Indian Country Today Education

Imagine the time and toil it would take teachers and students to transform a schoolyard into a haven for wildlife. Southern Ute Indian Academy in Colorado did just that, qualifying as the first tribal school to earn certification as a National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Schoolyard Habitat site in 2005.

Cinnamon Spear knows the value of a good education. The recent Dartmouth College graduate grew up on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in the small community of Lame Deer. The list of her accomplishments in high school and college is as long and diverse as her interests – science, dancing, filmmaking, community activities and ultimately, service to her people in Montana.

DAYTON, Ohio – “The meaning of this project goes way beyond the goods that are given out. It’s about making connections between people,” said Guy W. Jones, Hunkpapa Lakota, who recently completed an annual 2,200-mile, nine-day pilgrimage to deliver more than 50,000 pounds of donated clothes and school supplies to the Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reservations.

Allyson Two Bears, an environmental science student at Sitting Bull College based in the Dakotas, hails from a long line of medicine women. Her great-grandmother, grandmother and mother were cultural leaders, and their traditional wisdom eventually passed down to Two Bears, who promised to share the knowledge with her children.

The Native Research Network was started with one goal in mind – to foster a support system for Native researchers who are often isolated at universities across the nation.

WARM SPRINGS, Ore. (AP) – At first Merle Kirk and Adeline Miller were inseparable. For eight hours a day, the two went over language drills. Miller, a tribal elder, would say a word in her native Ishichkin, and Kirk would repeat it. They traveled and taught together. Kirk listened without interrupting.

When’s a good time to start talking to children about going to college? The Wabanaki Bates-Bowdoin-Colby Collaborative thinks it’s never too early; the innovative educational partnership begins its effort with fourth graders.

Katy Brinegar, 22, has traveled a long, often pain-filled road.

When Jennifer Nesahkluah held a fundraiser to heat Native homes, she had no idea that it would blossom into a fledgling nonprofit organization.

TOHATCHI, N.M. – Fifth grader Darius Yazzie’s after-school chores include hauling water for horses and feeding chickens, while his classmate, Shanika Begay, rides a bus 15 miles each way through the rolling hills of this impoverished corner of the Navajo Nation.

MARGARETSVILLE, N.Y. – The Blue Deer Center, a nonprofit retreat, was founded in 2005 by Eliot Cowan, a Huichol Indian shaman, teacher and master of acupuncture.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Penn. – Penn State University’s American Indian Leadership Program has kicked off events to celebrate 40 continuous years of honing leadership qualities in Native graduate and doctoral students pursuing careers in education.

This summer, the nonprofit Southern California Indian Center and its multimedia training and production initiative, InterTribal Entertainment, collaborated with the professional Acting Company Native Voices at the Autry to sponsor summer workshops for Native American youth in the Los Angeles area. The program was called “Sharing Our Stories: Young Native Voices Acting/Writing Workshops.”

WASHINGTON – Educators from across the country committed to improving educational opportunities for American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students will gather to trade information and learn from one another at the 40th annual convention of the National Indian Education Association.

BROWNING, Mont. (AP) – The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in California has donated $20,000 to help Browning High School in northwest Montana complete work on a gym.

DENVER – From a Native perspective, archaeology has often been seen as the central villain in America’s quest to uncover and claim – and sometimes illegally market – the remnants of an ancient past.

REGINA, Saskatchewan – Dr. Shunwa Honda of the Open University of Japan is on a mission to help win government legal recognition of indigenous status for the Ainu people.

HANOVER, N.H. – A group of Indian country’s highest achieving high school seniors spent a week during the summer immersed in a special program aimed at encouraging them to pursue careers in finance and provide the financial leadership to help their nations’ economies move forward.

Many years ago I started a personal research project on what it meant to “Think Indian” or more specifically “Think Lakota or Cheyenne.”

Challenges of education are arguably unique in Alaska. Though the state is rich in oil and gas, has no state income tax and boasts a vigorous economy, it has serious issues in education. In rural areas there is an almost constant struggle to find and retain qualified and dedicated teachers willing to live in remote areas where plane rides are the only travel option, and cold, dark winters in stark landscapes are the norm.