Tribal school students speak out about importance of protecting Mother Earth at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin
Menominee Tribal School students learn about Earth, Sturgeon, honored for environment projects
(Keshena, Wisconsin) - Menominee Tribal School students are learning valuable lessons about protecting the environment and learning their tribe’s heritage including keeping native language alive.
In April 2008 - the tribal school’s 180 students participated in “Clean Up the Rez Day” that improved the look of the reservation.
The students went on several outings - including during gym class - to pick up garbage and litter around the reservation.
The students collected numerous bags of trash that was properly disposed.
The cleanups in Neopit and Keshena were among several projects during which the students and their families learned to respect the environment - a lesson that is a vital part of Menominee culture.
The many environment projects at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin were part of the tribe’s participation in the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day challenge.
Teachers and elders honored the students for their environmental work by holding a drum that included a feast .
“So they gave me some tobacco, some ‘naeqnemāaw’ and asked me to pray a little bit, so I am going to say a little prayer,” said Dana Warrington, Keshena High School culture teacher.
“Give thanks that we still have our drums,” Warrington said. “Give thanks that we have a school, and be happy that we have something to eat here today. So I want to pray a little bit.”
Students heard words of encouragement from two teachers were Beth Waukechon and culture teacher Dana Warrington.
They told the students about the importance of taking care of Mother Earth because she takes care of us.
They had a chance to talk to elders about protecting the planet.
During a field trip to Green Bay the students had a picnic in Pamprin Park, where their Earth Day activities made one of the attractions even more special.
The students climbed all over a replica of the Planet Earth - and were reminded of their clean up of the reservation.
The Menominee reservation is known for it’s beauty.
The 234,000-acre reservation has thick forests and includes 24-miles of the pristine Wolf River - that’s federally protected.
About 95 percent of the reservation produces the finest old stands of hardwood, pine and hemlock located in the Great Lakes region
Sturgeon used to spawn in reservation portions of the river - until two dams were built blocking their annual migration route.
The Land of the Menominee - and the tribes connection to nature - are noted at several locations on the reservation including spirit rock - where a Wisconsin historical marker tells the legend of the rock its importance to the future of the Menominee Nation.
Fifth grader La-Rie Corn hopes to form an Earth Club at the school located on the Menominee reservation in Neopit.
After whitewashing gang graffiti at a popular skateboard park the students replaced negative symbols with traditional American Indian art.
Corn, who is 11 years old, said students went down to the community park and painted over the graffiti and put up Native American applique designs.
Corn said painting over the graffiti is important because instead of showing the gang symbols the kids get to know their culture by seeing the Native American art.
Like many students, Corn knows about 500 Menominee words thanks to tribal school teachers and elders that care about saving their native tongue.
A group of fourth graders said they learned the importance of respecting the Earth and how it fits their heritage.
Voice of:
Tahekiah Bourdon
Interviews of MITW Tribal School fourth graders Raven Webster, Shae Perez, Naneque Latender and Sherlinda Nahwahquaw.
Teacher Beth Waukechon said students learn about the disconnection that occurs between people and Mother Earth.”
Waukechon said students are learning environmental issues and solutions - and hopefully will continue environment friendly practices as they grow older.
Claudette Hewson, the MITW Restorative Justice Coordinator, said the Menominee Teen Court Panel picked up garbage and litter during Earth Week 2008.
The panel is comprised of teens - ages 14 to 17 - and is a peer review for youthful offenders sentenced in tribal court.
In May 2008, the panel and teens sentenced in tribal juvenile court for minor crimes removed graffiti from roads signs in the Middle Village housing area.
After picking up litter, the teens told Hewson that they now realize what a mess the reservation was becoming and were happy to restore it to normal.
Back at the tribal school, students learned about their culture including their native language and the sturgeon, a vital part of Menominee heritage.
Named the “People of the Wild Rice,” Menominee legend calls the sturgeon “the protector” of the grain that grows in water.
