Under a warm summer evening sky, families, Tribal Elders, teachers, and staff gathered in late July on the lawn at the House of Awakened Culture to celebrate graduates from the Eagle, Bear, and Bee classrooms of the Marion Forsman-Boushie Early Learning Center.

With a theme inspired by Indigenous Hawaiian “Aloha spirit” and the shared Suquamish values of love, kindness, respect, compassion, and gratitude, the evening recognized the preschoolers’ accomplishments while honoring the families, culture, and community that have supported them on their journey toward kindergarten.

Assistant Director James Alber served as master of ceremonies, while the Sacred Water Canoe Family opened the celebration with traditional songs. Classroom teachers later called graduates forward to receive certificates as proud families applauded and captured the milestone with photos.

Early Learning Center Director Kayla Wakefield reminded families that the evening celebrated not only the children’s academic growth, but also the values and relationships that will continue to guide them.

“Today we celebrate not only where our children are going, but also where they come from,” Wakefield said. “Each of our graduates carries the strength, love and wisdom of their families, communities and ancestors.”

Throughout the school year, she said, the children learned far more than letters and numbers. They learned to share, solve problems, ask questions, build friendships, and develop confidence while discovering that they belong to families, the Suquamish Tribe, and a community that supports them.

Comparing the graduates to voyagers beginning a new journey, Wakefield encouraged them to keep learning, exploring, asking questions, and sharing their smiles with the world. She reminded them that, wherever their paths lead, they will always have the support of their families, teachers, tribe, and community.

Wakefield also thanked parents and caregivers for their partnership throughout the year and praised the dedication of teachers and staff whose patience and care helped prepare the children for their next step.

Following the ceremony, Tribal Elder Dolores Mills offered a blessing before everyone gathered indoors for Hawaiian barbecue, continuing the evening’s island-inspired

celebration. Families, teachers, and staff then shared one final meal together as the graduates marked the close of their preschool years and looked ahead to kindergarten.

August Suquamish News out now

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Paddles Up: Your guide to the people, traditions, and protocols of Tribal Canoe Journey

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Tribal Canoe Journey brings thousands of people together on the water and ashore, each playing a part in carrying the Journey forward. For those experiencing it for the first time — or looking for a refresher — here’s what to know about canoe families, host communities, landings and protocol.

What is the Tribal Canoe Journey?

Tribal Journey is an annual event where canoes from across the region and beyond come together to share their cultures on the water and ashore. Tribes travel between communities until they reach the final host tribe. Once all the canoe families arrive at the final destination, tribal members engage in culturally rich activities, including protocol ceremonies where stories, songs, and gifts are shared. The hosting activities last for several days.

What is a canoe family?

A group of people who travel together via canoe, support boat, and/or ground support team. Some are tribal canoes, others are family canoes and some are intertribal canoes. They include community members of all ages.

Who participates?

Canoes have provided transportation for many Indigenous communities around the world. The Tribal Canoe Journey takes place annually across inland seas of the Coast Salish territories, and often reaches into the Northern Coastal regions, including tribal communities in Alaska and British Columbia, as well as along the coasts of Washington and California. Canoe families from as far as New Zealand and Hawaii have also joined in.

What are the responsibilities of host tribes?

As canoes travel to their final destination, they stop along the way to rest and recharge. Typically, host tribes along the route provide camping facilities and meals, as well as activities for the participants to come together and share.

As the journey progresses, more and more canoe families join in.

Support Boats

It is common for canoes to be on the water for 6-8 hours a day, or even more. They can range from simple fishing or sail boats to bigger vessels, but all support boats share one thing in common: they are always appreciated. Pulling alongside a support boat every few hours to switch out weary pullers, refill water bottles, take bathroom breaks, or grab a bite to eat is almost always a welcome break.

Landings

Once they’ve landed at their final destination, the event continues with shared meals and protocol ceremonies.

What’s happening when canoes come ashore?

Canoes will place “paddles up” as they approach the shore as a sign they are coming in peace, followed by someone from their canoe formally asking permission to come to shore.

