Brothers back from White House gathering for tribal youth

Two Poway teenagers were part of the White House Tribal Youth Gathering on July 9 and 10 in Washington D.C.

Jameson, 16, and Jake Eagle Bull-Oxendine, 15, were selected to travel back to the nation’s capital to participate in the event, which included hearing Michelle Obama speak and discussing the issues Native American youth face in society.

It was the first time attending the Tribal Youth Gathering for both brothers, who are members of the Oglala Lakota/Lumbee Tribal nations.

A friend’s mother told their mother, Jeanne Eagle Bull, about the event, who in turn told her sons about it. After sending in an application, they were accepted to be part of the group of Native American youth attending the annual event at the White House.

At the gathering, Jameson and Jake listened to a wide variety of speakers, including James Herrington, the first Native American astronaut; Sally Jewell of the U.S. Department of the Interior; and First Lady Michelle Obama, talking about issues the Native American community faces, and how they are working to fix them.

“It was really awesome (watching Michelle Obama speak), I was quite thrilled,” said Jameson. “I was sitting pretty close so I had a good view.”

“There were so many people crowding her,” said Jake.

The brothers also participated in breakout sessions, where they focused on discussing issues that Native American youth and communities face. Jameson participated in a breakout session on tribal sovereignty, while Jake was in a breakout session on secondary education after high school, he said.

Jake said it was interesting to learn about secondary education options available to him as a Native American, while Jameson said took away from the event that there were people helping out Native American youth and were continuing to represent them in the government.

Both Eagle Bull-Oxendine brothers are also involved in the Native American community outside of the Tribal Gathering event. Jameson and Jake are both involved with American Indian Recruitment (AIR), a program that promotes higher education and academic success within the Native American community. They attend twice-weekly classes, which earn them college credit, said Jameson.

Both boys are also members of the NJROTC at Westview High School, where Jameson is an incoming senior and Jake an incoming sophomore. Jameson is going on his fourth year in NJROTC, and Jake his second.

It was in NJROTC that Jameson and Jake were inspired for their response to President Obama’s “Gen-I Native Youth” challenge, which was part of going to the White House Tribal Youth Gathering.

They were challenged to do something positive for youth in their community, and Jameson and Jake responded by creating a presentation on the importance of cyber-security and the threat to cyber-security social media can present.

Jameson said he was partially inspired to create the presentation by a cyber-security program in NJROTC, as well as by their father, James Oxendine, who works with cyber-security as part of his job with the U.S. Navy.

The Eagle Bull-Oxendine brothers presented their program on cyber-security to AIR in May, and next month, will present it to the Council of American Indian Organizations of San Diego, said Jeanne Eagle Bull.

Both brothers said they would love to attend the White House Tribal Youth Gathering again next year.