Corn said sturgeon hold a really high place in Menominee culture because the sturgeon guard the wild rice - one of the three gifts the creator has given to the Menominee people
Language arts instructor Joe Awonohopay said all Earth Week 2008 classes were devoted to the sturgeon including the effects of pollution on life cycle, habitat, biology, anatomy and physiology.
Students sent a letter to lawmakers to lobby for funding fish ladders at two downstream dams that prevent sturgeon from returning to ancestral spawning grounds on the reservation.
Students were taught sturgeon migration and routes to traditional spawning grounds,
Awonohopay said sturgeon has been vital to Menominee culture since the beginning of time.
The sturgeon is long slow-growing fish that can reach 12 to 16 feet and are known for a rubbery snout with a sucker.
Meanwhile Implementing Sustainable Development class at the College of Menominee nation took the EPA Great Lakes challenge seriously by collecting electronic waste for recycling and pharmaceuticals for proper disposal.
College students collected more than 23 pounds of pharmaceutical waste including 100 bottles of pills in an event supervised by college police science instructor Heidi Cartwright, who is a part-time Manawa police officer
The e-waste collected included more than two dozen computers, many related components like hard drives, printers, keyboards, speakers; and - televisions, radios, DVD players plus 12 cell phones and over 100 batteries.
While managing the collection, the college students were notified they’d won the National Recycling Coalition Bin Grant through Coca-Cola - that pays for 50 recycling bins.
The students gave the bins to the tribal school and to other locations on the reservation.
Earlier, the class participated in the ten-week Recycle Mania project for the second year in a row. involving weighing collected recyclables.
With 8 pounds of recyclables per student, the college ranked 136 out of 200 others in 2008 beating out Ohio State and Georgetown.
College Professor Dr.William Van Lopik said the class practices “active learning” that means learning by “actually doing something” instead of only using a text book.
In another EPA Challenge project the tribe held e-waste curbside collections.
The students and Menominee reservation residents turned in over four tons of electronics.
MITW Earth project sponsors included the tribe’s Community Resource Center, Menominee Tribal Police, Tribal Clinic, Maehnowesekiyah Wellness Center, Probation and Parole, Recreation Department, Community Recycling Project; and the Menominee County Sheriff’s Department, EarthHealingInitiative.org and Keshena U.S. Post Office.
MITW projects were included in the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge involving over 100 projects in hundreds of cities across eight states along the Great Lakes basin.
The goal of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge was the collecting and recycling of one million pounds of electronics (e-Waste) plus the collection and proper disposal of one million pills. The EPA says those goals were exceeded by 400 to 500 percent.
The Earth Healing Initiative assisted some challenge organizers by offering interfaith liaisons to volunteer and encourage members of local churches and temples to participate in the Earth Day related events in their area.
This video on the projects connected to the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge was made possible by a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the EPA's Region 5 office in Chicago, the EPA Great Lakes national Program Office also in Chicago in cooperation with the non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative in Marquette, MI.
The EHI involves American Indian tribes and a coalition of churches, synagogues and other faith traditions joining together to heal, protect and defend the environment.
I’m Greg Peterson, Earth healing TV
---
Related websites
---
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin official website - homepage
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov
---
MITW Tribal School website
http://mtsbia.edu/
---
College of Menominee Nation
http://www.menominee.edu
---
Earth Healing Initiative Keshena WI page
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org/keshenahtml
Earth Healing Initiative
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org
---
MITW Maehnowesekiyah Wellness Center
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/healthFamily/maehnowesekiyah/maehHomephp
http://wwww.cadv.org/indexcfm?go=about/news_pressrelease&id=26
http://www.reznetnews.org/article/news/scared_and_scarred
---
University of WI Cooperative Extention wesbsite page for Menominee tribe info like schools college
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/menominee/indexhtml
---
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Youth Development & Outreach
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/healthFamily/youthDevel/youthHomephp
---
Sturgeon info (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeons
---
Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Bah'i Community) of Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website:
http://www.interfaithresources.com
1-800-326-1197
---
(Keshena, Wisconsin) - Menominee Tribal School students are learning valuable lessons about protecting the environment and learning their tribe’s heritage including keeping native language alive.
