STUDENTS IN MOUNTAIN EMPIRE DISTRICT LEARN KUMEYAAY “HISTORY ON THE GO” IN PARTNERSHIP WITH IMPERIAL VALLEY DESERT MUSEUM

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East County News Service

January 23, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) – The Mountain Empire Unified School District in San Diego’s rural East County has forged a partnership with the Imperial Valley Desert Museum to offer Kumeyaay history classes in all of the district’s schools.

Below is information provided by Bob Bordelon, American Indian Education/Title VII facilitator at Mountain Empire, in conjunction with the museum:

The greatest challenge in education today is most often that of inclusion – engaging students with lessons and content that are both exciting and relevant to their own experiences and backgrounds.  The benefits of this are obvious, encouraging better behavior and performance academically and socially, and providing a better path forward for self improvement. The consequences otherwise are just as dramatic, with noninclusive and non-representative lessons leaving students feeling isolated, overlooked, and unimportant with little to no voice within their community.  Nowhere is this more true than among indigenous students enrolled in our public schools. Far too often, these students experience a higher level of misbehavior, lower scholastic performance, lower graduation rates, and even a loss of identity. These are students with the same energy and potential as their peers, but from such a situation that their future is tragically far-too-often altogether different.  As a traditionally overlooked and underdeveloped group, it is vitally important to work together in the 21st century to provide these students every opportunity for self-growth, self-esteem, and self-determination.

Since fall 2018, the Imperial Valley Desert Museum has partnered with the Mountain Empire Unified School District to do just that for the district's Kumeyaay students.  Enter its History on the Go in-classroom field trip program. Facilitated through the Title VII Native American Education program, IVDM has introduced Kumeyaay-specific, Common Core-aligned programming and lesson content into the district's classrooms.  Working in digestible, one-hour lessons that slot neatly into the school day, these programs have served students at all grade levels, from kindergarten through high school and to Kumeyaay and non-Kumeyaay alike. Its lessons include everything from arts-based cultural activities like coiled clay pottery making and pendant necklace weaving, to STEM-aligned exercises in traditional applications of native geology and plants for adaptation and survival.

Together, these lessons demonstrate the continued value, wisdom, and relevance of the Kumeyaay's traditional knowledge to a new generation of students.  They serve as a point of pride, energizing an entire group of students that traditionally has experienced low reporting and self-identification as indigenous.  It is a endearing experience as the district's Kumeyaay students are often inspired to step up and take lead of the lessons, teaching their fellow students the techniques and deeper understanding behind each day's activity.  It is relieving and encouraging for them to see that their personal culture – the ideas and lessons often taught to them at home or elsewhere on the reservation – is not only accepted but a thing to be celebrated in the larger world around them.

Since beginning the program in fall 2018, History on the Go has experienced growing support and continued success.  Its message is out, and interest and demand are growing. From its first year, which actually finished with funds unspent for classrooms and Kumeyaay youth organizations to participate in the program, by the beginning of the second term in the 2019-2020 school year the program is already nearing its completion.  With $1,500 in funding provided directly by the Title VII program and a matching grant by the Mountain Empire Unified School District, History on the Go has worked with nearly 500 students since its start the year before. For all interested teachers, there are still spaces and funding remaining for the spring 2020 season – all are encouraged to reach out directly to IVDM Education Coordinator Angelina Coble at ivdmuseum@gmail.com to see about reserving an in-classroom lesson.  

History on the Go was first created to serve as an alternative to schools that might struggle with coordinating the travel requirements required for field trips to the Imperial Valley Desert Museum.  Its mission is to ensure that the collections, culture, and history stewarded at the Museum remain accessible to all. Simply put, it brings the Museum to you. Since that time, through its work with the students – especially the Kumeyaay – of Mountain Empire Unified School District, the program has grown into something far greater.  Supported by continued input by parents and tribal leaders – and even students themselves – within the Kumeyaay communities, this program has grown in its scope, direction, and impact, expanding and correcting lesson content to be more relevant and accurate to the students' needs. This is itself a thing of wonder, as entire communities have come together to better serve this important cause.

From these efforts, History on the Go has taken on new meaning and importance as the Museum is thrilled to bring back and share the culture, traditions, histories, and lessons preserved at the Museum with those to whom they naturally belong.  There is something truly amazing and fulfilling to see Kumeyaay students handling and interacting with original artifacts like hammerstones, arrow shaft straighteners, and hand axes, and then leading others in their study and use. Their ignited spark and passion are visible to anyone in the room – and it's contagious!  

Working together, it is easy to envision a brighter future for the district's Kumeyaay students – at home, in the classroom, and among their local communities.  This is truly an exciting time, as we look forward to the next generation of Kumeyaay as emergent leaders and scholars, inspired and proven ready for what lies ahead.  

 

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