Students Reflect on Native American Heritage Month
On Friday, November 12, aligned with Native American Heritage Month, CSW and Rivers students visited Regis College’s campus for reflective and educational programming on our current conceptions of property and land in small groups with students from other schools. The intent was to consider what our institutions can do to recenter The Indigenous Peoples whose land we now call “Weston.”
Due to the weather, the programming was moved indoors to the foyer of The Student Life Building at Regis. Sydnie Schwarz, Middle School
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion coordinator and 8th grade humanities teacher at Rivers led the programming. Students were asked to watch the
Nikki Sanchez video earlier in the week in preparation.
The day began with introductions in mixed-school groups, with sharing something that stuck with them from the video. Participants spoke about the commonality of attending schools in modern-day Weston, recognizing that the existence and acknowledgement of “Weston” is only possible as a result of a history of colonization and land theft.
The group spent the hour having conversations on the occupation of the ancestral land of the Masschusett and Pawtucket peoples. CSW is on the land of these two peoples and about half of the Rivers campus also occupies ancestral land of the Nipmuc Nation.
The goal was to begin to lay the groundwork at our institutions, which are connected in historical positionality because of our physical locations. The hope was that we can hold each other accountable and communicate ideas with each other after today as we move forward.
The following are some potential action items students agreed upon.
CSW thanks Sydnie Schwarz and CSW History Teacher Jordan Clark for all their hard work over the summer to make this day possible.