Annual Wyoming Native American Education Conference

The 2012 Native American Education Conference took place October 18-19, 2012, in Riverton, Wyoming. The event was held at Central Wyoming College and was free to Triad partners, and cost $100 for those outside districts.

Goals for participants of the 2012 Conference focused on:

• Strategies to increase family involvement and promote effective participation from Native communities in education.
• Strategies on how best to meet the instructional and learning support needs of Wyoming Native American students.
• Strategies to counter bullying (including cyber-bullying) that have been used with success in school districts and communities.
• How to increase awareness of the benefits of the partnerships between tribal and state governments, tribal communities, and schools and focus on educational issues.

The Wyoming Tribal Children’s Triad organizes an Annual Wyoming Native American Education Conference. The idea for the conference came out of the community meetings that were held in April, May and June of 2009 when the Triad was initially organizing and trying to determine the appropriate goals for the Triad to address that would have the greatest initial impact on the education of Native American Students that live on or near the Wind River Indian Reservation. There had not been a Native American Education conference in Wyoming in over 30 years and quite a bit of interest was expressed in having the Triad organize one.

This was the first item that the Triad was really able to move quickly to establish. The First Annual Wyoming Native American Education Conference was held Aug. 27-28, 2010. It included an evening Awards Ceremony on Aug. 27 where Students of the Year were honored, participants enjoyed a community dinner and a social Pow Wow. On October 28 there were Keynote Speakers and many breakout sessions targeting various groups including teachers, education administrators, parents, community members and community agencies. It was funded by registrations from Fremont County School Districts and with funds from the Wyoming Department of Education. Parents and community members may attend at no charge. Many volunteer hours were put into the conference and various items were donated to make this happen. It was hosted by Fremont County School District #14 at no charge to the conference. There were approximately 250 people in attendance. Evaluations were overwhelmingly positive.

The Second Annual Wyoming Native American Education Conference was held Oct. 27-28, 2011 and it was organized and funded in the same way. There were over 400 people in attendance this time, almost exceeding capacity of the facilities that Fremont County School District #14 once again generously donated for conference use. Because of this, the third annual conference will be held at Central Wyoming College (CWC) to ensure accommodation of all those who wish to attend. CWC has also generously offered the use of its facilities at no charge to the conference.