{"id":43677,"date":"2021-11-19T03:08:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T10:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ute-mountain-ute-tribe-dedicates-new-charter-school\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:14:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:14:48","slug":"ute-mountain-ute-tribe-dedicates-new-charter-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ute-mountain-ute-tribe-dedicates-new-charter-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Ute Mountain Ute Tribe dedicates new charter school"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Students
Students and teachers of the new Kwiyagat Community Academy in Towaoc perform Native American songs during a dedication ceremony Thursday. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span>Jim Mimiaga<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

An outdoor dedication ceremony for the new Ute Mountain Kwiyagat Community Academy in Towaoc was attended by a large gathering of families, educators and tribal leaders.<\/p>\n

Traditional prayers and blessings were made for the school. The Rocky Mountain Mustang drum group performed Ute Mountain Ute honor songs.<\/p>\n

Kwiyagat students gathered in front of the audience to sing several songs in the Ute language and wished the crowd a Happy Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

\"Kwiyagat
Kwiyagat Community Academy co-founder Tina King-Washington speaks during a dedication ceremony Thursday. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span>Jim Mimiaga<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The state-funded charter school is accredited by the Colorado Department of Education and the Charter School Institute.<\/p>\n

In its first year, the school enrolled 28 kindergarten and first grade students and plans to add more grades. It is the first public charter school on an Indian reservation in Colorado.<\/p>\n

The curriculum will blend Ute history, art, culture and language with core educational instruction, including science, technology, engineering, math, reading and writing.<\/p>\n

Tina King-Washington, K-12 Education Director for the tribe, spoke of the collaborative effort to make the school a reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked together, overcame many hurdles and got it done. This school is so important to the community,\u201d she said. \u201cOur goal is to keep this going until we end up with an educational quadrant with grades K-12 and a college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Towaoc parent Candida Ketchum spoke about the importance of the school for her family. She enrolled her son in kindergarten.<\/p>\n

\u201cI chose Kwiyagat because it is home,\u201d she said. \u201cI love that the school is just a few minutes from my house.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ute
Ute Mountain Ute royalty gave speeches during a dedication for the new Kwiyagat Community Academy in Towaoc Thursday. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span>Jim Mimiaga<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

She praised the smaller classes, one-on-one instruction and the opportunity for her son to learn the Ute language and culture at a school on his own reservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son is provided with educational and cultural skills. He loves to come home and share Native stories he has heard throughout the day,\u201d Ketchum said.<\/p>\n

Several tribal councilmen spoke of the values and sense of pride the school brings.<\/p>\n

Students from Kwiyagat are the future of the tribe, said Vice Chairman Archie House.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur vision for the future is that graduates of this school will have a strong grounding in Ute culture and language while incorporating modern perspectives as contributing members of the Ute Mountain Ute community,\u201d House said. \u201cA new generation of graduates will revitalize the tribe\u2019s culture and use that knowledge to build community connections built on mutual respect, academic success and focused career goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a ribbon-cutting, members of the audience were given a tour of the newly remodeled school facilities.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Rocky Mountain Mustangs drum group performed at the dedication ceremony for the Kwiyagat charter school in Towaoc. (Jim Mimaga\/The Journal)<\/span>Jim Mimiaga<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kwiyagat Community Academy blends Ute culture and language with academics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2007,155,28,2681,29,181,144,547],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-43677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-culture-general","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-language","tag-newsletter","tag-school","tag-towaoc","tag-ute-mountain-ute-indian-tribe"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43677"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85790,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43677\/revisions\/85790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43677"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=43677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}