City girl explores reservation life
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ARLEE — Coquise Frost, 18, traveled to the Flathead Reservation recently to learn about native culture for a senior research project at her Chicago high school. A self-proclaimed city person, she loves fashion and attends a school that is 98 percent white. She has also never been fishing.
“I’ve never known anyone that was Native American. I wanted to immerse myself in the culture and get a good understanding of what Native American culture is like today,” she said. “I want to share what I’ve learned with my school so we aren’t ignorant.”
Coquise lived with the Burland family of Arlee during her four-week trip. They helped show her what life is like here. She did many things including going to the National Bison Range to see bison for the first time, she volunteered at a child care center, spent time at the Arlee school, took beading and tool making classes at Salish Kootenai College, played stick game, dug Bitterroot and skipped rocks at the lake.
She started thinking about Native American culture when she was a sophomore in high school.
“I chose to research Columbus Day for a project, and I started to wonder how Native Americans feel about celebrating that holiday,” she said.
Coquise continued her research with her senior project. She chose this reservation because her teacher knows another teacher that lives in the area.
She is impressed with the racial diversity on the reservation.
“This is diversity at its finest,” she said. “The kids can grow up knowing about different cultures. Where I’m from, it’s mostly white. I think these kids have the upper hand. These kids are growing up with a lot of acceptance and also pride in their own culture.”
She also liked the dress code in the area.
“Where I’m from, everyone is always dressed up,” she said. “It’s nice to come here and not have such a pressure to be perfect. I’ve seen so much positive. There are a lot of amazing things here.”
The landscape was also impressive.
“It’s so beautiful here,” she said. “I can’t stop staring out the window.”
Coquise plans to present what she has learned to the folks back in Chicago before she graduates.
While she was here, she did get to go fishing.
“There is a skill to it that I couldn’t really pick up, but overall it’s a really peaceful activity,” she said.
