九色视频 Culture Bearer Recognized with AFN Award
Storyknife, November/December 2023 edition
Nita Yurrliq Rearden of Kotlik received the prestigious AFN President鈥檚 Culture Bearer Award at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in October for her work in education and the Yup鈥檌k language. Yurrliq also received the 2023 九色视频 Culture Bearer Award in May.
鈥淲e learn from our Elders, we learn from our mistakes. We learn from our stories, we learn from education,鈥� says Yurrliq.
Yurrliq [YUUH-lik] was born in Kotlik to Frederick Yugissaq and Pauline Igvaq (Kameroff) Prince. She is the third oldest of 14 siblings, and the oldest girl. For a short time, she was raised by her grandmother, Theresa Nanirkuqsuar Kameroff, who taught her many traditional activities including sewing, subsistence gathering and Yup鈥檌k values.
Her first education began at home, where her grandparents and parents spoke to her entirely in Yup鈥檌k, teaching her how to live by traditional Yup鈥檌k values. She and her husband have four children and six grandchildren, and she brings her cultural knowledge with her in everyday activities.
鈥淵up鈥檌k is my first language and English is my second language, and in this day in age I feel it is important to know both to survive in the modern world,鈥� Yurrliq says.
Yurrliq attended boarding school at St. Mary鈥檚 High School. Then she received her Bachelor of Education from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She taught Kindergarten, First Grade, and Yup鈥檌k language classes in Bethel and Kotzebue. In these early years, she recognized a need to bring in the Yup鈥檌k culture and knowledge into the classroom and developed a 鈥淔ish Camp鈥� unit for elementary students.
鈥淭o be bilingual is additive to our way of thinking. Monolingual means you only know one way. In order to know two ways, learn two languages,鈥� Yurrliq says.
Yurrliq earned her Master of Arts in Cross Cultural Studies in 2006 and retired from the Lower Kuskokwim School District in 2011. She is currently working with educators to develop cultural lessons for the Lower Yukon School District (LYSD) and help LYSD revitalize the Yup鈥檌k language and cultural values.
One of her most recent projects is working on the curriculum that incorporates the Yup鈥檌k word Pulasaraq [Boo-LAH-saw-UHK] which translates in Yup鈥檌k to a 鈥減ath through the trees.鈥� It aims to help students find their way through education and life by utilizing the teachings of our Elders, in the same way they had to make a trail through the willows and the tundra to get safely from one village to the next.
Monolingual means you only know one way. In order to know two ways, learn two languages.
Nita Yurrliq Rearden
鈥淲hen we asked our Elders what they would like our students to learn in school, we expected them to respond with science, reading and math. One Elder said, 鈥業 want my children to grow to become human beings,鈥欌�� says Yurrliq.
鈥淲e worked to incorporate the Yup鈥檌k way of life with themes related to subsistence, storytelling and using place-based education.鈥