WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.000 Music 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.000 Thank you Gary, it's a great day to be here 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:21.000 and thinking back, about a year ago when this idea was really developed out of a walkabout I was doing on campus with Tom Neil and Eric Yankee 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:25.000 The plan was to do a remodel on the current health center 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:31.000 and we asked the what if question of what if we were to think about a different project and what that might look like 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:34.000 and then a number of people went to work on that 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:40.000 and a lot of heavy lifting by students and by Gary and many others in the audience 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:45.000 and here we are to celebrate the opening of a health center moving forward 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.000 it's a really exciting time to be here 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:51.000 I want to take this opportunity to introduce two of our board members who are here 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:54.000 our chair, Jim Baumgartner, who'll speak later here in the front row 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.000 Applause 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:59.000 and Marshall Guthrie, over here to my left 00:00:59.000 --> 00:00:61.000 Applause 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:06.000 and I also want to recognize representative Paul Evans who's here with us in the back 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:08.000 Thank you Paul for coming 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:16.000 At this time Gary will introduce a few others and then we'll have a few other speaking parts and we'll get on with the groundbreaking so thank you 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:23.000 Thank you President Fuller. What I want to do is kind of give you an overview of our event here 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:28.000 We will hopefully have three speakers, one of our speakers is not here, our student body president 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:32.000 hopefully she will arrive at an appropriate timing for her to speak 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:36.000 but the plan was to have three different outlooks on this project 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:39.000 one coming from Jaime Silva who's the director of the facility 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:42.000 our student body president giving the student perspective on the facility 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:47.000 and then having chair Bomgarner speak from the university perspective on that 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:53.000 Once we've had our speakers, we have Bob Tom here who will help bless the site 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:55.000 and then we'll do some shoveling 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:60.000 and then there's some cake and refreshments in the back so that's our plan at this point 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.000 I'd like to also make a couple acknowledgements before we have our first speaker come up 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.000 We have Paul Kilo who's our foundation chair 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:12.000 Applause 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:17.000 We also have several representatives from Soddersirm Architecture who are the folks who have designed our facility 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:19.000 and they're somewhat scattered 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:24.000 There's a few up here and Brad's in the back and just thank them for coming out today 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:30.000 we have our student health and counseling center staff here which again, great facility for them and I know you'll hear some more from Hime 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.000 Thank you for coming out and also thanking our physical plant staff 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:36.000 very helpful in this project 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.000 and appreciate seeing them and everyone else here today 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:48.000 I'm going to invite Jaime Silvaup to the podium to give you the perspective of this facility and it has been a long time and I've been here a little over 12 years and 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:56.000 as I first got here there was discussion about wanting to expand that facility so it's taken 12 years but we're finally getting there so come on up 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:60.000 Applause 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:03.000 Good afternoon. It is really exciting to be here today 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:09.000 and I want to thank you all for being part of this ceremony, this groundbreaking 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:16.000 the new beginning for our new facilities and we're really excited about that 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:21.000 I don't know how many of you know or have seen our current building 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:25.000 It's a one story building right across from the Werner University Center 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:32.000 It was originally designed as an infirmary where six students would spend the night and be healed 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:38.000 after a few years, more services were integrated into that clinic 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:45.000 and now we have three services that we have for students there 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:48.000 we have medical services 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.000 we also have mental health counseling services 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.000 and we have wellness education services there for our students 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:62.000 Our medical staff is currently consisting of a part time physician and three nurse practitioners 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:08.000 one of whom is our medical services director and unfortunately she could not be here today 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:12.000 and then we also have medical assistants on our medical team 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:16.000 during this last year, just to give you a picture of our services 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:20.000 during this last academic year, 2015 16 that just concluded 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:27.000 our medical staff provided 4257 medical appointments to our students 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:30.000 and a student satisfaction survey that was conducted 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.000 by our wellness education department 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:36.000 and our staff 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:41.000 showed that 81 percent of the respondents rated the medical services as excellent 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:51.000 and 62 percent of the respondents consider these medical services as very important to their success and retention at Western Oregon University 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:59.000 We're providing excellent services to our students and our new building will allow us to expand our range of services 00:04:59.000 --> 00:04:62.000 We would like to increase our medical staff 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:08.000 so that students don't have as much