When you take advantage of new opportunities, great things might be just around the corner. No one understands this better than Keely Bobelu, a onetime ZYEP Summer Camper who now is deeply involved with our youth project at multiple levels, stepping into mentorship roles even as she pursues her own goals.
We first met Keely when she was about 10 years old. Her sister and cousin had attended our Summer Camp the year before; in those early days, camp still took place at the old Twin Buttes High School.
“I was skeptical,” Keely remembers with a laugh. “I lived in Albuquerque from first to third grade, and I had just moved back to Zuni. It was such a fun experience! I got to know other kids in the community, and ZYEP really helped me come out of my shell.”
After Summer Camp and one season in ZYEP’s soccer program, life took Keely in other directions. That is, until last year. Her mother saw an Instagram post about the Emerging Artist Apprenticeship, encouraging young people to apply for the Pueblo sewing cohort.
“I’d been wanting to make clothes since I was a little girl,” Keely says. “I was hesitant, but I applied. A week later, I was in Arizona on a trip with my dad, and I got a call from Liam (Simplicio, ZYEP arts leader). I was accepted, and everything changed for me from that point on.”
Keely was one of the top students in the apprenticeship program, and she had the opportunity to show and sell her work in the Pueblo Sewing Showcase at the Ancestral Rich Treasures of Zuni (ARTZ) Cooperative Gallery in October 2023. Then, she was invited to participate in ZYEP’s six-month Advanced Artist Apprenticeship, working one-on-one with instructor and mentor Raelynn Cachini.
“What a way to end 2023!” she says, smiling. “I felt so much happiness, being active in ZYEP.”
The new year started off with a bang, too. In March 2024, Keely and eight other young people ages 16-21 traveled to Moab, Utah, through ZYEP’s “Connect to Land” initiative. During the four-day camping trip, the Zuni youth visited significant ancestral sites at Canyonlands and Arches national parks and engaged with National Park Service staff.
“I didn’t know we had connections (to these places),” Keely reflected. “It made me want to become a park ranger.”
Thanks to her experience in the advanced apprenticeship, the young artist also had the opportunity to travel to Grand Canyon National Park in May 2024 to take part in the Grand Canyon Cultural Demonstration Program. This opportunity allowed Keely, two fellow art apprentices and one food sovereignty intern to share their knowledge and skills with the public at the Desert Watchtower for three days.
“It showcased us as Zuni artists, which was so surreal and exciting, I cried,” Keely says. “I got to meet people from all over the world, and I heard languages I’ve never heard before. That made me want to keep going with ZYEP.”
She definitely kept going. Her next step was to apply to be a Summer Camp counselor in summer 2024.
“When I was doing my sewing apprenticeship, they would open the big doors, and I could see kids outside doing Dance Medicine and Running Medicine,” she explains. “It was so heartfelt, and I could see the kids smiling. I decided to apply to be a Summer Camp counselor, to see what I could do to have an impact.”
Keely was accepted. As a counselor, she worked with the youngest campers, who were just 6 years old.
“It was pretty fun!” she says. “And humbling, because kids will just say whatever is on their minds.”
When summer drew to a close, Keely signed up to be a soccer coach. She also applied to be a mentor in ZYEP’s “Rooted in Healthy Traditions” after-school program, again working with younger children.
“Some of my campers are in there, and they say, ‘Hi Kiwi’ because they can’t say Keely, and they give me hugs,” she says. “The kids are always really shy at the beginning, but then they break out of their shells. That makes everything worth it.”
As if that weren’t enough to fill her schedule, Keely has been assisting with the Running Medicine Zuni program this fall, as well. She and her cousin are responsible for gathering each day’s participants in a circle for the daily check-in, stretching, a quick game and a target time for returning from that day’s run.
“They go out on a 40-minute run,” she says. “When they come back, we stretch again, reflect and talk about the run.”
While she still has thoughts of becoming a park ranger one day, Keely says she held off on submitting an application when she made the decision to work as a Summer Camp counselor.
“I learned I really like working with my community and taking advantage of the opportunities that are given here,” she says. “Before, I didn’t understand what ZYEP offered.”
For now, the 2021 Zuni High School graduate is happy to pursue her journey with the youth project. She says she has enjoyed participating in planning meetings for the apprenticeship program, which she hopes will continue far into the future.
“I got to meet the funders, share my experiences with them, and explain how the apprenticeship helped me personally,” she says. “It’s an important program, because so much of Zuni makes money through art like weaving, sewing and painting.”
Keely expresses her appreciation to the ZYEP team for what they offer their youth counselors, coaches and mentors. Not only does the team provide trainings, policies and procedures, they prepare young people for the wide variety of situations that can arise when working with children.
“The handbook even has games in back to do with the kids, just in case you need them!” she says with a chuckle.
She also notes that ZYEP is deeply woven into the fabric of the Zuni Pueblo community, whether that involves reaching out to community members who are ready and willing to share their knowledge and skills with the next generation or hosting community events that are well-organized, family-friendly, safe and, most of all, fun.
“At ZYEP, everyone is happy, pushing to be a better person, and working on themselves so we can grow together as a community,” Keely says. “It really matters. I want to thank ZYEP. They believe in you and give you that boost of confidence, like we do for the kids.
“Believing in yourself goes such a long way,” she continues. “Like my mom always used to tell me, don’t doubt yourself, be true to yourself, listen to your heart, and keep going.”
