The overview of Native trauma caused by assimilation and boarding schools was to “not have to kill Indians themselves, but only the Indianness within them” (Prahatt, Chris), which is all stated in the “Overview Native American Boarding School and Assimilation” article by Sonneborn Liz.  The US government and Congress wanted to assimilate Native children into a prison-like system, which caused mistreatment towards many Native children, later developing years of built-up trauma while also feeling disconnected from their origins.

The first case of rejection and assimilation was when we discovered the English aboard the Mayflower, they disliked our culture. In the article Indians of North America Conflict & Survival by Frank W. Porter 3rd states that Natives faced harm from the English, French and Spanish when they first came in contact with them, and in boarding schools they made Natives go through hours of abuse for not understanding their language and beliefs. Porter 3rd also started how policies played a huge role on how Native history was very much destructive towards our way of life and how we looked, talked, and acted. 

Acknowledging the rauma with Native History allows us to understand how we can heal especially as a school. Telling the truth will teach us to have better relationships while dealing with historical trauma. In New Mexico 95 Native children have been recorded to have passed when attending federal boarding school. Boarding schools also are known to have caused enduring trauma for our Indigenous communities. 

The lingering effect from boarding school is still affecting our families and the relationship we have with our community. Intergenerational Trauma has many effects like dealing with drug issues, low mental and physical health, and having unhealthy relationships. Within this Native trauma isnt being seen or have proper support when looking for ways of healing and guidance.

150 years, it took the United States Government, 150 years for an apology for the trauma of our people just from boarding schools. Following the article “ ‘Too shameful to acknowledge’ Biden delivers historic apology from Indian boarding schools” by Shondiin Silversmith states the remarkable day in October when former President Joe Biden gave an apology on behalf of the US Government for the Native people who attend boarding schools. This day was to acknowledge the survivors of boarding school and how the education they received was in fact harmful towards the Native community and their culture, and tradition. 

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights states how Israel is directly attacking Gaza's Children which leave negative impact on the children and their future children. Israelis are placing harsh condition and threats towards the children which will leave them dealing with long term health effects like malnutrition, disabilities, anxiety and PTSD.

The effect of US boarding schools has caused issues which are affecting Native American communities but especially students. The boarding school era caused problems with loss in identity, and culture. It also caused NA students to view education differently due to the historical/ intergenerational trauma which was passed down to them. In the article it states how Native American students are most likely to drop out and less likely to go on to secondary school. Native students are still facing the effects of boarding school. 

As a person I dealt with many mental and traumatic events within my own life, but I also live with my family's trauma they carry/carried.  The start of my middle school years was full of being disconnected from my own family, traditions, and myself. I found that being disconnected, damaged our relationship and how I balanced my emotions, due to the fact I was living with anxiety or depression that wasn't always “mine”. I faced life with no shield or weapon to help me think while battling the challenges of emotions and mental issues. I didn't receive help until I was in high school final understanding the true history of what my people faced through their life from assimilation, abuse/ rape, boarding school, and diseases, etc.; these all made an impact on my life as I went on to make connections with what I learned about and my emotions and how I make connections. After this “discovery,” I came back for my senior year of high school wondering what I could focus my SHP on and how it can bring a big impact on people facing historical and intergenerational trauma. When asking teachers, I was told to talk about my community of SFIS and the history before the Board of Trustees came in, I wanted to speak the truth about the school leaving nothing buried or unacknowledged. I truly believe my passion is to talk about the truth of history and by the truth, we can heal the past, present, and future for the sake of our children and future generations. 

I displayed photos of past students and the old buildings of the school. Many were positive but I did show the negative side of how students lived through the boarding school era. All the photos came from the SFIS Archives, and I was able to display them with the permission of the LMC staff. Many students felt that acknowledging our past as a school will build pathways to healing their own community and family. My action plan left a question for many students which was "How do we acknowledge and heal the school with respect?", this can be answered in my action plan 2. 

 In In the letter I wrote was able to speak about my SHP and how it has defined me as a person and how I would love to give back. I started off with briefly telling the history of the school itself and how we should acknowledge this history. After that I was able to ask if I could present a gift to the school during the day of the symposium where I would present a handmade pottery for the school to use and take care of. The meaning of the pottery/ spirit dish is to feed our loved ones who've passed before us, along with recognizing they are still here caring for us. I wish to make pottery to also reconnect to my culture and to show our school how we can all still be connected to our culture when we are in a school setting. It's important to continue cultural practices even away from home and this is one way to do just that.