This year’s Summer Internship was an opportunity for us to build on an existing relationship we have with folks in the Makah Tribe! Last year, we traveled to Neah Bay for the first time, and that connection felt so important that we decided to run it back for this year’s Summer Internship Retreat. We also got to work alongside SparkNW, a non-profit organization that focuses on bringing renewable energy to low-income, immigrant, rural, and indigenous communities throughout the entirety of the Pacific Northwest. Relive our retreat by reading about our day-to-day highlights throughout the week!
MONDAY
We left Seattle early in the morning and arrived in Neah Bay just in time to attend their annual Native canoe landing event! The Hoh Tribe arrived to be blessed and welcomed into Neah Bay through this annual event. Canoe landing events showcase a tribe’s perseverance, trust, and communication with each other as these journeys can take weeks to accomplish. Our cohort got to learn more about the significance of canoe landings through local Makah youth, and they also taught us traditional Makah dances and phrases.
Afterward, we started to wind down for the day to prepare for our big game of Fugitive. The point of this game was to have our youth get from point A to point B without getting caught by our staff, which also acted as a way for us to get a lay of the land for where we’d be staying for the week. Playing this game definitely got everyone on their feet and getting active, making everyone tired after the long day of long car rides and all the activities we had.
TUESDAY
We started off Tuesday early in the morning with our first workshop led by our guests, Eriq and Haya, from SparkNW. We got to reflect on our personal energy usage, what renewable energy is and why it’s important, and we even got sent home with our own DIY solar-powered mason jar lights! This workshop definitely made both our staff and our youth think deeply about how much energy we consume and the different ways we could cut down our usage as we were all shocked to fully reflect on how much energy we use daily.
Afterward, we gave our youth the opportunity to support in coaching for an ultimate frisbee camp that we hosted for some Makah youth! We started off with some basics, including how to throw backhands and forehands, throwing dishy passes while moving upfield, and throwing toward a target. Then, we combined all these skills into teaching them how to play Schtick, which brought out everyone’s competitiveness and athleticism!
Despite running in the hot weather playing frisbee, everyone still brought the energy to our next activity — a scavenger hunt throughout the town! The scavenger hunt was a fun, interactive way for our AGE UP community to explore more of the area and Makah culture. With prompts like, “find an eagle feather and have a Makah youth present it”, “have your whole group try smoked salmon”, and “learn how to say a Makah phrase from an elder”, this was definitely a very entertaining way to learn more about different parts of the daily life as a Neah Bay local and the Makah Tribe.
To end the day, we went to the beach! Despite our work being centered around frisbee, both the youth and staff can’t seem to get enough! At the beach, we threw around some discs, made some layouts in the water, and ran around playing volleyball. We loved spending as much time as possible outdoors, so we also had dinner and made s’mores around a bonfire to end our Tuesday night.
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday was another jam-packed day. We started the day off with hiking a trail that led to Shi Shi Beach. Our cohort went tide pooling and they got to explore different sea creatures, which was definitely the highlight of many people’s retreat experiences! Afterward, we made the trek back and transitioned into another SparkNW workshop where they taught us about all the different career paths centered around renewable energy. They educated us on why we as a community should care about our personal energy usage and the importance of different energy sources that are less harmful to the environment.
After SparkNW’s workshop, we went into having some downtime with each other until the next activity, which was another workshop led by Ash and Sam. Their workshop was centered around the importance of strong listening skills and positive body language to help peers support each other when talking about hard topics. And as Ash and Sam do, they provided us with wisdom and emotional support that helped us prepare for the last portion of the night, our feelings circle (previously known as Drake Circle). Our feelings circle has been a tradition that we’ve kept for every cohort program retreat because we want to continue to foster a safe space for our youth to be able to open up and practice vulnerability with the extra padding from knowing that you have support from our adults on our staff team. For most retreats, our returners talk about how they’re afraid about getting to the end of retreat since they know the feeling circle is our big closer, but instead, the feelings circle ends up being everyone’s highlight of our retreats!
THURSDAY
Despite Thursday being our last day in Neah Bay, we definitely made sure to pack as many activities as possible in. Makah youth performed a traditional song and dance, which led to them teaching our cohort many group dances! While remembering the footwork and the steps in the dance were difficult for us, we eventually got into the groove and were able to learn how to follow their movements while we all had so much fun doing so. We also had a local come in to sing us love songs from his tribe, which was accompanied by playing a native drum. Afterward, a Makah elder presented our AGE UP youth and staff with gifts – intricate handmade beaded necklaces that her and her family spent hours and hours making, which was so special to us. To close out, we did an AGE UP tradition, a yarn activity that allows us to share our appreciations for one another. After the morning filled with so much fun and love, we made our 4-hour trek back home to Seattle with new memories and new connections to hold with us until our next summer internship retreat.
Our summer internship retreat tends to be the highlight of the summer for not only the youth that participate, but the staff and adults who are involved in making the retreat possible! Shout-out to all the AGE UP staff, the SparkNW crew, and the Makah Tribe for making this year’s retreat such an unforgettable experience for all.
“As someone who grew up being an intern during AGE UP summer internships, to now, leading and planning the internship and retreat, I’ve grown to realize how important this space and this opportunity has been for the youth in the Southend. Without these retreats, I would have never been able to explore outside of our city, nor would I have been able to grow these connections with the communities we meet all throughout Washington to make these retreats possible. Growing up, attending these retreats had always been my highlight every summer, and I’m so grateful that I’m able to help our youth create the same lifelong memories I was able to make when I was in their shoes.”
– AGE UP Staff Member
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