Taking school outdoors

KICKING HORSE - A little bit of rain and a whole lot of mud couldn't keep Ronan seventh and eighth graders from having fun at the 23rd Annual Rendezvous last Thursday.

Ronan Middle School teachers and community volunteers organized the event in conjunction with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Designed to parallel the seventh grade Montana history curriculum, stations spread across the Kicking Horse Reservoir fields gave students the authentic feel of a traditional rendezvous, where trappers and natives would meet to trade, feast and play games, eighth grade English teacher Linda Jones said.

"It really is like a traditional rendezvous," she said. "Where groups of people who are very diverse in backgrounds are coming out to make an educational experience for the students."

Some students, despite living on the Flathead Indian Reservation, had never been to a powwow. For them, the native drummers and singers provided a special treat.

"They're having experiences that they've never had, ever," Jones said.

Candle-making, fire control, prospecting, tomahawk and bow and arrow throwing were only a few of the frontier-themed stations. Ronan alum Shane Reum even brought horses for a lesson in horse-shoeing, seventh grade math teacher Shawn Harris said.

"Shane was a student at one of these rendezvous when he went to Ronan," she said. "It's really neat that he can come back and be a part of it now that he's moved on."

For seventh grader Logan Hakes, the highlight of his day was congregating around a warm fire and learning the various techniques associated with making the traditional Native dish of dry meat.

"Usually they use elk or deer," he said. "They dry it to preserve the meat, but it makes it taste amazing."

According to Hakes, students used multiple methods with the most common being to rest the meat on a chicken-wire shelf a few feet above the fire. Others laid the meat directly on a log (since they were damp, it wouldn't burn). The best method, Hakes said, was to wrap the meat in tin foil and cook it directly in the fire like a baked-potato.

"I loved it today," he said. "Even though it was a little cold, it was still fun."

Mountain-biking was easily the most chilling and messy of the day's activities. Students waddled back into camp with mud-soaked shorts and splattered faces, raving about the two black bears they saw on the ride.

"The mud was waist-high on a guy that's 5-4," eighth grader Alex Killian said.

His classmate, Tanner Payne, won the award for most muddy when he went head-over-handle bars into a puddle, attempting to stop and bear-watch using just his front brakes. Another student ran his front wheel right into the grooves of a cattle guard.

For the boys who had never been mountain biking, the day provided them a pretty hard-core crash course. By the end though, even those who had suffered the worst were excited to go again.

"I learned that it is very hard to ride a bike through three-feet-deep mud puddles and you have to go with someone who knows their way around," eighth grader Chase Rhine said. "It was my first time, and it was actually quite fun."

While the weather did manage to put a damper on the afternoon's activities, which usually includes games in the field, students and teachers agreed that this year's event was another success.

"It's just a great opportunity for kids to learn Montana history in a hands-on way," Harris said.

Jones added, "It's why I decided to stay [and teach] in Ronan. I saw the potential for teachers to work together to provide a really great experience for kids."