One of the core values at Arapahoe High School in Colorado is honoring and nurturing its relationship with the Northern Arapaho Tribe. This tradition has been central to the school’s identity for more than 30 years.
Since 1993, the high school has invited members of the Northern Arapaho from the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming to participate in the biennial “Arapahoe Warrior Assembly.” The event brings together elders and youth to share cultural traditions through song, dance, and storytelling.
The school’s main gymnasium was named in 1994 for the late Arapaho elder Anthony Sitting Eagle, who often visited students in the early 1990s. Anthony Sitting Eagle was one of the tribal leaders who signed a proclamation allowing the school to maintain its Warrior mascot, so long as the symbol reflected the strength and heritage of the Northern Arapaho people…