LUMBERTON — Robeson County high school students rubbed elbows with government officials while expanding their knowledge of American Indian culture during a recent visit to Washington, D.C. for the annual United National Indian Tribal Youth Gathering.
“It was a great experience and we all really enjoyed it,” said Caylee Holden, a Robeson Early College High School student. “I wish every Native American student in Robeson County could have had this experience.”
The White House hosted the six-day event, which drew more than 800 young American Indians representing more than 200 tribes from 42 states. The event was also sponsored by the United National Indian Tribal Youth, the Department of Justice and Health and Human Services.
The students from Robeson County who attended the event include MaKenzie Oxendine and Hunter Maynor from Purnell Swett High School; Holden; Taylor McMillian from Red Springs High School; Joseph Ivey from St. Pauls High School; Talisha Dismukes from South Robeson High School; Aubrey Chavis from Lumberton Senior High School; and Dewayne Hunt from Fairmont High School.
“It’s a youth leadership program, so the purpose is to encourage youth to take an active role in their community,” said Connie Locklear, director of Indian education with the Public Schools of Robeson County.
The idea for the annual gathering came after President Barack Obama and the First Lady visited the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota.
The trip sparked the president’s Generation Indigenous, or Gen-I, initiative which aims to improve the lives of a growing American Indian and Alaskan Native population under the age of 24. The initiative includes policies to help expand employment, education and health and social services for American Indians.
“We want to give those young people and young Native Americans like them the support they deserve. We have to invest in them, and believe in them, and love them,” Obama said in December. “And if we do, there’s no question of the great things they can achieve — not just for their own families, but for their nation and for the United States.”
Although Robeson County students didn’t make it in time to hear First Lady Michelle Obama speak, they did get to interact with cabinet officials and members of the White House Council on Native American Affairs as well as American Indian actor Adam Beach.
Locklear said that the students bolstered their leadership skills and knowledge of American Indian culture by attending a powwow and career fair along with several seminars on American Indian cooking, social media, entrepreneurship, youth and social issues, adapting to adversity and resume building.
While in Washington, D.C., the students also visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Washington Memorial and other monuments.
But many students said that their favorite part of the trip was meeting people from different tribes.
“I got a chance to meet the students who were in our area and we got to meet new friends and make memories of a lifetime,” Ivey said. “Memories have been made and I wish that every Native American student could have this experience.”
Robeson County sends one rising senior from each high school to the national conference every year. This year, Robeson sent an additional student from Purnell Swett, which has the largest number of American Indian students.
