The Futures For Children Youth Lead‐ership has officially changed their name! The NPS Board unanimously voted to accept the name change and revitalization of a youth council for the Navajo Prep campus on Feb. 19, 2010. Nakisha Antonio and Michael Sam con‐ducted an impressive presentation and represented their group during the 

board meeting. We will now continue the process of re‐affiliating with UNITY (United National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc.) as well as maintaining our ties with Futures For Children. On Feb. 8th Youth Leadership students sponsored a Bake Sale with the intention that all proceeds would be donated to the Haiti Relief Effort. On Feb. 26, Youth Leadership students met with the Execu‐tive Director of the San Juan County Red Cross to donate that money. The Youth Lead‐ership stu‐dents raised and donated $170.00!! 

Students of NPS display their musical talents. Shanelle Yazzie competed in the Northwest Music Educators Solo/Ensemble Contest, earning an "Excellent" rating. Stormy Max competed in the New Mexico Celtic State Championship and Feris cultural Competition (novice class) and received a red ribbon. Mr Reynolds com-peted in the New Mexico Celtic State Championship and Feris cultural Competition and received blue ribbons (open class) in tin whistle and hammered dulcimer, and tied for first place! The Navajo Prep band participated in the Black History Month Celebration playing a blues song. The band is planning to attend the Dineh Band Festival in April @ Chinle, AZ. Come out support our NPS band!

Glenna Cly, Co-President of the Navajo Prep Naa’taanii Youth Council presents Lilly Rose with a check for $170.00

Navajo Prep Naat’aanii Youth Council

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Freshman Class

News 2-3

John Tohtsoni’s

Page 4

Teacher/ Club

Updates 5-7

Residential

News 8

McKenzie

SBHC 9

Security Update 10

N A V A J O P R E P A R A T O R Y

S C H O O L I N C .

Eagle Express Newsletter M A R C H 2 0 1 0 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

What are

Freshman

Learning?

Spring Read-

ing Buzz!

Club News &

Announce-

ments

McKenzie

School Based

Health Center

The Scoop on

After-school

Activities

Who’s the

Security?

Front Row: Mrs. Joe (Sponsor), Lilly Rose (Executive Director – San Juan Red Cross), Ranee Deechilly, Naki-sha Antonio, Tsookie Holiday, Orring Johnson. Back Row: Glenna Cly, Korey Mike, Dominick Bitsui, Waylan Stevens

Musical News from Band Director Shawn Reynolds

P A G E 2

Things that

Freshman Joe

Fernandez likes

about NPS is

“the freedom we

have here, the

buildings and the

teachers”.

English: A classroom

gallery of pictures

students created to

show literary elements

in works they have

studied.

What are Freshman Learning?

Freshman Academy We are midway through the spring semester and with spring break coming up, stu-dents will want to spend more time outside. Study hall may not always be a favorite time for freshmen, but can be a time to get some homework done. An incentive the freshmen academy has always been that when students work hard and bring their GPA up (3.O or above), they will not have to attend study hall beginning the spring semester. For the 1st Qtr there were 34 students on the study hall list. Students will have to wait and see who will stay off study hall or return to study hall every Tuesday and Thursday from 4 – 5 pm.

If you wanted to know what students were learning in the classes, here is a de‐scription from the freshmen classes: 

English I Class just finished its work on The Odyssey, where they have read, dis‐cussed, and cataloged Odysseus' adventures.  Next up is Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, just in time for spring! We continue working on gram‐mar and proofreading, vocabulary enrichment, and the writing process. 

 Science Class students are working on Introductory Qualitative analysis ‐ deter‐

mining what ions are present in water and Titrations ‐ determine the mo‐larity of an acid by titration with a base using phenolphthalein. In Math students are learning about Linear Equations ‐ slope‐intercept, standard form, point‐slope form. 

