people in orange shirts in large circle in high school gym

Annette Island School District would like to thank our incredible community, staff, and students for attending (whether in person or virtually) our assembly to recognize Orange Shirt Day.

Together we honored the original leaders of Git Lax Likst'aa, who brought back songs, dances, and so much more to Metlakatla.

We were so pleased to have Sissy Guthrie, Melody Leask, and Di Shearer speak about their history and experiences, and be led in songs and dancing by our Cultural Educators Naomi Leask & Gamaas Bolton, as well as Culture Leaders from the community. So many people played a role in making our time together so valuable: middle school leadership provided a healing walk through the middle school; the 6th-12th Ts’ymsen studies classes collected k'wila̱'ma̱xs to gift to the honored women and a healing walk throughout the high school, among many others. We were also told that Madame Blair's French class learned about Orange Shirt Day in French.

Addressing trauma is so important in education in the hopes that it will not be repeated. Annette Island School District will continue playing an active role in healing trauma and in celebrating the rich culture of our students and community.

To watch the video shared at the assembly (Provided by Karen Thompson and uploaded by Gamaas Bolton), click here:

https://bit.ly/3CxkJ7R