7th Generation Blog Site

We had our last board meeting on Friday, Dec. 4, 2009 in Titusville in the new Upper Mohawk, Inc. (UMI) building conference room. We had a good turn-out as many of our board members were also attending the annual UMI holiday party weekend. 7^th Gen board members and staff appreciate being included in UMI family and corporate celebrations and as always, a good time was had by all.

At our board meeting the focus was on identifying programs that would best utilize our resources to fulfill 7^th Gen’s mission to “collaborative ventures that assist Native Americans to achieve their self-determined goals for economic and community growth.” Our commitment to Kim L., our Veterinary Technology scholarship student was fulfilled in December 2009. Kim completed two years of study in the Veterinary Technology Program at Brevard Community College and is expected to graduate in the spring. We have donated computers for student labs to two Tribal schools; Denehotso Indian Boarding School, in Arizona on the Navajo Reservation and to the Loneman Day School on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. So, where do we go next? Suggestions included expanding our assistance to Tribal schools by providing infrastructure support; exploring new programs relating to Nuclear Energy and Agricultural Technology for sponsoring college students; looking into a training/intern program with Haskell University to provide researchers for the record repository at Lenexa; and issuing a Request for Proposals available for Tribally-operated schools to submit plans for partnering with 7^th Gen on specific information technology related projects. The board is meeting again in April so we will keep you posted.

We have good news to report with our Computer Donations Program. We will be placing refurbished computers and supporting electronics in schools in need serving Native Americans. In April, we received 20 desktop computers with monitors from the Cristina Foundation in April and donated them to the Loneman Day School on the Pine Ridge Reservation in Oglala, South Dakota. The Loneman Day School serves students from kindergarten through the 9^th grade. The Pine Ridge Reservation is home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe and is situated in southwestern South Dakota on the Nebraska state line. It includes over 11,000 square miles with diverse geographic regions which include wide open grassy plains, rolling pine covered hills and barren badlands. It is also one of the poorest Indian reservations in the United States. The unemployment rate is estimated at 80% and the school drop-out rate is over 70%. The schools on the reservation are in the bottom of school funding by the U.S. Department of Education and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These are some of the compelling reasons that 7^th Generation chose to work with the Loneman School in upgrading their student computer lab. James Rallo, UMI’s Network Administrator, delivered the equipment to the school at the end of May and met with their Information Technology Administrator to ensure a smooth transition and set-up. James also conducted a Needs Assessment of the schools information technology and determined that they are in need of new networking equipment. That need will come before the 7^th Gen board at our next meeting. We are truly honored that we were able to make a contribution to the effort to better prepare their students for the technology-based challenges of today’s world.

More good news. Kim L., our Veterinary Technology scholarship student finished the Spring and Summer semesters of the second year of the program. She states that the time has gone by very fast!

And remember, you too can help 7^th Generation by using www.GoodSearch.com as your search engine and doing your online shopping through www.GoodShop.com.

I’m very happy to let everyone know that we have two additional board members who were voted in at our April 15, 2009 meeting. They are Gloria Dennard and Dr. Abraham E. Haspel. Gloria is the current site manager for the UMI Warner Robins office and previously worked with Northrop Grumman. She has over 20 years experience in US Air Force program management and is the 2007 American Taekwondo Association World Champion in weapons. Dr. Haspel is the president of the Cogent Analysis Group, LLC a company he founded in 2008 which provides consulting services to commercial clients and government agencies. He has a long and distinguished history working at the highest levels of the U.S. government with the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy. We are honored to welcome Gloria and Abe to our Board of Directors.

At the April meeting the Board decided to concentrate our resources on computer donations to Native American schools in need. The objective is to provide technology to schools serving Native American children so that they can compete with the same skill set as other children at their grade level and emerge from high school prepared for the technology-based challenges in our current economy. We recently were approved as a new partner organization by the National Cristina Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation which encourages companies and individuals to donate computers and other technology, which is then matched to charities, schools and public agencies. This was the result of a grant drafted and submitted by one of our volunteers (and wife of Board member Brad Barnes), Heidi Barnes with assistance from UMI Network Administrator James Rallo.

We will be receiving computers from the Cristina Foundation periodically for the purpose of placing these computers in schools in need serving Native Americans. James Rallo has engaged the Combbat Robotics Team comprised of students from two local schools, Astronaut High School and Titusville High School. Prior to shipping the computers out to the designated Native American schools, six students from the Robotics Team, under the supervision of James who is one of the team mentors, are volunteering their time to dust, erase all data and install software in the computers. Many thanks to these students for giving of their time to help Native American students who are not so fortunate with their technology capabilities!

Kim L., our Veterinary Technology scholarship student is in the second year of the program and finishing up her spring semester. She will be taking her finals the first week in May and then have a short break before Summer school. Kim continues working for our board member Dr. Paul Burger at his animal clinic and the reports are that she is an excellent worker and an asset to the clinic!

