Poplar Educators

The Buffalo Unity Project was invited to present at the Indian Education For All 2024 conference in Billings. Poplar educators Joe Hammar of Scobey (left) and Jacob Turcotte of Wolf Point (right) presented at the conference this year. This is the second year the project has been asked to present at the IEFA conference. The project is a cross-curriculum event that works to connect students to the importance of the buffalo to the Dakota and Nakoda people and unite them in a common purpose. This has always been the goal for the project since its beginning in 2019, but since then the project has grown to encompass more IEFA content across the curriculum. The project’s films have been nominated for the Big Sky Film festival and World Wildlife Foundation. Lessons from the project have been picked up by Montana Office of Public Instruction, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, United States Department of Wildlife, among others. Turcotte, who is the lead educator behind the project, was runner up for Montana’s Teacher of the Year award 2023. As the project moves forward, they hope to work with other schools in northeast Montana to spread the knowledge about buffalo and Indian education to other Montana children.

(Photo submitted)