Native American mixed-race relationships in Utah

by ALLISON JOHNSON  Jonathan and Mandie Hansen are a typical married couple. They live in the suburbs, enjoy their weekly date nights and love going on vacations with their young son. However, one major difference separates them from other couples: race. Mandie is white and Jonathan is Native American.   According to Jonathan, mixed-race relationships [...]

Empowerment through education

by AARON K. SCHWENDIMAN According to the National Center for Education Statistics, enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools rose 26 percent between 1985 and 2007. As enrollment in public schools and adult education programs increases in the United States, the quality of what is taught to children and adults becomes more important. Jennifer Isleib, [...]

Navajo Hogan serves traditional foods

by JESSICA DUNN Squanto, of the Wampanoag tribe, helped the starving pilgrims of the Plymouth Colony 387 years ago. He lived with them and taught them how to fish and plant corn and other local vegetables. The American Indians originally cultivated about 60 percent of the foods we eat today, said Forrest S. Cuch, executive [...]

Tribal leader training in SLC provides growth, opportunity

by KATHRYN JONES One man has high hopes for the education of Native American people, and 90 tribal leaders from across the U.S. have supported his life changing efforts. His name is Forrest Cuch. The program? Empowerment training. And no, Cuch didn’t always see life the way he sees it now. As an enrolled member [...]

Two Utahns find power in their personal history

by BRYNN TOLMAN “History empowers people!” says Forrest S. Cuch, director of the Utah Division of Indian Affairs. Cuch, a Ute, is one of the many people who has used his history to find power and strength. He says, “What I’ve learned from my own history is my own humanity; my good side along with my bad [...]

Expert wants to expand Native American education in Salt Lake

by LANA GROVES Forrest Cuch said he was lucky to have parents who could afford to give him a private education. Unlike other American Indian children, Cuch learned English at a young age, stayed in school and finished his undergraduate degree by 25 years old. He said many children growing up on an American Indian [...]

Educators concerned about Utah American Indian dropouts

by JAMIE A. WELCH During the 2003-04 school year, just 377 American Indians in Utah graduated from high school while 26,976 white students graduated. According to the 2005 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, in the 2003-04 school year, 6.4 percent of Utah’s American Indian students in grades 9 through [...]