By BROOKLYN BROWN
One Feather Reporter
CHEROKEE, N.C. – The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Higher Education office recently completed their most recent Summer Youth College Experience Program (SYCEP), a five-week long high school program for EBCI rising freshmen to rising seniors.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Higher Education office recently completed their most recent Summer Youth College Experience Program (SYCEP), a five-week long high school program for EBCI rising freshmen to rising seniors. Students are shown on a tour of Cherokee Indian Hospital. (Photo courtesy of EBCI Higher Education)
“We take them throughout driving-distance universities and give them tours. We hit all of our MOU schools, we do professional development activities, and we take them on a ropes course and rafting trip at the end of the year. They also talk to different tribal programs, as well as the hospital and casino to get an idea of potential careers,” said Brittany Beck, manager of EBCI Higher Education.
“We know that some students might not have the ability or the means to go tour colleges during the year or at all. So, it’s an opportunity for students to be able to go and just kind of see what different colleges are out there and which one might fit them.”
Beck said the students also participate in a cultural week during the first week of the program. “We eat traditional foods. We go to [Kituwah Preservation Education Program] and they do a language lesson with us. We go to the Oconaluftee Indian Village and the Museum of the Cherokee People. The museum does traditional games with them. This year the Qualla Boundary Public Library did a finger-weaving class with them. We did a clay mask project this summer and a cornbead necklace activity. We also go to the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum and tour that. Last year we did a corn shuck doll class with Amy [West]. We did a bean bread class with Myrtle [Driver Johnson]. They really like it, and it’s just to kind of get them all together and start it off the right way.”
Amy West, fiscal/student services supervisor for EBCI Higher Education, said the program also offers a way for students to meet the higher education staff and develop mentor/mentee relationships. “It’s good that they get to meet the staff, especially those who are getting ready to start the process with higher ed just in general because then they can put a face to the email they’re having to send. Just the other day, one of our students from last summer came in and was getting his paperwork done for school, and he was really excited and was just telling me everything and before he left, he just hugged me and thanked me and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we really do make that impact. It’s important.’”
The program is also a paid opportunity, giving students professional experience. “We do ask for full participation for the five weeks, and they do get paid and we expect them to be here every day unless something comes up like sickness or a preplanned vacation,” Beck said.
“That’s a nice part of it is the camaraderie that the students can come out with, and I think most of them remain close, because they were together for five weeks every single day. They do a full week at Western Carolina University where they go and stay in the dorm rooms to get the full college experience there. That’s what we call our Judaculla Week,” she said.
Applications for the program open April 1 and close May 1. There are15 spots, first come first serve with priority given to rising juniors and seniors and those who have never participated in the program.
