Healthy Body = Healthy Education

A Healthy Body Yields a Healthy Education: School Health Programs

With obesity rates reaching epidemic proportions in the United States, one would wonder if this problem stems from the education (or lack thereof) in our school systems. With our nation’s massive educational budget cuts and the mounting controversy surrounding school health curriculum, many of the school’s mandated programs such as physical education, nutritional services and health services are being cut from our school’s health program. Could the problems surrounding these controversies have a direct link to the health of our school age children?

The term obese and obesity refers to an abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to a person’s health (World Health Organization, 2013). Experts have determined that the Body Mass Index (BMI) is the most practical tool to use and screen for overweight and obesity. The BMI is a number calculated from a person’s weight and height used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). According to the 2011 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, among U.S. high school students; 13% were obese (students who were > 95th percentile for body mass index, based on sex- and age-specific reference data from the 2000 CDC growth charts), 69% did not attend PE classes daily when they were in school, and 11% drank a can, bottle, or glass of soda or pop three or more times per day during the 7 days before the survey (The Obesity Epidemic and United States Students, 2011).

What this survey indicates is that due to unhealthy dietary behaviors and physical inactivity in our schools, the health of our children is in jeopardy. The rising rates for obesity among children are a growing concern for parents, teachers and public health professionals. The Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP) is an organized set of policies, procedures, and activities designed to protect, promote, and improve the health and well-being of students and staff, thus improving the student’s ability to learn. It includes, but is not limited to comprehensive school education; school health services; a healthy school environment; school counseling; psychological and social services; physical education; school nutrition services; family and community involvement in school health; and school-site health promotion for staff (McKenzie, 2008). The CSHP encapsulates many elements on improving a student’s ability to learn but how ever great the potential for a “coordinated” school health program… it still must be supported by the state, local policy makers and school administration.

In order to create an atmosphere that will allow students to grasp and implement the concept of being healthy it is essential that the school administration intervene. It is important that the district hire employees that are properly educated and have a willingness to be role models for their students when it comes to appropriate health behaviors. It is their leadership that dictates the quality of the education that our children receive.  Employing properly educated and trained personnel should be a priority but too often we see school nurses being under qualified for their positions. We also hear stories about health educators lacking the motivation to teach the principles of a healthy body. People in these positions often lack the training and expertise to provide a quality education to students. Budget cuts to school programs such as physical education (PE) must be reconsidered and prioritized—it is a considered primary prevention method under public health and if that is where the PE program falls then maybe our health educations should be paid in dual roles – as a public health educator and as a PE teacher.

Nutrition in our schools is another topic that is always surrounded by controversy. Our nation’s First Lady, Michelle Obama, takes this issue to heart by stressing the importance of adopting healthy behaviors, such as, physical activity. Another issue school-aged children face is the lack of fruits and vegetables in their diet. Most rely on their school cafeteria meals to receive required daily intakes, which is why it should be not be an option to subsidize our meal programs. Schools often offer two meals per day but do not include nutritional education; this is one of key educational roles that could change the outcome of the obesity rates, physical inactivity and nutritional education.

In conclusion, there are many factors that determine the state of our school health program. However, it is imperative that local policy makers; health educators; and school administration back and support the true nature of the underlying principles of a “coordinated” school health program. These principles include a vast area of expertise needed in our school system. As a “public health agent” I see the cost as being great but the payoff in the end will not only benefit our children’s education but ultimately, our children’s health.

 

Works Cited

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011, September 13). Retrieved February 19, 2013, from Centers for Disease Control: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/

The Obesity Epidemic and United States Students. (2011). Retrieved February 19, 2013, from Center for Disease Control: http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/pdf/us_obesity_combo.pdf

World Health Organization. (2013). Retrieved February 19, 2013, from WHO.INT: http://www.who.int/topics/obesity/en/

McKenzie, P. K. (2008). An Introduction to Community Health. Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett.

 

 

American Indian Health Care in the US

American Indian Health Care Service in the United States

The Indian Health Service (IHS) is one of many organizations that shape the health of our communities. The Indian Health Service is a federally funded agency that is responsible for providing health services to American Indians and Alaskan Natives (Indian Health Service, 2006). The overarching goal of the Indian Health Service is one that encapsulates what the World Health Organization (WHO) defines as health and even goes a little further to include spiritual health. According to the WHO, health is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (World Health Organization, 2006) and similarly, the goal of IHS is “to raise the physical, mental, social and spiritual health of Americans and Alaskan Natives” (Indian Health Service, 2006).

