Highland Park students learn about Native heritage

Students at Highland Park Early Primary School were treated to a number of activities Friday meant to introduce them to aspects of Native American culture and history.

Native elders from around the area came to the school and helped with a number of activities students engaged in, including learning about the reservations' flags, and the significance of certain symbols and animals.

Students were also able to take a beading class with Renita Longknife, an elder from Fort Belknap, and Nikkita Foursouls, also of Fort Belknap, who spoke about traditional Nakoda teachings about the Circle of Life.

In another classroom students sampled traditional Native American foods like bannock bread, juneberries and buffalo meat, with Bruce Grant, a member of the Gros Ventre or Aaniiih tribe also from Fort Belknap.

He spoke about the foods, how they were gathered and the importance of the bison in particular, since they were such a vital part of their culture and food supply.

The bison meat was donated by the Fort Belknap Buffalo Program and the bread was made by Havre High School Food and Consumer Science's first period class.

Kindergarten students also learned some Native American sign language regarding animals, while other students listened to Trickster Tales, sacred myths and folktales about animal spirits like Coyote.

Overall, Highland Park Principal Hayley Criner said, the event went very well and she wants to thank the staff, the guest speakers and District Indian Education For All Director Jessica Kennedy-Stiffarm for making it all happen.

Havre Public Schools has been pushing to increase the quality of their education about Native American culture, heritage and history under the IEFA program, administered by the Montana Office of Public Instruction, and Criner said she hopes more events like this are in the future.

"Any time we can expose our kids to something they don't normally see or taste or experience every day, we can open a lot of eyes," she said.

She said Native history is incredibly rich and is a massive part of what made the area what it is today, and it's important for students to know where they came from.