NORMAN, Okla. – Among the performances at the 22nd annual Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair (ONAYLF), Signy RedCorn told the weather while Mocs Primeaux reveled under a rain of tacos shortly before Malana McGlaston spun in a construction of plastic hung from a ring, depicting a tornado. All the students and their classmates in the skit, “Weather Report,” spoke all in Wahzhazhe ie.
Their performances made an impression on Osage judge Robynn Rulo, an academic advisor at the Osage Nation Education Department and the only Osage judging language performances at the language fair this year. She told her mother, Dana Daylight, a curriculum specialist at the Osage Nation Language Department (ONLD), that “Weather Report” by Daposka Ahnkodapi was one of her favorites. The performance won first place in its category.
The children had started their day at the 22nd annual ONAYLF by listening to Cherokee speaker Ryan Mackey urge schools, including their own, to conduct their classes in Wahzhazhe ie, not English. “It’s very hard,” Mackey attested, “but it’s how you make progress,” he said to the room of hundreds of language learners.
Dr. Henrietta Mann, a venerated Cheyenne and Arapaho academic and activist, also spoke to the students at the fair, telling them that their bodies were as sacred as their languages. She urged them not to stop working with their languages.
After the opening ceremonies, the students launched into competitions, performing into the afternoon in a rapid succession of skits, songs and expressions.
Educators such as Shannon Freeman watched, sitting in the front row a few seats down from a trio of Osage parents, including Melinda Coburn, Michelle Hopper and Geneva Horsechief-Hamilton. A puppet performance by Daposka Ahnkodapi’s second graders was one of their favorites.
Another popular skit, “Let’s Handgame,” won first in the high school large group category, and ONLD students of Pawhuska High School made the crowd laugh with a student selling meatpies on the side of the depicted handgame.
Supporters also included families of the children, and of course, their teachers, from both the Osage Nation Language Department as well as the Daposka Ahnkodapi private school.
As everyone watched, the awards came in:
High school student Madison Bighorse received a first place award for her individual spoken language performance “Read with Me,” and Neils Lockett placed first in the high school individual spoken prayer category with “Osage Prayers.”
In the high school duet and trip spoken prayer category, Emmy Lockett, Danene Long and Alissa Travis placed third for “Osage Prayers.” Tyler Neel and Isaac Williams placed second with their rendition of the Oscar-nominated song composed by Scott George and Vann Bighorse, “Wahzhazhe: A Song for My People” in the high school duet traditional song category.
Adam Maker received an honorable mention for “I Want to Pray” in the high school individual spoken prayer category.
Hominy’s Wahzhazhe Early Learning Academy (WELA) won first place for their film/video “Language in the Classroom.” Fairfax WELA placed third in the same category for “Osage Number Song.”
The Pre-K through second grade ONLD Pawhuska language class won first place for their mobile video “Going to Grandma and Grandpa’s House.” Pawhuska WELA placed second for “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” and Skiatook WELA placed third for “Language All Around Us.”
ONLD student VeraLuna Johnson-Reyes placed second in the Pre-K through second grade individual mobile video for “Osage Opening Prayer,” and Cedro Johnson-Reyes, also an ONLD student, placed third in the same category with “Osage Meal Prayer.”
In the 6th through 8th grade individual spoken prayer category, Tori Haden won first place.
The kindergarten class of Daposka Ahnkodapi won second place with “Wazhazhe Ea” in the Pre-K through second grade small group spoken language category. The Pre-K class won third place in the same category with a piece of the same name.
Daposka Ahnkodapi second graders shared the skit/play “Wahzhazhe Puppets,” a crowd favorite that won first place in the Pre-K through second grade category.
Their modern song won Daposka Ahnkodapi Pre-K students a first place award in the Pre-K through second grade small group category. In the large group traditional song competition for students of the same grades, Daposka Ahnkodapi kindergarteners won second place.
Fairfax WELA won second place in the third through fifth grade film/video competition with their own rendition of “Osage Number Song.”
Daposka Ahnkodapi’s fifth graders won first place for their small group skit/short play and the fourth-grade class placed second in the same category.
A Wahzhazhe ie version of a game song from the TV show “Squid Games” won first place in the third through fifth grade small group modern song category.
A song by Izhinke Jacobs, Jianna Jones and Pehan RedCorn won second place in the trio and quartet traditional song category for sixth through eighth graders. For the small group traditional song category for sixth through eighth, Daposka Ahnkodapi students placed third.
“Going to Grandma and Grandpa’s House” won first place for the Pre-K through 2nd mobile video group. The actors’ mom, Brandi Malaske, said her three children had the help of their language teacher, Robynn Rulo.
The Daposka Ahnkodapi sixth graders’ weather report won first in their small group skit division, and the seventh and eighth grade classes won second place for their own skit depicting the process of dressing in Osage traditional clothes.
The remaining awards follow.
Books
ONLD recipients
9th through 12th
2nd Michaela Pratt
3rd Madison Bighorse
Honorable Mention Brylee Rumsey
Honorable Mention Cortlynn Jech
Daposka Ahnkodapi recipients
6th-8th
1st Luna Jacobs
2nd Pehan RedCorn
3rd Story Bear
Honorable Mention Shane Ventura-Cass
3rd-5th
1st Shaylynn Littlecook
2nd Raylee Ducotey
3rd Jeralynn Baptiste
K-2
1st Juniper Rhodes
2nd Elijah Hall
3rd Axel Dutcher
Comic Books
Daposka Ahnkodapi recipients
6th-8th
1st Signy RedCorn
2nd Alice DeLeon
3rd-5th
1st Tony DeLeon
2nd (tied) Anthony Ventura-Cass
2nd (tied) Raylee Ducotey and Evalyn Shackelford
3rd Shaylynn Littlecook
Comics
Pawhuska Public School recipients
9th-12th
3rd Jaxon Arnett
Daposka Ahnkodapi recipients
7th grade
1st Mocs Primeaux
2nd Malana McGlaston
6th grade
1st Signy RedCorn
2nd Alice Deleon
Honorable Mention Shane Ventura-Cass
3rd-5th
1st Otaza Jacobs
Pre-K through 2nd
Honorable Mention Arthur Red Corn
Posters
ONLD
9th-12th
Honorable Mention Ella Wallace
Daposka Ahnkodapi
6th-8th
1st Pehan RedCorn
2nd Luna Jacobs
Honorable Mention Esther Warrior
3rd-5th grade
3rd Evalyn Shackelford
Pre-K through 2nd
Honorable Mention Novalie Rhodes
Honorable Mention Grace Smith
