Bessie Blackeagle

Bessie Blackeagle – off to college with amazing high school credentials

By Jack McNeel: 

Lapwai, Idaho – Just eighteen, newly graduated from high school, and planning a huge life change by entering college in the fall. It’s the story of thousands of Native students around the country, each one unique in their own way. Bessie Blackeagle, a young lady from the Nez Perce Tribe, is one of those who has already carved out an enormous list of accomplishments.

            This list goes back to second grade when she decided to take piano lessons – and karate lessons – a combination one wouldn’t expect, especially from a young girl. She doesn’t remember how she came up with the idea for either activity, but both remain part of her life. She took a break from each this year, “because everything’s so crazy.” The “crazy” comes from the many other activities she’s been involved in over the past year. She simply didn’t have time for the two or three times a week lessons she had been taking.

            Piano will likely always be a part of her life and martial arts, who knows? “I got the black belt but still have to be certified. That will take another three months,” she explains. “They had a black belt club here for awhile. I was in that till it ended. I went to tournaments in Clarkston and Spokane.”

             “I’d like to get back into karate. I’d like to get certified because I don’t feel like I’ve actually finished. It’s a lot of fun and once in a while I’ll go train but I can’t go regularly like I used to. I know they teach a kick boxing class in college. I’d like to do that if I have time.”

            Martial arts are only one aspect of this young lady. We know about her piano playing and she’s also into poetry and last year competed in the Miss Idaho Teen pageant, none of which seem to relate to throwing another person around a gym.

             “I’m trying to publish a poetry book.  I want to take my poems from freshman year all through high school and organize them to have a full collection of poems. It was supposed to be my senior project but I’ve been too busy to finish everything. I like to write poetry that rhymes. I write about anything. If I’m inspired about something I’ll write about it, just general stuff.”

            The Miss Idaho Teen Pageant was something of a surprise. “I got a letter saying I was selected to participate. We checked it out and I decided to do it. I’d never been in a pageant. They said it wasn’t like a beauty pageant, more about your school and the things you do like community service. It was really fun. There were a bunch of little competitions you could enter. One was for art. I had just made a jingle dress, the first one I had done by myself without any help. I put that in the art contest and I won.”

            Last summer she participated in a Student Ambassador Program that took her to Australia for two weeks. “It was sort of a people-to-people thing,” she explained. “We went to New South Wales and Queensland so I got to go to Sidney and see the Opera House and an opal factory. I got to stay with a lady for three days and she showed us around. That was pretty cool. I took gifts from Idaho and got to talk to a lot of people. They asked questions so we exchanged cultures.”

            Bessie also attended a show put on by a group of aborigines. “They showed us a couple of their dances. I had a bunch of stuff for them because they sort of went through the same thing that my ancestors went through. I gave them some bookmarks that had our language on it like the quote by Chief Joseph: ‘Once the language is gone it’s lost forever.’ I know they’re struggling with their language. I gave them earrings and beadwork and they gave me a boomerang.”

            She was also student body president at Lapwai High School this past year and had served as class secretary the previous year, more of the activities which made this a “crazy year.” Oh yes, she was also Prom Princess, ran cross-country track, was cheerleader during football, was part of the homecoming royalty, and visited Disneyland in May. She was also mascot for the football and basketball seasons her junior year – and likely more things she neglected to mention.

Asked what she was most proud of she replied, “My language and my culture.” She is obviously very proud to be who she is and where she is. “I was very shy when I was in elementary school and tried to fit in but it didn’t work. When I got into middle school I started finding myself and started getting closer to my grandparents, listening to them and going with them to memorials and powwows more and started dancing. I’ve represented three powwows so far. I probably wouldn’t be where I am today without my grandparents and my family. So it’s their fault,” she laughed.

Yvette Whitman, editor of the tribal newspaper, was her mentor this past year and said of Bessie. “She is an amazing young lady and very talented, kind, and is taught her Nez Perce culture by her grandparents which is an asset in Indian Country. Knowing Bessie will be a lifetime of a wonderful friendship.”

            She now primarily does jingle dress dancing but in the past has done traditional and fast-and-fancy. “I’m Miss Epehtes. Epehtes Celebration is like a powwow in March. They asked me if I’d like to represent them so I go around to different powwows and invite people to Epehtes for next March.”

            Bessie is becoming fluent in the Nez Perce language. “I should be more fluent but I know the basics.” She took language two years in high school and would have taken more but felt much was repetition. She has also worked with the tribe’s language program during the past year. “I was looking for a job last summer and one of my uncles suggested I try the language program.” That lasted throughout the summer and again this past spring. One task was working with youngsters in the after-school program.

            With graduation behind her she will be travelling to Washington D.C., New York, and Philadelphia this summer as part of the Upward Bound Program, something she’s been involved with since her freshman year. Then this fall it’s off to college.       

            Bessie will be attending Lewis & Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, just fifteen miles away and staying in a dorm on campus rather than commuting. LCSC offers classes in the Nez Perce language and Bessie plans to take those classes and minor in Nez Perce language so if she later decides to teach she will be totally qualified in that area. As far as a major, she has already decided it will be creative writing.

            School principal Mike Halverson said this of Bessie. “As student body president she was great to work with, always positive and always trying to do the best for the students, particularly when it came to the prom. She was involved in other programs such as the “No means no” program of the state. It was just a pleasure to work with her.”