 NM/AZ Geography, students completed their Unit Salt Map Projects. Students 

are continuing to work on their Leaders of Arizona/New Mexico Research Papers as well. Due dates for the AZ/NM Research Paper: 1.  Topic                    Jan. 28  4.  Rough draft #1      Mar. 12 2.  Thesis statement   Feb. 19  5.  Rough draft #2      Apr. 15 3.  Outline                  Mar. 5  6.  Final paper            May 7  

Computer Classes just finished our unit on using Microsoft Word. Students learned to format business documents, working with tables, graphics and columns, using the reviewing tools and inserting date and time fields in Word. Students are also working on a project creating newsletters using Adobe In‐Design and students will begin Excel and a Research Paper Pro‐ject on Technology. 

 Navajo Language I students have been working on using pronouns (shi, ni, 

bi,nihi,etc.) in speaking and writing; they will be completing the unit and going on to Space and Time Enclitics this week; they will be expressing lo‐cation and directions using these in speaking and writing for the next week. Examples: at Farmington = Tota'di, to Farmington = Tota'goo, up to Farmington = Tota'ji'. 

Geography:

Salt Map

Project

E A G L E E X P R E S S N E W S L E T T E R

Joe Fernandez

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

The freshman class officers are all doing a great job in representing their class. Shanell Yazzie is the Freshmen Class President, Tsookie Holiday is the Vice-President, Deyonna Gruber is our Secretary and Shane Benally is the Treasurer. To meet costs for class activities/events we started doing some fundraising activities in the concessions during the basketball games. We also had a great time doing the candy cane/balloon gram at Christmas time. We are becoming the favorite destination on Mondays from 5-6 where we are selling fresh popped popcorn. In addition, we are planning one major fundraiser for the year, hosting a basketball tournament on campus. We really need support from parents (10 or 15 needed) to make this a successful fundraiser for your freshmen. This would be a tremendous community event and a great money-maker for the Freshmen students. We are so proud of the Freshmen class who are looking ahead to their future goals here at Na-vajo Prep and beyond. They are truly the leaders of the future! So let’s get behind them! Freshman Class Sponsors: Barbara Sorensen & Loni Manning

Kaitlin Pine

Freshman Class Officers and Upcoming Fundraisers

“the

experience of

being away

from home

and talking

responsibility

for ourselves”.

Kaitlin Pine

Kaitlin is from Farmington, NM. She enjoys being with family and friends and enjoys reading a good book. Things she likes about NPS, “the experience of being away from home and taking responsibility for ourselves”. She plans to attend col-lege on the east coast and become an engineer or attend culinary art school.

Joe is from Northern California and lives in Bloomfield, NM. He enjoys playing baseball, snowboarding, vis-iting family and hanging out the friends. One thing he likes about NPS, “the freedom we have here, the buildings and the teachers”. He plans to go to college and become an engineer.

Freshman Students of the Month for February

P A G E 4

“Research shows

that teens really

want parents

more involved in

their lives”.

-Melissa Gehley

Message from the Dean of Instruction Each week, at least one cellular phone is confiscated from a student.  The school policy on cell phone usage is found in the Student‐Parent Handbook, p. 39.  The policy reads, “[Wireless Communication] devices (cellular phones, PDAs, etc.) shall not be used during academic hours (7:55 am – 3:20 pm, including lunch), mandatory after school activities, study hall time and after lights out with the exception of an extreme emergency. . . . Viola‐tion of this policy will result in immediate confiscation and parent(s)/guardian(s) will be notified.  The confiscated item will be released to par‐ents/guardians only.” 

 This policy is in place to maximum the time for learning and to avoid distractions that phones may cause during the school day.  While it is the school’s responsibility to put in place a pol‐icy for maximum learning opportunities, it re‐mains the responsibility of the parent/guardian to monitor their student’s use of a cellular phone.  

One idea that a parent recently suggested was to have parents/guardians place parental controls on their student’s cell phone use.  This parent said that after her student’s phone was taken away because he was texting dur‐ing the school day, she talked with her cellular phone provider and was able to place parental controls on her son’s phone.  These controls included limiting the hours he could text.  The student was not allowed to receive or send texts during school hours and after 10 pm. The parent indicated she was able to place these parental controls on her son’s cell phone at no additional costs.  This parent’s suggestion is certainly one worth exploring.    Spring time is upon us.  As the weather contin‐ues to warm up, we find that students are anx‐ious to get outside and release the energy that has built up in them during the cold winter months.  In addition, some students become more prone to misbehave when the weather warms up.  Please take a moment to talk to your student about the importance of their education and to remain focus on their educa‐tion during the last two months of the school year.  John Tohtsoni NPS Dean of Instruction 