Access to Health Care

Although, health care services are provided free of charge to Alaskan Natives and American Indians in the United States, access to these services are not always accessible to American Indians and Alaskan Natives (AI/AN) living in remote and desolated areas. Generally speaking, most AI/AN’s live on ancestral homelands and many times IHS facilities are not located in these small local communities.  

The Indian Health Service is largely broken down into 12 regions throughout the United States (McKenzie F. James, 2008). There are currently 33 IHS hospitals, 59 health centers and 50 health stations located throughout the US. Recently, there has been an increase of Urban Indian health projects to supplement the low number of IHS facilities (Castor ML, 2006). Additionally, health referral systems are now in place to assist AI/AN’s living in urban areas without access to IHS facilities.

Quality of Care

IHS offers free health, medical, and dental care to AI/AN’s but not always will you find the kind of quality and training demanded by paying customers. Many times doctors, nurses, and physicians working in these places are only there for short periods of time and do not spend enough time at their working locations to develop the kind of cultural respect and understanding of their patients needs.

The quality of care is largely dependent on money set aside for the medical services offered. The IHS has an annual budget of 3.8 billion dollars however the high need for specialized medical care and services throughout IHS is usually not met by the limited medical dollars set aside by the federal government. Furthermore, the amount of money set aside for Indian Health Services has not kept up with the rate of inflation which ultimately decreases the amount of medical care dollars per capita for AI/AN’s (Zuckerman S, 2004).

Conclusion

Access to adequate health care for American Indians and Alaskan Natives is pressing issue today and with its growing population, the need to for quality health care is vitally important. Many benefits AI/ANs’ receive are only relative to their access to health facilities and largely dependent on the United States federal budget set aside for its Native American population. Granted some AI/ANs’ can afford health insurance, addressing the issues of quality health care and access to health care are two main issues that AI/ANs’ face in the Health Care arena.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Indian Health Service. (2006). Retrieved January 23, 2013, from Indian Health Service Fact Sheet: http://www.ihs.gove/PublicInfo/PublicAffairs/Welcome_Info/ThisFacts.asp

World Health Organization. (2006). Retrieved January 23, 2013, from World Health Organization: http:/www.who.int/about/en/

Castor ML, S. M. (2006). A nationwide population-based study identifying health disparities between American Indians/Alaska Natives and the general populations living in select urban counties. Am J Public Health, 50-62.

McKenzie F. James, P. R. (2008). An Introduction to Community Health. Sudbury: Jones and Barlett Publishers, LLC.

Zuckerman S, H. J.-B. (2004). Health service access, use, and insurance coverage among American Indians/Alaska Natives and Whites: what role does the Indian Health Service play? Am J Public Health, 48-54.

SSgt Gary V.Leslie, USAF

Staff Sergeant Gary V. Leslie, USAF

Separated Active Duty: 04 October 2008

Staff Sergeant Gary V. Leslie served in the United States Air Force as an Enlisted Maintenance Production Manager (2R171). As a maintenance production manager, he plans, schedules and organizes use and maintenance of: aircraft, engines, munitions, missiles, space systems, aerospace ground equipment (AGE), and associated support systems. Documents and maintains aircraft, engines, missiles, munitions, AGE, and associated support systems records. Maintains generation flow plans for units required to meet emergency war order and wartime tasking. Analyzes maintenance information and requirements and develops visual presentations.

I’m going to try to sum up my 10 years in the USAF in a paragraph or so. There has been some awesome times and some very low times but through it all I’ve always had my support system in my family back home, and my family the Air Force afforded me to opportunity to meet. I’ve been very fortunate and blessed to have met so many wonderful people in my time in the Air Force. I have been many places I thought I would never get to see. As a young man coming from the Hopi “Rez” I knew I wanted to get out of the everyday Rez-Life and do something that I would look back on and say to myself “I’ve accomplished something”. I also wanted to make my parents & family proud. I think I’ve done so thus far. But this is not the end of my journey; this is just a small transition into something bigger for me. I appreciate all your support, mentoring, laughs, and good times.

ASSIGNMENTS

1. 07 October – 14 November 1998, 737th Training Group, at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas

2. 16 November – 22 January 1999, 82nd Training Wing, at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas

3. 25 January – 13 February 1999, Recruiters Assistance Duty in Flagstaff, Arizona

4. 15 February 1999 – 06 May 2004, 92nd Air Refueling Wing, at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington

5. 27 August – 13 October 2000, 9th Air Expeditionary Wing at Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base, Kuwait

6. 04 – 09 June 2000, 65th Air Base Wing at Lajes Field, Azores, Portugal *

7. 22 May – 28 June 2001, 763rd Air Expeditionary Wing, at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates

8. 05 January – 12 February 2004, Airman Leadership School, at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington

9. 06 May 2004 – 17 May 2005, 51st Fighter Wing, at Osan Air Base in South Korea

10. 21 June 2005 – 15 June 2007, 31st Fighter Wing, at Aviano Air Base in Northern Italy

11. 01 – 15 October 2005, Senior Badge Level School 737th Training Group, at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas

12. 15 June 12007 – 04 October 2008, 325^th Fighter Wing, at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida

MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

Air Force Commendation Medal   

AF Outstanding Unit Award   

AF Good Conduct Medal   

National Defense Service Medal  

Global War On Terrorism Expeditionary Medal  

Global War on Terrorism Service Medal  

Korean Defense Service Medal  

AF Longevity Service  

USAF NCO PME Graduate Ribbon  

AF Training Ribbon  

OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS

Airman of the quarter 1999

Airman of the quarter 2000

Airman of the quarter 2002

Airman of the quarter 2005

Maintenance Staff Professional 2007

EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION

Airman Basic, 07 October 1998

Airman, 07 April 1999

Airman First Class, 07 February 2000

Senior Airman, 07 October 2001

Staff Sergeant, 01 October 2004

AIRCRAFT I’VE WORKED WITH:

-          KC-135 Stratotanker provides the core aerial refueling capability for the United States Air Force and has excelled in this role for more than 50 years

-          The KC-10 Extender is an Air Mobility Command advanced tanker and cargo aircraft designed to provide increased global mobility for U.S. armed forces

-          U-2 High Altitude Reconnaissance Aircraft Dragon Lady Spy Plane U-2 provides high-altitude, all-weather surveillance and reconnaissance, day or night, in direct support of U.S. and allied forces

-          F-16 Fighting Falcon is a compact, multi-role fighter aircraft. It is highly maneuverable and has proven itself in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface

-          F-15 Eagle is an all-weather, extremely maneuverable, tactical fighter designed to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat

-          F-22 Raptor is a fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology

QUOTES FROM MY SUPERIORS (10 YEARS WORTH)

Professional and highly motivated; pace setter for peers and well respected by superiors

Energetic individual! Articulate and positive representation of professionalism

Impressive performance, initiative and dedication; always ready for the toughest tasks

Top performing airman displaying unrivaled initiative and attention to detail

Fitness leader; emulated by many airman and NCO’s for his rigorous physical activities

Skilled and dedicated performer, excellent leadership abilities; continue to challenge

Outstanding scheduler; his insight, talent and maturity have proven an invaluable resource

Committed mentor and role model; member of base Honor Guard and airman against drunk driving

Proven excellence; recognized by all members of the squadron

Advocate of cultural awareness; heavily involved and key player of the Native American Heritage Council

Ambassador in blue; distinguished member of base Honor Guard team; dedicated 184 hours of service in support of

Over 60 retirement ceremonies and over 40 funerals for fallen comrades; exemplary role model to everyone

Mission success is his hallmark! Not afraid of hard work—volunteers to shoulder additional responsibilities

Well-rounded NCO! As READY augmentee, directly enhanced the 51 FW’s mission “Ready to Fight Tonight!”

Never stops giving! Assisted in playground repairs and general clean up at Shin Myung Korean Orphanage

No-nonsense professional and dedicated NCO—possesses outstanding leadership skills and drive to succeed

Self-starter; continually seeks to broaden professionalism and experience; recent promotion truly deserved!

Team leader; only American on Pordenone basketball league—goodwill diplomat; better community image

Devoted off-duty time for sq sports...325 FW Intramural Base Basketball Champions 08'...sq pride bolstered

Exceptional leadership skills...key to sqdn winning the 2007 AF Mx Effectiveness Award…TSgt is a must!

Superb Mx scheduler...selected as 325 MXG Staff Professional for 1st Quarter FY08...promote above peers!

United States Air Force Core Values

- Integrity First

- Service Before Self

- Excellence in All We Do

Tucson Snow "Nuva ep Looyum-teyo"

Snow fall in Tucson February 20, 2013

Weekend in Phoenix

This past weekend we spent our time relaxing with family at the Heard Show in Downtown Phx. Here a couple pics from the events...
My sister and mike were there selling their art work and promoting his new website: gourdjewels.com - check it out
My and my beautiful hunnybons ;-)
We ate at Bill Johnson's Big Apple but the lights were out on some of the letters so it just read: Bill Johnson's BIG PP, "Let's eat!" We had a fun time with that. For forty-five minutes we sat there impatiently saying it "Bill Johnson's Big PP"... Hahaha Charlene got tired of it lol But we didn't. Anyway we all ate good and we found out they are under new management and will be changing things up so if your in phx note the changes because it may a not so good turn for the worst for this prestigious franchise.

