Never a Dull (Knife) Moment at The Lodge Approach Educators’ Conference
A.J. Vaccaro, ‘27, wanted to be prepared for the nine-day Study Away trip this past summer. So, he ordered a small journal in anticipation of logging one or two pages a day about his experiences with the people and culture along the southeast border of Montana. But he should have known: Go big or go home.
“The trip was so full of new experiences that I wrote closer to four pages per night,” said Vacarro, a sophomore studying integrated social studies in the School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies. “I was amazed at what was happening around me.”
Vacarro and three other undergraduates went on a summer excursion to southern Montana that was chock full of people, places and events, including a stop on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. They were chaperoned by Scott Durham, Ph.D., assistant professor of Integrated Social Studies, and Sandra Pech, Ph.D., associate professor and coordinator of the Bachelor of Science in Education program at the Tuscarawas Campus.
The next three days were spent attending The Lodge Approach Educators’ Conference on Trauma Informed Education at Chief Dull Knife Community College in Lame Deer, the heart of tribal lands. Local and national K-16 educators used authentic, native content in innovative ways to help students understand the historic and modern contributions of native people.
Trauma informed education, which realizes how trauma can impact learning and behavior, was the primary focus of the conference. Educators use this approach to consider what a student's behavior may be telling them.
Brooklyn Baker, ’25, an integrated social studies major, attended a breakout session on the subject “that sparked something in me,” she said. “We tend to tell students to leave your trauma at the door. This is a safe space. But we need to welcome those experiences and welcome the students as they are. The natives take in the trauma of not only their lives but their ancestors’ lives too. They don't all have the necessary support system so it‘s extremely difficult.”
Eva Flying, president of Chief Dull Knife Community College, spoke this week at the ֱ Student Center about her family’s lived experiences on the Cheyenne reservation. She also touched on the Northern Cheyenne tribe’s migration from its ancestral roots in the Great Lakes to the Great Plains to preserve a way of life opposing government-sanctioned colonization.
The study away group next drove to Little Bighorn Memorial Battlefield, where Custer’s 7th Cavalry Army Regiment made his infamous last stand against the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes.
Next stop, Colstrip, site of the largest coal-burning, electrical power plant in the Northwest portion of the country, where four towering smokestacks dwarf the surrounding landscape. Surprisingly, the Northern Cheyenne tribe protect their land by refusing to mine the coal reserves, valued in billions of dollars.
“Money means a lot in our culture, but it doesn't necessarily mean as much to them,” said Jackson Queen, ’25, a senior studying integrated social studies. “To them, being rich is being one with your land, so to mine that coal and sell it away would be desecrating it.”
The secret powers of plants
Right along with worshipping the land, the natives also revere local plants often used for medicine. The Cheyenne have complete respect for nature, animals and plants alike. The Study Away crew
experienced it firsthand when they hiked the wilderness at Crazy Head Spring – rarely open to non-tribal members – and learned about the usefulness of plant life from Randall Tall Bull, a Northern Cheyenne native.
“Randall gets asked why they don't sell their medicines and natural plant remedies,” said Lauren Dubravetz, ’26, an early childhood education major. “They believe that once you try to monetize or capitalize off nature and earth the powers weaken.
Dubravetz said one of the more popular remedies, Mullein, a flowering plant found in mountain regions, contains chemicals that may help fight certain infections. “I see stuff about Mullein Leaf all over social media so somebody’s capitalizing off it and that's exactly what they don't want to do with their culture,” Dubravetz said. Also known as Aaron's rod, Mullein is used for asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, colds, cough, and many other conditions, but no credible, scientific evidence supports these uses.
A spiritual cleansing of souls
For indigenous people, the sweat lodge affords spiritual, cultural and practical experiences, along with a connection to the creator and nature by restoring life’s order and balance.
“The Sweat Lodge was one of the most intense experiences,” said Durham. The group sat in a circle on the ground inside the makeshift structure, made of sticks and blankets. Outside, a pile of rocks was heated by a fire and dropped one at a time into a pit in the middle of the pitch-black tent.
Burt Medicine Bull said a few meaningful things for the group to consider regarding their connection to each other, mother earth, and other people. Water poured over the heated rocks unleashed a wave of hot, cleansing steam while Medicine Bull sang native prayers. Afterwards, the group took turns sharing thoughts meant to purify their souls.
“When it ended, I felt that connectedness to each person in the group, to the people in our lives who were not there, to nature and earth, and to the bigger things that perhaps we aspire to,” said Durham.
On the Fourth of July the group stopped in Cooke City, a small town just outside Yellowstone National Park, where the name ‘ֱ State University’ is spelled out with big rocks. The locals were in the throes of a community barbecue to celebrate the holiday against the backdrop of a giant American flag draped from an extended fire truck ladder.
At Yellowstone, they saw “Old Faithful – one of nearly 500 geysers in the park – in addition to bear, buffalo, elk, moose and fox. From Yellowstone they traveled south for more sightseeing at Grand Teton National Park before a brief exploration of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
“The opportunity to visit other regions of the United States and experience the wildlife and the geological structures that have been there for centuries is amazing,” said Pech. “It creates a sense of awe. The earth and all its gifts are greatly valued by the Native American tribes and their ancestors who originally settled the land. Fortunately, the forefathers of this country chose to protect and preserve these same lands; to value the gifts of our earth.”