Crossing America Season 5: Grand Canyon National Park — Accessibility for All!

Описание: Season 5 of Crossing America brought us to one special place within Grand Canyon National Park—a place of vast beauty and deep meaning. Dr. Drizzle shared with students, “Today we’re staying in one special place — a place where Indigenous peoples have lived, traveled, prayed, and raised families for thousands of years… and still do today.” From this single viewpoint, students were invited to slow down, look closely, and begin to understand the canyon not just as scenery, but as a living relative.

Our guide for this journey was Ranger Jeremiah RisingBuffalo Maybee, Tribal Program Manager for Grand Canyon National Park. Through conversation and reflection, Rising Buffalo helped students explore why this place matters—how the canyon is understood through generations as a relative deserving care, how respect for land is practiced over time, and why responsibility is woven into relationship.

Together, we looked back in time to learn how people lived and traveled in the canyon long before roads and railings—moving by season, water, shade, and safety; learning the land from childhood; navigating through stories, landmarks, and the sky. Students reflected on what it would mean to know a place that well, and how community and shared responsibility shaped movement and survival.

Students then turned their attention to observing one spot closely—its steep drops, wide-open space, and the realities of who can access it easily and who might need support. Guided by Rising Buffalo’s insights on terrain, movement, and care for the land, learners took on a design challenge: How can we create access with respect?

Their mission was to design ways for all people to safely and respectfully experience this place—considering mobility, vision, family needs, and long-term protection of the land—while honoring Indigenous knowledge and relationships.

As students shared their ideas, they reflected on the problems they solved, who their designs helped, and how their solutions protected the land while drawing from Indigenous ways of thinking—careful, gentle, and forward-looking.

We closed with gratitude—thanking Rising Buffalo for his generosity, wisdom, and guidance—and with questions that lingered beyond the livestream: What does it mean to treat a place like a relative? How can we honor Indigenous peoples when we visit or design spaces?

This powerful learning experience was powered by Expeditions in Education and funded in part by the National Park Foundation, inspiring students across the country to think differently about access, responsibility, and respect in our national parks.
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