UMaine Student Wins Internship at Smithsonian’s American Indian Museum
Contact: David Slagger, George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO — A background in teaching, volunteering, theater and Native American art has placed UMaine student David Slagger, a member of the Micmac Indian Nation, in the right place at the right time for a prestigious internship at the Smithsonian Institute’s new National Museum of the American Indian.
Slagger, a 43-year-old non-traditional student now in his sophomore year in the UMaine College of Education and Human Development, recently was selected from a field of 40 applicants nationally for a fall internship in the museum’s Public Programs Department. The department plans, coordinates and presents Native theater programs, among other things, at the museum on the Mall in Washington D.C. In addition to receiving a $1,500 stipend, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) will provide travel expenses and housing on Capitol Hill.
The independent study internship runs from Sept. 26 to Dec. 2, although he starts his work in Washington Sept. 5. To qualify for the section process, Slagger submitted an essay, letters of recommendation and had to maintain a 3-point grade average. He is the first UMaine student to work at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Slagger grew up in Aroostook County and now lives in Dedham, and says he is consumed by both excitement and awe over his selection.
“This is one of the greatest accomplishments I’ve made in getting this internship,” Slagger says. “I’m very honored to represent the University of Maine and The Wabanaki Center and my tribe, the Aroostook Micmac Nation.”
Slagger has been involved with the Wabanaki Center at UMaine, the American Indians at the University of Maine club and he has displayed some of his Native American art and crafts at the Hudson Museum’s annual art and basket sale. His artwork includes painting nature scenes on large fungi he finds in the forest, weaving sweetgrass baskets and using bird feathers and wood to craft dreamcatchers and ceremonial talking sticks.
His theater studies at UMaine include working and participating with a production last fall of a play by Native American playwright William Yellowrobe, taking a class in Native American theater with Sherman Alexis, another Native American playwright who spoke and taught at UMaine last year and working with UMaine’s intertribal theater.
Slagger is a veteran of the U.S. Marines and has worked as a volunteer with Native American veterans in Maine for three years, helping them get medals earned but not received during their military service.
He decided to apply for the Smithsonian internship after attending the grand opening last September of the National Museum of the American Indian.
“I was just fascinated with the museum and seeing 20,000 Native people on the Mall was just an unbelievable sight,” he says.
Slagger also has worked as a volunteer in area schools, teaching children about Native American culture and he plans to continue his teaching when he graduates from UMaine. He looks forward to working with non-Native teachers who will be adding more Native studies to public schools’ curricula, as required under a new state law, LD291.
“What I’m trying to do is set an example for my community and show that Native Americans can step out of the community and succeed in a place like Orono,” he says. “The road to success will take us as far as we want to go. There’s so much we can do and it’s up to us to get there. That’s how I got my internship.