SECOND YEAR SUCCESS
Ge-Niigaanizijig Summer Youth Internship program
The second year of the Ge-Niigaaniziig Sumer Youth Internship Program through Aanjibimaadizing engaged 22 youth interns ranging in age from 15 to 20 years old who were paired with volunteer career mentors throughout all three districts of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
Youth are paired with a career mentor in fields of work they the youth expressed interest in. Some of those fields included DNR Fisheries, Population Health Management, Aanji Auto Garage, Aanji Maintenance Department, Ge-Niigaaniziig, and the District II Representative’s office. The interns are on the job with their career mentors from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Some of the interns have the opportunity to work additional hours with their mentor.
The number of youth participating has grown to over twice the youth participating in the first year. The program kicked off last summer with nine teenagers ranging in age from 15 to 19 years old. After the first two weeks of work, the number declined to a total of seven participants. The number of career mentor volunteers increased this year as well going from 14 volunteers to 19.
On Mondays the interns attended career training classes put on by the Aanji Education Department. Jen Gabrio developed the career training that is being taught and she is taking the lead on educating the interns on a variety of subject matter. Some of the subject matter covered is:
• Identifying wants and needs
• Developing a spending plan
• Financial literacy
• Banking 101
• Taxes
• Budgeting
• Job Searching
• Choosing your path (military, higher education, trades)
• Job descriptions
• Applications
• Resume preparation
Each week there is a guest speaker that would go along with the subject matter being discussed. Guest speakers included: Tammy Wickstrom, Executive Director of Aanjibimaadizing, Tony Pike (military), Michele Berger (higher education), Craig Hanson (trades), and Virgil Wind, District I Representative. Each speaker is very knowledgeable in the subject matter they are presenting.
On Thursdays, interns work on a community service project such as building dog houses for community members and making moccasins for the upcoming powwows. The interns have built two dog houses for community members already this summer with plans to build two more. They learned to measure out cuts, use a drill, use a chop saw, and use a jig saw.
Another fun community service project has been all about moccasins. They have cut out about 20-30 patterns for moccasins. The moccasin patterns that were cut out were used for a moccasin making course taught by Roberta Dunkley from District III. The students also had the opportunity make their own moccasins, by cutting their own patterns and sewing them themselves.
The program is also teaching the youth the importance of balancing work and fun. Along with the community service projects this summer there has also been some fun in for the interns. The community building events include go-karting, golfing, fishing, and some other fun activities.
“I believe we can safely say our second annual summer youth internship so far has been a success, said Knute Peterson, Youth Facilitator.
Ge-Niigaanizijig activities and regularly scheduled meetings are designed to inspire and motivate youth to embrace a traditions-based pro-social lifestyle free of chemicals, anti-social or risky behavior, promiscuity and dependency. These activities are offered to all eligible reservation service area youth from kindergarten through age 20.