EUGENE, Ore. -- (Aug. 12, 2010) -- Jacintha "Jay" Stanley is a member of the Navajo tribe, and had never attended a non-Native educational institution - until she arrived on the University of Oregon campus last summer. Through the UO education department's Sapsik'walá Project, Stanley learned to navigate the culture shock of attending the university's program and will complete her journey by receiving a master's degree Aug. 14.

Stanley and 15 other Native American students will be awarded master's degrees in education on the lawn outside the Many Nations Longhouse at UO. The ceremony will follow the UO summer commencement, which begins at 10 a.m. UO President Richard Lariviere and Patsy Martin Whitefoot, Yakama tribal member and the president of the National Indian Education Association, will address the graduates and their families.

"To me, success means knowing who you are and where you come from, so you know where you are going in the future," says Stanley. "I want to help my future students to have a good hold of their roots so they can build great futures."

After graduation, Stanley will take some time off before returning to her high school -- Monument Valley High School in Kayenta, Ariz. -- where she will teach children in a Native school.

The Sapsik'walá Project is funded through a grant from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Indian Education in the U.S. Department of Education. Program scholarship recipients receive tuition and fees, a monthly stipend, and a book allowance.

Sapsik'walá is a Sahaptian word meaning "teacher."

The project trains Native American students to become professional educators, and help their communities by returning to teach in Native schools. Once they complete their graduate program, they are required to work for at least a year in a teaching program that benefits Indian people.

"This year's graduates will be teaching in the fall at schools ranging from the Nixawii Tribal School on the Umatilla Reservation, the Muckleshoot Tribal School in Auburn, Wash. and other Indian schools in Oklahoma, Nevada, and Arizona," says Allison Ball, director of the Sapsik'walá Project.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of the 63 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Media contact: Rita Radostitz, communications director, OIED, 541-346-5741, rjr@uoregon.edu
Source: Dr. Alison Ball, director, Sapsik'walá Project, aball@uoregon.edu 541-346-4088
Link: http://education/degree.htm?id=61&field_name=

###