K'en T'em Welcomes Rose Hill as member development participant

Hentle, My name is Rose Hill and I am from the Cook’s Ferry Indian Band.  I currently reside on reserve near Spences Bridge at nKumsheen (where the Nicola & Thompson Rivers connect). My Grandparents on my Mothers Side (Edith Frye) were Doris Lulu (Yamelst) and Richard Yamelst Sr. and my Fathers Side (Mike Hill Sr.) My grandmother was Rose O’Neil (Celesta) from and William Hill from Finland.

Many of you will recognize me from events in the Nation, I am a hand drummer, I bead, sew and cater events and I am also a Women’s Traditional dancer.

I have worked for my Band of Cook’s Ferry for 10 years as Receptionist as well as for our Lands Department. I have an educational background in Horticulture (College of the Rockies), Natural Resources (Nicola Valley Institute of Technology), an Office Administration Certificate and Executive Assistant Diploma (NVIT) Business Administration (NVIT) and I recently completed a certificate from the University Of Victoria in Indigenous Entrepreneurship with plans to attend NVIT in the fall to begin the Indigenous Business Diploma program.

I have always had a passion for writing community event articles for Newsletters so when I came across this opportunity posted on our CNA Employment and Training Department Social Media to participate in a 6 week internship with K’en T’em I was so excited to apply and I was honored to find out that I had been selected to work with the team as the first Intern for K’en T’em.

I completed the first half of my training in the Design Department where I had the opportunity to just jump into assisting with large printing jobs on the commercial printers that we are fortunate to have to provide support with all printing and design projects for both the Bands we work for as well as other local organizations and companies. I had no idea how much this department accomplishes with all the in-house capability that we have here.

I just started the second half of this Internship and I am now completing the last 3 weeks with the Communications Department. I am hoping to gain additional skills that I can bring back to my Community of Cook’s Ferry in some capacity in the future because I love living in my community close to family, however I am leaving the future open to opportunity in this next phase of my educational path. I look forward to learning and working with K’en T’em, and I hope to see and reach as many members as possible during the next 3 weeks both in person and through posts.

Learn more about the program here: