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Minnesota Native News is a weekly radio segment covering ideas and events relevant to Minnesota’s Native American communities. Made possible by the Minnesota Art's and Cultural Heritage fund
[Music: Minnesota Native News Theme]
Marie Rock [ANCHOR]: You're listening to Minnesota Native News. I'm Marie Rock. This week, as we move into graduation season, we revisit producer Emma Needham's interview with Shayla Budrow, the Indigenous Education Coordinator at Brainerd Schools, about how Native graduations represent a generational victory.
Shayla Budrow: I have an older brother, a younger brother, and a younger sister, and then myself. We all went to Brainerd, but it's really exciting to see how far it's progressed. For celebrating Indigenous peoples at graduation, because, you know, for my brother, my older brother, it wasn't seen at all. For me, Indigenous education just started when I was graduating, and so I didn't really get to see the effects of it into graduation, so for my little brother to be able to be represented that way, with his stole, beaded cap, medallion, and to be able to celebrate him at our round dance, And I think that was really amazing to be able to see that representation. Because you can tell who the Native kids are now, because every single one of them has the same matching stole and the same medallion. And just kind of represents their class and their victories for our ancestors and our future generations. Through our Indigenous Education Program, we are seeing that our students are far more prepared for after high school, whether that's them going to college or them ready to start a career path without a college degree. Being able to expose the kids to different colleges throughout the year that have those resources to connect them to their culture, even when they're making that decision to step away from home to progress themselves, is super important. It wasn't until I went to college and I realized how isolated I felt in high school and how isolated I felt in the college system, that's when I ended up finding the other Native students and we were able to start building that community there, which at CLC led to the Multicultural Center. But that's why I came back into this work, because I didn't want other kids to feel the same way I did. So, our goals between elementary, middle, and high school are different. On the elementary level, we see them right now during the lunchtime. We end up doing projects that help the kids learn Ojibwe language. I'm starting to sprinkle in Dakota language, but a lot of it is cultural activities. In the middle school, we see them during power hour. There's field trips that we'll go on, too. We'll end up bringing in elders for medicine teachings. In the high school level, things really step up quite a bit. We have a lot of college visits, activities. There's a lot more opportunities, such as to start a drum group. Next year, we're going to be starting a big drum, which is super exciting. But the high school is that first time that the kids actually have their own space and they can make it their own, which is really amazing. Do a lot of after school activities, though, as well to engage their families within the community as well. My hope is in the future is that we can expand and have more people. We also provide support in the special education side. But no, our native students are doing really well this year, which is extremely exciting to see their progress. I'm not sure what the graduating class is this year, but I'm hoping that we'll have a large amount of stoles and medallions out there for all to It'll be exciting. One of the hopes, though, for next year and building into our budget is to get the kindergartners have special stoles. And so we're going to order heartberry stoles and put kindergarten graduate on there. And hopefully they'll be able to take a picture of their kindergarten graduation and have the same stoles to be able to take home at their high school graduations. It's going to be so sweet. You know, graduation for us doesn't just mean the actual graduation. It also includes our graduation round dance, which is a huge time of celebration to celebrate specifically our native graduates, to present them with their gifts and their honorings and to show support behind them for this huge accomplishment. The thing is that I'm so proud of, you know, our students and how far that they've gotten and all the great work that our students have done throughout the year as well as even thanking our parent committee for making this all possible. Because if it wasn't for them advocating when I was still in school, we wouldn't have gotten this far at all.
Marie Rock [ANCHOR]: That's all for this week's episode. Join us next time for more voices and stories that inform, uplift, and shape our communities right here on Minnesota native news.
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Marie Rock: Minnesota Native News is produced by AMPERS: Diverse Radio for Minnesota's Communities. Made possible by funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.