E A G L E E X P R E S S N E W S L E T T E R

SPRING READING BUZZ!!! P A G E 5 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

Following a highly successful fall reading initiative, students are busy read-ing their selection from the 18 titles recom-mended by fellow students and faculty and preparing their “sell the book” presentations. Fall books created a buzz that dramatically increased library circulation and even trans-lated into a school-wide gain in standardized testing scores. On March 18th during Home-room students will sign up in a class of their choice to do the presentations and receive credit. All presentations must be completed and graded by May 14. Some students have

already begun reading additional selections on the list, true to the eagle spirit. Also, dur-ing the next Parent Teacher Conference on April 16, a book exchange will take place at an announced location. Students will be en-couraged to drop by and choose a book from those donated. Parents and staff are encour-aged to bring a book to swap for another book. See you there!

Terri Michaels

Digital Visual Arts Instructor Instructor

Grandparent Song, etc. They also perform the Navajo Gourd Dance and Basket Dance. The students con-tinue to perform at sports events and other NPS activities. Thank You Par-ents, for allowing your student to participate in these cultural enrich-ments programs available here at NPS! Sponsors: Barbara Sorensen & Beverly Washburn

Y1’1t’44h!

This year, the two groups have been performing together at various events by invitation. Students performed for the elderly at the Nursing homes in the Farmington area twice this year. The students do an awesome job in repre-senting NPS. They’re dressed in their traditional attire and introduce them-selves in the Navajo language at these events. They love to share and ex-press their culture through singing a variety of songs, which include: Navajo Flag Song, Navajo National Anthem,

The Navajo Preparatory School Venture Club held overnight adventure on Friday, February 5 and Saturday, February 6. The Club members went to the Durango Ice Skating rink and at-tempted to be Olympic Ice Skaters. For many it was the first time to ice skate. The male members of the club slept in the Ho-gan on Friday night and the female members slept in Bates hall. Before sleeping the Venture club members went on a NPS ghost hunt to see if the school is haunted. To my knowl-edge no ghosts were found. Saturday the club members continued the “Winter Olympics” theme by going to Hesperus ski and tubing hill. All members had a great time and plan to go ice skating again soon.

Venture Club News

Twilight Teachings & Dine Club

Back row:Wilfred Jumbo, Anthony Enoah, Glen Taylor, Malcolm Keetso,

Front frow:Mrs. Washburn, Cheyenne Antonio, Justine Henio, Courtney Nutlouis and Shjanshelbanova John.

Not pictured: Monique Hathale, Meryl Chee, Chenoa Franklin, Nicole Yazzie and Mrs. Sorensen

Venture Club Members at Durango Ice Skating

Venture Club members at Hesperus Ski Resort enjoying a great snow day tubing!

Sponsor: Kevin Keely Venture Club

P A G E 6

“Their

dedication to

reducing and

stopping

Tobacco Ads on

television is

very amazing”.

-Gary Martinez

Black History Celebration a Success!

E A G L E E X P R E S S N E W S L E T T E R

2010 Youth Advocacy & Leadership Conference

On February 22, 2010, the CAUTION Coalition hosted a Black History Celebration at Navajo Prep School. Navajo Prep’s stu-dents and members of the community gathered in Alumni Hall for a night of singing and dancing. The Master of Ceremonies and the NAACP President, Earl Crisp, opened the program with the National Anthem by NPS student, Danielle Coleman, and the Pledge of Allegiance in English and Navajo Language by 5 year old Dontrelle Denetso. After the program introduc-tion by Rainy Crisp, the NPS Band played two great Blues Tunes for us followed by a skit from the CAUTION coalition. The evening was not only about celebrating Black History Month, we celebrated the Native American Culture as well. Dante Thunder Hawk, 10 years old, enter-tained us with a Pow-Wow Fancy Dance. Followed by Betty Ojaye’s speech on “Together We Are Better”. Betty’s speech focused on how we as Native Ameri-cans been through some tribulations and trials and how we can not forget what our own people went through.

