When BYU's Lamanite Generation was on a performing tour here, educators in western Washington seized the opportunity to bring their Native American students in contact with positive role models and to learn more about their own culture.

Through special arrangements, a matinee performance was added Feb. 4 to the BYU troupe's tour. Some 800 Native American students from area schools attended the performance in Olympia."Our children need these kinds of experiences," said Patsy Martin, Indian Education Supervisor in the State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Olympia. Mrs. Martin coordinated invitations to public school districts and to Native American schools. The invitations were part of a project organized by John A. Liddell, coordinator of the Lamanite Generation's regular concert in Olympia.

Students from 18 school districts and Indian schools attended the special performance, which featured a sampling of Native American, Latin American and Polynesian songs and dances.

"It's the feeling that song and dance give," said Mrs. Martin, as she praised the effects of the performance. "Educators and school administrators need to see something like this to understand what role these cultural experiences play in the lives of our students."

Some students attending the assembly at Washington Center for the Performing Arts traveled two and three hours from their schools. They represented local tribes - Puyallup, Nisqually, Tulalip, Quinault, Chehalis and Squaxin - and included students from a variety of other Indian nations.

Mrs. Martin, a Yakima, said she takes her children to cultural activities with her tribe as often as possible. Those opportunities do not exist for all Native American children, she emphasized.

"Students from these urban areas don't have easy ways to learn about their culture and to be part of large groups of Native Americans," she said. "When their culture is different, it is a real struggle for them to find a place in our school systems. It is hard to go to school every day."

The students eagerly asked questions about college admission, studies and rehearsal schedules. Lamanite Generation student president Burton Rojas answered with encouraging comments and relayed questions to other cast members. "We have all come from where you have come from," Rojas told the students. "Now we are college students planning for interesting careers. If we can do this, so can you."

Community service awards were presented by the Lamanite Generation at performances in Olympia Feb. 4, and in Tacoma Feb. 6.

In Olympia, service awards from BYU were presented to Billie Frank, a Nisqually leader who has worked in the community to preserve and share his cultural heritage, and to Carol Ottibenner, Indian Education coordinator for Puget Sound Educational Service District.

In Tacoma, service awards from BYU were presented to Theresa Reda Martinez, founder and director of El Centro Latino, a multi-service center for Hispanics of Pierce County and organizer of the county's Ethnic Minority Advocacy Commission; Connie L. McCloud, former member of the Puyallup Tribal Council and current case manager of the tribe's Children's Mental Health Project; and Ani Clipper Maxfield, a Maori from New Zealand and a BYU graduate who is a member of the Washington State PTA committee on at-risk children and youth.

In Seattle on Feb. 7, local coordinators for the BYU performances invited members of a Seattle Indian school dance group to attend the concert as honored guests.

Local concert organizers said support and interest of local Native Americans, Hispanics and Polynesians brought renewed cooperation with educators and social agencies in their communities.