Spanning Cultures and Miles

A Teacher's First Person Account of the Zia Pueblo and Peacham, Vermont Student Exchange
by Cathy Browne, Teacher at Peacham Elementary School in Peacham, Vermont

—This article is courtesy of the Rural School and Community Trust's publication Rural Roots

Several thousand miles and the visible differences of culture and geography separate the two small communities of Zia Pueblo, New Mexico and Peacham, Vermont. Elementary and middle school students from both villages recently encountered firsthand their contrasting ways of life, while simultaneously learning about the important values and experiences that they both share.

Four students and two teachers from the Peacham Elementary School visited the Zia Pueblo School in March of 2000 through a grant from the Vermont Rural Partnership, a group of 18 small Vermont schools funded primarily through the Rural School and Community Trust. Hosted by families living on the pueblo, they were treated to warm welcoming ceremonies at the school, tours of the pueblo by members of the tribal council, and field trips to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in neighboring Albuquerque.

Much was learned about the culture by the more formal introductions to the village, but both children and adults were most deeply affected by the warmth of the host families and their openness while sharing their culture. The students immediately felt at home, as one student remarked: "I felt like they already knew me -- I had friends right away!" and another stated, "I felt really comfortable, like I was staying over at a friend's house." They particularly enjoyed the commonalities found on the basketball court, the icebreaker for the students at recess within an hour of arrival.

Scenes such as this immediately reinforced the reflections voiced by all the students at the end of their visit that, "they're just like us, they do the same things and play the same games." But the students also were deeply aware of the importance of culture and tradition in the Zia community. They noted that the ways they celebrate holidays and their traditional dances were quite different than in Vermont.

One student noted: "We should have our own artwork or pottery like they do, for example with a hermit thrush (the Vermont state bird)." For the two adults, including myself, it became very important to consider how we would share the Peacham culture with the Zia children when they came to visit Peacham the following year. We asked ourselves, "How can we define the Vermont culture? What makes it unique?"

In May of 2001 we were given the opportunity to reciprocate the Zia families' generosity. The Zia School's sixth grade teacher, Tina Aragon, organized a memorable trip for her sixth grade class of nine students, funded through the Rural Trust, and Futures for Children, a nonprofit group that supports Native American children.

The Peacham students were quite excited to be seeing their friends again. As one of the students who visited New Mexico said, "I was glad that my old friends could come over and I could see them again, because I was afraid I wouldn't. I was really happy that they could make it." The Peacham students and their parents were eager to share their lives and surroundings with the Zia students, and together they presented a rich, local heritage to their visitors. Together, they made maple candy, visited local ponds and forests, and looked for deer tracks. They visited a local dairy farm, and took field trips to meet the Governor of Vermont and to taste Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

The visit also helped to tangibly share the powerful connections made in the original visit by a small segment of the school population with a wider section of the Peacham community. One student who hosted two of the boys stated:

I learned a lot about their culture. I learned how they respected things differently than we do. Like they consider rocks as weapons, and we just consider them as rocks. They don't use them and they don't throw them at anybody, unless they're going to kill an animal ... We saw a lot of turkeys and they chased the turkeys around the field. They missed the turkey hunting season in New Mexico. They make their houses out of mud, out of adobe, probably because they have a good supply of it out there. They like the thick forests and the green grass we have.

Another girl mentioned the similarities and differences that the Peacham students had first noted on their visit to Zia. She reflected upon the traditions in which she does participate, and the connections she made with her visitors during their short visit.

When they first got here we were kind of nervous, and we didn't really talk. But after we ate dinner we started playing basketball and we got to know them better. It was fun to have them. I thought they were going to be in moccasins and stuff, and they dressed like me. Their stores are the same distance away as ours. They really liked going upstairs, because they don't have an upstairs.

They have the buffalo dance, and it has one girl, and that was Heather and she showed me the dance. We don't really have festivals like they do. But we make maple syrup, we get a lot more snow then they do, we ski and skate...and I played in the Memorial Day celebration with the school band -- that's a town celebration and tradition, and we have the 4th of July. I was really sad [when they left]. I wanted them to stay. I've written to them three times. I wrote them the day they left when I got home from school. Heather just wrote me back. I told them we should go out in August for the feast.

This exchange has given students from two small, isolated communities a taste of a larger world in which people can be both outwardly different but also inherently the same. They will know that where they come from is important to who they are, and that they can find connections to others wherever they may find themselves in the future.