While many Bowdoin students start thinking about college early in their high school careers, this is not the case for high school students in the tribal schools of the Wabanaki Confederacy. This spring break, Bowdoin students traveled to tribal schools to help students jump-start the college planning process.
The trip, led by Cati Mitchell '09, brought six Bowdoin students into the tribal schools of the Wabanaki Confederacy, namely those of the Penobscot and the Passamaquoddy. There they worked with tribal students in grades four through eight to introduce the idea of college, priming them for a more serious discussion of options and opportunities in high school.
The trip was part of a larger effort begun in the spring of 2007 to increase the number of tribal students from Maine pursuing secondary education.
At that time, the presidents of Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby met with leaders from the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Micmac, and Maliseet tribes to discuss ways to improve aspirations in the American Indian population.
From that meeting emerged a committee comprised of members from the colleges and the tribes and a three-part plan.
Phase one of the plan consists of interesting students in coming to college, manifested in alternative spring break trips undertaken by Bowdoin, Bates and Colby.
According to Visiting Assistant Professor Leslie Shaw, this is a difficult proposition, as tribal students do not pursue the "college track" in large numbers because "they're not thinking about it."
In an effort to get kids to think about it, Mitchell and the other participants entertained students with college-themed Jeopardy, charades, and other games designed to "talk about their hopes and dreams and engage their life goals," said Mitchell.
These approaches were well-received in a community where college sometimes inspires fear, not enthusiasm.
Shaw said that "a lot of Native students want to stay in their communities and they sometimes think that college is going to take them away."
"We wanted to emphasize that you can get a college education, and you can come back to your community and you can contribute to your community," she added.
This issue emerged at the Indian Island School, a tribal school on the Penobscot reservation. Local mills pollute the surrounding waters, and when asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, one boy responded "Clean up the river." The Bowdoin volunteers took this opportunity to tell the student that by getting a degree in conservation biology, for example, he could make this dream a reality.
With the trip completed, its success is now being assessed. Shaw said she is excited by the fact that in just one year, so much has been accomplished already.
Now, the second and third phases of the plan have been set into motion. Phase two is a summer effort headed by Associate Dean of Multicultural Student Programs Wil Smith to improve aspirations by bringing high school students to the college campuses.
Calling the alternative spring break trip the "beginning of a flourishing and positive relationship between Bowdoin and Wabanaki Confederacy," the program is designed to improve upon this foundation. This year's program is a three-day visit allowing high school students to spend time at Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby.
What Smith calls his "broader and more engaging project," however, is a two-week college aspirations program for middle school students that will mirror the currently existing Outward Bound Program.
If everything goes according to plan, this program should be instituted by 2009.
Smith noted, however, that despite the participation of Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby in increasing tribal enrollment, the programs are geared toward "college aspirations, not CBB aspirations." According to Smith, "From our perspective, our goal is not necessarily to get students from the tribes to Bowdoin now, but merely to improve aspirations in the population in general."
The last component of the process is what Roy Partridge, visiting assistant professor and special assistant to the president for multicultural affairs, refers to as a "campus climate effort," designed to increase campus awareness and make Bowdoin hospitable to tribal interests.
In service of this goal, Bowdoin is hosting the Wabanaki Festival of the Arts on April 12. The festival will feature Wabanaki artists and craftspeople from all over Maine, including two drum groups, a father-son carving team, and a American Indian storyteller.
According to Program Advisor Rena Lolar, herself a member of the Penobscot Nation, "What we're looking for here is to start a conversation and to increase visibility. Invisibility is what native people have been fighting against."
This awareness effort, in conjunction with phases one and two, is Bowdoin's response to this invisibility.