Salish school kicks off new year
courtesy photo
Nkwusm teacher Adele Martin reads to her class. Student applications for the current school year are still being considered.
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ARLEE — The 2012-13 academic school year has begun at Nkwusm Salish Language Revitalization School in Arlee. Nkwusm, a nonprofit organization, not only teaches children, preschool through eighth grade, the Salish language and the Salish and Pen d’Oreille tribal cultures, but provides all the academics a public school offers. Applications for the current school year are still being considered.
There are a few changes this year at Nkwusm. Nkwusm recently hired a principal and a reading teacher. Kasie Murphy-Brazill was hired as the first-ever principal at Nkwusm, and Valann Valdason is the reading teacher, who assists the regular classroom teachers with reading. Both bring a wealth of knowledge in academics to their positions at Nkwusm.
Nkwusm still employs three fluent speakers and is building an adult education department that will bring Salish language lessons into the communities and into various after-school programs.
Nkwusm, being a nonprofit, relies on the generosity of the community to exist. If you would like to contribute time, an animal for culture activities, or make a monetary donation, please call the new fundraising coordinator, C. Douglas Morigeau, or fundraising team members Gloria Two Teeth and Tanya Coulson, at 726-5050. If you would like to join the Nkwusm Fundraising Team, they meet twice monthly throughout the school year. At present, Curtis “Dude” and Becky Smith, Cale Thomas, Maryrose Bacon, Tanya Coulson, and Gloria Two Teeth assist Morigeau’s office in fundraising activities. You may email Doug at cdougmorigeau@salishworld.com for information or questions about projects.
Nkwusm will be working with The People’s Center in Pablo to bring you an all-Salish, all music styles, compact disc. Any artists that would like to participate in this language revitalization effort by contributing songs and music, please call the number listed above. “We have had a lot of good feedback on this project,” Morigeau said. “What the artists want to know is, when do we get started?”
