Celebrating Native American Heritage Month

The following is an excerpt from the Friends Council on Education’s newsletter. The piece was written by Nic James and edited by Westtown’s Kelly Yiadom, Director of Equity, Justice, and Belonging for Lower and Middle Schools, and Anne Burns, Dean of Communications. Photos courtesy of Westtown School.

SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT

Westtown School is supporting student conversations around Native American Heritage through several authentic initiatives and programs.

All-School Initiatives

Westtown’s Equity, Justice, and Belonging team partnered with Beth Pellegrino, Director of Dining Services, to bring Mariah Gladstone to all three divisions of the school as a virtual speaker. Gladstone, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet and Cherokee Nations, is an environmental engineer, chef, and founder of Indigikitchen, an online platform dedicated to Indigenous food traditions and food sovereignty. Her presentation introduced students to the connections between culture, health, and land stewardship and highlighted the importance of preserving Indigenous knowledge. 

Lower School

Lower School students welcomed Delaine “Dee” Tootsie-Chee, the grandmother of one of the students, to visit during their weekly Gathering. Tootsie-Chee is a member of the Hopi Tribe and belongs to the Asah/Roadrunner Clan. She demonstrated elements of Hopi hand-pottery making—sharing how she learned by observing her maternal clan relatives and describing traditional methods for pigmentation and burnishing with river stones, among other techniques.

Middle School

Over the summer, 8^th graders read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The story of sweetgrass parallels the experiences of Indigenous peoples facing displacement and the loss of ancestral lands to invasive species. 

Also, along with their teachers, a few Middle School students with Native American heritage presented to their classmates this month. The goals of their presentation were to expand knowledge of and connection to Native Americans, celebrate the varied contributions of First Peoples to society, past, present, and future, and to move beyond recognition toward accountability and action.

Finally, Lenape Voices is an ongoing art and service project that seeks to honor more than 10,000 years of Lenape stewardship of the land. Throughout campus, 21 painted stones (ahsëna) display Lenape words and English translations. Visitors are invited to reflect on both the absence and presence of the Lenape people in this place.

Upper School

During Community Collection (the Upper School’s weekly student and faculty gathering), one of four Upper School students whose roots extend into an Indigenous nation spoke to their perspectives on ancestry, identity, relationship with the natural world, and governance systems built on peace, equity, and a collective responsibility. They urged their school community to not only remember the gifts and challenges of their heritage but also recognize their present and their future.

Excerpt from remarks by Oronhiatehka Maracle ’27:
“So as we celebrate Native American Heritage Month,
let’s not confine our thoughts to the past.
Let’s look forward to the faces yet to be born,
to the futures yet to unfold.

We are not relics.
We are not victims.
We are nations who endure.”