When groups of students from the University of Washington (UW) and Neah Bay High School spent a week together this spring, each had something to teach the other.
The high school students taught their college visitors the Makah language, and how to make traditional regalia and handcarved wooden rattles. Together, the students released salmon raised at the school’s fish hatchery and worked on the community’s tsunami evacuation trail.
In exchange, UW students shared their expertise in geoscience, a topic relevant to the Makah Tribe’s reservation in Neah Bay, situated on the Pacific Ocean and Strait of Juan de Fuca and exposed to natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.
Students were participating in the Makah Cascadia Culture and geoScience Exchange (CCASE), a graduate student-led program primarily under UW’s Riverways program and partially funded by the CRESCENT Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center, where UW students teach science at Neah Bay High School throughout the school year. The CCASE-Quileute branch of the program takes place at Quileute Tribal School.
“These UW students are really passionate about this subject,” said Holly Keedy, Neah Bay High School’s science teacher. “I want my students to see people passionate and knowledgeable about their subject, and to see that not everyone has to like the same thing. The culture exchange is great too.”
In teacher Hazel Greene’s culture classes, the UW students learned how to pronounce Makah phrases through a traditional beaver tooth game played March Madness Tournament style.
“It’s cool because our Makah students get to help and teach them phrases and play with them, and also help them learn,” Greene said.
Her quieter students took to engaging with their collegiate counterparts, making connections when teaching language or beading skills.
“It gives students the opportunity to share our culture and be a source of pride for them,” Greene said.
The UW students taught several of Keedy’s classes, lecturing on science specific to the Pacific Northwest. After a quick presentation on earthquakes and buildings, the students constructed their own structures out of K’NEX building sets, then put them through a stability test using a shake table to see if they could withstand an earthquake.
The program engages the kids throughout the year, with visits to Neah Bay by the UW students in the fall, winter and during the college’s spring break, plus sometimes a field trip for the high school students to the UW campus.
“Our first goal is to try and reduce some fear around these natural hazards,” said Julia Grossman, program co-director. “The main feedback we’ve gotten is that a lot of students know that these hazards exist, but they are really scared of them, and fear can be paralyzing in too strong quantities.
“I think by showing students how geoscience works and why it’s happening and what you can do about it, that maybe instills a sense of self confidence and belief that resilience efforts are happening all around them. It’s a way to actively bolster safety.”
The other idea is to inspire kids in STEM careers (science, technology, engineering, math), with an emphasis on natural resources.
The geoscience lessons work off the earth science curriculum Neah Bay students received in middle school, said Krow Miller, a junior at Neah Bay High School and Makah tribal member.
“A lot of my thought process is wanting to learn the whys and the hows of things, which is why I so heavily love science,” Miller said. “These classes are going a little bit deeper into stuff that I hadn’t really questioned before.
“Engaging with the college students opens up a lot of new doors, I think, because a lot of us didn’t realize that we had certain options,” Miller said. “Even if it’s not a field that I plan on going into personally, it’s fun in the classroom and it’s something that feels fresh and new and exciting. It’s nice information to have because now that I have a little bit bigger understanding of what this field looks like, it’s suddenly a lot more interesting.”
A Neah Bay High School student shares beading skills with a UW student during the high school’s culture class. Story and photos: Tiffany Royal
