Jermayne Tuckta Warm Springs, OR Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation Special Higher Educations Program I was raised on the Warm Springs Reservation of Central Oregon and born in the neighboring town of Madras, Oregon. When I was growing up, I thought I was lucky, because I had the chance to hear my maternal grandmother speak our heritage language with her sisters, and also had the chance to experience our culture and spirituality through my paternal grandmothers side of the family. This has motivated me to work with other fluent speakers of my dialect in my community, and to advance my fluency in the language. Now that both my grandmothers are gone, I only hear my heritage language during ceremonies. I wish to change that and hear my heritage language being spoken amongst my community again and to fully understand my own culture. My efforts, so far, include some community classes that I have offered in Language classes and tule mat classes. One day, I hope to offer so much more to my community and bridge the knowledge of my elders to future speakers so that our language and culture does not become dormant.
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The American Indian Graduate | Spring 2020 | www.aigcs.org