of a wait time for appointments 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:15.000 we are also excited about reimplementing a program called C care 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.000 this was in place when I arrived about 8 years ago 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:23.000 and then it was a grant funded state program that ended 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:34.000 and we have reapplied and our medical services director has been instrumental in helping us become approved again to offer C care to our students 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:39.000 C care is a federally funded program and it focuses on reproductive and sexual health 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:47.000 so this is one of the services that we will be reintroducing to our students in the fall 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:57.000 another exciting development is that all three of our nurse practitioners are going to be trained to become sexual assault nurse examiners 00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:62.000 this is a major accomplishment and a big success for our students 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:09.000 if a student is sexually assaulted, currently they have to travel to Salem or Corvallis 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:16.000 to have one of these specialized sexual assault examinations 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:23.000 and now that we will have all three of our providers trained as sexual assault nurse examiners 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:26.000 the students can remain here and they can have that service here 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:37.000 so they don't have the added stress and inconvenience to travel some after having undergone this traumatic event 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:41.000 so with the added space, equipment and technology 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:47.000 we are really looking forward to improving our medical services to our students 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:53.000 the second service I want to talk about is our mental health counseling services 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:62.000 our mental health counseling staff consists currently of our counseling director and I don't think he's here 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:11.000 he leads a team of counselors, there's six other professional counselors on the counseling team 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:18.000 and we also average about two interns per year from different graduate programs in the area 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:22.000 we've had interns from George Fox University, from Pacific 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:29.000 from Corbin University, also the program here on campus 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:34.000 the rehabilitation mental health counseling also sends us interns 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:40.000 and together with the counselors we provide mental health services for students 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:47.000 when I first arrived in 2008 there were only 2.8 full time counselors on staff 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:53.000 during that year we provided 2238 mental health appointments 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:58.000 since that time we are now 7 mental health professionals 00:07:58.000 --> 00:07:69.000 and this last year that just concluded we provided 4554 counseling appointments to our students so it's slightly over double 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:15.000 we're very proud of that and we know that the students are really benefitting from that 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:27.000 in fact the survey that was conducted at the end of spring term showed that 84 percent of the students that responded rated the mental health counseling services as excellent 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:35.000 and 80 percent said that the counseling services were very important for them to remain on campus and to succeed. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:40.000 one of the things that we're really excited about with this new facility and new building we're going to have 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:42.000 is that we will have more space 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:50.000 and we can plan for future expansion of our staff to provide more services to our students 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:55.000 it also gives us an opportunity to continue partnering with community partners such as Polk county mental health 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:58.000 and the early assessment and support alliance 00:08:58.000 --> 00:08:65.000 these programs come to campus on occasion and provide mental health evaluations and assessments 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:12.000 for students who are at serious risk for danger to themselves or others 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:20.000 we also will have more room to provide students with mental health therapy groups and support groups 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:26.000 and hopefully also increase the number of interns that can help with our mental health services 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:31.000 the third service that we have in our clinic is wellness education 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:34.000 this is our education and prevention part of our services 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:38.000 we have two professionals in our wellness education staff 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:45.000 and we do have our assistant director of wellness education, Greg, here and Pam, the other person on our staff 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:50.000 and they also have a team of peer mentors 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:53.000 that help them with training and guidance 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:57.000 and education and orientation to students 00:09:57.000 --> 00:09:64.000 and what they do is the peer mentors go through extensive training so that they then can turn around and mentor other students 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:08.000 and help them through their journey here at Western 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:14.000 the wellness education staff and peer mentors provide campus programs and training on various topics 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:17.000 that help students through their journey 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:26.000 topics include social wellness, emotional wellness, safety, physical wellness, smoking sensation, alcohol and drug issues 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:31.000 sexual assault, bystander training and many other topics 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:38.000 and the peer mentors also partner with campus housing staff to provide in hall programs in the residence halls 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:46.000 and they also have office hours where they meet with students and provide them emotional support and guidance 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:54.000 this last year the peer mentor program provided 8521 student contacts during their office hours 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:60.000 they're really busy supporting students and helping them through their experience here at Western 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:05.000 and this new building will allow more room to plan and prepare programming 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:12.000 store supplies, hold trainings and presentations for students and staff 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.000 I'm very proud of our