Taking powwow to the people A suburban school dist

[Okwes]

Taking powwow to the people A suburban school district has teamed up
with American Indian parents to give students a lesson in history and
culture.

Crystal Norcross, an
Ojibwe-Dakota-Seminole Indian from Fond du Lac, Wis. who lives in St.
Paul, completes a hoop dance with 21 hoops Friday afternoon at Skyview
Elementary School in Oakdale. (CRAIG BORCK, Pioneer Press)
When Kerri Rosebear-Channer and her family moved to Maplewood more than
10 years ago, she went to her local school district to see what American
Indian education programs and activities were available for her
children.
She was surprised to hear there were none.
Rosebear-Channer and a handful of American Indian parents in the North
St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school district are trying to change that.
The parents and district officials teamed up with the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Sioux Community to host a powwow and feast Friday night at
Skyview Community School in Oakdale to give students and community
members a taste of their culture.
"It's important when you have American Indians that don't live in the
urban centers and move out to the suburbs, to make sure they don't lose
touch and connect with each other," Rosebear-Channer said. "Plus, we
want cultural awareness to build in the district and the schools."
Before the festivities, professional dancers and drum groups Ice Wolf
and Oyate Teca came to the school to teach students how to dance and
give them a history lesson about the different tribes in the area.
Students and teachers stomped their feet to the beat of the drums that
echoed throughout the gym, dancing in a circle with professionals
sporting brightly-colored regalia.
Two Skyview students were among the American Indian dancers leading the
pack. Third-grader Phillip Thompson said he started dancing when he was
6 and was happy to show off his skills to his friends.

"I think it's cool because I get to learn even more about my culture,"
Phillip said. "And my friends thought it was cool. They said I was the
best one up there."
Between dances, St. Paul teacher Jerry Dearly sprinkled in some cultural
trivia.
"Did you know that Minnesota comes from a Lakota word?" asked Dearly,
who led the assembly.
To Dearly's surprise, they shook their heads. It's a combination of two
Lakota words - "Mni" and


Students at Skyview Elementary School in
Oakdale dance Friday afternoon with secondgrader Hailey Denome, center,
and Carlie Anderson, right, a Shawnee from St. Paul. The school also
held a powwow and feast sponsored by the district's American Indian
Education Parent Committee. (CRAIG BORCK, Pioneer Press)"sota," he said.
That's not the only lesson in language they received. At the end, Dearly
taught them how to say thank you in Lakota and Ojibwe.
"Wopila," the students shouted in Lakota to their guest.
They then switched to Ojibwe. "Migwetch."
American Indian students make up about 1.4 percent of the district's
11,200 students.
But for Barb Asmussen, a second-grade teacher at Skyview who directs
diversity activities at the school, these events are beneficial to all
students, not just American Indian children.
"I look at it as if we're creating both a mirror for those students to
see their culture reflected and a window for others to look into and see
the positive aspects of the culture," she said.
Megan Boldt covers education, including Washington County schools and
the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school district. She can be reached
at [e-mail] or 651-228-5495.