Marshallese Youth and Education News Highlights

Tigard jumps up to claim district crown - Third baseman Kalyna Korok then scored the game’s first run on a passed ball.

Ebeye students say “Kommol Tata!” which means “Thank You!” in Marshallese -

VIDEO: Marshall Island memories - Big Island man focuses on preserving Marshallese culture

Song and dance rehearsal - Marshallese members of the New Life Church

General Synod switches gears: Resolution committees begin work - Teddy S. Llana of Honolulu Marshallese UCC speaking

Local students join World teach - Alison Heslin of Sparta and Tyler Rabe of Ogdensburg have volunteered

Ethics Center’s Marci McPhee heading to the Marshall Islands for WorldTeach - The associate director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life will be leaving Brandeis for a year

LITTLE LEAGUE: One title down. And, the Tigard Little League ages 10-11 all-star softball hopes, one title to go.“This means a lot to us,” Tigard third baseman Kalyna Korok said. “The more we win, the more we get to keep playing and the more improved we get.”And Tigard looked pretty darn good as it was at the district tournament. With just Tigard and Murrayhill competing at the ages 10-11 level, the tournament amounted to a best-of-three series between the two all-star teams.Tigard won the teams’ first game, 11-1, last Thursday at Alpenrose to set up Friday’s title-clinching victory.Tigard got off to a fast start in Friday’s contest, scoring three runs — all coming with two outs — in the top of the first. Korok got things started by drawing a two-out walk. Alexa Kaplan singled and Heyden drew a walk to load the bases.

EBEYE: Donations of science and math text books from the Franklin Middle School through the Vallejo Unified School District were a hit with middle school students in the tiny island of Ebeye. The recipients live on a small island on the Kwajelein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, which is 80 acres. The population is approximately 12,000. The students will benefit greatly from this donation, because of the lack of textbooks on the islands. They say “Kommol Tata!” which means “Thank You!” in Marshallese. Ryan Ybenez, principal of the 309-student school writes, “Through your help we will now be able to focus our time on learning and be able to have full access to a textbook.”

MEMORIES: Certain times of the year in the Marshall Islands, Keola Downing remembers walking out into a still lagoon at night, when the temperature of both the air and the water were exactly the same, and not being able to tell where the water ended and the stars began.The 60-year-old Big Island man has dedicated most of his adult life to helping preserve and protect the culture and people of the Marshall Islands, especially those living in Hawai'i. His love affair with the islands began when he was a young man, just out of college, and ready to see the world.He signed up for the Peace Corps in 1969, and was off to a remote atoll in the South Pacific. His duty was to teachEnglish as a second language, but he soon found that he had mastered the Marshallese language so well, residents there considered him a native speaker. He also worked as an agricultural specialist, because he wanted to help the islanders in every way possible.

SONG & DANCE: Members practice a traditional song and dance inside a Keopuolani Park pavilion Wednesday afternoon. Singing the words to the song about building a house is Ninnian Tellobwij (at left in baseball cap) and Pastor Helmi Kajle. Holding the lyrics is Dea Tellobwij.The group is scheduled to perform the number at their church's conference meeting later this summer in Honolulu. They said the song is generally sung on special occasions.

UCC: Teddy S. Llana of Honolulu Marshallese UCC speaking in the single governance committee hearings at General Synod 27 in Grand Rapids. Following the excitement of River City Saturday, the business of General Synod 27 now moves into higher gear.In addition to the work of 13 committees, Synod delegates must review reports from the Executive Council and the Collegium of Officers, elect two Collegium members, adopt a national basic support allocation, install moderators for General Synod 28, plus Speakouts, special presentations and worship.

WORLD TEACH: Alison headed to the Marshall Islands and Tyler will be going to Micronesia.Both island nations are located in the Pacific, but first the two students are required by World Teach to temporarily participate in an organization with a basic skills classroom. They were gladly accepted into the Franklin Learning Link Lab at the One Stop offices, where they worked with the ESL students. Students came from a variety of Latin and Central American nations and one student was from Russia. All were under the tutelage of Dorothy Snider, the lab’s instructor.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: This is really a dream that I’ve had for a long time to go to the Marshall Islands,” McPhee told BrandeisNOW. “I had an opportunity to go 30 years ago and didn’t take it, and now I am.” got her second chance when she applied to WorldTeach, a program that sends volunteers to teach in developing countries. The Marshall Islands, located in eastern Micronesia, range from quite rustic islands without running water, electricity or much commerce, to islands with basic utilities at least somewhere on the island. At this point, McPhee doesn’t know which of those islands she’ll be working on, and at which grade level, from kindergarten through 12, that she’ll be teaching. Those missing details, though, don’t bother her. “The more I learn about the Marshall Islands, the more I feel I have so much to learn from the people who live there,” McPhee said. “They are coping with hard lives, in a country without a lot of resources, doing the best they can with what they have. I feel that it’s important for people of privilege, like myself, to be both contributing to but also learning from societies like that.”