Reconciling the Past: Culturally Responsive Service in Arizona

This blog was written by HSP employee Rebecca Andrews

The legacy of Native American boarding schools is rooted in a long history of oppression and injustice. Native American boarding schools – which were often run by Christian missionaries – were designed to assimilate indigenous children into the dominant white culture, stripping them of their language, traditions, and culture. The impact of this system of assimilation has been devastating for generations of Native Americans who were subjected to this oppressive form of education. It is essential that we recognize the systemic racism that enabled the establishment and continuous operation of these boarding schools – and work together to address the flaws of the system. 

When addressing the negative impacts of these boarding schools, HSP has turned to culturally relevant and responsive education. Culturally responsive education is based on the belief that students learn best when their cultural backgrounds are respected and incorporated into the learning environment. Closely related to culturally responsive education is culturally relevant education which validates and incorporates students' cultural references to make learning more relatable and effective. The goal is to create an inclusive environment where people from all backgrounds feel respected and valued.

HSP has partnered with the Theodore Roosevelt School (TRS), a boarding school on the White Mountain Apache Reservation that is now being run by tribal members and embracing culturally relevant and responsive education. Service teams can stay in the dorms and delve into critical consciousness regarding the negative effects of colonization on Native Americans. 

Teams get to work firsthand with tribal groups who embrace polyculture- the practice of growing more than one crop species in the same space, at the same time. This experience allows teams to participate in the restoration of ecological farming practices and the reclamation of ancient wisdom. 

After experiencing the culturally relevant and responsive education at TRS and working with tribal groups on farming practices, teams also get to go visit Changemaker High School, a charter school founded in response to the state of Arizona outlawing Hispanic studies in 2010. Teams get to see Changemaker implementing culturally responsive pedagogy and using their STEM program to decolonialize thought. 

Arizona is a beautiful state with a complicated past. This history necessitates healing and rebuilding broken relationships between Indigenous peoples, their culture and non-Indigenous peoples. Reconciliation requires people to understand the harm that colonization brought and the ways in which we can change the current system that was established by colonizers. 

Teams get to actively participate in reconciliation by both confronting the pain of the past and working with Indigenous communities participating in transformational development to meet their material, spiritual, and psychological needs. 

Join usthis summer to participate in this healing experience! Don’t think you have enough people to form your own team? HSP is dedicated to creating transformational experiences and will work to put you with an existing team that best suits you!