clinic staff 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:19.000 they are student focused and they are very caring professionals 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:29.000 and they provide a positive effect to Western Oregon University's retention and graduation rates 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:41.000 this new building will help us to have a comfortable, confidential and aesthetically pleasing environment where we can serve our students in a better fashion 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:44.000 I would like to express my gratitude to President Fuller 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:54.000 who encouraged us to consider building a new facility rather than try to remodel the outdated building that was in need of extensive and expensive updating 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.000 Thank you to our planning and design team 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:63.000 who have worked hard on designing the building that will meet our student needs, current needs and future needs 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:10.000 Thank you to Dr. Dukes for his continued advocacy, support and guidance and thank you to our staff 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:13.000 for their excellent service to our students 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:16.000 most of all I want to thank our students 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.000 we are here because of them and for them 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:25.000 they support us financially and it's an honor to be part of their support system here at Western, thank you. 00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:33.000 Applause 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:41.000 Thank you Jaime, as Jaime was just alluding to, students are a big factor in all this because we had to go out and ask students to help support this project 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:43.000 and they were very supportive of it 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:51.000 so we're fortunate to have our student body president, Alma Pacheco to come and speak to a little bit about the student perspective with our new facility 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:60.000 Applause 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.000 Good afternoon everyone. As mentioned before my name is Alma Pacheco 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:07.000 and I am very grateful and honored to be here today 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:10.000 I am your newly elected student body president 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:15.000 and not only I'm the newly elected student body president of Western Oregon University 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:20.000 but I'm also very passionate about advocating and representing the student body 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.000 not just for Western Oregon but advocating for the student needs for all of Oregon 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:30.000 one of the major issues of right now at the university is how high the cost is 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:38.000 and not just that but maintaining a healthy body that can allow us to go to school 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:43.000 and allow ourselves to achieve all those academic goals that everyone has 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:45.000 unfortunately myself since I was born 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:48.000 I've faced many health issues 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:51.000 not just for my body but mentally 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:55.000 and also my family and because of several issues I haven't been able to afford it 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:60.000 nor have I been able to obtain the necessary health care here in Oregon 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:02.000 but fortunately because of Western Oregon 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:07.000 because of the opportunity that student health and counseling center offers to the student body 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:14.000 I am able to maintain a healthy body and still go to school and still be able to be involved and represent the students of Western 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:19.000 Not just that but adding to all this passion, adding to all my history 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:24.000 there has been extraneous work put into this school 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:28.000 and now finally this building is going to be built for our students 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:32.000 It's not only going to offer 100 percent customer service 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:40.000 not just that I'm going to have to wait just like what I do when I go to student health appointments at the center 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:45.000 I have to see that sometimes they have to share a room and it's a bit uncomfortable 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:51.000 but this student health service is going to be full on 100 percent and I'm so happy 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:56.000 I've unfortunately wasn't part of the process when asking the student body for their support 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:63.000 but Corbin Gardner, the previous student body president, let me know and demonstrated to the student senate and the student government 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:09.000 that the work and this goal needed to happen because the students supported it 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:11.000 we did two surveys 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:21.000 the first survey we got 300 responses and with those 300 responses we got more than 80 percent approval of those students 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:24.000 and we still weren't sure about the support 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.000 so we asked our student body again 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:32.000 a second survey, those same students if they were completely sure that this project should go on 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:35.000 even though it's going to cost us a little more money for our tuition 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.000 and still over 70 percent said yes 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:42.000 obviously we were in complete need of this service 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:46.000 and this service to be granted to us 100 percent of the way 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:52.000 thankfully, and I really am thankful to all of you that worked on this project 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:54.000 this is actually going to happen 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:60.000 I believe it was over ten years that this goal happened and I'm glad that it's not just a renewal 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:03.000 but it's going to happen full on from the ground up 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:06.000 and I'm very excited and I'm very happy to be here 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:11.000 and let you all know that yes, Western Oregon students were in support of it and I am too 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:18.000 So again, thank you for this opportunity, for letting me speak to you all and reassuring you that students do need this service 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:24.000 Applause 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:26.000 Thank you Alma 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:32.000 and our last speaker is chair Baumgartner of our board of trustees 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:36.000 Applause 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:39.000 Thank you everybody, welcome and thanks for coming today 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:45.000 this is a great opportunity and it's a great success that we want to celebrate on behalf of Western Oregon University 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.000 the board has been in place now officially for just over one year 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:54.000 July 1 last year we took over full responsibility, governing responsibility 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.000 for Western Oregon University 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:61.000 independent of the state of Oregon system of higher education in 85 years Ryan? 