The number of indigenous students in K-12 grades at Suttons Bay Public School increased this school year to 155, up from last year’s count of 153, with eight tribal nations represented.
Samantha TwoCrow, Indigenous Education and Title VI director, presented information regarding indigenous education student involvement and district cultural highlights at the school’s annual Title VI Hearing last Monday.
Suttons Bay is required to hold their annual Title VI hearing and to give a presentation, informing the public on the services the program has been providing to indigenous students at the school. The program’s mission is to support the unique cultural and academic needs of Native American and Alaskan students from Pre-K through graduation. As a district with a Title VI designation, the program also provides a grant funding formula through the federal government for Native American education and support for indigenous students.
Five of the eight tribes represented at Suttons Bay school are based in Michigan and include: The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, and Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. The three federally recognized out of state tribes include: The Three Affiliated Tribes Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, North Dakota, Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin, and Mille Lac Band of Minnesota.
“We review information on a monthly basis with our Title VI parent committee,” TwoCrow said. “Our goals and objectives with the Title VI program have not changed… Before I got here, we had one goal and objective with Title VI, and that was to increase academic achievement. One of the other goals and objectives was to increase knowledge of cultural identity and awareness within the district… The third objective, and we just put this one into play in the last two years, is to increase the college awareness for a lot of our high school students going on into higher education.”
TwoCrow also talked about what clubs and activities students have been participating in this year, especially highlighting their involvement in sports. A total of 44 middle school students participate in sports like volleyball, basketball, soccer, and football, while a total of 47 high school students participate in volleyball, basketball, soccer, baseball, football, and softball.
“Sports are always big in indigenous communities,” she said. “Our basketball numbers are always really high, but it’s really awesome as well to see the wide variety of how many indigenous students play on each team or throughout the season.”
In addition to Native students’ involvement in sports, they are represented in other campus groups, too, including three students in EL student leadership, 43 in the district’s cultural club, one student in the stem club, eight in the art club, and two in robotics. TwoCrow said she is actively working on getting Native student representation in the National Honor Society and Business Professionals of America (BPA).
“We constantly tell our students, let’s find you something to be involved with. It connects you with staff and your peers in the district, it connects you with something you can thrive in…,” she said. “We’re not represented in our national honor society or BPA yet, so that’s a goal of ours and the school — to start thriving to get some of our native students to be more proactive in those higher excellence pieces.”
This year, TwoCrow said there are only three Native students in the 2024 graduating class, with a larger group coming up next year. All three students are set to attend college after graduation. Two of the students will attend Northern Michigan University, and the third student will attend Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College.
In other business, the board:
• Hired Joe Symons as middle school baseball coach.
• Approved the purchase of a 10-passenger van from Lunghamer Ford of Owosso for an amount not to exceed $76,000.
