NWIC Receives American Indian College Fund Grant for Early Childhood Education
Engaging Native Children in STEM: What Our X’epy (Cedar People) and
Scha’nexw (Salmon People) Can Teach Us about the World and Cosmology
Northwest Indian College has received another Early Childhood Education (ECE) grant entitled, For the Wisdom of the Children: Strengthening the Teacher of Color Pipeline, from the American Indian College Fund. It has three areas of focus:
- Strengthening and expanding the teacher of color pipeline;
- Developing more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for early childhood educators; and
- Creating STEM education opportunities for Native children.
NWIC’s project is called, Engaging Native Children in STEM: What Our X’epy (Cedar People) and Scha’nexw (Salmon People) Can Teach Us about the World and Cosmology.
The grant will support NWIC’s ECE degree program by developing ECE math and science curricula. We will also collaborate with our early learning partner, NWIC’s Early Learning Center, to expand the Outdoor Learning Classroom by creating a sensory garden for children.
A Coordinating Team has been created, consisting of Thayne Yazzie (NWIC Salish Sea Research Center), Zachariah Bunton (NWIC Math Department), and Cynthia Wilson, appointed by the Lummi Nation Culture and Language Department to serve as its representative and liaison.
As Project Director and Principal Investigator, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved in the process of helping to secure this grant, including but not limited to members of the aforementioned Coordinating Team, NWIC Administrators (President Justin Guillory, Vice President Carole Rave, Dean Bernice Portervint), NWIC Coast Salish Institute (Dean Sharon Kinley), and the Lummi Nation Culture and Language Department (Al Scott Johnnie and Ted Solomon).
For more information about the Native ECE STEM Initiative, visit the College Fund’s website and for more information about the five TCU’s that received the grant, visit the College Fund’s blog.
Article written by,
Nahrin Aziz-Parsons
Our project is supported by a grant awarded to Northwest Indian College by the American Indian College Fund’s “For the Wisdom of the Children: Strengthening the Teach of Color Pipeline.” For the Wisdom of the Children ECE STEM Initiative is generously funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (Grant #P0131181) and the community-based programming is in part supported by supplemental funding provided by the Toyota Motor Company.