The 15th annual Native American Education Conference is Aug. 6-7, 2024, at Central Wyoming College in Riverton.
Cost is only $35, while students are free.
This year’s theme: Community Wisdom and Engagement: Teaching Resilience to Our Indigenous Youth
Registration is now open! Click here.
General and Workshop Sessions
Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, from 1-5 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, from 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
You will enjoy workshops that benefit and edify all individuals involved with Native American student education. Areas of emphasis include:
- Enhancing health of Indigenous youth/Supporting emotional needs of students.
- Best teaching practices for Native American youth.
- Understanding and appreciating Native American culture, history, and traditions.
- Wyoming “Indian Ed for All” social studies standards.
- Strengthening resilience and perseverance/Empowering youth.
- Unifying school and community.
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Outstanding Native American high school students will be awarded the prestigious Pacesetter Award on Aug. 6 at 2 p.m.
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Keynote
Jason Baldes – “Tribal Buffalo Restoration: Culturally Relevant Reconnection and Revitalization.” – Aug. 6 at 3:30 p.m.
Jason Baldes (Eastern Shoshone) is an ecologist who has devoted his life’s work to restoring bison to public lands.
“The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes maintain cultural belief systems and values that have been passed down through the generations, that can help guide one on their journey through life. Education is an important pathway to finding meaning and purpose on that journey, and elders of both Tribes have maintained and encouraged young people to pursue an education, and return home to help their people. I found my pathway to helping my people with buffalo, and working to restore a connection that has been in place for time immemorial.”
Feature Films
dêtetsi vo’i oninjakan Winding Path
11 a.m., Aug. 7
dêtetsi vo’i oninjakan Winding Path is a powerful short film produced by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Robin Honan and co-directed by acclaimed filmmakers Alexandra Lazarowich and Ross Kauffman, in collaboration with University of Utah Health and its Native American Summer Research Internship (NARI) program.
A question-and-answer session with the film’s subject, Jenna Murphy (Eastern Shoshone), will follow.
Frybread Face and Me
8 a.m., Aug. 7
Two adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds bond during a summer herding sheep on their grandmother’s ranch in Arizona while learning more about their family’s past and themselves.
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For more information about the conference, call Rob Black at (307) 777-3747 or email rob.black1@wyo.gov.
History of the Native American Education Conference
2023 YOUTH PACESETTER AWARD WINNERS
These Native American high school students were recognized at the 2023 conference for their leadership, academics, attendance, and community service. Congratulations!
Arapaho Charter High School
Lorena Juarez
Ayden Spoonhunter
Big Horn High School
Dawson Richards
Cody High School
Emilia Medina
Isabelle Paddock
Expedition Academy in Green River
Yvonne Camacho
Fort Washakie High School
Amanda Phillips
Jami Savage
Frontier Academy in Riverton
Hayden Blumenshine
Lander Valley High School
Darian Bell
Brae’don Lincoln
Meeteetse High School
Kayla Horsen
Newcastle High School
Jacob Prell
Pathfinder High School in Lander
Kei Serawop
Powell High School
Jhett Schwahn
Riverton High School
Jaslyn Cowboy-Whatley
Tristan Moss
Swift Creek High School in Afton
Tehya Bagaso
Kerrigan Dana
Tongue River High School
Alberto Spotted
Wind River High School
Angela Spoonhunter
Allison Tidzump
Wyoming Indian High School
Darrius Boyer
Layla C’Bearing