Hopi oral history

Hopi oral history recalls that long ago, the Hopi people came into this "fourth way of life" from a series of three underworlds.

^{1 Following a time of unhappiness and discontent, the people emerged through an opening in their sky that brought them to present-day northeastern Arizona. When they arrived in this land the people made their way to three mesas where they met Ma’saw, creator and ruler of the "fourth way of life." Ma’saw told the people that they could live on the mesas, but they fi rst needed to migrate to distant lands to learn ways to be useful to Hopi society. Following Ma’saw’s instructions, the men, women, and children divided themselves into clans and each migrated in one of the four cardinal directions.2 According to Hopi belief, the clans traveled to the Pacific Ocean, Central America, and occupied lands in present-day New Mexico and Colorado. During their migrations, the Hopi people experienced different climates and terrain and learned to survive by hunting, gathering, and planting. Life for the clans included great hardships, but they believed that their pain and suffering strengthened and preserved their culture for future generations of Hopi people.}

The clans were not alone when they migrated to distant lands. Butterflies, other insects, birds, and many animals existed in the "fourth way of life." During their migrations, Hopi clans came across bears, badgers, eagles, and even parrots, and identifi ed

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themselves with the animals they met on their journeys. In addition to seeing animals and insects, the clans encountered indigenous peoples from various cultures, which expanded their understanding of the world. These people spoke many languages, and they introduced the clans to new practices, skills, ways of thinking, and religious customs. Although the clans learned many things during their migrations, they also shared their Hopi knowledge with the people they met and welcomed the opportunity to teach others about their culture and philosophies of life. When the Hopi clans traveled back to their ancestral lands in northeastern Arizona, they brought new ideas and traditions with them to the Hopi mesas. Each clan experienced a different way of living and was required to contribute something useful to Hopi society.

3 The Sun Forehead clan returned to the Hopi mesas as warriors and protectors, while the Katsina clan hosted the katsina dances and prayed for rain.4 The clans held vital roles in Hopi society and formed the foundation of Hopi identity. Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

But Hopi migration did not cease when the clans returned to their original lands. Many years after the clans established their roles in Hopi society, a second wave of migration developed when government officials sent Hopis to attend off-reservation Indian boarding schools in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Although Hopis were required to attend these schools, the movement of Hopi pupils to U.S. government institutions once again brought Hopis to new environments where they interacted with people from unique cultures, and shared their knowledge and abilities with those they encountered. Similar to the way the ancient Hopi clans migrated in the four cardinal directions, Hopi pupils attended Indian boarding schools throughout the

U.S and furthered the tradition of migration among the Hopi people. Beginning in the 1890s, as more railroads were built

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and used to transport Indian people to off-reservation Indian schools, government officials sent Hopis to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, the Phoenix Indian School in Arizona, and schools in Oklahoma, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and California.

^{5 Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert}

In the 1890s, the Hopi people did not consider the U.S. government’s insistence that Hopis adopt Western ways and values as a new requirement. Many years before, Europeans arrived uninvited on Hopi lands and attempted to civilize and educate the Hopis with Christianity and European ideals and practices. In 1540, Spanish explorer Don Pedro de Tovar led a small expeditionary force on Hopi lands. They were the first group of non-indigenous people the Hopi encountered. De Tovar had expected to uncover cities of gold on the Hopi mesas, but instead he found rock homes, small cornfields, and a people entirely committed to their spiritual ways and customs. By drawing on the ground with sticks and using different objects to convey their message, the Hopi people told de Tovar and his men about a nearby river that flowed through a very large canyon. Upon hearing about this majestic and grand canyon, the Spanish expedition continued their journey west in search of gold and other riches.

The early Spanish encounters paved the way for Catholic priests to conduct missionary work among the Hopi people. Between 1629 and 1680, Catholic priests forced Hopis to abolish their sacred ceremonies and punished others for not converting to Christianity. The cruel treatment Hopis received from the priests influenced the way Hopis responded to missionaries in the years to come. After the Hopis forced the priests off their lands in 1680, Catholic missionaries only occasionally intruded on the Hopi mesas to convert the people to Christianity. The Hopis practiced their religion without a major presence of Christian missionaries

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during this period, but this trend changed in the nineteenth century when Mormons arrived on Hopi land and taught the children the English alphabet and encouraged Hopi parents to send their children to Christian mission schools. Whereas Christian missionaries educated some Hopis in Christian and American ways and values, government officials drafted plans to educate Indian pupils

away from their village communities. Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

