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The drum has long been an intricate part of the Native American culture. For eight Native American students the drum is changing their lives.

“I had asked my good friend and colleague, Mr. Graham Primeaux, who used to work for me what we could do for our Indian males, especially around the middle school age and he told me a story about how he received a drum when he was 16 years old and how it changed his life,” Dr. Star Yellowfish, Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) Indian education director, said. “So we thought we would try the same concept, as there are certain life values and cultural values that one receives from the drum making process and responsibilities that go along with a drum keeper, thus the Developing Responsible, United and Motivated Students (DRUMS) project.”

During the week of July 7-10, 2009 the eight students attended the first DRUMS project held at the Stroud Wilderness Center in Stroud, Okla. The students were Marvin Garcia, Timothy White, Gabriel Esquivel, Geno Esquivel, Adrian Candia, Christian Gorham, Robert Torres and Julian Serrato. Out of the eight students, six were Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal members.

“Our hopes are to have more of our native youth become high school graduates and eventually become great leaders of our nations,” Shea White, OKCPS student advisor, said. “This is an innovative first time project that taught our young men how to make drums while learning valuable life lessons during the process.”

The main objective of the program is to increase students’ self-esteem, promote leadership, cultural pride and unite Native American students by giving them a sense of belonging, White said.

Students were chosen through a nomination process that began with the OKCPS Indian education advisors. The advisors work within the schools and nominated students whom they thought would benefit the most from the program. After being nominated each of the boys had to write a one-page essay on why they wanted to be a part of the DRUMS project. After being selected, the parents had to sign a release giving their child permission to participate.

“These boys came together not knowing each other and formed a friendship and a bond with each other and it was really great to witness the transformation in some of them, ” Yellowfish said. “One of the really great things that came out of this is a lot of the boys now want to sing because they have their own drum and they want to form their own drum group.”

Yellowfish said she saw a cultural pride grow within the students that reflected on the outside by their behavior as they went through the drum making process. The hope is that the pride will reflect back into the classroom with self-respect, respect of elders and teachers.

“I realized I am more responsible since I got back from making my drum,” Christian Gorham, a N.W. Classen High School sophomore and Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal member, said. “I don’t talk back to my elders like I did and I really want to be a part of my community and a part of my Native American culture. There are five of us who want to form a drum group and really learn all the songs.”

Tuesday Butcher, Gorham’s mother, said she sees a peace about her son that he didn’t have before he left for the drum making project.

“I think he realized that there is more to life and he is taking more time to make decisions by processing all the information and looking at the consequences of those decisions,” Butcher said. “He goes into his room and practices on his drum every day and plays the CD’s that the drum maker, Rock Pipestem, gave him so he can learn the songs … I am so proud of the changes he has made since coming back.”

For more information on the 2010 DRUMS project contact Yellowfish at (405) 587-0357.

Reprinted with kind permission of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal Tribune