Stanley Rodriguez, member of the Kumeyaay Santa Ysabel Band of the Iipay Nation is an educator, language teacher, and tribal singer. He is an advocate for his community’s culture and traditions and serves in a number of advising and teaching roles in the San Diego and Native Kumeyaay communities. He has held the elected position of legislator for the Santa Ysabel Tribe of the Iipay Nation. Stanley is a US Navy veteran, has an MA in Human Behavior worked as a Drug and Alcohol Abuse Counselor and now teaches full time, having just completed his PhD in Higher Education from UCSD.

Stan Rodriguez learned from his Grandmother and other Kumeyaay Elders the methods and culture. Rodriguez sits on the board of a group whose vision is to strengthen language and cultural revitalization, known as the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival. Rodriguez has been teaching Kumeyaay language classes at Kumeyaay Community College on the Sycuan Reservation since 2000. The college is open to Native and non-Native students. Rodriguez does this work in an effort to bring Native American culture to any willing to learn. He has taught workshops at the Northwest Indian Language Institute, and he has been supported by the Alliance for California Traditional Arts in his efforts to learn traditional song cycles, such as Wild Cat, from master artists. Rodriguez regularly performs and provides demonstrations of tribal songs, games, traditional tool making, and structure building.

Dr. Dwayne Tomah is a Language Keeper, he is a teacher of the Passamaquoddy language and culture. He is the youngest fluent speaker of the Passamaquoddy Tribe and has served on the Tribal Council. His life has been dedicated to working on the language and culture preservation, he has edited the Passamaquoddy dictionary and worked to help create the Apple ~ Passamaquoddy Language App. He shares Native legends through song and dance.

Dwayne is currently working with the Library of Congress on translating the Passamaquoddy Wax Cylinders. These recordings are the first recordings in the world of Native languages. They were recorded in 1890 by Jesse Walter Fewkes, who borrowed the device from the inventor Thomas Edison. Dwayne has also been involved in repatriation and Land Back issues. He shares historical truth regarding The Doctrine of Discovery from an Indigenous perspective. He has also worked with Animal Planet on a segment called Winged Creatures, highlighting the history of the Thunderbird.

Boozhoo, Nindinawemaaganak, “Hello, all my relatives (all forms of life).” As Anishinaabe Endow, “one of the people” of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, I was born and raised in Belcourt, North Dakota. My name is Mekinak Ikwey, “Turtle Woman.” I earned my bachelor of science degree in elementary education from Mayville State, ND. I have over 30 years of experience in teaching and education. I attended ceremonies and learned and shared our way of life during my career, integrating traditional teachings with the Western teaching paradigm. I found myself reclaiming my culture and my identity.

In my lifelong journey as a student and teacher, I am continuously working to instill the beauty of Anishinaabe life; I am called upon to help our communities by facilitating ceremonies involving teaching and sharing songs, stories, regalia making, and other protocols. I’ve been married for 52 years to my classmate and friend, Lynn Gourneau.

While reclaiming our ways, I discovered that sharing is imperative to enhancing historical kindness compared to generational/historical trauma; I promote restoring balance by practicing and incorporating the Anishinaabe way through textiling, storytelling, and ceremonial protocol to restore Anishinaabe values.

Dani Tippmann is a Miami Native American, descended from Takumwah, and Chief Richardville and is a citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.

Her knowledge of plants has been collected over the years from tribal members and elders, including her mother, aunts and elder tradition bearers. She speaks about traditional Native plants used in storytelling, food, medicine and technology and about traditional Myaamia lifeways, culture and history. Dani completed a Bachelor of General Studies at Indiana University in 2002 as an adult returning student.

Dani has been recognized by Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne and Traditional Arts Indiana as an Allen County Folklife Scholar for cultural leadership in 2022. She was honored as an Eiteljorg Museum of Native and Western Art – Artist in Residence in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2023. She was honored with the Indiana Heritage Fellowship Award from Traditional Arts Indiana.

She serves the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma as the Kiihkayonki Community Food Program Director in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area.

Modern Americans think of time as a river passing by. Myaamia people tend to think of time as a pond with rocks dropping in as events. Small pebbles create small ripples and effects, while large events create large ripples which affect us greatly throughout time. Forced removal from our homelands was a huge boulder, creating horrible ripples in our lives that are felt even today. Receiving a Taproot Fellowship will create big positive ripples for me and the Myaamia people into the future.

Being a Taproot Fellow is a prestigious honor for me because it honors the people who came before me, who honored our shared heritage of plant knowledge. It gives an opportunity to future Myaamiaki/Miami people to learn our shared culture for a bright future.