With the completion of Yelm Middle School, Yelm Community Schools has partnered with the Nisqually Indian Tribe to infuse tribal art, culture and significance into the very fabric of the building, and now the district will do the same with Southworth Elementary School.
Nisqually themes in Yelm Middle School highlight the importance of Mount Rainier, the Nisqually River and the prairie grass, among other things sacred to the Nisqually people, and similar work will be done to Southworth as it is completed.
The Nisqually Indian Tribe has also reached out to other school districts that reside in traditional Nisqually land, with North Thurston School District being among those who have responded.
Hanford McCloud, a Nisqually Tribal councilmember, said River Ridge High School is being remodeled and the tribe has worked with the district to infuse tribal art and history into the facility’s makeup.
“Especially with what we did with Yelm Middle School and Southworth, River Ridge is utilizing the same platform,” McCloud said. “With the high school, it sits on that territory of the Nisqually people, so they are going to (re)build the school with the essence of the Nisqually.”
He said he and the school board did a land acknowledgement together, that will be paired with learning lessons for the students.
“They acknowledged that they are on Nisqually land and will be raising the (Nisqually) flag at all the flagpoles with the United States flag,” McCloud said.
He said the acknowledgement is a great gesture, but the real impact will happen when students are taught about the significance and history of the land their school resides upon.
“We talk about that, but how does that relate to the children learning about the area?” McCloud said. “Well you say, this is their area or this is their territory, but if there’s a lesson behind that as you talk about it, then there’s a better understanding of how we are connected to this land from the summit to the sea and everything in between. Because we weren’t just stationary. We were nomadic hunters (and) gatherers. We gathered all the way up the mountain and we came all the way back down.”
