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Honoring Indigenous Peoples Day
Indigenous

Indigenous Peoples Day celebrates the culture and history of the indigenous American peoples in the United States. The day provides a much-needed opportunity to honor and celebrate Indigenous American peoples, in an opportunity to teach, lift up and celebrate their tribes, cultures, history, and lessons.

At the same time, this can be a somber and necessary chance to learn about and reflect on the atrocities that colonialists have perpetrated against Indigenous communities throughout history.

The idea for Indigenous Peoples Day was first proposed in 1977 at the International Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas hosted by the United Nations. However, it would only be in 1990 at the First Continental Conference on 500 Years of Indian Resistance that indigenous peoples from across the Americas would decide that 1992 would be a year of unity across the continents and a celebration of liberation, as a direct response to the 500th anniversary of the first voyages of Christopher Columbus.

Celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day 2025 by joining in with the celebrations that are happening locally, by learning more about indigenous peoples, histories, and cultures, or by viewing and celebrating art and media by Indigenous creators. As part of your celebration, it is valuable to:

  • Acknowledge the land you’re on and the part played by local Indigenous peoples
  • Help rebuild local ecosystems with native plants
  • Support Indigenous businesses, authors, and craftspeople
  • Attend local Indigenous events
  • Visit a museum that shares Indigenous art, history, or culture

Learn more about Indigenous Peoples Day here.

Archive

It's STEM/STEAM Day!

November 8 is International STEM/STEAM Day, which celebrates the importance of "Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics," with STEAM acknowledging the importance of the Arts and adding that initial "A" into the original “STEM” acronym.

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Muir Elementary Unveils New Outdoor Learning Lab

In October, Muir Elementary School was transformed into a vibrant hub of hands-on learning as volunteers came together to build a new Outdoor Learning Lab. This inspiring initiative was made possible through a partnership between the Seattle Seahawks, Monolithic Power Systems and OutTeach, a national nonprofit dedicated to turning outdoor spaces into dynamic learning environments.
 

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November Celebrates Indigenous American / Native American Heritage

Today, there are over 500 different federally recognized tribes, encompassing over 9 million Indigenous Americans across the United States. And with 29 of those tribes within the state of Washington, we're proud to have the opportunity to celebrate Indigenous American / Native American Heritage Month. Also known as American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, it's an opportunity to pay tribute to the diversity, rich ancestry, and traditions of Native Americans in our districts.

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Celebrating National LGBTQ+ History Month in October

October offers a vital celebration of LGBTQ pride with LGBTQ+ History Month! Created in 1994, by a Missouri high school history teacher named Rodney Wilson who believed that a month should explore and celebrate LGBTQ+ history, LGBTQ+ History Month honors the history and courageous achievements across the years of LGBTQ+ people, including a spotlight on National Coming Out Day on October 11.

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Honoring the History and Importance of Orange Shirt Day

Each September 30 is Orange Shirt Day—a day of remembrance honoring the hundreds of thousands of indigenous children who attended Canadian residence schools and United States Indigenous Boarding Schools, enduring abuse, neglect, disease, and worse. These schools were deliberately created to strip First Nations and other indigenous children of their culture, language, and way of life, and their effects are still being felt today by those who survived, as well as their families.

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