Youth Services helps participants reconnect at 'Littles' event

By Tim Wohlers



The Ho-Chunk Nation’s Youth Services recently held its fourth “Littles” event of the year.  The function took place on Wednesday June 29, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Trempealeau’s Perrot State Park.  It focused on reconnecting Littles – children in grades K-5 who are enrolled in both school and Youth Services – with their past, and with their relatives from around the state.  According to Henry Greengrass, the head of Youth Services in Lacrosse, the event produced a good turnout with 124 youth in attendance.  The gathering concluded the Littles events of the fiscal year, following three earlier events held in Black River Falls, Milwaukee, and Wittenberg.  Thus, Littles 2016 at Perrot State Park proved to be the culmination of much hard work and dedication put in by Youth Services throughout the year. 
To accommodate the respectably large turnout, Youth-Services leaders divided the participants into four separate groups and then led them through four different stations individually.  These four stations consisted of a nature walk with a representative of the DNR, language preservation, a narration of the history on effigy mounds, and a privileged walk-through of the nature center’s Native-American exhibit with experts from the University of Wisconsin.  At every station, the instructors dedicated a whole hour of teaching the subject matter to each group.  Such structuring allowed the kids to develop a thorough understanding of all topics, which proved important to those involved.  Center Director Henry Greengrass took that responsibility upon himself and his staff. 
“The way I see it, these are our kids,” Greengrass said.  “This is the stuff that I teach my kids because that’s the stuff I learned as a kid.  I think all Ho-Chunk members should know this.” 
Fortunately, the director had a great staff to aid in the instruction.  The nature walk was led by John Carrier, the Park Naturalist at Perrot State Park.  Guiding the youth along the Black Walnut Nature Trail, Carrier showed everyone some of the oldest dwellings in North America.  An expert in his field, the naturalist revealed how natural historians calculate the age of such dwellings.  His explanation impressed the listeners with scientific terms such as “carbon dating.”  But he also described how the mere existence of certain items can help. 
“If you find this particular tool, you know it’s from this time,” stated Carrier. 
Carbon dating places the cave dwellings in Perrot State Park at approximately 10,000-13,000 years old.  This evidence proves that humans were present here in Wisconsin early on, and endured through very difficult times.  Getting food proved much harder during that era.  There was no Walmart.  No groceries or supermarkets existed.   Therefore, our ancestors needed to hunt for their food.  Those feats deeply impress the naturalist. 
So when asked about the importance of learning this material, Carrier humbly responded, “Part of it has to do with seeing heritage.  There’s a little bit of pride in saying the people I descended from survived by eating mammoths.”  He stressed that “the first people here were some tough, tough people.  I’d be proud of that if they were my people.” 
Language was taught by Rosalie Brownthunder, a public-school teacher at Forrest Street Elementary in Black River Falls and former principal of a K-12 school in Minnesota.  This also marks Brownthunder’s tenth year educating youth as part of Youth Services in Black River.  Given her extensive experience coaching children, Brownthunder knows about responsibility.  During the summer, she is responsible for around 150 students in Black River Falls.  Even with all of her classroom instruction, though, the educator believes that learning should not be restricted to textbooks.  She strongly emphasizes the importance of educating our next generation in Ho-Chunk language, culture, and history – all subjects in which she holds certification. 
“It’s important because it’s one of the requirements to be noted as a Nation,” explained Brownthunder. 
The history of the effigy mounds was narrated by Josie Lee, Museum Director and Interim Language Division Manager for the Ho-Chunk Nation.  Lee understands the great significance of the park’s effigy mounds. 
“The mounds are important because this is the only place in the world that you’re going to find effigy mounds,” Lee proclaimed.  “They are a tie to us being here before Europeans.  They are our claim to this place.” 
The nature center’s Native-American exhibit was presented by none other than the curator of the exhibit herself, UW-Madison’s Senior Curator of Anthropology Danielle Benden.  That’s right.  With the help of UW students, Benden curated the exhibit which educates the park’s guests on the current and past natural resources in the area.  Along with displaying historical information, the exhibit contains contemporary information about Native-American traditions as well.  One area specifically focuses on the tribes that currently live in Wisconsin.  Covering this spectrum, the display bridges the past and present. 
“From an archaeological standpoint, we know that people have been here for at least 12,000 years,” reported Benden.  “This is traditional Ho-Chunk territory.” 
Benden’s husband, Honorary Fellow and former Associate Director of Mississippi Valley’s Archaeology Center Ernie Boszhardt, aided with the presentation.  With one of them specializing in anthropology, and the other in archaeology, the two make a dynamic duo of educators.  Boszhardt even demonstrated a Native-American technique for toolmaking, called flint-knapping.  However, the archaeologist stressed the magnitude of the actual exhibit’s revelations.  As he explains, the display brings the past to life. 
“This is [the Native Americans’] long-term past.  Last week’s news is history, and it’s hard to learn it all,” Boszhardt confessed.  “But this exhibit allows us to go back 13,000 years and actually touch [history].  There’s a sensation that goes with that that’s pretty indescribable.  This goes back 13,000 years and shows us that the Ho-Chunk are still here.  The Ho-Chunk are still here.” 
Youth-Services representatives, such as Homeschool Coordinator Elizabeth Digby-Britten, consider the event a success.  Not only does Digby-Britten work in Youth Services; she is the mother of a Little herself.  Having grown up in Trempealeau, Digby-Britten came to the park as a youth.  Back then, the focus of a visit lay on nature.  Now, it lies on heritage preservation. 
“They’ve done a good job of getting accurate information,” Digby-Britten admitted.  “As Native people, we need to know our history because we have to pass that information on.” 
Another Youth-Services worker, Wittenberg’s Homeschool Coordinator Macy Goodbear, values a different aspect of the Littles event.  She sees the day as an opportunity for children to reconnect with friends they’ve met at other Youth-Services events.  Goodbear also believes the gathering allows the older generation to connect with the younger generation by telling stories.  As she points out, it allows the grown-ups to share their experiences.  This kind of interaction encourages bonding among all those involved. 
According to Goodbear, the event is about “bringing all the youth together, and getting to see relatives in all the different areas.  [Littles] teaches them about themselves and their relatives, and where they came from.” 
At Littles 2016, such reconnection proved to be exactly what happened.  Parents met other parents.  Littles met other Littles.  And Youth-Services employees met more of their own kind.  At the end of the day, the excitement did not end.  For everyone anticipates the next Littles event and what it will have in store. 


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