1 8 | C A N YO N V I E W S a culturally relevant experience at Grand Canyon to support and strengthen students’ connection to their homelands through immersive outdoor education activities, traditional cultural teachings, and a stewardship project. During their visit to the park, Vincent Diaz shared the importance of enhancing the teaching of cultural history including the significance of the canyon, plants, and animals to the Grand Canyon’s 11 Associated Tribes. He pointed out that it was the first week the park’s new tribal film, We Are Grand Canyon, was showing at the Grand Canyon Visitor Center auditorium. This was important for the Navajo and Hopi students to see given the lack of Indigenous representation in the park, especially in the South Rim Village area, which was a driving force for the film’s creation and purpose. The group watched the We Are Grand Canyon film, becoming the first youth tribal members to view the movie. Afterwards, the students shared how the film impacted them by stirring up emotions about loss of land, revitalizing culture, and the beauty of song and dance. Many of the SOS participants stated that watching the film was the highlight of their trip to the Grand Canyon because they could see the tribal connections from tribal members themselves. They also mentioned meeting a Navajo mule wrangler on their South Kaibab Trail hike who talked with them in Navajo, another memorable moment which emphasized the message that representation matters.
Zuni Youth Enrichment Project Backpacking Trip to Phantom Ranch Grand Canyon National Park has strengthened its partnership this past year with the Zuni Youth Enrichment
Zuni Youth cooling off at Phantom Ranch. Photo courtesy NPS/Kelkiyana Yazzie.
Project (ZYEP). ZYEP’s mission is to promote resilience among Zuni youth by providing positive role models, enriching programs, and nurturing spaces in their community so they will grow into strong and healthy adults connected with Zuni traditions. The partnership’s impact over the past year includes the organization’s increased involvement in the cultural demonstration program at Desert View and participating in ZYEP’s annual backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon. ZYEP spent three days and two nights in Grand Canyon where they hiked the South Kaibab and Bright Angel trails and camped at Phantom Ranch and Havasupai Gardens. At the start of the trip, most of the
Zuni youth participants shared that they had never been down into the Grand Canyon before, despite hearing about it in their culture’s stories and teachings. Throughout the hike, a cultural advisor with ZYEP shared Zuni knowledge on the canyon. He spoke in both English and Zuni due to the importance of native language preservation for the Zuni communities. The group was also joined by NPS staff Kelkiyana and Kate,who shared the cultural significance of the canyon and information about the resources such as the plants. The youth were eager to take everything in, including the various experiences of seeing wildlife, swimming in the river, and sleeping under the stars.