St. Mike's students plan summer trip to Carlisle

For the past few months, St. Michael High School students have been meeting to discuss a summer trip to the East Coast.

Twenty-six SMHS students are making plans to roam New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to see their many attractions.

Students will cap their visit to the East Coast with a commemoration at the Carlisle Indian Boarding School in Carlisle, Pa. There, led by Navajo historian, author and University of New Mexico professor Jennifer Nez Denetdale, they will honor Native American children from tribes across the country who were forced to attend Carlisle.

In an interview, Denetdale explained the purpose of Carlisle Boarding School: "Many non-Indians felt that they could not outright exterminate indigenous peoples and so they thought of other ways of getting rid of them."

Barbara Landis, another historian who is a Carlisle school biographer, added that the founders were "unable to recognize the value of indigenous culture" and their "clear purpose was to assimilate them."

Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School was open from 1879 to 1918. It was founded by Richard Henry Pratt, a former soldier of the U.S. 10th Cavalry.

Pratt was known to have said, "Kill the Indian, and save the man."

This idea was his incentive for founding the school. The children would often be punished harshly, especially for speaking their native languages rather than English.

"They had to follow orders that were intended to make them think like white people," said Denetdale.

By 1918 over 11,000 Native American children had attended the school and hundreds of them had died, mostly of diseases such as smallpox. While it was difficult to escape on foot, some did successfully leave the school.

Fortunately, much has changed since then, but St. Michael trip coordinators and students feel that it is an important part of Native American history.

Joan Levitt, a teacher at St. Michael High and the East Coast trip coordinator, explained that, "We wanted to offer students the opportunity to visit cultural, historical, and educational sites that they would never forget, of course putting Carlisle at the center of activities."

Leading up to the Carlisle commemoration, students and their chaperones will spend six days in New York, lodging on the campus of the College of Saint Elizabeth in Morristown, N.J. The College of Saint Elizabeth generously offered SMHS students free use of their dormitories. Students will also have a chance to tour the campus.

Margaret Roman, professor of American literature at CSE, along with her honors students is organizing a genuinely New York experience. The weeklong journey runs from June 4 to June 11 with activities booked for every day of the trip.

At the recent planning meeting at St. Michael, students voted to attend one of two Broadway hits. "The Lion King" beat out "Wicked."

Students are sure to be kept busy with the cultural offerings of New York City. In addition to seeing the Broadway play, they will visit the United Nations, The American Museum of Natural History, Ellis Island, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In remembrance of the many 9/11 victims, the students will also visit Ground Zero to pay their respects.

Currently, SMIS students are raising funds for the June trip. Letters are going out to businesses, friends, and supporters. Other ideas for fundraisers are being discussed at planning meetings.

Kimball Begody is a junior at St. Michael High School. He is proudly of Navajo descent. He enjoys writing and is considering journalism as a career choice.

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