Native Education Center dedicated

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
CERMONIAL BLESSING — Imelda Perley, cultural adviser and instructor at Houlton Higher Education Center, left, prepares to cleanse and bless the building for the dedication of the new Native Education Center. Holding a conch shell with burning herbs for the sacred smudging process is Danya Boyce, elder coordinator for the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians.
By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Before tribal elders, University of Maine officials and guests ventured inside the Houlton Higher Education Center (HHEC) last Wednesday, Imelda Perley and Danya Boyce blessed the proceedings to dedicate the new Native Education Center with a cultural cleansing of the building, ceremonial prayers and a blessing of the site.
    Perley, a cultural adviser and instructor at HHEC, said she prayed in her native Maliseet language as she walked around the perimeter of the building because “it is the first language this land heard and we have always been taught that the land deserves to hear its first language. I am connecting to the ancestors.”
    Don Zillman, president of the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI), said he was “absolutely delighted to dedicate this new Native American Center. This is going to be, in years to come, a place for native students to meet, to work, to socialize, to bring in people of other cultures and to share the diversity of this community, state and region.”
    He and other guests said it was important to increase enrollment and provide opportunities for success. Richard Silliboy, an elder for the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, said the event was “a large step for native people and bridge building to get more native people in as students to compete in the outside world. Today, it is a lot different than when we were young living in poverty on the reservation.”
    Silliboy and others also recognized the importance of preserving the native culture. Merlon Tomah, Maliseet tribal elder and counsel, said “it was a good opportunity.” Perley agreed saying “it is wonderful to have things from your culture surround you,” referring to the room with soothing colors and familiar images and appointments. She brought gifts for the room including posters, a smudge bowl, an eagle feather and a braid of sweet grass “as reminders of our gifts and responsibilities to the earth. It is very important to make sure you know the long line of ancestry which you come from.”  
    Dayna Boyce, elder coordinator for the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians said the day’s event was “very significant. It gives native students a sense of belonging, that the community and school are reaching out to them. And, the room is very relaxing with wonderful native artwork.”
    Eddie Ruiz, director of student success and innovative education for UMPI’s Project Compass, said the new center was funded to recruit, retain and educate minority students. Currently, he said, the largest minority group is native-American.