AmerInd Club helps Native American kids connect

A lot can change in a decade.

Ten years ago, Maricopa began to see changes that brought in significantly more families to the community, changing the dynamics of student life at Maricopa High School.

“Before Maricopa turned into what it is now, the Ak-Chin community was the majority in the public school system, and now it’s the minority,” says Aidan Balt, an English teacher at Maricopa High School.

Balt sponsors the AmerInd Club, which brings together Native American students to help them connect with each other and deal with changes at their school.

There are currently around 30 students in the club, and one of its responsibilities is to maintain a showcase in the front of the school that represents a different tribe each month. The showcase is just one way the club is trying to bring back the culture and heritage of the Native community.

Another focus of the club is to help keep Native students in school. Club treasurer Shinasha Bedonie says it is common for Native students to drop out of school or just stop going.

“We are trying to make it fun for them to keep coming back to the club, so they are more into going to school,” Bedonie says.

Bedonie says the club is getting bigger because students are finding out how much fun the meetings are, which are held at the school on Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m.

One of the fun events club members took part in was dressing up in their native regalia on Nov. 18 to celebrate Native American Heritage Month.

Dannon Peters, the club’s public relations representative, says AmerInd is trying to reach younger Native American students and help them focus on their schoolwork now, so they do not drop later.

Club members elect officers for president, vice president, historian, public relations representative and treasurer. The officers are among the students who attend various conventions that Balt says allows them to bring back knowledge for expanding their club.

Balt was one of two chaperones who accompanied the students to an October convention in Albuquerque, N.M. The event was the 42^nd annual convention and tradeshow held by the National Indian Education Association.

Micki Schroeder, Native American Parent Liaison for Maricopa Unified School District, says one of the reasons the students attended the convention was to identify with other students of their same tribe.

The four tribes that surround Maricopa are Ak-Chin Indian Community, Gila River Indian Community, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the Tohono O’odham Nation, but the MUSD has students representing many other tribes like Navajo, Hopi, San Carlos Apache, Red River Apache and Lacota Souix.

The Albuquerque conference was called Building Alliances to Strengthen Native Education Values.

“I hope that by attending this conference, the officers in AmerInd Club can do just that — strengthen their values and build alliances with each other, with their mentors and with other young Native American students,” Balt says.

Students attended workshops that best suited their needs and interests.

“Some of the workshops are culturally focused, such as the workshop Honoring Our Relations: Collaboration in Education, and some of the workshops are focused on college preparedness,” Balt says.

Balt says students learned about dealing with depression, leadership and making positive choices.

***ADVERTISEMENT***“Leadership is what I gained from this experience, and the ability to motivate my other club members to come together as one,” Peters says.

Apart from leadership and teamwork, Peters says she gained more knowledge about other Native cultures from the trip.

“Our group is a mixture of different tribes, yet some do not know that we are all one,” she says.

Funding for the trip came from grants, and students raised money to help pay for extra expenses during the trip.

According to Schroeder, “They’ve sold popcorn like there is no tomorrow.”