A Year in Montana: Special Visitors

This week we were lucky to have a group of students from University of Wisconsin at La Crosse spend a week with us over their spring break. There were 10 students and they split up among the classrooms to provide an extra set of hands and a new friend for the kids. It was fun having them around, not only for the change of pace but for us JVs to see this experience with new eyes again. Their visit was re-energizing and helped me appreciate all the joy that is part of working at this school and being with these kids. (It was also fun to have some fellow young people around to hang out with for the week!)

One of the most special parts of their visit was on Thursday afternoon when we tagged along on the La Crosse group's trip to the Bighorn Mountains and Pretty Eagle Point- a sacred spot that non-Crows can only visit if taken by a tribal member- the spot where Chief Pretty Eagle's remains are buried. The kindergarten teacher and her husband Calvin took us up, we hiked a little bit down toward the canyons, and Calvin spoke to the group about his experience as a Native American man in a still very racist world. His words were moving and he was yet another person I feel blessed to be here to meet and listen to.

Calvin pointing out the tribe's herd of wild buffalo that they keep up in the Bighorn Mountains. There's about 3,000 heads, which they treasure since there are no longer any true wild buffalo.