Big Cove: Day 3

Today was a very long, hard day... We had another student start at Big Cove this week. He is a very sweet child [yea, I know, big surprise]. He was not very happy about being at school... he really wanted to go be home. In the morning during center play time [after breakfast & circle-time], some people came into the center to work with some individual students. First an auditory specialist came in & called out a handful of students to check their hearing. After having their hearing checked, the students were given small stickers; the student that has found a major soft spot in my heart [now on referred to as "my chipmunk"] walked in, took his sticker off walked in & put it on my shirt - it was such a sweet moment. This sticker is now in my Block 1 binder, where it will probably stay for the rest of eternity or until it eventually biodegrades long after I have passed away. While the auditory specialist was pulling out students, a physical therapist came in to work with one of the students. His mother was having some concerns about his legs and feet & had requested that someone check him out. I'm not sure about how this visit turned out, but do know that the PT lady talked to my teacher for quite a while about looking out for physical issues in the kids & not hesitating to call her in.

Soon after, we went outside to play. Today the people from Ident-A-Kid were scheduled to come make ID badges [I believe] for each of the students who had signed up. There were only 5 signed up in my class. The people with Ident-A-Kid got there during "recess". When we were taking these 5 students inside, we were informed that the new student had...an accident...in his pants - this would not have been so bad, if it had just been a pee accident, sigh. Because of everything going on at the time, I was asked to clean him up annnnd of course I agreed, thinking that it couldn't be worse than changing a baby's diaper. I. Was. Wrong. I don't think I've ever been so grateful for latex gloves & diaper wipes in my life.

Lunch came & passed without an incident other than having to get more food from the cafeteria. The new student cried when he was laid down for nap-time, but quickly fell asleep anyway. When we woke him up, he started to cry again & immediately started reaching for me to pick him up for comfort. After snack time, we had to get the kids ready for the bus ride to home or to meet their parents. My chipmunk has continued his pattern of pitching a fit as soon as he gets off the bus because he does not seem to want to go home; this has made my heart break everyday.

Almost immediately after our day was done at the Head Start programs, we were taken on a tour of the new Cherokee School complex which houses the elementary, middle, & high schools, plus a pre-K program. It was a beautiful campus. I really enjoyed the effort that the architecture team put into the school so that they could proudly display & protect several cultural aspects of the tribe [i.e. the 7-sided buildings & courtyards that symbolize that 7 clans of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: the Deer clan, the Wolf clan, the Wild Potato clan, the Long Hair clan, the Blue clan, the Paint clan, & the Bird clan]. Also, the school truly shows a great commit that the tribe has made not only to its future generations, but to the survival of their culture. The schools offer Cherokee language classes, Cherokee history classes, basket-weaving [along with other traditional crafts], woodcarving, wood shop, etc. Beyond the cultural aspects of the school, there were several very cool things about the design of the building. My boyfriend, Will, graduated from UNCC with two degrees in architecture & is currently working for a sustainable development firm in Boone. Because of his passion for green designs/buildings, I was aware [& amazed] by some of the features in the new school complex - light tubes, geo-thermal heating/cooling, harvesting most of the wood from the build site, light shelves, light sensors, etc. I can't explain what all of these things do, however, I do understand them enough that I can fully appreciate what the design team accomplished. Our two tour guides were a wonderful lady from the Hope Center [a center for ages 0-5, with disabilities] & the head project manager/consultant for the job. They provided an immense about of information about the school & the mission of the Cherokee Central School.

After the school tour, we went back out to Soco falls [we were there yesterday]. I would have loved to go hiking down closer to the falls, but I was very exhausted after a long day & felt the need to do some homework. I sat on the "deck" & listened to the falls for a little bit, while most everyone hiked down. Hopefully when Will & I go visit his Nanny this summer, we can stop on the way & do some hiking around the Qualla Boundary. Tomorrow is my last full day with my students & this is highly upsetting for me. I have grown very close to them in the last few days. I truly wish that I had more days to spend here on the reservation. I'm sure that I will become quite emotional on Friday when we made our "good-bye" rounds. I have made the decision to make an effort to stay in touch with my teacher so that I may stay up-to-date on news concerning my little chipmunk boy :]

~ Kristy