Community Partnership: e-Scholar Summer Internships
This summer, there are 25 high school students in 9 Pueblo communities and 2 Pueblo organizations.
Pueblo ITEST students are involved in the following interdisciplinary, IT-focused, STEM-focused, CBE projects in their home communities:
Community Planning
- Map areas designated for development where they are not a threat to environmental and cultural sites.
- Various departments depend on GIS Specialists to provide maps of sewer lines, water lines, electric lines, utility meters etc.
- Created databases for the identification of homes and property
Environmental Protection
- Maps show boundaries of wetlands and springs – helps in planning and development to protect these areas.
- Management of areas where there have been fires to determine means of revitalizations and how to deal with invasive species.
- Aviation points to track planes that fly over the reservation to gauge the impact of a larger airport on the community.
Cultural Preservation
- Maps generated help leadership to visualize areas needing protection due to non-Indian community encroachment.
- Helps to identify sacred areas within and outside of Pueblo boundaries
- Community revitalization using GPS/GIS in order to reconstruct village to its original appearance.
Water Rights
- Mapping of hydrological wells and watersheds.
- Learning the importance of water to Pueblo Culture.
- Seeing how water is managed in Pueblo communities.
- Through interaction with communities, students begin a dialogue about water consumption and the environmental impacts of drought and climate change.
Sovereignty
- Land boundaries can be validated and monitored.
- Pueblos gather their own data and determine how to interpret it based on their worldview.
- Internships foster connectedness to community issues and needs.
- Students see the need for sustainable resources in their communities and see pueblo taking a proactive role to develop these in light of changes to their local resources and climate.
Health
- Water quality testing on the Rio Grande and its tributaries, including use of piezometers and fish shocking.
- Testing water for toxins in areas of recent wildfires.
- Testing water for bacteria due to low water because of drought conditions.
- Air and soil testing to determine pollutants.
- Data gathering showing the need to revitalize agricultural practices of communities resulting in better eating habits, exercise and autonomy.
- Being outside, walking the fields and to sites impacts students in positive and healthy ways.
Language
- Students likely to speak their native language if they are in their home communities.
- Community members who work in the Pueblos continually communicate the importance of language and culture.
Agriculture
- Mapping of agricultural fields.
- Mapping of ditches and canals once used and in use.
- Protection of agricultural areas due to overpopulation.
Information Technology
- Database management of utilities and tribal council resolutions.
- Instruction to tribal members in the use of GPS and GIS technologies (ArcGIS and GPS units).
- Familiarization with new types of software and hardware.
- Computer maintenance and restoration.
- Use of IT to inform pueblo communities about the current and potential impacts of climate change.
Students are given high levels of responsibility and independence. For example, just a week into this summer’s internship, one student created a database for the tribe’s land assignments, and is in the process of digitizing land assignments and driveways for addresses by using ArcGIS. This information will allow emergency vehicles to find rural homes more efficiently. She plans to create a map for the community once her data are complete.
|
