Everson Parent Shares Orange Shirt Day History with Students

Kellie Mata, a mother of children at Everson Elementary and member of the Nooksack Indian Tribe, recently visited the school and shared about Orange Shirt Day with first-grade students. The students learned about how Mata’s grandmother was a child in a residential school and is a survivor of the trauma of that experience, educating the students about a history of Orange Shirt Day. 
 
In the same week, five members of the Nooksack Indian Tribe came to support students in class for the first of several times this year and it was also confirmed that one NV staff member will be assisting at the Tribe’s after-school program, which includes NV students. 
 
Mata, a Nooksack Valley Schools graduate, also shared about both her and her children’s positive experience within the Nooksack Valley Schools. 
 
Kevin DeVere, Everson Elementary principal, says it was an impactful visit. “There is a lot more to do,” he says, “but I am thankful to be a part of what’s being done to write a new history of acceptance, honor and belonging in the lives of our Nooksack Indian Tribe students and families.”