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:09.000 and July 1st was also the beginning of Dr. Fuller's tenure as president of the university 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:11.000 so it's been a great year for the university 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:16.000 it's been a year of change, it's been a year of newness, it's been a year of exploration 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:20.000 in the process of hiring Dr. Fuller I was involved with that 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.000 we dealt a lot with the phrase brave new world because everything was changing 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:29.000 but last July Dr. Fuller and I met and we adopted the Lewis and Clark expedition as our model 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:36.000 Why? Because Lewis and Clark were sent out to figure out just what the heck it was that Thomas Jefferson bought right? 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:40.000 What is out there? And we didn't know what was out here for Western Oregon University 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:48.000 we didn't know what opportunities were out here, we didn't know what challenges were out here just like Lewis and Clark didn't know the Rocky Mountains existed 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.000 so we've been exploring for this first year 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.000 and just like Lewis and Clark we've had incredible success 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:58.000 We've accomplished a lot and this building is a perfect example 00:17:58.000 --> 00:17:63.000 It's an investment by the entire community in Western Oregon University 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:09.000 It's an investment by the entire Western Oregon community in the future 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:14.000 and it's an investment by everyone in the students of Western Oregon University 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:19.000 and that's what we stand for, that's what we're here for, and that's what our mission is 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:22.000 and lastly, just let me echo something that Alma just said 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:27.000 It's an investment by the students at Western Oregon University 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:33.000 They put this as a priority, they embraced this idea brought to us by Dr. Fuller with his leadership 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:35.000 with this exploration of the new year 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:37.000 they put themselves on the line 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:42.000 they are investing in Western Oregon University, they are investing in their own future 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:48.000 I welcome their participation, I congratulate the university on behalf of its successes this year 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:52.000 and I congratulate it on this project and thank everybody for their support, thank you very much 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:61.000 Applause 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:04.000 So Western Oregon University also works very closely with our tribal partners 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:08.000 and has made it a practice over the last five major construction projects 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:10.000 to have the land and buildings bless 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:20.000 we are very fortunate to have Bob Tom, a tribal elder to bless our site today so I'd like to invite Bob up to bless our site here 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:28.000 Applause 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:35.000 Thank you Gary and student body president and university president 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:43.000 and all the staff and all of these important guests that showed up today for this ceremony 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:49.000 When you say ceremony to Indians you don't know what you're going to get, what's going to happen 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:54.000 I wasn't so sure what the university wanted 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:60.000 I'm just going to spin off of the statements about Lewis and Clark 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:12.000 and remind everybody that they would have never made it across the United States and across the Rocky Mountains without the assistance of the Indian tribes 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:16.000 and it brings up a feeling that should be here 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:22.000 we need to get back to the spirit of those early settlers 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:32.000 and their meetings with Indian tribes and when they got here, when they settled it was an inner dependent kind of living 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:35.000 everybody had to help each other 00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:43.000 they built barns together, they planted, it's an inner dependent way of living 00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:49.000 the people here, the things that people are saying, there's a sense of being inter dependent here 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:58.000 between the students, administration, between the boards and the foundations, everybody helping each other 00:20:58.000 --> 00:20:64.000 No one being more important than the other, an inter dependent way of living 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:08.000 hopefully that building will be that way 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:17.000 when we bless, and I tried to think of an analogy that's close to what we do in our homelands for blessings 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:24.000 when we have a blessing of a house and there's going to be a building here someday 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:33.000 we would come into it and we would talk seriously about the purpose of that building 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:38.000 and what's the responsibility of the people in that building 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:43.000 and what they need to try and create and the importance of it 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:55.000 and we'd tell them, you're not a father until you have a child, you're not a mother until you have a child and so forth 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:63.000 so when students come to this building I hope that it becomes a two way thing 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:08.000 counselors with degrees, it's great that we have them 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:12.000 but still they have to continue to grow and learn 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:22.000 and the diversity of our students now we have different problems, we have different ways of communicating, different issues 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:30.000 and so, as a father, you're not a father until you have a child, and then it's a two way thing 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:36.000 the child teaches you how to be a father, and you have to teach that child how to be a child 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:40.000 and hopefully there's the openness in this building 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:45.000 where a student can help counselors become better counselors 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:51.000 and that counselors will listen and have that goal 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:65.000 with the house we talk about that that's a living place, it has a life 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:14.000 so when somebody walks in your house, how do you want them to feel, do you want them to feel welcome? 