December 21 – BEMIDJI – TrekNorth Junior and Senior High School
has long sought to recognize and honor indigenous culture through its programming, but this year’s efforts appear to be a little more official.
Leech Lake Band member Samantha Fairbanks, a dedicated American Indian Education Coordinator who is at the helm for the first time in the school’s history, credits her past experiences in social work and the arts for her interest in the position once she arrived at ‘ apply’ could print.
“When I saw the listing I thought, ‘Oh, that sounds stable,’” she said lightly. “I was already familiar with Indian Education, so when I saw the job description TrekNorth posted, I knew I could do that too.”
Legislation passed in 2023 requires each district or participating school that implements American Indian education programs to employ one or more full-time or part-time dedicated coordinators in a district with 100 or more state-identified Native American students living in the district are registered.
In addition, a participating district or school must offer American Indian culture and language classes if at least 5% of its students are American Indian students or if 100 or more students identify as American Indian.
TrekNorth’s current Native American population is approximately 57% of the student population, with 21% living in towns on tribal nation lands. Such statistics would necessitate the hiring of Fairbanks, as the role was previously filled by staff with other responsibilities.
“It was always going to be the assistant director or director who would fill that role. The law changed so it had to be a designated person,” said TrekNorth director Erica Harmsen. “You (the coordinator) can no longer also teach or take on an administrative role, that’s why we have Samantha.”
Through Fairbanks’ role, a number of activities seek to promote interconnectedness and cultural awareness among the entire student population. Fairbanks noted a cultural significance of art present in much of the programming.
“A lot of what I do is art-based, and through art we can bring a lot of culture to the school because our art forms have culture woven into them,” she said. “They bring many different teachings.”
One such activity is the monthly painting evenings, each recognizing one of the seven Grandfather teachings: wisdom, love, respect, courage, honesty, humility and truth. Paint nights are open to all families and have proven quite popular.
“Somewhere between 30 and 50 people come to a family paint night,” Fairbanks noted. “It’s a big test.”
There are three after-school opportunities every other week to complete cultural activities, with crafts reserved for Tuesdays, drumming and dancing on Wednesdays, and other activities on Thursdays.
TrekNorth students Giada Goodwin and Karina Guardipee regularly attend the craft evenings and have enjoyed learning different techniques related to beading for a variety of projects, namely jewelry and earrings.
Student Donald Kingbird-Tejohn persevered in his efforts to bring drumming and dancing to the school, given his involvement in drumming groups and powwows. Bringing this to others has allowed him to share his knowledge with his colleagues and learn more about his own culture.
“It feels good to learn different singing styles because there are Southern and Northern styles that are different,” Kingbird-Tejohn explains. “They are unique in their own way.”
In addition to biweekly programming, Fairbanks advises the Native Youth Council, which plans events to represent the student population. The group recently hosted a craft fair fundraiser on December 14.
“They make sure we do what the students want,” Fairbanks said. “If the students want cultural activities or family nights, we can certainly do that through the Indigenous Youth Council.”
Parents also remain involved in TrekNorth’s programming through the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee.
“The parents will let us know what they want to see here for their students, and we’ll do our best to bring that to TrekNorth,” Fairbanks added. “We started our culture and language lessons in the 2021 school year.”
Moving into the future, Fairbanks and Harmsen hope to increase involvement with the Native Youth Council and continue programming that focuses on key goals related to Native American education as outlined by the
Minnesota Department of Education.
“The program is actually designed to support American Indian families through academics, attendance and college preparation,” Harmsen said. “Everything Samantha has created this year supports that.”
The impact of TrekNorth’s programming extends to staff, students and families alike, an aspect that Kingbird-Tejohn appreciates.
“It’s a way to express our culture, to express who we are and to learn more about the culture,” he insisted. “It took seven generations to be taken away, and it will take seven generations to bring it back to the people.”
