Schools observe Orange Shirt Day Friday

La Conner School District colors have long been blue and white.

But on Friday, Sept. 29 students will add orange to the color scheme.

La Conner Schools is among the first districts in Washington State to embrace Orange Shirt Day, which in Canada is a statutory holiday recognizing the impact residential schools had on indigenous students and communities for over a century.

“We want to thank the La Conner School District for embracing this,” Swinomish Education Director Michael Vendiola said during an interactive Zoom program that aired last week.

“La Conner,” said Vendiola, “is one of the few schools that takes the time to learn about it.”

The Zoom program also featured a conversation between school board student rep Taylor Rae Cayou and Swinomish elder Janet Wilbur that focused on the trauma generations of native families have suffered as a result of the residential school experience.

“Orange Shirt Day, to me,” Wilbur said, “is about healing, not pretending it didn’t happen, but learning to become stronger from it. It’s a day to make healing happen.

“Orange Shirt Day,” she said, “is a time to be proud of our heritage and keep our children healthy and strong.”

Thousands of indigenous children in Canada and the U.S. were forced to attend boarding schools – the nearest to Swinomish was at Tulalip – created to strip them of their culture, Vendiola said. Many did not return home, succumbing to malnutrition, disease, abuse and the rigors of attempting to escape home.

A La Conner alum, Dr. Kisha Supernant, a faculty member at the University of Alberta, has taken a lead role in locating the unmarked graves of native students who died while attending residential schools.

Orange Shirt Day, observed annually on Sept. 30, was started by Phyllis Jack Webstad, whose personal clothing – a new orange shirt of which she was especially proud – was taken from her during her first day of residential schooling and never returned.

The orange shirt, said Vendiola, is used as a symbol of forced assimilation of indigenous children that the residential school system enforced.

“The Orange Shirt movement got started in Canada and is working its way into the United States,” said Vendiola, who praised La Conner Schools for being at the forefront of observances in Western Washington.

“It’s important,” he said, “to acknowledge that part of the history.”

Wilbur, a retired La Conner Schools paraprofessional, said Swinomish youth have an opportunity to convert past trauma into future success.

“To native students,” she said, “I’d say to be proud of your heritage and get your education down. Don’t give up on your dreams and goals.”