In April 2008 - the tribal school’s 180 students participated in “Clean Up the Rez Day” that improved the look of the reservation.
The students went on several outings - including during gym class - to pick up garbage and litter around the reservation.
The students collected numerous bags of trash that was properly disposed.
The cleanups in Neopit and Keshena were among several projects during which the students and their families learned to respect the environment - a lesson that is a vital part of Menominee culture.
The many environment projects at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin were part of the tribe’s participation in the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day challenge.
Teachers and elders honored the students for their environmental work by holding a drum that included a feast .
“So they gave me some tobacco, some ‘naeqnemāaw’ and asked me to pray a little bit, so I am going to say a little prayer,” said Dana Warrington, Keshena High School culture teacher.
“Give thanks that we still have our drums,” Warrington said. “Give thanks that we have a school, and be happy that we have something to eat here today. So I want to pray a little bit.”
Students heard words of encouragement from two teachers were Beth Waukechon and culture teacher Dana Warrington.
They told the students about the importance of taking care of Mother Earth because she takes care of us.
They had a chance to talk to elders about protecting the planet.
During a field trip to Green Bay the students had a picnic in Pamprin Park, where their Earth Day activities made one of the attractions even more special.
The students climbed all over a replica of the Planet Earth - and were reminded of their clean up of the reservation.
The Menominee reservation is known for it’s beauty.
The 234,000-acre reservation has thick forests and includes 24-miles of the pristine Wolf River - that’s federally protected.
About 95 percent of the reservation produces the finest old stands of hardwood, pine and hemlock located in the Great Lakes region
Sturgeon used to spawn in reservation portions of the river - until two dams were built blocking their annual migration route.
The Land of the Menominee - and the tribes connection to nature - are noted at several locations on the reservation including spirit rock - where a Wisconsin historical marker tells the legend of the rock its importance to the future of the Menominee Nation.
Fifth grader La-Rie Corn hopes to form an Earth Club at the school located on the Menominee reservation in Neopit.
After whitewashing gang graffiti at a popular skateboard park the students replaced negative symbols with traditional American Indian art.
Corn, who is 11 years old, said students went down to the community park and painted over the graffiti and put up Native American applique designs.
Corn said painting over the graffiti is important because instead of showing the gang symbols the kids get to know their culture by seeing the Native American art.
Like many students, Corn knows about 500 Menominee words thanks to tribal school teachers and elders that care about saving their native tongue.
A group of fourth graders said they learned the importance of respecting the Earth and how it fits their heritage.
Voice of:
Tahekiah Bourdon
Interviews of MITW Tribal School fourth graders Raven Webster, Shae Perez, Naneque Latender and Sherlinda Nahwahquaw.
Teacher Beth Waukechon said students learn about the disconnection that occurs between people and Mother Earth.”
Waukechon said students are learning environmental issues and solutions - and hopefully will continue environment friendly practices as they grow older.
Claudette Hewson, the MITW Restorative Justice Coordinator, said the Menominee Teen Court Panel picked up garbage and litter during Earth Week 2008.
The panel is comprised of teens - ages 14 to 17 - and is a peer review for youthful offenders sentenced in tribal court.
In May 2008, the panel and teens sentenced in tribal juvenile court for minor crimes removed graffiti from roads signs in the Middle Village housing area.
After picking up litter, the teens told Hewson that they now realize what a mess the reservation was becoming and were happy to restore it to normal.
Back at the tribal school, students learned about their culture including their native language and the sturgeon, a vital part of Menominee heritage.
Named the “People of the Wild Rice,” Menominee legend calls the sturgeon “the protector” of the grain that grows in water.
