ATHENA — “Atina” is a word from the Umatilla language meaning “the in-between place.” This is where the name for the town of Athena comes from and is now the name of a new Native American heritage club in Athena-Weston School District.

This fall marks the first time the school district has a Native American heritage club, which has been in the works for several years. The club was formed with the help of Superintendent Ann Vescio, Weston-McEwen High School Principal Morgan Rauch, language arts teacher Amanda Stewart and local parent Althea Wolf.

“One parent expressed their desire to study Native American culture more than just during Indigenous People’s Month in November, and I expressed the desire to reciprocate that,” Stewart said. “So they needed a staff member of the school to do it and, no staff member is Native, so I volunteered, and I’m using my free time to take some courses and learn more about the culture myself.”

Stewart said the students will have monthly meetings where they’ll listen to Native American stories, weave baskets, learn Native American recipes and possibly provide language lessons.

“Athena-Weston School District has a high demographic of Native American students and there isn’t really a place for them to celebrate their culture and learn about it,” said Steward, who serves as the club adviser.

Atina Club had its first meeting Sept. 27, and has about seven or eight members right now. Stewart said it would not have been possible to get the club up and running without Wolf’s help.

Wolf works as a policy analyst at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Department of Natural Resources. She is also the chair of the tribe’s Health Commission and is one of the designers for Hamley & Co. Western Store in Pendleton, designing homemade Indigenous clothing for them to sell.

Wolf said club members are getting ready for Native American Heritage Month, which is November, and plan to participate in the district’s annual Pow Wow Day.

“That starts with making ribbon shirts and ribbon skirts, and we’re going to make a drum,” Wolf said. “We’re going to have somebody from the tribe to host the kids at their house and show them how to make a big drum — the big drums are used for celebratory reasons.”

Wolf said ultimately the club aims to promote unity.

“In the last couple of years, it’s just become very divisive and negative between people of color and everyone else,” Wolf said. “We want to celebrate how this one little town in rural eastern Oregon used to work together. The foundation of it was accepting newcomers and those newcomers accepting the Indigenous people and their customs and being open to it.”