Help me give my students reliable, sturdy, waterproof shoes to walk 85 miles over 4 days. Walking long distance on pavement is extremely grueling on feet. These shoes will help ensure that students can complete the entire walk.
We are the tribal alternative school of a tribal nation in far Northwest Montana. We are the only all-native high school on the reservation, with an emphasis on native languages, traditional skills, and indigenous pride integrated into a strong core academic program. Our school is the "hidden gem" of the community—we care about students as whole people, not just academic beings!
Our students are future leaders of their tribal nations, innovators of solutions to global issues, stewards of the land, and carriers of traditional knowledge—they are savvy, humorous, and committed.
My Project
Our students are inheriting the responsibility to lead an 85-mile walk from April 9–12 to raise awareness about the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women #MMIW across the continent. The issue directly affects many individuals in our community, and students want people outside Native community to know about the root causes. In previous years the walk has earned significant attention from local press, and students this year plan to document the event with a series of portrait photographs and a short video. The walk was started by a local high school student activist in 2017, who is now handing over the event to a group of our students.
Students will lead staff and community members on the 85-mile trek from the northern border (Rollins/Dayton) to southern border (Evaro) of the reservation where we live.
Students will walk between 15 and 25 miles daily, with support vehicles providing first aid, food, and water along the way. But completing the walk ultimately depends on each individual's body. We will train as a group throughout the spring, but good shoes make all the difference in whether people can make it through 4 extremely long days on the pavement. April in Montana can mean a range of temps from below freezing to well above 70 degrees.
It's a simple but critical ask: we need reliable, sturdy, waterproof shoes in order to succeed at this goal.
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