Words from Trisha Moquino...
Dear Keres Children’s Learning Center Family, Friends, Community!
We made it! We made it through school year of 2020–2021—year of virtual learning due to the pandemic. Many people focus on what learning children have “lost.” We choose to focus on what different ways children learned and the fact that children continue to self-construct and learn no matter what.
We are grateful for all our staff and the ways they all did their best to continue to serve KCLC’s mission and our students and families. Big shout out to our Language and Culture teachers—our Elders—for inspiring us with their persistence to learn Zoom for virtual learning. We are grateful to our classroom teachers in both the Keres Primary (3- to 6-year olds) and the Elementary Dual Language (6- to 12-year-olds) classroom for all the creative ways they engaged children. Virtual learning was hard, but we did it. Of course, we are especially proud of our children for showing up every day, and we are so grateful to their parents and families for supporting them in their virtual home settings. THANK YOU! We are grateful to families for sharing feedback with us about KCLC’s virtual program—where we need to improve and where we were glowing with regard to the rigor, consistency, and richness of the learning KCLC was able to provide.
Mililani, Phoebe & Donald Suina 1st day of KCLC, September 19, 2012
Mililani Suina & Zachary Cordero-students at KCLC since, September 19, 2012
There are 3 ways you can make your donation.
1. Donate Online – Click on donate button
2. Donate by Mail Keres Children’s Learning Center P.O. Box 113 Cochiti Pueblo, NM 87072
3. Donate by Phone – Call 505-274-8049 or 505-999-8310
Thank You,
KCLC Family
Next week we are celebrating a successful year of KCLC’s Outdoor Classroom. In spite of several pandemic-related challenges, Outdoor Educator Bernard Suina hosted a year of terrific virtual immersion classes on a variety of topics, from basket making to planting. We are also celebrating a successful completion of our pandemic-modified Mentor–Apprentice program. Coordinators Tracey Cordero and Kemara Williams kept the Mentors and Apprentices safe all year while also giving them rich opportunities to communicate and develop in Keres by phone and tablet. KCLC is grateful to the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) for the 3-year grant that made these programs possible.
We finished the school year with a resumption of our meal deliveries to children. Thanks to Cook and Food Educator Loretta Cordero for teaching virtual cooking lessons and for delivering nutritious and delicious breakfasts and lunches from the middle of April and throughout May.
We continue to stay in prayer, faith, and hope that the pandemic will end. Yes, things are better and we will all continue to do our part to keep one another safe by masking up and social distancing. We will remain hopeful that we are able to return in person to KCLC in August.
When we do return in August, one of our students, Mililani Rose Suina, the daughter of Phoebe Suina and Rex Coriz and the granddaughter of Donald and Diane Suina, will not be returning to KCLC. She will start her 6th grade year at the Albuquerque Academy. Mililani has been at KCLC since she was 2½ years old, when KCLC opened on September 19, 2012. She is an inspiration to all of us in the way she models persistence to stay in Keres, continues to learn Keres, and encourages others to learn and stay in Keres as well. We will miss her very much. We wish her well and know that she will bring the same determination, dedication, and diligence to her learning and being in community with others that she brought every day for the last 9 years to KCLC. (By the way, of the 9 years she was at KCLC, she had perfect attendance for 5 of those years. It was very rare that she missed a day of school.) We love you, Mililani, and we will all continue to root and cheer for you and will see you around.
Thank you to our Pueblo de Cochiti Tribal leadership for their partnership and for continuing to keep our community safe. Thank you to all our Board of Directors, funders, donors, community members, supporters, partners for continued support, and for everyone who believes in our mission. We continue to do this work for the “sake of our children, our people, our past, our present and our future.” Have a safe summer everyone. Look for our next newsletter in August!
KCLC
Keres Children's Learning Center
Our Mission
Keres Children’s Learning Center (KCLC) strives to reclaim our children’s education and honor our heritage by using a comprehensive cultural and academic curriculum to assist families in nurturing Keres-speaking, holistically healthy, community minded, and academically strong students.