Summer Wildbill

Summer Wildbill (she/her) is an enrolled tribal member with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR). Summer is an incoming sophomore at New York University and was selected to participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholars Program, a prestigious scholarship and cohort for students who have demonstrated social justice impacts within their community. In high school, Summer served on the CTUIR Youth Council as a publicist for four years and raised awareness among other tribal youths on climate change, suicide, MMIW (Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women) and more within the community. Summer worked with her tribe newspaper, CUJ, to freelance news reports and briefs on what CTUIR Youth Council had accomplished and been working on. Through her love of writing, she also published articles for WeRNative, giving insightful tips on healthy eating habits, studying, working and overall advice to other Indigenous youth! 

Summer finds a way to connect with her Indigenous community by being on the executive board of the Native American Indigenous Student Group (NAISG) as social media chair, sharing and publishing upcoming events. She is also a youth delegate on the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board and got the opportunity to attend the 2023 White House Tribal Youth Forum in Washington, DC. In New York, she continues to be involved in advocacy as an environment and sustainability intern at GrowNYC and director of advocacy for her hall council. During Indigenous heritage month, she put up posters regarding the MMIW movement. Summer is currently the communications coordinator for the New York City Public Schools Research Alliance, where she uses digital media and writing to adapt research to reach a broad audience. She is excited about the endeavors and community she will build by participating in the Remembering Our Sisters Fellowship, growing creatively and professionally!

About Summer’s Project

Healing Through Art: Indigenous Resilience combines painting, poetry and advocacy to raise awareness of the MMIW movement in urban spaces. She centered her portfolio of oil paintings around the movement to bring different perspectives and contextualize the pieces with a series of poems.