NIH hosts Native Youth Academy event NIH recently initiated its STEM partnership with Tribal Colleges

by supporting an annual Native Youth Academy (NYA) event at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) in Hamilton, Montana. Since any populations capacity for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) roughly indicates its ability to sustain itself, several DHHS components saw strategic value in the program. This year for the first time, four Institutes of NIH and the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management (OEODM) presented a special STEM-emphasis program to NYA. NIH achieved two goals: it directly encouraged youth to seek STEM training, and by addressing influential adults, it boosted prospects for diversity in future scientists. Native Americans are underrepresented in the youth-to-maturity pipeline of STEM-trained researchers. NIHs initiative with NYA would improve the pipeline as more young Native Americans enroll as science majors in college. The Billings Area Indian Health Service (BA IHS) has supported the Native Youth Academy since 2006. The NYA is designed to promote wellness among at-risk youth, and is a cooperative initiative of BA IHS with the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council (MT WY TLC). It builds on patterns established by the Native Wellness Institute. The NYA hopes to put substance into this motto displayed on t-shirts worn by youngsters: We are Native and proud of it! Fifty-six Native American youth, ages 11-14, spent five days together (July 20-24) in a potentially life-changing experience. During NYA, they acquired a toolkit of life-skills and motivational ideas. An additional forty adult leaders came alongside the young people in order to train them in Native warrior culture, leadership skills, self-esteem, and healthy relationships as brothers and sisters. The participants, representing eight Reservations and several urban communities, were housed at the University of Montana at Missoula. Under this years theme of Giving to Our Native Community, the NYA guided both generations of participants in envisioning long-term development. NIH was represented by OD, OEODM, NIDDK, NIDA, NIAID, and NIGMS, who presented separate workshops at RML for youth and adults. Through hands-on activities in the lab and animal care stations, the students understood how they can begin now to prepare for satisfying careers in scientific research. They observed fetal pig dissection, the effects of substance abuse and diabetes, and enjoyed a whimsical mystery about medical forensics, put on by RML post-docs. Meanwhile, their parents and clan leaders participated in listening sessions and panel discussions with NIH leaders regarding cooperative efforts to promote wellness for the next generation of Native Americans across Montana and Wyoming. Dr. Bruce Fuchs, director of NIH Office of Science Education, explained his K-12th grade curriculum in order to motivate parents to support their children who aspire in STEM subjects. NIAID staff Dr. Marshall Bloom, Dr. Wendy Fibison, and Toby Bowland gave special attention to training opportunities for budding scientists at both RML and the Bethesda complex. NIDA Special Population Office director Dr. Lula Beatty addressed the serious addiction and substance abuse trends in the Native American communities. Dr. Sandy Garfield, who directs

the NIDDK Diabetes Program, underscored special needs for diabetes education in the Tribal Schools. Dr. Shawn Drew explained how the NIGMS Division of Minority Opportunities in Research (MORE) targets Native American students with special incentives so they will apply for training and work opportunities in the NIH research pipeline. The faces of NYA participants lit up when their sponsors asked them what the Academy meant to them this summer. One of them spoke for many when she said, All of the ideas and labs that NIH staff workers presented helped me to feel smarter. *I+n the future, I would like to work there *in Rocky Mountain Laboratories+.