The program awarded Poem Winner, DeYonna Gruber, with a $25.00 gift card after she read her poem “Do You See”. The program had a strong finish with Ideal Baptist Choir singing 2 songs, Songstress Fadrea John-son singing 2 songs after the crowd yelling for an encore after her first song. Brother Is-real, 10 years old, performed Silent Praise Mime. Overall the night had a great positive atmos-phere where the students were able to let go of their stresses and enjoy great music and other people’s company from the community.

Submitted by Rainy Crisp

On February 26-28, 2010, four members of the Control Alcohol Use, Tobacco Issues On Native Americans (CAUTION) Coalition attended the 2010 Youth Advocacy and Lead-ership Conference in Albuquerque, NM. At this Tobacco Prevention conference, Bianca Peshlakai, Rehannon Paul, Gary Martinez, and Conrad Arviso listened to a very inspiring keynote speaker, Jeff Yalden, who talked about making positive choices in life and hav-ing goals. Bianca thought he was very motivating and inspiring. The members attended different breakout sessions, including Building the Table with My Peers and Mind Over Media: How to See Through Advertisers’ Smokescreens. “The thing that I enjoyed the most was attending the workshop on building partnerships with peers by learning ideas and teaching us outreach skills that I think will become valuable when meeting new people” said Rehannon. The CAUTION Coalition members saw first hand how the media promotes smoking in movies in the session, Smoking in Hollywood Movies. Conrad said “the tobacco com-pany pays the movie director to put their product in their movie. I think that is bad, but most movies have smoking and other products in their movie”. Gary thought the most amusing part about the conference was “the dedication that the adults and teenagers have. Their dedication to reducing and stopping Tobacco Ads on television is very amazing”.

Trebuchet Club P A G E 7 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

For those of you not already aware, there IS a cool club that is involved in building a Weapon-of-Mass-Destruction from olden times. It is called a Trebuchet, which is a fancy French name for a catapult. This club began at the start of the school year, and in-volved several students from nearly each class. The leader of the club is Tever-rick Chee. He has been working real hard to keep things going these winter months, and really wants Navajo Prep to compete in the local events coming up soon.

A Trebuchet is a complex ma-chine made from wood that when built correctly will hurl a projec-tile (stone,rock) long distances based on its construction. Peo-ple have been building them for as long as anyone can remem-ber, so there is plenty of informa-tion on how its done. We have a large scale model being built right now, but with the coming warmer weather we would like to again open the membership to anyone with a desire to build a device with plenty of power, or just to work

alongside your friends having fun while you're putting some-thing neat together. The plan is to begin building small scale models from balsa wood, and when it warms up a little bit more we will again work on our large scale working model on the outside near the mainte-nance area. So, if you'd like to do something no one else can do, or just to have a little fun each week, come on by Morgan Hall Room 253. Mr. Custard Trebuchet Club Sponsor

Nicole Yazzie, and Malcolm Bob. The committee meets once a month to discuss ways to promote the Na-vajo Language and Culture. The on-going interventions for this goal are: New Moon Run, Weekly Na-vajo & Spanish phrases, and our recently implemented Navajo Tra-ditional Dress-Up Day. The New Moon Run is an activity that is held every month around the time of the new moon. After a drop in participation, the February New Moon Run exceeded previous par-ticipation with 70 students and staff partaking in the event. Each

Y1’1t’44h T’11 !n0ptso/ Hola/ Greetings Everyone, Increasing the use of the Navajo Language and Culture has been a school-wide NCA goal at Navajo Preparatory School for several years. A team of teachers are in-volved in implementing several in-terventions and they are: Denise Joe, Scott Rodgers, Larry Sorensen, William Custard, Loni Manning, Betty Strong, Mavis Yazzie, Kevin Keeley, and Barbara Sorensen. Stu-dents that have been invited to be members of the committee are: Cheyenne Antonio, Wilfred Jumbo,

participant can earn a t-shirt that has been designed by an NPS stu-dent after participating twice. The staff has identified situational phrases that have been translated into Navajo and Spanish. These phrases are to be shared with the students on a weekly basis. which is designated as a bi-weekly activity. In response to student request, the committee has also begun to pro-mote a bi-weekly Traditional Dress-up Day. Submitted by Barbara Lee-Sorensen

Herff Jones will be here on March 17th at lunch to deliver the graduation an-nouncements.

