Vechij Himdag MashchamakuD
Gila River Indian Community
School History
Founded in 1996 in Sacaton, Arizona on the Gila River Indian Reservation, an idea was born to create a transitional education opportunity for youth released from the community’s Juvenile and Detention Rehabilitation Center (“JDRC”) in grades 7 through 12. As a one-room schoolhouse, the purpose of Vechij Himdag MashchamakuD existed in its name. In Aikmel O’odham, the name “Vechij Himdag MashchamakuD” translates to “New Way School.” For less than a dozen students it was just that – a new way and a new beginning not only in their education, but in their way of life. Students received remediation in core academic areas and intensive tutorials and counseling in preparing their return to a traditional education environment. The original students demonstrated that this concept – having students slowly transition back into the mainstream education system – proved a success.
With this success, two years later Vechij Himdag MashchamakuD relocated less than a mile down the road to a two building, four classroom school where it exists today. Each year beginning in 1998 the school grew from a dozen students to over 80 students. Taking leadership in 1999, Principal Kent Power began assembling a highly qualified and passionate staff, building a school predicated on service to its students. In 2001 the school transitioned from a tribal school under the Gila River Department of Education to a State of Arizona Charter School. Spring 2002 marked a major milestone for Vechij Himdag MashchamakuD: celebrating the school’s first high school graduate. Additionally, this period marked a change in the school’s identity.
With a firm understanding of the purpose behind the creation of Vechij Himdag MashchamakuD, the school realized that a major educational need existed in the Gila River Indian Community – A school that encompassed qualities of a small and highly intensive academic and counseling educational experience along with the diversity in population and program offering found in a larger educational setting. From 2002 through the present, Vechij Himdag MashchamakuD has experienced a tremendous growth and diversity in students, staff, course offerings, and extracurricular events.
In 2006 a group of students traveled to New Zealand to learn about local indigenous cultures and meet other students from around the world pursuing the same experience. This trip is highly representative of Vechij Himdag MashchamakuD. From a tiny one-room school house to a two building, 80 student school, Vechij Himdag MashchamakuD aspires to continue building a multi-cultural, holistic, and academically intimate learning experience founded in a belief that the students of Gila River will not only become leaders in their community, but in a highly complex and interactive 21st Century global community.