A member of the hosting tribe – often Tribal Council members, youth royalty, and Elders – will grant the canoe permission to come ashore.

The canoe then will pull back out, circle around and come in backwards, as another sign of coming peacefully.

Here in Suquamish, canoes are then carried up our boat ramp and onto the lawn in front of the House of Awakened Culture. This is hard work and can be dangerous. Please stay out of the way.

In some locations, particularly when arriving to the final host of that year’s journey, canoes will request to come ashore in a specific order based on the distance from the hosting community.

Can I take photos? What about drones?

Feel free to photograph and video arriving canoe families and protocol ceremonies, unless an announcement is made to refrain from photography. When photographing individuals or specific items of regalia, it’s always polite to ask permission first.

Flying drones of any kind is not permitted in Suquamish during our hosting without specific permission from Suquamish Tribal Council or their designated representatives.

The Water Road to 2029
Suquamish set to host 40th anniversary of modern Tribal Canoe Journey

Four decades after Suquamish helped launch the modern Tribal Canoe Journey movement, canoes from across the region will once again come ashore here for a historic anniversary gathering.

The Suquamish Tribe committed in 2025 to host the 2029 Tribal Canoe Journey, marking 40 years since the 1989 Paddle to Seattle. Suquamish was the launching point for that first journey, which helped launch a revival of canoe culture and inspired the annual gatherings that now connect Indigenous nations throughout the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia and Alaska.

For Suquamish Tribe’s Cultural Resources Director Kate Ahvakana, the anniversary is about much more than a chance to commemorate a single event. It is an opportunity to honor the cultural resurgence that Tribal Journeys have helped carry forward from one generation to the next.

“The Tribal Canoe Journeys and the canoes themselves have brought back so many traditions and cultural teachings to us and to many different communities, wide and far,” Ahvakana said. “We want to honor those teachings and those cultural knowledge systems that have been building — food sovereignty, traditional weaving, our language, our practices on the water and our potlatch practices.”

A growing wave

She described that resurgence as a growing wave that continues to carry more and more renewed teaching and cultural strengthening.

“One thing is always connected to another, “she said. “It uplifts our community. It helps our community do things culturally and traditionally.”

Suquamish hosted the 20th anniversary Canoe Journey in 2009, welcoming about 6,000 guests as more than 80 canoes landed on Suquamish shores. The tribe built the House of Awakened Culture in preparation for that gathering, creating a cultural home modeled after Chief Seattle’s longhouse that once stood a short walk down the beach.

In the years since, the House of Awakened Culture has become a place for songs, ceremonies, weddings, funerals, celebrations and community gatherings — an enduring legacy of hosting.

“That was because we hosted Tribal Journey,” Ahvakana said. “So, we’re really looking forward to hosting again to create something that is going to benefit our community in similar ways. Our community will be enriched by this.”

Planning already underway

Indeed, planning for 2029 is already beginning, though the work will become more visible later this year. Ahvakana said community meetings and other opportunities to participate are expected to begin toward the end of 2026 as preparations grow.

Some hands-on work, however, is already underway. Tribal Elder Patty Medina has already been seen hard at work in her commitment to make 1,000 necklaces for giveaway items in 2029.

Meanwhile, the journey will continue across ancestral water highways over the next two years. The tribal community in Ketchikan, Alaska, is scheduled to host next summer in what promises to be an epic journey for participating canoe families. In 2028, the We Wai Kai and Wei Wai Kum First Nations in Campbell River, British Columbia are set to host.

But first this year’s Paddle to Medicine Creek Potlach will conclude with the Nisqually Tribe, where gathering canoe families will honor Billy Frank Jr., the Medicine Creek Treaty, and the long struggle to uphold treaty fishing rights. Ahvakana said visiting Nisqually brings renewed attention to sovereignty, salmon habitat, and the legal battles that continue to protect tribal fisheries.

Looking ahead to 2029, Ahvakana said the anniversary carries a powerful reminder of how far the movement has come.

“Since the revitalization of the Tribal Canoe Journey, our children will never know life without canoes and culture,” she said. “We have children now who have never known a different way. And that’s beautiful.”