7^th Generation Community Services Corporation was donated a Dell laptop for our Veterinary Technician student. The Dell laptop was presented to Lisa McCann , VISTA Resource Developer in August 2008. Linda and Fremont Bassett head the non-profit organization, Computers for Education, located in Titusville, Florida. Along with about 40 other volunteers, the Bassetts take computers that have been donated by local organizations and refurbish them. In turn these newly refurbished computers are donated to students and schools in need. The hardware is donated to the cause by Boeing. A big thanks goes out to Bassetts and the many volunteers that give their time and talents to such a worthy cause.

Hello all!

Well it has been an exciting end to the 1st year of my journey and though at times seeming impossible to complete, I have done it! This year has been so amazing as i’m sure I have mentioned many times prior, but it is the only way to begin to describe my experience. I have gone from basic animal handling to at year’s end performing a surgical procedure on a cow ( eye enucleation). I have worked with many different animals such as llamas, horses, goats, pigs, cats, dogs and even mice at NASA! I have worked at two different animal hospitals and met many intelligent, sweet people. My final semester courses were pretty difficult but very informative and knowlede filled as well, we had learned how to perform many different laboratory tests, laboratory protocol/procedures as well as learning how to interpret our findings. Our instructors had taught us tons on parasitology, hematology, and urinalysis, we also learned about blood chemisty and chemical testing procedures, blood machines and result interpretation. This past semester had also included a surgical nursing prep class, we had learned about surgical nursing procedures such as gowning, gloving and surgical scrubbing not to mention the protocol for preparing your doctor ( yes, preparing your doctor! ). We had also begun learning the many different surgical instruments, their uses, proper care and how to properly do surgical pack wrapping. On the other hand this year was also very important for “The Vet Tech Club”, at year’s end we had met our new freshmen and had to begin learning how to run a highly recognized club which itself was a big challenge. We had elected our new club representatives and have begun to get our hands dirty, let’s just say you’ll be hearing about us!  This year has much more to offer in so many ways, I have begun my first week of my final year and it has already been beyond my expectations. This semester we are studying surgical nursing, pharmacology, and more clinical pathology so stay tuned for year 2 !!!!

-kim

Hello future vet techs…

My name is Kim Lertjuntharangool and I am the first year scholarship winner. I would first like to introduce myself to you all, I am a native american indian from the New Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico. I was raised in New Mexico and have always had a profound love for animals. I had worked as a vet technician when I was 16 years old, it was then that I discovered what my calling was.

Since I have begun the program in January, living in Florida has been a little challenging at times but it has truly been the oppourtunity of a lifetime. I have gained a new independence and have now started living my own life while learning to depend on myself.

I have just completed my first semester in the program and even though it was also quite challenging  at times it  was truly an experience that is almost undescribable. The variety of classes dealing with everything from basic animal restraint to actually dissecting a dog and cat for anatomy lab was eye-opening and full hands-on learning, the best type if you ask me. Not to mention that you’ll also get the oppourtunity to work at NASA with real scientists!!! How exciting was that!!

While not in class I spend my time either working a Dr.Paul Burger’s Hospital or volunteering at the Brevard Zoo. Both locations are very fullfilling In there own way, Working for Dr.Burger has been a amazing, fun experience to which I can truly say “I LOVE MY JOB”, I have gained tons of experience  working with both Dr. Burger as well as Dr. Nikki Bond whom herself is more than a delight.

The Brevard Zoo has also been like a third classroom for me. On a typical day my duties include everything from basic cleaning and feeding to educating our guests. This is also another fully hands-on job but with more exotic interactions.

We will begin our second semester the middle of August with another full set of classess to which I will be sure to fill everyone in on as soon as we get started. I am almost through my first year in the program and am truly excited to continue on. I am always available to anyone who may want a bit more insight so feel free to write.. until then… it was nice to meet you.

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7th Generation is a nonprofit organization (7th Generation Community Services Corporation) dedicated to improving the economic situation of Native Americans. I’m Charlotte, the director and only real staff as we are relatively new and small. We have several projects going on now but right now I want to talk about our scholarship/apprenticeship in Veterinary Technology. We partnered with Brevard Community College in Cocoa, Florida (that’s near Cape Canaveral on the east coast in case you’re not familiar with Florida geography). The school has a great two-year program. It’s small (only about 20 new students are admitted each year) so that means the students get a lot of individual attention. And they are a close knit group who really support each other. 7th Gen offers a scholarship/apprenticeship to a student of Native American heritage. It’s more than a traditional scholarship because we provide for tuition, books, school fees, living expenses (rent, utilities, etc) and one of our board members, Dr. Paul Burger, a local veterinarian gives our student a part-time job at his animal clinic. Anyway, all that said. Our first student started the program this past January. Her name is Kim and she is a member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico. Kim will tell you more about herself and the program in future posts. I just wanted to get things started. We would love to hear from anyone who is interested in veterinary programs and/or educational programs for Native Americans.