This summer you gave me the unique opportunity to travel with a professor to the Flathead Reservation in the beautiful Northwest corner of Montana to gather information from the Native American speakers of the Montana Salish language. This data is being used to compile an extensive dictionary of the Montana Salish language which will then be available not only for public use but specifically for the tribal members in their efforts to revive the Salish language.







While I was in Montana I was able to meet with the consultants on the local Culture Committee as well as various knowledgeable individuals within the tribe. Every person that I met to work with was both kind and pleased to support the efforts of this project. I made several friends among the elders whom I now hope to keep in touch with and visit someday. During the time spent in Montana I was also able to attend the International Traditional Games held in Elmo Montana. Here I participated and learned traditional games and skills such as Shinny, hoop and dart, double ball, canoeing, bow and arrow and many more from the knowledgeable leaders in the Kootenai, Pend d'Orielle and Salish communities. Again I met many new people and had many experiences, which I will certainly never forget.





Most importantly I want to express a thank you not only from me as a recipient of your donation, but a thank you from those people with whom I worked. I truly appreciate the opportunity to participate in an anthropological project whose goal is to help a community of people. This preservation work is not only for language but also for the passing on to future generations the traditional knowledge and history of a unique nation. I hope that my future as an anthropologist and linguist lies upon such a foundation as this: that I may use my anthropological and linguistic knowledge to help others who would benefit from it.