The weekend of Native Youth Olympic (NYO) Games wrapped up in Anchorage, Alaska Saturday.

The event lets young athletes from around the state connect and showcase their skills in competitions rooted in Indigenous practices.

The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more.

With much fanfare, Daisy Vanblarcom prepares for the final one-foot high kick competition at NYO on Saturday.

She hits 87 inches, which goes above her personal record – and wins her first place.

The bleachers are filled with people from all corners of Alaska, but are familiar faces for Vanblarcom.

She says making friends with other athletes and coaches is a part of her success.

“I compete a lot better when I know everybody and when I’m comfortable around everyone.”

NYO is a three-day event in which high school students participate in a dozen competitions, each representing a different Alaska Native subsistence activity or skill.

Joanna Hopson is one of the coaches working to revive the games in Alaska’s North Slope.

She says this helps reserved students come out of their shell.

“As they’re starting to learn more of their cultural games, they’re starting to learn that courage.

“They’re starting to learn what it means to be who you are, to accept who you are, where you’re at, and then to grow from that.”

Anchorage athlete Anastasha Wilde took second place in a two-foot high kick competition.

Like other athletes, she says she loves the community aspect of the games.

“We’re participating together, not apart, and you get to connect with other people and make new friends. And it’s not about winning, it’s about beating your personal records and improving not for yourself, but like improving for the others around you.”

The event started more than fifty years ago, with a few dozen participants.

This year, the games brought together about four hundred and fifty athletes – a record number since the COVID-19 pandemic.

A post shared by Tréchelle R.J.M. Bunn (@trechellle)

An Indigenous woman in Manitoba has recently made history by becoming a First Nation’s youngest ever chief.

She has also become the first woman elected to the role. More from Dan Karpenchuk.

Tréchelle Bunn is a 25-year old third year law student at the University of Manitoba.

She was recently named chief of the Birdtail Sioux Dakota First Nation – about 75 miles northwest of Brandon, Manitoba – after beating her opponent with nearly 69% of the vote.

She’s not without some experience though.

Bunn has just ended her term as the Southern Chief’s Organization’s youth chief.

She says that gave her some knowledge about what to expect in everyday governance and decision making.\

Bunn says being elected to the position of chief is the greatest honour of her life.

“In my previous role as youth chief of the Southern Chief’s Organization I spoke to the importance of youth in leadership. And I think this is a testament to that. I think our young people today are really leading that way. We’re entering those leadership spaces and our voices really need to be heard. And they deserve to be at every table. And I think my community really spoke to that last night the way that they voted, that they wanted someone young, and a young voice to lead our people.”

Bunn says although she’s the first young leader, she won’t be the last.

She has pledged greater transparency and accountability for her four year term as chief. She says she’s also heard from community members who want more of a say in the first nation’s decision making.

(Courtesy Diné Parents Taking Action / Facebook)

And several groups are marking today, April 28, as Autism Awareness Day for Native Americans.

While Native children aren’t seen as necessarily having higher rates of autism than other groups, a 2023 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that they – as well as Alaska Natives, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiians – have the least access to autism resources per child, compared to others.

Groups like Diné Parents Taking Action at Northern Arizona University are promoting more awareness of autism in Native Communities.

This follows recent events like the 4th annual Autism Awareness Walk in Nevada, which involved the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe.

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