Hellgate High School, Missoula, Mont

Two Eagle River School, Pablo, Mont.

Two Eagle River School is a Bureau of Indian Education school community that is determined to preserve traditional ways of knowing and tribal values through engaging in sustainable practices. The school, serving roughly 100 students, all of whom are eligible for free lunch, is run by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes. Two Eagle River School is located at the base of the Mission Mountains within the Flathead Indian Reservation. This community has a profound relationship with the natural space that surrounds it on all sides.

Two Eagle River is engaged in an ambitious and transformative sustainability initiative that includes conducting its first energy audit with Bonneville Power Administration, developing a comprehensive recycling program, and developing a school garden. The Two Eagle River approach involves students, staff, and community partnerships. Bonneville Power Administration has enabled the school to understand how it uses energy and can conserve energy in the future. The school subsequently added programmable thermostats, power strips, and more efficient lighting.

Two Eagle River requested recycling bins from the county. Students sort and audit the recycling, and teachers take it to a center monthly. The school has been able to reduce paper through a grant, making it possible to offer iPads to all students. Two Eagle River has several transportation efficiency strategies in place to reduce unnecessary mileage in its rural area.

The sustainability initiative began with professional development sessions in the spring of 2015 and August of 2015, supported by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Montana. The first goal was to provide staff with background information about sustainability, sustainable practices, and sustainability education. The staff continues to receive monthly professional development that combines knowledge of sustainability, technology integration approaches, and strategies for writing across the curriculum. Professional development also extends into classroom visits, guest presentations for students, and individual conferences relating to each individual’s experience and role within the sustainability initiative.

After the initial overview of sustainability, faculty and staff began the planning process. The first step was conducting an inventory of sustainable practices. The school community was empowered and inspired by what was already occurring at the school to foster sustainability. Given its tribal focus, the school determined that the sustainability programming would emphasize traditional tribal beliefs, values, and ways of living, including: care for the land, animals, and people; respect for Mother Earth; stories and seasons as ways of knowing; and honoring elders’ wisdom.

Staff then developed five committees: energy, gardening, wellness, curriculum, and transportation, and committees brainstormed specific initiatives to organize. Next, Two Eagle River School hosted a schoolwide assembly to provide information about sustainability to students, and to have them engage in sustainability in a meaningful way. Students worked in small groups to create a slogan and mission for the sustainability program at the school, respectively, “To Live Through our Grandchildren,” and “Go Green or Die Trying.”

The efforts of the wellness committee to increase the nutrition of the food served at the school is evident in the school’s Thanksgiving feast. This feast used traditional foods such as elderberry soup, huckleberries, salmon, and bison. This event and others help to boost community engagement, particularly between students and tribal elders. The school also sponsors barbecues, traditional Native American games, and a pow-wow.

Students have engaged in experiential and place-based learning activities, which enabled them to incorporate sustainability topics into their experience. This sustainability integration can be seen in mathematics, as students construct and solve real-life math problems related to the environment, and in their salmon monitoring. Science classes take a weekly field walk. The school connects science, culture, and craft in the butchering and skinning of animals, quilting, and teepee making. Students applied geometry as they constructed school emblem designs on the fence surrounding the school.