Three years after the founding of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, U.S. President Chester Arthur established the boundaries of the Hopi Reservation in 1882. As a result of Arthur’s executive order to form the Hopi Reservation, government offi cials became increasingly involved in Hopi affairs and rekindled efforts to force Hopi children to attend day schools and the Keams Canyon Boarding School. The U.S. government constructed the boarding school in 1887 on the Hopi Reservation to teach children basic grammar, arithmetic, and vocational skills and to break down Hopi culture, language, and religious practices. By requiring Hopis to speak only in English and telling the children that their Hopi ways kept them from succeeding in life, school officials attempted to assimilate Hopi people into mainstream white society. The U.S. government’s systematic approach to assimilate Hopis and weaken Hopi culture did not take place without Hopi resistance. As indigenous people, Hopi leaders, mothers, fathers, and other community members resisted with their words, prayers, thoughts, and actions. Some Hopi parents scorned white officials for their conduct, while others hid their children when Indian agents and Navajo police conducted roundups and forced the children to attend U.S. government schools.

6

In 1902, while the situation on the Hopi Reservation intensified over the mandatory enrolment of Hopi children at U.S.

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government schools, the Office of Indian Affairs opened Sherman Institute, an off-reservation Indian boarding school in Riverside, California. Schools such as Sherman Institute were created to weaken American Indian cultures and to provide Indian pupils with skills that would be useful to them in American society. In this regard, vocational education at Sherman Institute created an Indian working class that was meant to contribute to the labor needs of Indian and white communities. Founded on principles that were deeply rooted in the supposed superiority of American culture, the education at Sherman Institute aimed at transforming Indian pupils to think, behave, work, and look less like Native people, and more like white Protestant Americans. Government officials did not consult Native leaders, parents, or educators when they created academic and industrial curricula at Indian boarding schools. They instead followed presumptions that considered Indian people to be inferior to white Americans.

Indian parents certainly understood the U.S. government’s agenda in sending their children to off-reservation Indian boarding schools. However, many parents wanted their children to succeed in a world of Anglo-American people, which necessitated their exposure to a Western education. As historian Michael C. Coleman points out: "Indian parents, and occasionally grandparents or tribal leaders, often

encouraged young Indians to seek a school education, in order to secure a livelihood in the modern world or to become mediators between their peoples and American society."^{7 Indian students needed to know about Native and non-Native worlds, and some of their parents wanted them to go to school with open minds, willing to accept benefi cial aspects of white society. In Hopi culture, the idea of using the best of Hopi and white culture was not a foreign concept. In the summer Buy the bookIntroduction xxi Copyrighted Material}

of 1890, after Kikmongwi (village chief ) Loololma from Orayvi and other Hopi leaders boarded a Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad in Winslow, Arizona, and traveled to Washington

dc to speak with Commissioner of Indian Affairs Thomas J. Morgan, Loololma advocated that Hopi people needed to take advantage of the strengths of both cultures so they would learn to "survive" and excel in the world beyond the Hopi mesas.8 As a result of Loololma’s influence on his people, the village chief convinced some Hopi parents to send their children to the Oraibi Day School and the Keams Canyon Boarding School, but many Hopis did not support Loololma or the U.S. government’s campaign to assimilate their children. Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

U.S. government policies that allowed for the removal of Indian pupils to off-reservation Indian boarding schools resulted in stress, anxiety, and internal divisions among Native communities. At the Hopi village of Orayvi on Third Mesa, one of three mesas on the Hopi Reservation, government offi cials urged parents and leaders to send their children to U.S. government schools, but many of the people refused to comply. In the early 1900s, tensions at Orayvi intensified over the school issue, and the people began to go against government officials and each other. Two Hopi factions emerged at Orayvi, which Indian agents and Christian missionaries called "friendlies" and "hostiles" based on their relationship with the U.S. government.

Although Hopis and non-Hopis alike use these terms to describe the Hopi factions, I have chosen to refer to the two groups as Hopi resisters and Hopi accommodators. These terms give Hopi and non-Hopi people a different way of describing and interpreting this important time in Hopi history. The terms "hostiles" and "friendlies" limit Hopi agency by confi ning Hopi choices and actions to a positive and negative binary. But the

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Hopi people did not operate within this binary. Hopi accommodators considered the benefits of certain aspects of Christianity and U.S. government–run education. While government officials considered them to be "friendly," the accommodating Hopis strategically learned to adopt components of the so-called white man’s way to suit their agendas on the reservation. They accommodated Western values and influences into Hopi culture, and they allowed their children to receive an education at on- and off-reservation Indian boarding schools. This was not a "friendly" act, but it was an act of accommodation that Hopis learned to refine throughout Hopi history.

Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

The resisting Hopi faction saw little benefit in allowing American ways to enter Hopi society and culture. They resisted the

U.S. government, Christian missionaries, and those Hopis who chose the accommodating route. Some readers may consider the resisting group to be the more traditional of the two, but the ideas of both resisting and accommodating have always been critical aspects of Hopi history and society. In this regard, Hopis functioned according to Hopi culture when they pushed back against the U.S. government and each other, and it was equally Hopi-like for Hopi accommodators to adopt, adapt, and accept change for what they believed benefited their people.

During this time in history, similar factions arose among Native communities throughout North America. But at Orayvi, tensions surrounding the two factions reached a crisis point that resulted in drastic and immediate consequences for the Hopi people. On September 8, 1906, Kikmongwi Tawaquaptewa,

^{9 leader of the accommodating faction at Orayvi, and Youkeoma, leader of the Hopi resisters, settled their dispute by staging a tug-of-war between the two opposing groups. Men from each faction gathered outside Orayvi, drew a line of cornmeal on the Buy the bookIntroduction xxiii Copyrighted Material}

ground, and attempted to pull the opposing chief to the other side of the marker. Both men agreed that whichever side lost the battle would be required to leave the village. Commonly referred to as the Orayvi Split, the Hopi division was a turning point in Hopi history and had a direct impact on Hopi children and the number of Hopi pupils who went to off-reservation Indian boarding schools.

Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

Two months after the Orayvi Split, government offi cials turned on Tawaquaptewa for illegally forcing the resisters out of the village and sent the thirty-four-year-old village chief and nearly seventy Hopi pupils from Orayvi to Sherman Institute.

10 The U.S. government required Hopi parents to sign their child’s school application, usually with an "X",11 which granted permission for their child to go to school. Government officials also sent Tawaquaptewa’s wife, Nasumgoens, and infant daughter, Mina, along with Frank Seumptewa, from the village of Moencopi, and his wife, Susie, and their children, Ethel and Lilly, to Sherman Institute. Although Indian leaders such as Lakota Chiefs Spotted Tail and Red Cloud visited off-reservation Indian boarding schools in the late nineteenth century, their stay at the schools did not last longer than a few weeks. Tawaquaptewa and Seumptewa remained at Sherman Institute for nearly three years. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Francis E. Leupp sent the Hopi leaders to Sherman Institute to learn English and to appreciate the white American culture. But Tawaquaptewa arrived at Sherman Institute as a representative and leader of his people, and he continued his role as kikmongwi and elder with the Hopi pupils at the school.

From 1907 to 1909, the

Sherman Bulletin, the offi cial student-written school newspaper, recorded several occasions where Tawaquaptewa was a role model for the Hopi students at Sherman Buy the book Introduction

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Institute. For instance, on April 24, 1907, the

Sherman Bulletin observed that Tawaquaptewa often called his "Hopi followers" together to give them "good advice." The Hopi pupils responded by not "hanging back" but instead pushed "rapidly ahead" in their industrial and academic training. Kikmongwi Tawaquap tewa also led the Hopi pupils at Sherman Institute in song and dance. One of these events took place at the Glenwood Hotel in Riverside where Tawaquaptewa and eight Hopi boys sang two songs in Hopi about the "growing and maturing" of corn.^{12 School officials used the Hopi singings for entertainment purposes, but Tawaquaptewa and the other Hopi pupils sang their songs to reaffirm and express their identity as Hopi people, and to share their culture with non-Hopis in the greater Riverside area. Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert}

In addition to singing their Hopi songs, the pupils learned to appreciate other forms of music. At the Indian school in Riverside, teachers introduced Hopis to music by Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. Students such as Bessie Humetewa from the Hopi village of Bacavi performed in the school’s mandolin club, while Victor Sakiestewa from Orayvi played the clarinet in the Sherman Institute band. Having been raised in a culture that valued song and dance, the Hopi pupils went to Sherman Institute with an eagerness to try different instruments and genres of music. Alongside their involvement in music, Hopi pupils used their artistic talents to advance at the school and to contribute to their school community. In May 1923, the

Sherman Bulletin reported that a Riverside Press reporter noted that Hopi pupil "Homer Cooyawyama, Sherman’s talented artist, is about to enter upon a career that may make him famous." The reporter commented that one of the "leading artists" in Laguna Beach, California, had "become interested" in Homer and wanted to Buy the bookIntroduction xxv Copyrighted Material

"take him to his studio" at the end of the school year. According to the reporter, Homer "painted the stage scenery" in the school’s auditorium, which "attracted considerable attention from tourists and others, many of whom" thought it showed "much talent."

13 Homer’s love for art originated from his community on the reservation. Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

For Hopi pupils such as Homer, their education did not begin at Sherman Institute or other U.S. government–run schools. Hopi education is among the oldest forms of education in the Americas, and Hopis brought their cultural knowledge with them to advance at the school.