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:16.000 The appearance 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:21.000 is it static or is it welcoming? 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:28.000 and it doesn't happen unless you decide that when somebody comes into this building 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:35.000 this is how they're immediately going to feel 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:46.000 an education facility, when we send our children to a university 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:54.000 they're coming here for a formal education but at the same time they've left home 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:60.000 so we appreciate when institutions have a pow wow, have staff 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:05.000 so that that cultural education can continue 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:08.000 along with the formal education 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:13.000 we see those things here at this university 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:21.000 you may not know it but a lot of kids don't end up here unless the grandparents say okay 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:24.000 that's a place you can go 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:33.000 when a school is dealing with the diversity and the cultural differences and embracing them 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:44.000 that's a place that we like to send our children 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:60.000 I apologize for not addressing you as I should if I was in a tribal setting I would do that and I need to do it here 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:16.000 SPEAKS GREETING 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:20.000 Shasta, kalamath, umpquaa 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.000 rogue river 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:34.000 I greeted you in our proper tribal manner 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:39.000 told you who I am and where I'm from 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:44.000 my mom is from the Seles tribe, how many of you know where the Seles reservation is? 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:48.000 the president knows, good 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:53.000 and the grand ron? 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:63.000 I'm from those two tribes and so when Gary, when Dean Azul, I don't know how many of you know Dean Azul but he's a graduate of Western Oregon 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:08.000 Our graduate of OCE, Oregon College of Education 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:15.000 and has been in Indian education and served an important role in Indian education issues 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:27.000 in the state of Oregon for years and years and he just recently retired from employment from Portland State University 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:38.000 My mom and dad and when Dean called me about someone doing a blessing here 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:48.000 looked at several people but we have big tribal functions going today 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:56.000 I laughed, I didn't know exactly what Gary wanted 00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:68.000 but it was important and I felt that it was a good thing that the university wanted some representation 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:11.000 from the tribes 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:14.000 this area is very close to me 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:27.000 my great grandfather owned some big horses and him and my dad scythed a lot of the roads in this area when they were being built 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:39.000 they came out here and they rented their teams of horses out to the harvest team in the fields, preparing the fields and harvasting 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:50.000 our whole family would come and the women in the family would do sewing, making things that the family needed 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:56.000 putting preserving, putting up things 00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:64.000 even though my homeland isn't here, we have experiences, and we have memories 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:07.000 from here 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:11.000 and I can't believe the growth 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:15.000 when I first came here, there were buildings just that way 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.000 there was nothing down here, and it's just amazing 00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:34.000 I'm just thankful that this university's expanding and they have dormitories, they have so many things here now for our students 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:41.000 It's that inter dependence, people working together to make those things happen 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:51.000 So I feel privileged to be here today with this gathering 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:59.000 these kinds of ceremonies are so important and I hope that once that building's up and once all that staff is all in there 00:28:59.000 --> 00:28:67.000 that once in a while they would sit down and talk about what this building's for and what it's about 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:12.000 and just renew that goal 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:18.000 of working for our students 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:32.000 I know it's Friday and you guys are probably off duty now and I should let you go and get back out in the traffic 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:38.000 but I do appreciate the time, I'm just going to do, on some of the open ground here 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:43.000 just do something there and then I'm through, thank you 00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:48.000 Applause 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:36.000 SINGING 00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:41.000 Thank you Bob, I think we're the ones that are truly honored to have you joining us today 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:44.000 help bless this land and make it a special place for all of our students 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:46.000 to appreciate and enjoy 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:58.000 Bob don't go too far because what I'd like is to have our speakers come back up and we'll turn some dirt here. President Fuller and a few other folks if you'd come up now 00:30:58.000 --> 00:30:68.000 On three. One two three 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:12.000 Oh you want to hold it? 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:23.000 Laughter and applause