During this episode, we’ll hear tips to increase empathy and de-escalation strategies, and listen back to a Tribal member who was an Olympic synchronized swimmer at the 2012 London games. We’ll also hear a cosmological story from the CPN Language Department.
CPN brings empathy, de-escalation training as part of series
Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Workforce Development & Social Services Department welcomed employees and the larger Pottawatomie County community for three sessions of empathy and de-escalation training this February.
“Every person walks in with baggage and hurt and trauma — and great things, too, to celebrate. So, if you’ll just take the time to think outside of ourselves, ‘What’s happening in that person’s world?’ We could solve a lot of issues that are happening in this world if we could just be more empathetic toward one another,” said Tracy Rader, the workshop presenter from the international leadership development company GiANT.
A variety of people who showed up to learn — including representatives from schools in the area and Shawnee, Oklahoma, Mayor Ed Bolt, as well as several city employees, from those working with the unhoused to organizations like Visit Shawnee.
The empathy and de-escalation training is part of the CPN Lunch and Learn event series. For more information about Workforce Development & Social Service, visit cpn.news/workforce or call 405-878-3854.
Olympic synchronized swimmer Mary Killman
In this episode, we’re going back in time with a clip of from the Native American Speaks, a former radio show from Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Public Information Department and KGFF. It ran from 2006 to 2013 with host Michael Dodson, previous Public Information Department Director. In this clip, Dodson interviews CPN tribal member and Olympic synchronized swimmer Mary Killman in September 2012.
She represented the United States as the country’s only synchronized swimming team at the London 2012 Olympics – 100 years after CPN descendant Jim Thorpe was the first Native American athlete to earn Olympic gold at the 1912 games in Stockholm, Sweden. Dodson talked with Killman shortly after her return from competition.
“I’ve always aimed for the Olympic games. It’s the highest honor that an amateur athlete can reach,” she said.
“Opening ceremonies was amazing. … You walk in, and there are so many people, you can’t even see them. It’s like a blur.”
In the years since this aired, Mary Killman continued to swim competitively. She began college and became a three-time U.S. Collegiate National Champion in 2013, 14 and 15. She also earned the U.S. National Champion title four years in a row, from 2013 to 2016, and was named the U.S. Synchro Athlete of the Year in 2014. Killman now has her bachelor’s degree in business administration. To learn more, visit marykillman.com.
Learning Language
It’s time for Learning Language, when the CPN Language Department joins us to teach vocabulary, songs, stories and more. Language Department Director Justin Neely tells us a story connected to the stars and constellations.
For more information and opportunities with language, including self-paced classes, visit cpn.news/language. You can find an online dictionary at potawatomidictonary.com as well as videos on YouTube. There are also Potawatomi courses on the language-learning app Memrise.
Hownikan Podcast is produced and distributed by Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Public Information Department. Subscribe to Hownikan Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud and wherever you find your favorite shows. Find digital editions of the Tribal newspaper here.