14 In Hopi culture, elders instructed children in song and dance and shared stories that had life lessons. Hopi uncles taught their nephews the act and purpose of hunting and planting, while Hopi mothers, grandmothers, and aunties instructed girls to be powerful women in Hopi society. At an early age, Hopi children were taught to value hard work, and to shun laziness.15 "Get up before the sun rises," Hopi parents often told their children, "the sun has many things to accomplish throughout the day, and it need not waste its time and energy on getting you out of bed."16 Having been instructed in Hopi education and cultural values, Hopi pupils went to Sherman Institute with an eagerness to excel and to obtain the best that the school had to offer.

Following the pattern established by the ancient Hopi clans, Hopi pupils traveled to the Indian school in Riverside and encountered a place that was deeply embedded with religious ideologies and practices. Although government offi cials established Sherman Institute to operate as an industrial trade school, where pupils spent half of their day in the classroom and the rest of the day in a trade shop, farm, or ranch, offi cials also stressed instruction that was based on Christian principles

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and encouraged Hopi pupils to participate in Christian organizations. School officials used Christianity as a tool to civilize and assimilate Hopi pupils and they wanted Hopis to take the Christian faith home with them to convert their families on the reservation. Some Hopis, such as Polingaysi Qoyawayma and Effie Sachowengsie from Orayvi, embraced Christianity at Sherman Institute and adapted their Christian faith to fi t with life on the reservation. Others, such as Don Talayesva, a Hopi pupil from Orayvi who attended Sherman Institute from 1906 to 1909, conformed to Christian behavior in front of school officials, but rejected Christianity and denounced the so-called white man’s religion once they returned home. Hopi students such as Don adapted to the religious life at Sherman Institute and gave the appearance of accommodation by going along with the Christian instruction. Internally, however, many Hopis did not convert to Christianity.

Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

Hopi students returned home from Sherman Institute in various ways. School officials usually did not allow or provide the means for students to return home during the summer or Christmas break. This meant that Hopi pupils typically did not return to the reservation until they had spent three or more years at the school. Hopi runaways, or "deserters,"

^{17 as school offi cials called them, also played a small but important role in the Hopi school experience. Some Hopi boys, and a very few girls, ran away from Sherman Institute. Some Hopis longed to be away from the harsh discipline at the school. Samuel Shingoitewa, a Hopi pupil from the village of Moencopi who attended Sherman Institute in the 1920s, once remarked to his family that after school officials punished him for an infraction and humiliated him by taking away his "stripes" on his school uniform, he hitched a ride on a Santa Fe train and returned to the Hopi Buy the bookIntroduction xxvii Copyrighted Material}

mesas.

18 But not every Hopi student returned home alive. For other Hopi pupils, particularly those who attended the school in the early twentieth century, illnesses such as tuberculosis, whooping cough, influenza, typhoid, and pneumonia shortened their stay at Sherman Institute. Although deceased pupils were usually buried at the school’s cemetery, some of the students returned home in a wooden coffi n. Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

The Hopi boarding school experience at the Indian school in Riverside has various layers of meaning for Hopi people. For some Hopi students, Sherman Institute provided an escape from poverty and disease on the reservation. Other Hopis considered Sherman Institute to be a military compound where school officials told the students how to behave, talk, work, and think. Samuel Shingoitewa recalled that one of his most memorable experiences of the school was witnessing its regimented military structure upon his arrival. Students walking in formation and the constant roll calls and bugle sounds did not reflect life on the Hopi Reservation. "It was a government military school," he remembered, and "during the week you wear

gi clothes, and then Sundays we wear blue uniforms."19 Although no one perspective can adequately speak on behalf of all Hopi people, the Hopi boarding school experience was neither completely positive nor entirely negative. For many Hopis, the education they received at Sherman Institute never assimilated them into white American society as fully as it did pupils from other indigenous communities. This can be attributed to several factors. Unlike some other Native nations, the Hopi people have always remained on portions of their ancestral lands.20 The Spaniards and the U.S. government did not succeed in forcefully removing them from their mesas, and therefore the essence of Hopi culture has survived to the present. In the early 1900s, Hopis Buy the book Introduction

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continued to practice their ceremonies, speak their language, and vary rarely intermarried with the white population in Arizona. Furthermore, when Hopis returned to the reservation after their stay at Sherman Institute, the pupils came home to a culture and society that remained intact. Like other Hopis who attended different off-reservation boarding schools, the Hopi pupils at Sherman Institute did not abandon their indigenous education. Instead of allowing their boarding school experience to destroy the Hopi way of life, Hopis at Sherman Institute maintained the integrity of their culture, made accommodations to succeed at school, and used the skills they learned to contribute to their village communities.

Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

This book, which examines one tribe’s experience at an off-reservation Indian boarding school, places the history and culture of the Hopi people at the focal point of the narrative. It asks how a student’s culture and tribal history influenced their experience at an Indian school, and builds upon the contributions of other scholars to uncover the complex ways that Hopi history and culture intersected with U.S. government policies.

^{21 Apart from providing the reader with a historical narrative, this book challenges the notion that a study on the Indian boarding school experience must be understood primarily through a defi ned framework of Indian education policies. Community-specifi c books begin with the history and culture of Native people and attempt to determine how students understood their unique experiences at Indian boarding schools as Zunis, Navajos, Apaches, or other Indian people. When government offi cials initially sent Indian students to federal off-reservation Indian boarding schools, they believed that Native cultures hindered the so-called progress of Indians and they wanted the pupils to leave their tribal identities behind on the reservation. Community- Buy the bookIntroduction xxix Copyrighted Material}

specific studies push back against this colonial practice. They highlight Native agency and explore the many ways that Indian pupils brought their Indian identities to school and how they responded to their boarding school experience as people from indigenous communities.

Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

Recent studies of the Indian boarding school experience have focused on Indian health, literature, sports, and the ways Indian pupils "turned the power" at schools designed to destroy their culture and identity as American Indian people. A term used by historians Clifford E. Trafzer, Jean A. Keller, and Lorene Sisquoc, "turning the power" describes the ability of Indian people to turn the boarding school experience to their advantage.

22 This phenomenon enabled Native students to create an educational experience that benefited not only themselves, but also their communities. Students "turned the power" at Indian boarding schools in the nineteenth and twentieth century, and their achievement demonstrated the ability of Indian pupils to adapt, survive, and excel within a foreign and culturally hostile environment. At schools such as Carlisle, for example, offi cials did not allow students to speak their Native languages, dress according to their Native customs, or reflect any aspect of their indigenous heritage. Jacqueline Fear-Segal has demonstrated that even though Superintendent Pratt argued that Indian people had the same "intellectual capacity as whites," he nevertheless considered Indian cultures to be a hindrance to the American ideals of "progress" and "civilization," and he openly punished and humiliated Indian pupils who broke school policies.23 Consequently, many Indian pupils resisted by running away from Carlisle and other Indian schools, while others pushed back in their thoughts or prayers, or with their silence. Under these and other less traumatic conditions, Indian students turned to Buy the book Introduction

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the familiar and drew upon their culture to provide them with strength and confidence to face life’s challenges.

Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

In this book I examine the ways Hopis "turned the power" at Sherman Institute, and I build upon the work of many scholars including those who have written about the mandatory enrollment of Hopi students at U.S. government schools. In August 1979, historian David Wallace Adams published one of the fi rst academic accounts that referenced the Hopi boarding school experience, "Schooling the Hopi: Federal Indian Policy Writ Small, 1887–1917." In this essay, Adams examines the role of federal Indian policy in the removal of Hopi students to off-reservation boarding schools. While providing information gleaned from U.S. government reports, newspaper articles, and Hopi hearings conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Adams’ inclusion of the Hopi voice came primarily from three Hopi accounts: Polingaysi Qoyawayma’s

No Turning Back, Don Talayesva’s Sun Chief, and Helen Sekaquaptewa’s Me and Mine. These texts have become standard sources for researchers to use when comparing Hopis at Sherman Institute with other Indian pupils at different schools. Building on Adams’s scholarship and Margaret D. Jacobs’s article, "A Battle for the Children: American Indian Child Removal in Arizona in the Era of Assimilation," this book extends one step further by interpreting the Hopi experience at Sherman Institute through a Hopi cultural and historical framework.

Before Hopi pupils attended Sherman Institute in 1902, they had been educated in the ways of Hopi culture. Children learned lessons from their parents and other village members. Most importantly, Hopi pupils learned to think and behave like Hopis, which strengthened their identity as they traveled from the reservation to receive an education beyond the mesas. Not

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every Hopi pupil enjoyed their time at Sherman Institute, but many Hopis incorporated their culture to succeed in music, agriculture, trade, sports, and language acquisition. By learning English, Hopi pupils were empowered with an additional mode of communication and they learned to navigate in a world of Indian and non-Indian people. In this way, Hopis turned the

Education beyond the Mesas Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

U.S. government’s institution of assimilation into their own and used the education at Sherman Institute to contribute to their tribe and village communities. Most importantly, the Hopi pupils continued the cycle of Hopi tradition, and returned to the Hopi mesas with new responsibilities as Hopi people.

 

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