Linking school children to community elders

Billy Drown

Published: Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

When Casey Trandem’s fifth grade class ventured out to Jim Winter’s house on Thursday, Jan. 8, for an interview, they found out that airplanes play an important role in Jim Winter’s life. Above, student Tate Kavanaugh helps Winter work on one of hi

        For the last several years, Custer has linked the generations through a school-community program called Elders Wisdom, Children’s Song (EWCS). EWCS first began in Custer when Hank Fridell came here three and a half years ago to be  Custer Elementary principal. Now he works with new principal Carol Veit to continue the project.  ECWS was developed by Larry Long, a songwriter and community activist who worked with children to help break down the barriers that exist in communities.  Once Long moved to Spearfish in 1999, Spearfish’s East Elementary School carried on his work and it soon grew to include the community of Custer. For ECWS, community elders meet with students to share their lives with those elementary students. After the interview, the students then write a narrative on their elder’s life. After the interview, with the help of a regional songwriter, the classes compose a song based on that elder’s life.  “I like to think of the narrative as the ‘who, what, when...’ part of the elder’s life,” said Fridell. “The song reflects more of what is in the elder’s heart.” The project culminates in a community celebration where the students read the narratives of the lives of the elders and perform the song they have written with the songwriter. “Elder’s Wisdom, Children’s Song is an opportunity for the community to honor its own,” said Fridell. “We get to know who our neighbors are and honor them.” The elementary students responsible for the interviews and songs are the fourth and fifth graders. Working with the fourth and fifth graders are songwriters Marianne Fridell, David Lee Brown, Mike Linderman, Keith Burden and Fridell, himself.  Since the first year the ECWS began in Custer during the 2005-06 school year, elders such as Gary Chappell, Ruth Gossen, Jessie Sundstrom, Jerry Manlove, Jane Olson, Ned Westphal, Ed Sedlezky, Dorothy Foreman, Dorothy Delicate, Les McClanahan, Jan Conn and Chuck Mateer have been honored. This year, Custer community elders being honored are Marge McColley, Rudy Anderson, Jim Winter, Al St. Germaine and Mary Gausman.  On deciding which elder to honor, Fridell said, “I meet with the teachers who will be involved in this project in the fall. We discuss elders in the community who might be good candidates. This year we talked to past elders, as well, to see if there might be others in the community we are not aware of. We look for a diversity of backgrounds and people we want our kids to get to know. We look for people who are willing to tell their story to students.” After discussion, Fridell makes contact with the elder and talks with them about the project and what it requires of them. If the elder makes the commitment to do it, Fridell said he assigns a songwriter to a class and the teacher sets up the interview meeting. After all of the work from those involved is complete, a community celebration will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 6:30 p.m. in the Custer High School theatre.