Corn said sturgeon hold a really high place in Menominee culture because the sturgeon guard the wild rice - one of the three gifts the creator has given to the Menominee people
Language arts instructor Joe Awonohopay said all Earth Week 2008 classes were devoted to the sturgeon including the effects of pollution on life cycle, habitat, biology, anatomy and physiology.
Students sent a letter to lawmakers to lobby for funding fish ladders at two downstream dams that prevent sturgeon from returning to ancestral spawning grounds on the reservation.
Students were taught sturgeon migration and routes to traditional spawning grounds,
Awonohopay said sturgeon has been vital to Menominee culture since the beginning of time.
The sturgeon is long slow-growing fish that can reach 12 to 16 feet and are known for a rubbery snout with a sucker.
Meanwhile Implementing Sustainable Development class at the College of Menominee nation took the EPA Great Lakes challenge seriously by collecting electronic waste for recycling and pharmaceuticals for proper disposal.
College students collected more than 23 pounds of pharmaceutical waste including 100 bottles of pills in an event supervised by college police science instructor Heidi Cartwright, who is a part-time Manawa police officer
The e-waste collected included more than two dozen computers, many related components like hard drives, printers, keyboards, speakers; and - televisions, radios, DVD players plus 12 cell phones and over 100 batteries.
While managing the collection, the college students were notified they’d won the National Recycling Coalition Bin Grant through Coca-Cola - that pays for 50 recycling bins.
The students gave the bins to the tribal school and to other locations on the reservation.
Earlier, the class participated in the ten-week Recycle Mania project for the second year in a row. involving weighing collected recyclables.
With 8 pounds of recyclables per student, the college ranked 136 out of 200 others in 2008 beating out Ohio State and Georgetown.
College Professor Dr.William Van Lopik said the class practices “active learning” that means learning by “actually doing something” instead of only using a text book.
In another EPA Challenge project the tribe held e-waste curbside collections.
The students and Menominee reservation residents turned in over four tons of electronics.
MITW Earth project sponsors included the tribe’s Community Resource Center, Menominee Tribal Police, Tribal Clinic, Maehnowesekiyah Wellness Center, Probation and Parole, Recreation Department, Community Recycling Project; and the Menominee County Sheriff’s Department, EarthHealingInitiative.org and Keshena U.S. Post Office.
MITW projects were included in the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge involving over 100 projects in hundreds of cities across eight states along the Great Lakes basin.
The goal of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge was the collecting and recycling of one million pounds of electronics (e-Waste) plus the collection and proper disposal of one million pills. The EPA says those goals were exceeded by 400 to 500 percent.
The Earth Healing Initiative assisted some challenge organizers by offering interfaith liaisons to volunteer and encourage members of local churches and temples to participate in the Earth Day related events in their area.
This video on the projects connected to the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge was made possible by a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the EPA's Region 5 office in Chicago, the EPA Great Lakes national Program Office also in Chicago in cooperation with the non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative in Marquette, MI.
The EHI involves American Indian tribes and a coalition of churches, synagogues and other faith traditions joining together to heal, protect and defend the environment.
I’m Greg Peterson, Earth healing TV
---
Related websites
---
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin official website - homepage
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov
---
MITW Tribal School website
http://mtsbia.edu/
---
College of Menominee Nation
http://www.menominee.edu
---
Earth Healing Initiative Keshena WI page
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org/keshenahtml
Earth Healing Initiative
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org
---
MITW Maehnowesekiyah Wellness Center
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/healthFamily/maehnowesekiyah/maehHomephp
http://wwww.cadv.org/indexcfm?go=about/news_pressrelease&id=26
http://www.reznetnews.org/article/news/scared_and_scarred
---
University of WI Cooperative Extention wesbsite page for Menominee tribe info like schools college
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/menominee/indexhtml
---
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Youth Development & Outreach
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/healthFamily/youthDevel/youthHomephp
---
Sturgeon info (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeons
---
Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Bah'i Community) of Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website:
http://www.interfaithresources.com
1-800-326-1197
---