BMS Dean of Students Kelly Erickson is the sponsor of the Native American Heritage Club, and he helped students create the group exactly three years ago because he thought it was important to have something in place to make sure students could use events like Native American Heritage Month to raise awareness and understanding of their history and culture.
“I was asking some kids what we do here for Native American Month, and I had some kids who knew they were Native American, but they didn’t really know their heritage,” Erickson said. “That kind of spurred me on that we needed to do something, we needed to start the discussion.”
Erickson, who is originally from New Mexico, believes it is important that Native American students enjoy a connection to their heritage, so he started the Native American Heritage Club in November of 2022.
“Growing up in New Mexico, it is not called Native American history. It is just history,” Erickson reasoned. “I knew about the Pueblos, Apaches, Navajos and Commanches from first or second grade. We were always connected to the tribes and never thought anything of it.”
One of the ways the Native American Heritage Club at BMS seeks to build those connections is by inviting guest speakers who are Native American to their monthly meetings. Students have heard about the journeys of other Native Americans and are encouraged to develop deeper connections to their own heritage.
Guest speakers included a Navajo woman who attended Fort Lewis College and then Marquette University, but took great value in learning the traditions of her people when she returned to take care of her grandmother during COVID. A trainer for the local sports teams who is a member of the Hopi nation has also participated in group activities, and in October, Bayfield High School basketball coach Damon White Thunder, a member of the Cheyenne Dog Soldier Society, was the group’s featured speaker.
“He didn’t know about his culture growing up, but he learned his heritage since and shared his story,” Erickson said.
“I went in with an open mind, and he just wanted me to talk about my Native American heritage. I wasn’t in tune with my culture growing up in a border town. It took me getting into the service to reach out and find my culture and my identity,” White Thunder confirmed.
The Army veteran served a combat tour in Iraq before becoming an educator, and he wanted to share his story because he hoped that it would inspire students.
“I wanted them to see a strong Native American man that works in education and is a coach,” White Thunder said. “I’ve gone all over the world doing stuff, and I want them to know there’s always options for them and to keep pushing themselves.”
He was impressed by the large number of tribes that were represented in the club, and he thinks there are several benefits to exploring and sharing the history of multiple Native cultures.
“It was interesting to see the diversity of tribes in that little school. I think there were eight or nine different tribes in that room we were in,” White Thunder said. “He (Erickson) is doing a good job up there. He’s helping them find their identity and that is what I left them with — reach out to your elders, your family and friends, and get those oral histories. I think it is awesome the more people that know you’re Native, and the more you can brag on your culture. It also helps people who are non-Native to be more culturally aware.”
The students who participate in the club agree, with many indicating that they enjoy learning things about various Native American cultures, but they are just as appreciative of the opportunity the club gives them to share knowledge about those cultures with friends.
“My grandma has worked at the Southern Ute bank my whole life, so she has always taught me about the Southern Ute, and I had a friend who is Navajo and knew everything about his tribe, so he always talked to me about that. The club helps us all learn about the other ones (tribes), and I like that we are able to bring friends because that teaches people who aren’t Native American about being Native American,” said Levi Vaughn, an eighth-grader who is a member of the Choctaw nation.
In addition to the monthly meetings, the Native American Heritage Club has also taken advantage of the countless opportunities that exist in the Four Corners to explore the history of the people who have called this land home for centuries. The group’s first field trip was to the ancient ruins in Aztec, and in their second year they visited the Jicarilla Apache reservation. They made a trip to Chaco Canyon last spring, and earlier this fall the group went to Mesa Verde.
“We can only take about 30 kids, but if we have room we always bring friends. A lot of kids who aren’t Native have been able to travel with us and learn their stories,” Erickson said.
“I think the buddy system is the best thing we do because students feel a little less out of place when they can bring a friend with them. I think it serves a really important purpose, at this age in particular,” said Natalie Kreun, a BMS science teacher who serves as the teacher representative on the Bayfield School District’s Native American Parent Advisory Committee. She also acts as Erickson’s assistant sponsor for the Native American Heritage Club.
“I really like going on the field trips and being able to go see other people and their personal culture. We’re all Native American, but the individuality (of the tribes) is important to me,” said Harmony Krug, an eighth-grader who is part Alaska Native (Tlingit) and part Navajo as well. “We all have the same thing in common, and it was nice to go with people that you share something with that wasn’t just my family.”
“You get to go to different tribes to learn about their culture. It is really fun to do, and it is really interesting,” said Savannah Elk.
“The people in our group help me understand other tribes too, so we can understand other cultures even more than we do already,” agreed Johnnarae Casados.
The two seventh-graders are both Ute, and they were each struck by some of the different things they learned about other tribes, both from other students and from the adults who they’ve encountered in club activities.
“We got to explore the Pueblo tribe and the tour guide was one of them so we got to get into details,” Casados said.
“I like that we get to go on trips and learn about how people lived in the past,” said sixth-grader Cataleya Cuch, a member of the Navajo tribe. “We’ve re-learned some of the stuff I already knew, but this has made me learn more about how people were in the past.”
“We’re learning different things about our own culture that we didn’t know, and that is important to me because I didn’t really know anything,” stated another sixth-grader, Krysdianna Mitchell, who said the group’s recent field trip to Mesa Verde was her first visit to the important cultural site.
“It’s a celebration. We’re not talking about all of the struggles and sad things. We are talking about the people and the people who have overcome that,” said Kreun. “I care about equality quite a bit, and I feel like it is very valuable to continue to have this conversation at the middle school so kids can have pride in where they come from. I obviously believe a great deal in the education part of this, but this is also another way to meet students where they are.”
“We don’t really get educated about that (Native American heritage),” said Krug, who has participated in the club all three years of its existence. “This kind of gives Native American people a sense of recognition. We don’t really get talked about much in the school or the district, so it is like saying ‘we’re here.’”
“Native Americans were here first, so it is good to recognize that we are still here and we still have those old traditions going on,” Vaughn agreed. He also joined the Native American Heritage Club as soon as it was formed, and he hopes to help start a branch of the club in the high school when he moves up next year.
“It would be really cool if we could have all of the original members from the middle school be leaders of the club, with some teachers teaching about the Native Americans,” Vaughn suggested.
The high school version of the club could be closer to becoming a reality than he knows.
“We want to start a Native American Heritage Club in Bayfield High School. It is a great resource,” said White Thunder, who is a descendent of the Sand Creek massacre — one of the darkest days in Colorado, and American, history. He shared the story of his great-great-grandmother, who survived the massacre, with the group when he was their guest speaker in October. He was amazed that so many of the students had no knowledge of the historic event.
“I could see that they were surprised that something like that happened not that long ago…and this close to them,” White Thunder said.
Giving Native American students an opportunity to get in touch with their heritage is important for a lot of different reasons, but the greatest benefit to club members may be the pride and sense of identity they find through the studies about their cultures.
“I like representing, and there’s only one other family that is Choctaw in Bayfield,” said Vaughn, whose red hair and pale skin give little hint to the fact that he is 1/8 Choctaw. “The most rare thing for a Native American is red hair and blue eyes, so the last thing people think when they look at me is Native American, but I like getting to show that I am Native American.”