Bridging Cultures

Each individual tribe in the U.S. has their own traditional ways of life that supported them from time immemorial, though they have had to adapt with changing times in the world. The youth of these native tribes have to balance out these two worlds. And the native youth in PHS have come a long way in doing so. One way the students have learned to balance their cultural commitments and academic lives is by requesting their work ahead of time so they can complete it while they attend their ceremonies and cultural events. Native students request their cultural absence from school in order to receive an excused absence. 

Unfortunately, there are issues with this system. Sometimes, native students have trouble balancing their culture with their school work. There is a lot of room for miscommunication between students and their teachers because of the missing school work. Polson High School sophomore Jena Stump, Northern Cheyenne,  also stated, “I feel like some native students don’t get the help they need, so they just give up.” The feeling of being unheard or overlooked is a feeling that many native students can relate to.

Amy Williams, a coordinator and lead teacher of Polson High School’s Indigenous Immersion Program, emphasizes that there’s plenty of different issues that go into culture loss. She said, “The lack of identity or understanding in what should be happening, what you should be doing, or when you should be doing something, is a huge challenge with our youth.” She points out that there’s not many opportunities for these students to learn about their cultural practices or a dedicated place to learn. Students in general are busy, and not having easy access to a place to learn and connect with their culture makes it difficult to build a relationship with their culture and traditional ways of life. 

However, the immersion program offers students the opportunity to study their culture during school hours. They visit sites like the Bison Range and Kootenai Falls, and traditional knowledge keepers, elders from the Seli’š, Ksanka, and Qlispe join the class often. This way, students can balance their culture with school more easily.

Communities on the reservation aren’t as connected as they used to be. Ms. Williams stated, “When you think about years ago, our communities are not as tight knit as they used to be, and the kids are being raised away from that. Where do you find that place to learn about who you are, about who your relatives were? Having no one to turn to for information or guidance, where would you even start?” If students had others their age that they could relate to or be able to share and receive information from, it could make the process of learning much easier for the youth. 

Polson High School offers the Native Youth Club for those who are struggling with connecting with other native youth. They meet every Thursday in Mrs. Withrow’s class and have pizza for all participating members. At the time of writing this article they are working on putting together a Stick Game for all to attend. For information about their Stick Game, talk to Mrs. Withrow or Ms. Williams.

Another struggle for some of Polson’s native youth with learning and preserving culture is the distance between their tribe and their families, especially when they could be over seven hours apart. Stump has her struggles with maintaining the cultural aspects of her life with her education. When asked if she feels that school interferes with her practicing her culture she answered, “Not that much. Since I’m not from this tribe, there’s not much here for me to do.”  

Balancing the demands of high school with the traditional ways of cultural life is no easy task for the native youth at Polson High School. As they navigate between their two worlds that they live in, they face their own challenges, from miscommunications with teachers to their struggle to find a place to connect and learn their culture. Some possible solutions for these issues include students working proactively with their teachers to collect any work they will need for the time they’re gone and more cooperation from everyone involved in their schooling. Teachers can help by ensuring that the native students do have the support they need both in and outside of the classroom. With this added support, teachers of Polson High School can help preserve these native students’ cultural identities while setting them up for success in their education.