As November wraps up, it’s important to remember that it’s also Native American Heritage Month. Minneapolis Public Schools celebrated this by designating the week of November 13–17 as “American Indian Awareness and Family Involvement Week.” Each school was given up to $300 to ensure that they participated in recognizing and celebrating Native Americans. At Southwest, four spaces were dedicated to showcasing Native American culture and history. The commons featured information about the flags of the 11 Minnesota Nations, 13 moon turtle sculptures, and a make your own parfleche pencil pouch activity. In the garages, students could learn about agriculture, snowshoes, astronomy, state names, Minnesota lakes, rivers, city names, and tools. Room W108 displayed information on games, trees, jewelry, maple syrup, and herbs. Lastly, Room W109 featured information on birch bark, animals, tea, and coloring pages.
While everyone was welcome to view what was in the rooms, sophomores spent time in their science classes completing an activity sheet based on the information provided in each room. However, there were mixed opinions about the activity. Pallavi Wudali (‘26) felt that science class was not the best fit for the activity: “I feel like kids were just trying to fill out their sheet and weren’t actually learning anything.” On the other hand, Brooklyn Ampey (‘26) believed that history class would have been a better fit for this topic but emphasized the importance of actually learning and being involved in American Indian Involvement Week at Southwest. Even though some students felt that the activity relating to Native Americans could use some improvements to better engage students, Carla Gomez (‘26) found the activity educational: “I learned they used bark to make art.”
American Indian Involvement Week is an important opportunity for students to learn more about Native Americans in Minnesota and the United States. By doing this, we can encourage a more inclusive community at Southwest.
View the gallery to see some of the stations!