Senior Announcement

~NCA Navajo Language & Culture~

“A Trebuchet

is a complex

machine made

from wood

that when

built correctly

will hurl a

stone, long

distances!”

P A G E 8

“No winter

lasts forever, no

spring skips it’s

turn.”

-Hal Borland

The Scoop on After School Activities!

~Residential News~ Outdoor Activity Trip – Durango Mountain Resort & Recreation Center February 10, 2010 The School Wellness Advisory Team sponsored this trip to promote active living within our local community, and to make physical activity as part of our daily lifestyle. Navajo Prep has joined this active living move-ment. Our goal was to increase outdoor activity with student and staff involvement. The Snow Day trip supported this program by allowing our school community to participate in activities at the Durango Moun-tain Resort such as Cross Country Skiing, Snow Shoeing, Skiing, and Snowboarding. The Durango Rec-reation Center was another option for students to stay active with this day; it offered indoor facilities like a swimming pool, basketball court, weight room, and game room. At the end of the day, I received numerous comments from students and faculty regarding the enjoyment of this activity. We look forward to many more unique opportunities …. Spring time is around the corner and the count down begins for Spring Break. Students, please make sure you take home any valuable items during this time and to make sure items are locked up properly. This would be a great time to do some spring cleaning by taking things home that are not needed so when the school season ends you are not left hauling everything home all at once. The after school program will start doing more outdoor recreational activities since weather is becoming a lot nicer.

Sabrina Hood, Dean of Student Life ext. 121

Hello family and friends, what a busy few months and can you believe seniors that you only a few months of school? Students have been busy with academics as well as after school activities. Here are two highlights from the past month: Student’s attended the Harlem ambassadors’ basketball game. The students got

to take pictures with the players. Many students reported that they have never seen a person dunk or dribble like the professional players. The Harlem team promotes living a drug free life and continue higher education. The Mayor was also present and acknowledged our NPS students. One great thing about the Harlem players was that they were all college graduates and talked to the stu-dents about college after the game. Several players are currently working on their masters degree.

Students participated in the shoe game. One night we had 51 students! A special thanks to Kevin Beline and his guest for their time with the students. Both pre-senters are former NPS students.

Students were introduced to basic rug weaving which will meet on Mondays. Parents if you are interested in your child learning please contact me and we can save your child a loom. As to date we have a total of 10 looms left.

Students continue to make their presence felt in the community. Students have been taking time out of their busy schedule to give back to the community. Stu-dents go to Hilltop boys and girls club weekly to help younger children with home work or just being a friend. NPS students were featured in Farmington news paper and NPS is one of the only schools that attend mentoring programs.

Here at NPS we would like to continue to find new activities every month that are both fun and educational. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to see any programs beneficial for your child. I would like to inform you that it is a great pleasure working with your child. Submitted by Roderick Denetso

E A G L E E X P R E S S N E W S L E T T E R

McKenzie Student Base Health Center P A G E 9 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

DENTAL HYGIENE SERVICES Students whose parents signed a consent are receiving dental hy-giene services at the San Juan Col-lege Dental Hygiene Clinic. To find out how to schedule an ap-pointment for your child, please give us a call!

HEARING SCREENINGS Most of the Junior and Senior students participated in hearing screenings of-fered by San Juan College Nursing stu-dents. Parents of students who did not pass their hearing screening have been notified. Plans are underway to have Freshman and Sophomore students screened in Fall 2010.

IMMUNIZATION UPDATES We were able to provide immuni-zations to students. In addition, we provided Seasonal Flu and H1N1 Flu vaccine students who had parental consent. Staff and their families also received Sea-sonal Flu and H1N1 Flu vaccines.

Helpers this year and a training retreat took place at Soaring Eagle Lodge on the San Juan River in late January. Comments from the stu-dents who attended: “It builds a support sys-tem.” “I like how we are all unique and at the same time are very similar.” “I like how close people get to each other.” “I feel that I can help peers in my own way and that the training can help me do so.” Adults who helped with the group included Betty Strong, Kevin Keeley, Beverly Washburn, Bobby Charley, Roderick Denetso, and Linda Leclaire.

