Classes

The classes described below are found integrated into YNS/InterTribal Youth Educational Tours. These programs are also offered as class /workshops and seminars which can be used independently by Tribal, Educational, and Private organizations. YNS/InterTribal Youth offers select classes and customized curriculum for communities interested in fostering and experiencing unique learning environments.

Contact us for further information or to schedule a class for your organization.

Humanities: Writing, Music, And Critical Thought
Instructor: Dr. Alan Lechusza (Cahuilla/ Maidu) Professor, Scholar in Residence
Coffee & Eagle Feather Productions
phone: (619) 758-1615 alzoe@hotmail.com; blackphonerecords@hotmail.com

Dr. Alan Lechusza is the Director of Education and Curriculum for YNS/InterTribal Youth and holds an Associate Professorship at U.C.S.D. He is a nationally renowned Lecturer, instructor, composer/performer. Dr. Lechusza has authored numerous papers on the issues concerning contemporary music and their complex relationship to the Native communities. An accomplished musician, Dr. Lechusza is constantly touring the U.S. with his own and other ensembles including The Yellow Chair Ensemble, Miscellaneous Debris, The Christopher Adler Trio, Quartetto Nuevo, Michael Vlatkovich Septet and many others.

Class Description 
Dr. Lechusza conducts our seminar on Music, Culture, Language, and Writing (MCLW). In addition to exploring the links between traditional and contemporary music and indigenous cultures, students work together to break down the boundaries of western education and open new horizons of self-expression and thought.

Indigenous Earth and Environmental
Science Program, “Sharing the Land”
Instructor: Dr. Eric Riggs, Professor, Purdue University

Dr. Eric Riggs is Co-Director of the Center for Research and Engagement in Science and Mathematics Education (CRESME) at Purdue University and Associate Professor in the Departments of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences and Curriculum & Instruction. He is also the President of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers for 2007/08.  Dr. Riggs studies many related aspects of field-based teaching and learning in the geosciences and cross-cultural education.
Dr. Riggs is the director of the Sharing the Land Project, a project funded by the National Science Foundation which aims to make the geosciences accessible and useful to Native Americans across North America. 

Class Description
“Sharing the Land” is a program working with tribes in Southern California. The program's goal is two-fold:  
(1) Increase on-reservation expertise in the earth and environmental sciences; and
(2) develop a better understanding of how to integrate culturally-held, indigenous, scientific earth science knowledge into the teaching of the earth sciences for American Indian communities nationwide.  

Yoga (Effulgence™)
Instructor: Jerome Gross

Jerome Gross has been in private practice as a Hypnotherapist since 1995 and has been teaching yoga for seven years. As Founder / Director of the Effulgence Academy, Jerome teaches this specialized mind-body-wellness routine at fitness centers and holistic health centers as well as to individual clients since 2002. Mr. Gross also taught physical education for two years and currently develops programs for San Diego City School's Race and Human Relations and Health Integration Program.

Class Description
This physically and spiritually enlightening yoga class promotes a mindset of health and self- empowerment. Participants learn how to effectively use the power of their mind through visualization, meditation, breathing techniques and creating personal mantras/affirmations. Scholars are presented with the tools and strategies to develop positive qualities and highest potential physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. The session will end with a hike back up to campus. Jerome has studied and experienced native traditions, making it relative cultural needs and personal success.
The specific tools and strategies taught in the mini lessons will culminate into a routine that Jerome developed for the San Diego Public Schools and in private practice as a spiritual counselor and therapist, called the Process of EFFULGENCE™.

Wellness Clinic, Behavioral Health, Culture
Instructor: Jodene Platero, Navajo, PhD. Candidate Alliant International University's Marriage and Family Doctoral Program

Jodene Platero teaches courses in our Wellness / Behavioral Health Clinic. She has been working with County Indian Reservations for the past seven years. Ms. Platero provides family and individual counseling for Elementary, Middle, and High School students in the East County schools through CrossRoads Family Center Organization.
In addition, Jodene is in the process of developing new models of treatment that are complementary to the American Indian communities.

Class Description
Drugs, Alcohol, and Sex: Prevention of Negative Patterns in Indian Communities.
The class will focus on creating a Genogram with the mission of identifying and preventing negative patterns from manifesting in their future lives. Students will collect detailed information on their family origins and relatives going back three generations. If possible the information should include any alcoholic, substance abuse, domestic violence, teen pregnancies, unemployment, diseases, divorces, marriages, age of family members, causes of death, and other characteristics of family members that they feel are important to know. They will then be guided in illustrating the patterns in their family system and historical trauma have impacted each members life, especially theirs. Finally students will come to conclusions on how to prevent the negative patterns from manifesting in their future lives.

Integrated Wellness Program
Instructor: Gelsamina “Shiva” Merritt

Mrs. Merritt is a Health Integrationist. She spent ten years as a Traditional Birth Attendant (aka Midwife) and worked as Certified Massage Therapist (CMT) for 20 years before engaging in clinical practice as a Cranio Sacral Therapist (CST). With a strong foundation in nutrition, home health, pre and post surgical support, integrated and alternative medicine, including Herbology, Homeopathy, Gem-scriptions, and Flower Essence Therapy, Mrs. Merritt is able to support the body’s inherent ability to heal itself.

Class Description
Merritt utilizes integrated health methods to detect, evaluate, and correct physical and emotional imbalance, injury and/or trauma (including trauma caused during birth). By manipulating the Cranio Sacral System, (made up of the membranes and cerebral spinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord), participants learn to enhance body performance and function, encourage the body to dissipate the negative effects of stress on the nervous system and alleviate pain and discomfort. Mrs. Merritt also integrates daily practices of yoga, meditation, spiritual development and nature healing into her program.

Geneva Lofton-Fitzsimmons (IHC CA-NARCH Advisor)
Assistant Director American Indian Outreach UCSD-EAOP
gfitzsimmons@ucsd.edu

Geneva Lofton-Fitzsimmons is a member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians and a graduate of San Diego State University. Based in the community, she broadens university-community relationships with Indian Education Centers, Tribal organizations and the 18 reservations throughout San Diego and Imperial Counties. Geneva also works for the Indian Health Council, Inc. and the California Native American Research Center for Health NARCH Grant, which allows her to document existing services and programs for minority students at SDSU, UCSD, and through AAIP (Associated American Indian Physicians).