Pueblo Voices Resound at BC

The drumbeats echoed through Lyons Hall Monday night as Native American high school students performed traditional dances for their Boston College hosts. The event, billed “Voices of the Pueblos,” was part of the Jemez-to-BC immersion program, which brings students from the pueblos of Jemez and Zia, New Mexico, to stay with undergraduates for a four-day exchange.

The event began with a presentation on the region’s culture and a documentary highlighting the pueblos’ efforts to build a stronger school system. With 45 percent of children 18 and under living below the poverty line, the community has placed an emphasis on public education. Kevin Shendo, the director of tribe education for Jemez, accompanied students musically throughout the night and explained the exchange program’s purpose. “The goal is to give the students exposure, so they can set their own goals,” he said. “But the intent is to bring them home so they can help the community. The higher goal is to ground them in their native language and cultural tradition,” he said.

Students opened their performance with a Buffalo dance from the Rio Grande region. The boys were dressed as rams to represent the animals found in the mountains during the winter. With Shendo drumming and chanting, the students danced and played shakers. The costumes students wore varied from song to song, but all were hand embroidered and were made of materials as diverse as buckskin leather, foxtail and skunk skin. Some also wore a shaker on their boots made of a turtle shell and several deer hooves.  The event was not the students’ first taste of performance, as Shendo has taken them to Hawaii, Mexico, India, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Germany. Students raised funds for the entire cost of these trips on their own, he said.
Although their journeys have taken them far, Pueblo students still expressed appreciation at what Boston had to offer. The hosts took their peers on a daylong excursion into Boston on Sunday, first visiting Fenway Park followed by a stroll around the city. “Boston’s one of the biggest cities I’ve ever seen. I enjoyed its history when we went on the freedom trail,” said Krystian Fragua, a senior at Walatowa High Charter School in New Mexico and a member of the Jemez pueblo. He plans to apply to BC this winter.

Kevin Schuster, A&S ’11, led the BC program and explained how fundraising helped add to the students’ Boston experience. “We did a dining hall point drive and exceeded our fundraising goal,” he said. Schuster said the organization was able to use the excess funds to bring the students to Cheers and buy them Superfan shirts. “When we were in Boston, the Jemez students wanted to see the Atlantic Ocean, so we stopped at Mike’s Pastry and then hung out near the docks,” he said.

Pueblo students also got a chance to go to class and experience the University with their hosts. “BC is far more wonderful then I expected. The students are very welcoming,” said Bethany Garcia, a senior at the Santa Fe Indian School in New Mexico. “I went to an elementary education class and it was interesting for me because that’s what I want to do.”

BC students also felt enriched by the program. “The program has been absolutely awesome,” Olivia Roome, A&S ’13, said. “It has just been beyond my wildest imagination. Everyone has been open to having a life-changing experience, and the group has really come together these past few days.”

Along with their other journeys, the BC exchange gives students an opportunity to see beyond their pueblos. They live in small, single villages, so they have large, close-knit extended families,” Shendo said. “Many have been living in the same place for generations and the tribe’s sacred sites are there, so it’s very hard for students to leave.” Shendo’s hope is that students will go on to college but will ultimately return to immerse themselves in their own community.

This is the third year that BC has hosted Native American students from Jemez. But since 2001, BC students have traveled on a service and immersion trip to the pueblo over winter break to help Shendo and the Department of Education. As long as the fundraising continues, Shendo hopes to bring students to BC again. “We’ll be back next November with a new group of students,” he said, to applause.