Native American students at Flagstaff High School (FHS) have been involved in the planning of a traditional Navajo hogan on the school's campus over the past several years.
FHS had a dedication ceremony and blessing for the traditional Navajo dwelling structure in September 2024. Its Native American Club has used it for a few meetings and cultural events in the months since. Utilization of the space for class lessons and additional events are in the works.聽
Construction on the hogan was completed last semester -- almost six years after then-student Justina Slim (FHS Class of 2019) started an effort to build it as part of an Advanced Placement capstone project. FHS Native American Academic Advisor Darrell Marks said students were involved in every step of the process, including the city permitting process, discussions with tribal chapters, district board meetings, giving input on traditional elements needed to be included and selecting the wood.
Marks said former FHS student Althea Etsitty (Class of 2024) was particularly involved, organizing large groups of FHS and Coconino High School students to attend city planning meetings.
"Students were the ones that felt like this was something that was needed and missing in their education, and it brings them closer to what it is they want to learn about," he said. " ... I think when students are participating in their education and learning about things that they want to learn about, it makes them better citizens, relatives and empowers them."
He added: "I can't tell you how much of a change I've seen in the students that have participated in the organizing around the hogan, how much involvement they've wanted to have, not just in school but within civics and politics and community organizing."
According to Marks, about a quarter of FHS鈥檚 1,600 students are Native American. Up to 160 Indigenous students living in the Flagstaff Bordertown Dormitory (also called Kinlani Dormitory) also attend FHS, while many live multiple hours away from their home during the school year.
The hogan is intended to be a familiar place for such students, who can use it for ceremonies, as a gathering space or for other educational purposes. It has already been used for meetings of the Native American Club, a Navajo Shoe Game and a few ceremonies.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 good to have this hogan here because it鈥檚 closer to home 鈥� and if you want to hold a ceremony here, you can,鈥� said FHS senior Autumn Bahe, who is a member of the Native American Club. 鈥� ... You feel better after you go into a hogan, because you feel closer to home, closer to your family, closer to the ones that came before you."
Future uses聽
In the future, Marks said there are plans to use the hogan for other events and activities and incorporate it into various classes at the school, such as history or Navajo language. The school's Indigenous ambassador, junior Aislynn Arnold, has been organizing different workshops, including an upcoming event on parfleche earrings.
And similar events could be held in the hogan in the future.
鈥淭here are a lot of things culturally that can be done in the space, especially through the winter, but it's the accessibility that鈥檚 limited what we could do,鈥� Marks said.
The space is kept locked and needs both a reservation and the presence of an administrator to use. The process involved to use the space is becoming more familiar, Marks says, so he hopes it will be used more going forward. Other schools can also make reservations and take trips to use the space.
Use in language classes has also been delayed because the hogan became ready for use after the start of the school year. In the future, it will be used as a location for the initial stages of language learning, Marks said.
He also said it's also important to have someone (whether a student or teacher) present who has an understanding of the cultural significance of the hogan and can explain respectful ways to behave in that space. He gave city hall as an example of another space with expected conduct for visitors.
鈥淲e have certain expectations of how to conduct ourselves and be when we鈥檙e in that space,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 part of the culture, ways of knowing, so being able to introduce that to non-Navajo or non-Native students might take a little extra conditioning.鈥�
A space for Indigenous education
He and Bahe both discussed the United States' history of boarding schools taking Native children from their homes and the lasting impact those practices had on how Native families approach education. This led to seeing school as something that children leave for rather than a process in which families take part.
鈥淎s Indigenous and Native people, we are able to create what our ancestors wanted us to do, because they went through so much just for us to have our freedom again; to be able to practice our cultures, practice our songs, our traditions, our ceremonies,鈥� Bahe said. 鈥淚t makes me feel happy and proud to be able to be a part of this, especially within the community and letting people know that we are still here, we are still people.鈥�
One potential impact of the hogan, they said, is showing Indigenous students and their families that they can take an active role in their learning.
鈥淗aving a space like this gives students a sense of ownership and responsibility to this home and maintain that home,鈥� Marks said, both as a connection to their culture and through teaching their peers and teachers about the space.
鈥� ... They need to be present in school and to help participate in their education,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s opposed to just being taught about their people, taught about their history, they鈥檙e participating in their history, participating in the education that鈥檚 being presented, and now they have a way to be able to shift some of that way of education.鈥�
Arnold said she grew up in California and didn鈥檛 have as strong a connection to her Native heritage. She has participated in a few ceremonies in the school hogan with members of a family she's close to.
Marks added that the hogan is a matriarchal structure, representing a return to mother and female leadership. It also has a dedicated purpose for each of the cardinal directions. The doorway faces east toward the sunrise, the adolescents use the space in the south, parents use the space to the west -- which is also where teaching comes from -- and the elders use the space to the north.
鈥淧eople really should take the time to understand the significance鈥� of the hogan, she said.
鈥淚t's like home for people, it represents all these things and it's something sacred to us as Indigenous people and it's used for prayers, for our songs, for our ceremonies," she added. "Basically in every aspect there is in Navajo, that's what the hogan is for. It's a place of welcoming, it's something sacred for us. It holds so much power, and everything that's in the hogan, it represents something. 鈥� Regionally, geographically, different tribes have their own places of worship and their own different ways, but Navajo, we have our hogan.鈥