Wabanaki Youth In Science (WaYS): Setting Native Students Up for Success in STEM

The Wabanaki have lived in relationship with the land for thousands of years. Today, across what we now call Maine, dozens of Wabanaki youth are working to integrate their Indigenous ancestral knowledge with western science, to advance their education and build careers in STEM fields.

The organization helping make this possible is WaYS–Wabanaki Youth in Science. It was founded in 2013 with the two-pronged goal of getting more Native youth to graduate from high school and encouraging them to pursue higher education, particularly in the sciences.

In 2021, only 71.3% of Native youth in Maine graduated from high school–compared to 86.1% of all youth–and college attendance and graduation rates lag in Maine and nationally as well. Only 15.4% of Native adults nationwide held a bachelor’s degree or higher as of 2020, which was up from 13.4% in 2010, but still far short of the national average of 32.9%.

“The idea was, how can we develop a program that will keep youth engaged?,” tish carr, PhD, Executive Director WaYS, recalls asking.

Mini-camp, 2017. Photo courtesy of WaYS.

The answer was to bring the concept of “two-eyed learning,” a phrase used by WaYS Cultural Resource Manager John Neptune to describe bringing together Indigenous and western knowledge–to Wabanaki students through a variety of immersive educational opportunities. Thanks to initial support from the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR), WaYS held its first Earth Camp in summer 2013 in Nibezun.

The week-long camps have been held every summer since, to connect Native youth with both Cultural Knowledge Sharers and western science professionals. Not only do students gain a deeper understanding of their cultural heritage and appreciation for their land, they also learn skills like how to use compasses and forest tools, and identify medicinal and edible plants.

The camps were a hit right from the start. According to tish, the students said, “Just once a year isn’t enough. We want to do this more.”

So WaYS launched seasonal (spring, summer, fall, winter) mini-camps, which are also open to younger students and focus on one activity for an entire weekend, such as shelter building, maple tree tapping, snowshoeing, or fishing. WaYS also fosters its connection with students year-round through after-school programs on topics like animal tracking, ceramics, and painting with natural dyes.

Moosehead, Summer 2019. Photo courtesy of WaYS.

To put their reacquired knowledge into practice and prepare them for STEM careers, WaYS facilitates paid internships for high school and college students, where they work alongside both Knowledge Sharers and natural resource experts from their own Tribal departments, University of Maine, and federal agencies such as National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These internships are long-term and multiyear, so students can immerse themselves in their interests.

WaYS also has employed youth on its Trail Crew for the past five summers. These crews conduct trail maintenance on lands throughout Maine, including Katahdin Woods and Waters Monument and Acadia National Park, while participating in activities like drumming and paddling with Knowledge Sharers.

WaYs received a 36-month Healthy People Healthy Places grant from Sewall in 2022, allowing for the purchase of two new vehicles for the Trail Crew. WaYS is also using the funds to grow and support its staff–there are now five staff members, with the addition of a Trail Crew Leader.

Trail Crew. Photo courtesy Downeast Coastal Conservancy.

“It is truly an honor to partner with WaYS and to see them grow and deepen their work with Wabanaki youth,” said Gabriela Alcalde, Sewall’s Executive Director. “WaYS centers Wabanaki youth and culture in their programs, and has grown in ways that are responsive to the youth’s interests and aspirations. It is exciting to see the program evolve.”

Looking ahead, WaYs is working to implement a program called the Butterfly Project–developed alongside Knowledge Sharers–which was piloted last year with nine educators, both in school and out of school. Since Maine doesn’t have a tribal high school, and many teachers at tribal elementary schools are western trained, the program seeks to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into classrooms in an equal and equitable way to set Native students up for success.

Otherwise, WaYs will continue to focus on its core programs since, tish says, “We know it’s working.”

Over the past eight years, there’s been a 15% increase in Native students going to the University of Maine–many have been WaYS students. Plus, 80% of students who were part of the 2013 cohort graduated college, and 25% are working on or have obtained a graduate degree. WaYs’ research also shows that including Cultural Knowledge as an equal and integral part of western science in post-secondary education enhances learning for all students.