Cultural Connections
Mission schools celebrate Cultural Awareness Day
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Hundreds of Mission School students packed the gym in St. Ignatius Friday as the school celebrated Cultural Awareness Day on campus.
As it has for the past 10 years, Mission High School offered four mini-workshops for its students during the morning hours, followed by a mini-powwow in the school gym in the afternoon.
“It’s something that we started doing about 10 years ago as a way to help the students remember where they come from,” event organizer Geraldine McDonald said. “It gives the kids a chance to get out there and do some dancing and have some fun.”
This year’s Cultural Awareness Day featured a mini-workshop by Mike Jetty about school mascots, a lacrosse workshop by Alex Alviar, a workshop on tribal sovereignty by Dan Decker and a Flathead Indian languages and cultures workshop taught by Vance Homegun.
After a break for lunch, students packed into the gym for the powwow, which was kicked off with a grand entry that included dozens of Mission school students.
“We try to cover some serious topics during the morning, but we also like to have a lot of fun with it,” McDonald said. “It’s a good experience for the kids in that, when they do go to an actual powwow, they will know what to expect.”
During the afternoon powwow, the school recognizes all of its graduating seniors and those staff members who are either planning to leave or to retire. This year, the school recognized long-time special education assistant Allie Hitz, who will be retiring at the end of the school year after many years of service at Mission.
“She says that she has put in her time and now she deserves to enjoy retired life,” McDonald said about Hitz.
The school also honored Peter Hamilton, who will be taking a position at a different school next year.
According to McDonald, much of the preparation and planning for the event is done by the school’s Indian Club.
“The Indian Club does the bulk of the work when it comes to getting ready for Cultural Awareness Day each year,” she said. “It gives them all a great opportunity to get involved. It’s truly a great event for everyone.”