Natural Helpers is a group of students identi-fied by their peers as people they would trust to talk with about a problem. The group has helped with the Native HOPE suicide prevention training and would like to be more involved in new student orientation next fall. The purpose of the group is to provide more support to all students. Survey results in Fall 2008 indicated that over 50 NPS students could not identify anyone on campus that they felt comfortable talking to about problems. The 2009 survey in-dicated that this number was less than 20 stu-dents. New students were identified as Natural

LINDA LECLAIRE, LPCC, is an independently licensed clinical Men-tal Health Counselor. She works full-time at the SBHC. She is avail-able to talk to students with any type of mental health needs – stress, homesickness, grief, loss, relation-ship issues, substance abuse issues, etc. DR. LISA HATCH is a family medicine doctor. She comes to our SBHC once a month on Wednesday mornings. She is available for: Acute illnesses, Female health issues, Fam-ily planning services.

DR. PATRICK CARROLL is a pediatrician who specializes in adolescent medicine. He comes to our SBHC every Wednesday morning. He is available for: Chronic and acute illnesses and injuries, Sports physicals JOANNE LAMEMAN is a Registered Dietician. She is our newest addition! She comes to our SBHC once a month. She is available is to provide diet counseling for: Healthier eating, Special diets (vegetarian, vegan), Weight loss or gain

DR. JEFFREY POWELL is a pediatrician who specializes in adolescent medicine. He comes to our SBHC on Thursday afternoons. He is available for: Chronic and Acute illnesses and injuries, Sports physicals

DR. DEBORAH WATERS is a sports medicine doctor. She comes to our SBHC on Monday

afternoons. She is available for: Sports physicals, Acute illnesses and injuries, Physi-cal rehabilitation exercises

On Going Clinic Services:

Natural Helpers Training

The current school year has been busy at the SBHC and Nurse’s Office! With our new office, there has been a significant increase in the num-ber of students who come through our door each day. Here’s what we’re up to:

Security recently has been provided with advanced training dealing with different scenarios. The administration at Navajo Prep is being progressive with the approach to school safety. Security officers are provided with tools to work alongside staff and local first responders to ensure quick re-sponse and clear communication in mitigating possible emergencies. Another important role for security is accountability of students. This is a role security officers don’t take lightly. When a report of a student not ac-counted for is made, that is when secu-

While attending Navajo Prep, security has the privilege of ensuring your stu-dents safety and accountability. Currently their are six security officers employed at Navajo Prep; three full-time, two part-time, and one substitute. Navajo Prep security provides coverage twenty four hours a day, three hundred sixty five days a year. During peak hours 5-10 pm, Sunday thru Thursday two security officers are required. The names of our security staff are Thomas Young, Harlan Ironcloud, Alex Shorty, Manuel Henderson, Brent Ray, and Jade Spencer.

rity officers earn their wages. We, the security officers do not rest until we have located the student they are the most important aspect of our jobs. If you would like to discuss any issue about security or have any comments please feel free to contact Sabrina Hood, the Dean of Student Life. The number to security is 505-860-2189.

1220 West Apache St.

Farmington, NM 87401

Phone: 505-326-6571

Fax: 505-564-8099

Navajo Preparatory School Inc.

Navajo Prep Security

“Yideeskaagóó Naat’aani”

Leaders Now and Into the Future.

Cigarette use among high school students in National Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) funded schools was 56.5%, almost double the smoking prevalence rate among all U.S. high school students (28.5%). 

Parents can be a key influence of a child’s decision not to smoke.  You can give your child the tools and support he needs to make better choices. 

N P S M I S S I O N S T A T E M E N T

The mission of the school is to educate talented and motivated college-bound Navajo and other Native American youth that have the potential to succeed in higher education and become leaders in their respective communi-ties. The school provides a rigorous academic program based on a strong foundation of Na-vajo philosophy supported by a residential en-vironment that enhances individuality and independence. This mission is reflected in the School’s motto, “Yideeskaagóó Naat’aani” Leaders Now and Into the Future.