Students and Faculty Visit Blackfeet School In Montana

4/27/2011

“The De La Salle Blackfeet School is committed to providing a quality, innovative and faith-based education in order to empower our students to become successful learners and able participants in the shaping of their communities.” -- DLSBS Mission Statement

By Christine Estes, Campus Ministry, La Salle Academy

During La Salle Academy’s April vacation, twelve juniors and seniors and two chaperones (Grant Bedard, Christina Bertorelli, Carissa Caccia, Mary Evelyn Christy, Leah Cordeiro, Nicholas Dellasanta, Dylan Farley, Amanda Pare, Emily Trainor, Allison Unger, Joe Venditti, Jenna Wahl, Mr. Ciccone, and Mrs. Estes) traveled to Browning Montana to work at the De La Salle Blackfeet School run by the Christian Brothers.

The school opened in 2001 with the hope that education might break the cycles of poverty and substance abuse that plague most Native American reservations throughout the country. The De La Salle Blackfeet School operates as part of the network of the San Miguel Schools and serves boys and girls from grades 4-8. Eighty percent of the families on the reservation live on welfare and the current drop out rate for the high school in Browning is close to 60 percent.

By Christine Estes, La Salle Academy, Campus Ministry

The median income for a family of four living on the reservation is $12,000 per year. Poverty, drugs, alcohol, isolation, and a long history of systemic oppression---these are the realities of life on the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana.

In fact, the bunk house where we stayed served as a mission orphanage and school some two hundred years ago. Young Native American children were forcibly taken from their families, forced to speak English, cut their hair, and told to forget their religious practices. And behind the bunk house still stands an incinerator which was used to burn any religious artifacts found by the teachers and caregivers at the mission school.

Despite all of these realities, the De La Salle Blackfeet School is a beacon of light and hope. Each day begins with morning assembly, prayer, and the Blackfeet word of the day. Class sizes are small. The teachers get to know their kids really well. And school is in session until 4:30 every afternoon to give kids alternatives to the desperation and substance abuse of the reservation. Blackfeet symbols and artwork adorn the walls.

So we spent last week volunteering at this small school, living in community at the bunkhouse, preparing our meals together, learning about the history and culture of the Blackfeet. We climbed the cliff to the Buffalo Jump, we hiked in Glacier National Park, we tried on Native American warrior headdresses. Some of us swam in the cold waters of the medicine river. We ate buffalo burgers and watched sunsets. We prayed, we ate, we laughed, we listened, and we laughed some more. We did a lot of laughing. Although it would be impossible to put our entire week into words, here are some of the lessons we learned last week:

--Beneath the big Montana sky and under a million stars, it’s easier to get a sense of perspective and find our place in the universe.

--When you take away the distractions of emails, tv, texting, and facebook, we slow down and listen. In that listening, community is formed.

--The Christian Brothers, whether in Providence or Minneapolis or Browning do the work of God. We are blessed to belong to this Lasallian family and to share in the work.

--Education is a gift and a treasure. We should try not to take it for granted. It is still the greatest tool in ending the cycle of poverty.

--The oppression of Native Americans is and was real and devastating. And we have much work to do in the way of making reparations.

--More than anything, human beings long for the experiences of community and friendship, laughter and connection.

God of the Big Sky, God of the campfire, God of the North and the South, God of the buffalo and the dog and of every living creature, God of friendship and laughter….we thank you for the gift of your creation. Forgive us for the times when we have placed ourselves above others. Help us to remember who we are as Children of the Light. Give us ears that are willing to listen to the stories of others and hearts big enough to reach out and touch the pain in our world. We ask all of this in the name of Jesus, our brother and our Savior.

St. John Baptist de La Salle Pray for us

Live Jesus in our Hearts Forever!

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