Menlo Borderlands- Northern Arizona 2024

 This morning we had breakfast and did a final closing reflection about the trip. Then, we expressed our gratitude for everyone's hard work throughout the week.  This trip allowed us to understand and experience first-hand Diné culture. We learned and worked on countless things: Diné traditions, open-mindedness, collaboration, and adapting to a new lifestyle. We are so grateful for this opportunity and we can't wait to share our stories with all of you at home.  After a long day in the Phoenix airport we're looking forward to seeing you soon at SFO!  From,  Claire and Paige (Live reaction to our plane pulling up to the gate at 7:40pm)

 Dear Parents, The PHX to SFO flight has been delayed by several hours. The new schedule estimates that the group will now be returning at  10:23 pm.   Looking forward to seeing you then!

Dear Parents, Tomorrow (Tuesday), the group returns from Flagstaff via Phoenix. Both flights are on schedule. Please meet the returning group at SFO, Terminal 1, Arrivals, at 7:02 pm .  See you then,

Today was our final day in Pinon. We had a delicious breakfast cooked by Rena, then we started our closing ceremony. We reflected on our time and felt really grateful for Roberto and his family for being so compassionate and patient when teaching us about the Diné culture. We said our goodbyes to Roberto, Evelyn and Rena. Evelyn gave us hugs and treated us like family. They told us to keep in touch, and we wrote thank you notes expressing our gratitude to them. Then, we started our trek back to Flagstaff. In the cars we sang songs, rested, and listened to music. When we arrived in Flagstaff we took our first hot showers since we left on Thursday. The showers were nice, but we missed Pinon. We got a yummy dinner out and before heading to bed our whole group bonded over a game of baseball.  We're looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!  - Kiera and Nuria Final picture with Roberto in front of the Hogan before we said goodbye.

 Today was a laborious day to say the least. We ate a breakfast of french toast and berry smoothies to fuel a long work day ahead. We skinned corn into kernels, painted logs, planted seeds, and chopped juniper branches, and wood. Talking to the workers, we learned that they do all of this work every day with no days off. There's always something to do on this farm. These activities made us feel for the workers who do this with less people on a daily basis, also also pretty grateful for our life at home. Turning the corn we skinned and grinned into corn mush and stew to eat made us feel like our hard work paid off and we got to eat a big traditional dinner to celebrate Memorial day and the end of the trip.  The days have flew by so fast, and we can't believe today is our last full day on the reservation (at least we get a hot shower tomorrow). We feel like we have learned a lot from our time here, especially how much we take for granted. While we are looking forward to our hot s

 Today, breakfast included breakfast burritos, fruit, and orange juice. Immediately after, embarked to Canyon de Chelly for a 6.5 mile hike. We had two tour guides, Del and Jarvis, who told us a lot about interesting culture and history of the canyon. Specifically, we saw cliff dwelling ruins in the mountainside from Diné, Hopi, and Anzanzi. We also met locals of the canyon who showed us jewelry and other traditional crafts. As we ventured further into the hike, we heard stories from Jarvis about his dream and obstacles to building a hogan in the valley. We were moved by the poignant anecdote of his routine of working early in the canyon and then late into the night as a hotel desk manager, resulting in little time for him to see his family. Additionally, we learned from Del about traditional ways of capturing water. After the end of the adventurous hike, we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant and returned to Roberto's home. Our last activity was a group meeting focusing on the

We started off the day by waking up at 7 for breakfast. We then headed down to help Roberto's Grandma, Evelyn, planing corn traditionally. We saw her very friendly pet goose and her dog herding sheep. Afterwards we went on a hike over the hill to view some petroglyphs written by early Diné where we had a long discussion with Roberto about the history of Diné agricultural rights and access. Following lunch we had another conversation about Roberto and his family's experience living here and we helped to plant squash in Roberto's field, learning from his team. Finally, we worked to plant melon and been seedlings to the greenhouse to lengthen the growing season. We're now hopeful about our current sleeping system with the boys in tents and the girls sleeping in the Hogan. No scorpion or snakes have been found.  Good night parents and friends!  Henry and Liam Learning to traditionally plant corn with Roberto's grandma Dog and sheep at Roberto's grandma's house L

  Today we woke up in our luxurious cabins and ate a hearty breakfast at 8am. We then packed our bags and boarded the vans for a three hour drive to Pinon. We stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch and had a filling meal. After lunch, we completed our journey to Pinon. We were greeted at the farm in Pinon by our host, Roberto, who led us on a tour of the property. We explained the cultural and spiritual significance of the hogan we will be staying in, telling us about the matriarchal traditions of his culture. We then went on a walk where he explained the projects we will be working on during our time here, especially teaching us about the watershed and dry land farming. We learned a lot about his family and their history here and are excited to meet them over the weekend as well. For dinner we then enjoyed Navajo tacos, cooked by Roberto's mom Rena. Overall it was a great day to continue settling in. We are setting up camp now and looking forward to seeing the stars in an area

Watch the short video here .      Today we arrived at SFO at 11am excited to begin our travels. We flew for an hour and a half from SFO to PHX where we had an hour before our connection to Flagstaff. That flight was blissful and brief being 45 minutes long where we could see the landscape of the state. Upon arrival in Flagstaff we met Marcella and Lauren, our guides from Global Works, and drove to the cabins and hogan we are staying in here tonight. We spent the evening exploring the area, playing games, and orienting ourselves for our first full day tomorrow where we will transfer to Pinon. Everyone is doing well and we are excited to meet Roberto and his family there and learn more about the Navajo Nation! - Miki and Sienna

  Even though we are still in California, we thought it would be best to update you on what we did at school. Today, we focused on researching our topics: Political, cultural, economic/social, and sustainable. Each group explored numerous articles/websites to obtain as much information as possible on their subject, then, based on that, created a research question. These designated questions will help us determine what questions or notes we should take/ask when we arrive at the reservation. Following our discoveries, we will create a presentation based on what we learned. We would like to give you some insight into what the groups completed today. Nuria, Keira, Liam, and Mikki delved into the history of water rights. While Bianca, Sophie, Ethan, and Zander researched Diné art/culture throughout history and how certain legislation/restrictions affected their culture. Paige, Claire, Brad, and Daniel explored the US governmental impact on the Diné economy. Finally, Leotei, Sofia, Sienna, a

     Today our group gathered for the first time and we discussed our personal and group goals and played games to get to know each other. We introduced the projects students will be presenting at the showcase upon our return and began work on that. We had a great brainstorming session about topics and essential questions for final projects and decided we will focus the four projects on sustainability, economics, social/political, and art/culture. We are excited to work more on the projects and prepare for departure tomorrow!  

  Borderlands Northern Arizona Students and Parents, Welcome to the final week of Spring semester and the beginning of Borderlands: Northern Arizona!   1. All Borderlands - Northern Arizona students should assemble on  Monday, 5/20, 9:00 am, beginning in the Stent Ballroom .  2. Students will depart for Northern Arizona on Wednesday, 5/22, mustering at  Ticketing / Departures, American Airlines 2124, Terminal 1, SFO, at 11:00 am . Please be prompt. See the  Northern Arizona Preparing to Go  guide for full flight itinerary and other details. 3. Final Showcase is Friday, 5/31, 11:00 am  - 12:00 pm in MFH .   -- Peter Brown Global Programs Director History Instructor 650-330-2001 x2238