Students plan for connectivity conference in March

Students from five area high schools spent part of their Wednesday in Montana State University-Northern's Student Union Building Ballroom connecting with one another and planning a spring youth conference to be held at Northern.

Donnie Wetzel, American Indian Youth Development Coordinator with the Montana Office of Public Instruction facilitated the event.

He said the planning session and conference are meant to knock down social barriers and address stereotypes between students on reservations and in surrounding communities.

"The whole thing is to get these young students to know each other, before they are taught differently, to address stereotypes, to address misconceptions of each other both ways, tribal and non-tribal," Wetzel said.

In all, about 53 students from Box Elder, Rocky Boy, Fort Belknap, Harlem, Hays, Havre and Dodson were at the planning session.

Chinook wanted to take part but could not make it, Wentzel said.

Wetzel said the first such conference was a statewide conference held in 2015.

This year, three spring regional conferences will be held, including one at Northern.

The Tuesday meeting was one of three that Wetzel is holding. Another meeting at Blackfeet Community College in Browning was held Monday with students from high schools in Browning, Cut Bank, Heart Butte, Great Falls and Valier.

He said the location for that conference has yet to be determined but will likely be scheduled for the week of March 19.

Another planning meeting will take place at the end of November in Polson with the Flathead Youth Initiative, which will include students from high schools in Kiowa, Hot Springs, Mission, Two Eagle River, Ronan, Arlee, Polson, and possibly Frenchtown and Missoula.

Wetzel said that in the past he has been to national or state conferences where the students get a bunch of ideas, learn about each other and are motivated to do things but when they go home there is nobody else who can relate to that experience.

"I want to have a more focused effort where they are actually making change with neighboring communities, building bridges, coming together," Wetzel said.

The spring conferences will be developed by students, he said. They will learn how to write the grants, appeal to businesses and tribal councils for money, promote the conference, plan it and reach out to students at their schools and other area schools to attend.

Wetzel said activities at the two- to three-day conferences can include breakaway discussions about issues that affect communities, activities that promote Native cultures, lectures from representatives of local and state organizations, speakers, basketball and volleyball tournaments, mock job interviews and a workshop on how to write resumes.

In addition to promoting unity, Wetzel said, the conference activities can also help give students valuable skills.

Students at Tuesday's meeting learned about past conferences and took part in a webinar with Jim Swan of RJS & Associates about some basics of grant writing.

Students were later broken up into groups from different schools for several short exercises. The first activity involved students introducing themselves and revealing to each other one thing they enjoy doing.

Groups were then told to come up with five issues facing their schools and communities and some solutions.

Issues students raised included high rates of teen pregnancy, bullying, homelessness among students and low student attendance rates.

Students then proposed possible solutions such as more sex education in high school as a way to address teen pregnancy and creating a program where homeless students can stay with other local families.

Farrell TopSky, a sophomore at Box Elder High School, said during a break between group discussions that a safe house for students who are homeless or from troubled homes would be good for reservations.

The groups also came up with and shared ideas for the name of their conference, the date and some ideas for activities.

The groups suggested names and voted to call their spring conference the Seven Generation Leadership Conference. The conference will be March 14-16.

Wetzel said, he will engage in video conferences with school administrators and the students to continue the planning process up until the conference.

"It all does seem like chaos, but it does end up coming together," Wetzel said.