As AFN heats up in Anchorage today, a handful of students from Nome Beltz Jr./Sr. High School have returned from the 30th annual Elders and Youth Conference—the first time in about seven years since they’ve last attended. The student participants are part of NNYLO, the Nome Native Youth Leadership Organization, or JROTC—and they shared leadership skills and stories through a presentation at the conference, this year themed “Get Up and Stand Up.”
For Jannelle Trowbridge, participating in the conference exercised her leadership abilities.
“I feel like I’m growing and learning,” said Jannelle. “Even on this trip, you get to sit at tables and talk with elders. And with our presentation, we had to sit down and take initiative—leading a discussion and carrying out coming up with solutions from a group of people.”
Jannelle is a platoon leader with JROTC. She and fellow senior Joshua Gologergen explained how they learn respect and build leaders within the battalion. And though many valuable lessons were shared among the youth and elders at the conference, Tatiana Chanar said it wasn’t just about learning—it was something deeper than that.
“One thing I found inspiring on this trip wasn’t exactly a thing that we learned, it was something that we felt, and it was my first time feeling this in my life and it was such a refreshing experience,” said Tatiana. “A lot of people from the state, everywhere, come together and talk about issues that they’re dealing with. These issues are at the core, and everybody can relate to them. And it brought this sense of community and togetherness that I’ve never felt before.”
Tatiana described a skit during the conference where one girl was being confronted by issues like depression, anger, greed, alcohol, lust and suicide. She couldn’t handle all these adversities alone, but once she had support she was strong enough to overcome them. That was the message the students received from the gathering, Tatiana said: that common struggles within communities mean they’re not alone, and the stories that were shared lent them strength.
Tatiana and Sierra Tucker said they were able to identify a lot with the elders whom they met, and relate to the issues the elders faced throughout their lives. For Sierra, who built a relationship with an elder named Margaret, this commonality was also a bit distressing.
“It made me realize how there does need to be a huge change, because if I can relate to her young memories from 50 years ago and I can relate to that now, there’s still some things that aren’t changing,” said Sierra. “And Margaret and I exchanged numbers, so we’re gonna keep in touch,” she laughed.
For Tatiana, this experience deepened her respect for elders and why their wisdom is so important.
“What they want to pass down—it’s legit, it’s real. We shouldn’t take it lightly,” said Tatiana. “They don’t want us going down a path without knowledge.”
Joshua admired that the elders wanted to share their knowledge with the youth because of what their own elders taught to them.
“They were willing to teach any youth. It didn’t matter which culture, which tribe or which community they came from,” he said.
This positive interaction between the young people and elders at the conference inspired Sierra and Tehya Tucker to brainstorm ways to replicate it back home in Nome. They’re hoping to get other students outside of NNYLO involved, or even coordinate a storytelling gathering in Nome with elders here.
Tehya said one sentence someone shared at the conference really stuck out to her and is motivating her in these next endeavors:
“Don’t be that person that complains about all the bad things, and just sits there and does nothing about it,” she recounted. “Just get up and stand up for what you think is right, and try to change what is wrong.”
Tehya was selected as a student representative from the Bering Strait region, and next year, she’ll help to choose the theme and plan the Elders and Youth Conference.
Sierra said many times during the conference, she wished that more of her friends could be there and share what she called an empowering experience. So for anyone who wasn’t able to be there, here’s what these students took away from this year’s Elders and Youth Conference.
“Culture,” said Joshua. “Riveting,”said Tatiana. “Motivational,” said Tehya. “Heartwarming or inspirational,” said Sierra. And “beautiful,” said Jannelle.
For continued live coverage of AFN, keep listening to KNOM today and Saturday, and tune into KNOM Update News throughout the day for more on this year’s convention.
