Performing Department
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Non Technical Summary
Salish Kootenai College (SKC)is a tribal college and currently offers cultural and ceremonial events that are open to all students. These includeVeterans and Graduation powwows, stick game club and tournaments, and other courses and offerings aimed at developing cultural skills. SKC also offers many Native American Studiesand language courses on campus. However, SKC does not host a new student experiential learning opportunity before the start of the Fall quarter with ongoing seasonal activities throughout the year. The New Beginnings: Becoming Stronger Together project aims to bring this to fruition by offering seasonally-based experiential learning opportunities that include new students, their families, and the community. This newaward will contribute to those efforts to begin a sustainable practice that increases the campus ways of knowing and being.To accomplish cultural, seasonally-based experiential learning activities and curriculum development requires a body of knowledge around traditional culture, skills, language, values, and spiritual beliefs of Se?lis?, Ql'ispe?, and Ksanka peoples following the SKC Mission. This body of knowledge lives within SKC administration, faculty, staff, students, and Elders. Our SKC community includes faculty and staff that contribute such knowledge throughout our campus, especially within our Culture and Language Studiesand Native Language Teacher Educationprograms. Se?lis?, Ql?ispe?, and Ksanka worldviews and elder knowledge keepers will provide much to this project around ways of being and doing and curriculum design regarding how, when, and what should be taught.Increasing seasonally-based, cultural activities throughout the academic year has been in the planning stages, mentioned in the strategic plan and is a fitwith theMission and Vision for SKC.By weaving aspects of traditional knowledge, culture, language, values, and spiritual beliefs, SKC will provide culturally rich foundations to strengthen tribal student's resilience and overcome challenges by developing students' connection to place and ways of being and doing at SKC.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
This project includes the purpose and priorities of 1) Cultural, seasonally-based experiential learning and 2) Continued holistic student success services. Grant year oneis a focus on planning and curriculum development with full implementation years two-to-four. Goals are improvement in SKC's key performance indicators that will be measured during academic quarters each year using year one as a baseline:Goal 1: Increase number/percentage of students who successfully pass at least 12 credits in their first quarter at SKC from 79% to target of 85%,Goal 2: Increase Fall-to-Fall persistence rates from 56% to target of 65%, andGoal 3: Graduation rates will improve toward SKC targets for: Certificate 41% to 50%, Associate 22% to 30%, and Bachelor 38% to 45% degree conferment.Plans and Objectives to accomplish Goals: To meet these goals, SKC staff and faculty will provide seasonally-based experiential learning on and off campus to help build student resilience by improving their sense of belonging with culturally rich, curriculum-based activities to develop campus connections and ways of being for native students.The curriculum will includebeading, cultural arts, hide tanning, stickgame, drumming, singing, tool making, basket weaving, dance outfit construction, ethnobotany, encampment, coyote stories and language. The curriculum will include SKCs four Cs: Communication, Critical Thinking, Citizenship and Cultural Awareness. Cultural issues and ways of being will be blended during planning.
Project Methods
SKC will implement cultural, seasonally-based experiential education curriculum open to all students and their families. SKC will commit resources, some on hand and some to be purchased with grant funds as outlined in the budget. There will be no cost to students. Resource commitment includes housing space prior to the start of Fall quarter, food, campus land, building space, supplies and equipment, teepees, traditional knowledge and knowledge keepers, transportation and faculty and staff. Curriculum activities include three days of cultural, seasonally-based experiential learning prior to the start of Fall quarter, with an option for college credit, to build community and a place and way of being for tribal students coming to SKC. In the Fall, faculty, staff and elders will guide students at different locations to engage cultural activities such as readying for winter by cutting and drying meat, hide tanning, beading. Winter activities will include coyote stories, beading, taking time for Indian art activities and using foods and supplies gathered in the summer and fall. Spring is a time to focus on new life, fish trapping, ethnobotany, regeneration and gathering the first foods provided by the creator. Summer is a time for celebration and powwow dances for students who remain for summer quarter. Seasonal activities, designed around tribal worldview, will connect students to the place and ways of being at SKC that will help provide spiritual strength during the academic year. Employees and elders will receive an honorary stipend for sharing their time and knowledge for curriculum development and building community.SKC will invite new students and their families to the fall event to kick off the academic year and all students and families on campus are welcome to join seasonal activities. SKC will erect teepees and provide housing to students to engage in three days where staff, faculty and elders welcome students and spend time building connections prior to the start of the fall quarter. This connection to the land and place of SKC will help tribal students feel a spiritual connection to SKC and know they belong to this community - it is their way and place of being for a time.Addition of new cultural, seasonal activities will be evaluated through continued data collection that is collected during normal SKC business and academic practices. Learning outcomes in years three and four of the grant will be disseminated through conference presentations at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and the National Indian Education Association (or other conferences) and the Tribal College Journal.