My students are bright young individuals with a lot to offer. However, because most have found traditional high schools to be neither stimulating nor understanding of their individual needs and challenges, they have come to learn at our non-traditional high school.
With approximately 75% of our students eligible for the free-and-reduced lunch program, they face many problems that many can only imagine; challenges at school and at home are present and real in their lives everyday and at our school, we seek to pertain our curriculum upon the needs of our students.
With a relatively large percent of our students being Native, we have created a Native Student and Family Wellness Initiative at our school in order to help our Native (as well as non-native) students to communicate, understand and empower themselves with knowledge of their culture and history. The Native Games curriculum is a class that comes out of the Native Wellness Initiative and will be open to all students, not only Native students, but anyone willing and interested in learning from our experienced Wellness Director.
My Project
We are requesting the equipment needed to run Native Games. Teaching traditional sports such as Lacrosse will not only allow the students to build upon their teamwork and communication skills, but also to be given a chance to recognize the historical and cultural aspect of the sport itself. Another example of Native games that will be played is the traditional Eskimo Olympic games which will be not only challenging, but will teach the students about patience, following directions, and leadership qualities. With a curriculum that provides a full year's worth of diversity in Native games, and with enthusiastic staff and students, all that we need is equipment.
Having the equipment to run our Native Games curriculum can be life changing.
Most of our students are still trying to find their place in the world, and the Native games curriculum will focus on the development of our students' identity and community building skills through the incorporation of a long history and culture that has much to share.
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