Golden picha breaks ground for school

 

Children from the Salish School of Spokane sing and drum during the groundbreaking for the future campus buildings at 2720 W Elliott Dr. beside the Spokane River.

They used a golden picha, a traditional root digging stick, to break the ground.

LaRae Wiley, co-founder, announced that the new school will be named after Sarah Sʕamtíc̓aʔ (Sam-teet-sa) Peterson, who welcomed LaRae and her husband Chris Parkin to live with her in British Columbia for two years to teach them Colville-Okanogan Salish and to develop curriculum and recordings to keep the endangered language alive.

The groundbreaking on May 21, was five years after the day Sarah died. Some of her family joined students at the school.

The school and cultural center will be named Sʕamtíc̓aʔ iʔ sn̓mamáyaʔtn̓s, (Sam-teet-sa Ees-semah-mai-eh-tens) or Sʕamtíc̓aʔ's School.

The school has $2.5 million more to raise to add to government grants and donations needed to reach the $17.5 million needed.

Rob McCann, CEO of Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington, presented a deed to the land.

The 3.4 acres was donated as a reparations gift from Catholic Charities of Spokane because the Salish language was diminished when children were forced to go to boarding schools to be cut off from their culture.

In addition, on May 31 before construction began, Growing Neighbors came to rescue native plants for local gardens and community gardens.

For information, call 325-2018 or visit salishschoolofspokane.org