Chemawa Indian Boarding School Pacific University Partnership

As a recent graduate of Chemawa Indian Boarding School and a current student at Pacific University, Shawna realized the problem of native poverty. Chemawa was founded in Forest Grove, Oregon in 1880 as renting four acres from Pacific University (founded in 1849). Chemawa is now located in Salem, Oregon.

Shawna’s goal was to create a partnership between Pacific University and Chemawa Indian School. By starting this Civic Engagement Project, she hoped to build the foundation and break the communication barriers. She also wanted to introduce Pacific students to Native American culture, because they lack exposure to it.

Shawna educated both communities about one another in order to get them to work together to establish a foundation to build off of. There are currently 5 Native American’s in the freshman class at a college. Coming from a school of all Native Americans, it was a culture shock for her. She wanted to prepare Chemawa students for the change as well as to be comfortable with who they are. She wanted Pacific students to see how different an all-native boarding school is from anything else. She wanted to educate both communities on Boarding Schools and how they have changed. She hoped to have volunteers from Pacific to visit and help better Chemawa.

Shawna:

• Got hired by archives to work on the history of Chemawa
• She collaborated with ROOTS, a campus group working on cultural and racial issues on campus.
• Taught a class at Pacific
• Introduced the problem and solution to numerous students and staff
• Went to admissions to talk to them about Chemawa
• Went to Chemawa and spoke to students and staff there

For more information, see the e-portfolio for this project.