Click here to read an informative travelogue describing each day of the Cooper Student Council’s trip to Chinle by AISD Communications Specialist Lance Fleming!
CHINLE, Arizona – Cooper High School’s relationship with Chinle (Arizona) Elementary School happened accidentally. Or because the group’s first trip to the Navajo Nation in 2003 was, to put it mildly, disorganized.
Cooper Student Council sponsor Jimmy Pogue led his students and sponsors 715 miles northwest of Abilene to this small community on the Navajo Nation for the first time in 2003, hoping to make an impact in one of the most economically depressed areas of the country. While the students did deliver food, animal feed, and clothing to the people of Chinle, the inner workings of the trip left much to be desired.
Pogue was working with the high school in Chinle, and the students and sponsors lived a spartan life for the few days they were in Arizona.
“Cooper came the first year, and they were connected to our high school, and there was no planning on that end,” said Cammie Natay, now an Academic Coach at Chinle Elementary School, but in 2003, a teacher at the school. “The students and sponsors from Cooper stayed in the Community Center, sleeping on the stage with access to one bathroom. It was a fiasco, so you could say this relationship between the elementary school and Cooper happened by accident.”
Shortly after the trip ended, then-Chinle principal Jan Reed put Natay in charge of working with Pogue and bringing him and his group to the elementary school beginning in 2004. It’s been a beautiful relationship for the last 20 years.“Jan told me, ‘We need to make this work,’ “ Natay recalled, “and I said, ‘OK; we’ll make it happen.’ We fumbled through the first year (2004) because we didn’t know what we were doing. I remember they brought an unbelievable amount of clothing. We set it all up in the elementary gym, and the people in the community came through and shopped. The people here were so happy because it was like Christmas. The Cooper kids gave the people here to shop big bags and told them to take whatever they needed. It was amazing.”
And that’s continued every year in the 20 trips since as Natay and Pogue have formed a lifelong bond built on trust and communication.
“After that first year, it’s turned into something special,” Natay said. “We started doing e-pals where the Cooper kids can connect with a student here, and they communicate continuously. We started sharing more of our culture, and the Cooper kids shared theirs with our kids. In the 20 years since we started working with Cooper, this has become an exchange of cultures and ideologies, and we’ve all learned something from those conversations.”
Natay joined us for a question-and-answer session during the Cooper Student Council’s annual trip to the Navajo Nation and discussed the impact the group has had on Chinle and the surrounding community since 2003.
Q: When did you and Jimmy develop this friendship that has become so deep over the years?
Natay: ”The first year I worked with him. We just meshed, and it just happened. His character and love for kids and God make him a remarkable person in my eyes and the eyes of the community. It’s the way he connects with people. And it’s how he interacts with our little kids, the staff, and the people in the community. He’s so caring and embraces people from all walks of life.”
Q: What have you noticed in the approach of the kids who come to Chinle from Cooper, and has it changed over the years?
Natay: ”There’s a deep sense of community, and it’s always been there. When Cooper arrives, it’s like they already know someone here because they’ve been communicating throughout the year. Our kids – and this is the part that’s hard to explain – are so excited when the bus carrying the kids from Cooper drives in. The challenge for me is that every kid in our school wants to be involved with Cooper. We have more than 500 kids in our school, and they all want to be involved. I can’t explain the feeling when Cooper arrives. It’s like magic. Those kids from Cooper get off the bus, and everything clicks.”
Q: It might be hard to pick out, but is there a singular moment you think of when you reflect on these 20 encounters you’ve had with Jimmy and the Cooper Student Council kids?
Natay: ”Each year, on the last day, the seniors gather in here (the gym), and they’re the last ones to leave. It’s the footprints those kids leave. I can’t explain it. The things they say about what they take away from here and from our kids are very emotional.”
Q: Many people might see this as what Cooper brings to the kids in Chinle. But after experiencing it, it seems to be the other way around. Do you sense that?
Natay: “What our kids did in this gym (on Friday, March 8) by teaching the Cooper kids and sponsors about the Navajo culture in terms of language and other areas was amazing. Our students are proud of who they are and want to share it with their friends. Our kids don’t normally do that. It’s very out of character. But having those kids from Cooper here brings that out of them.”
Q: I’m sure some groups come to Chinle and do something for the community but never return. The kids here know now that Cooper is going to keep coming back. Is that the reason they react differently to this group than they do to other groups?
Natay: ”The people in Chinle know this happens every year. We missed it one year (2021) because of COVID, but that was it. Our kids are aware of when this is supposed to happen every. We’ve always done this in January, and our kids this year asked, ‘When is Cooper coming? When will they be here?’ I told them we were trying something different this year with the trip in March. But they know they’re here for the right reasons.”
Q: What about the community? What has been their reaction to this trip and their level of interaction with the Cooper students and sponsors?
Natay: “When Cooper has come in January, we always take them to one of our high school basketball games, and the people in our community will sit with them in the gym and talk with them like they’ve known them forever. There’s a sense of trust when this group comes to town, and it’s hard to explain. Our parents are protective of their kids, so allowing them to dance and sing for Cooper … that’s trust. They trust them to be receptive to it. Some years, dancers have performed dances that aren’t allowed to be videoed because of our tradition, and we know Cooper will honor that request.”
Q: Where does that innate trust of the Cooper students and sponsors come from?
Natay: ”When the Cooper kids are here, we know they’re come with hearts of service. They’re here to help, not rob our people of their culture or language. Our community understands Cooper comes here out of love and a desire to help.”
Q: How have these 21 trips to Chinle dating back to 2003 helped break down barriers of mistrust that still must exist in this community because of the injustices that have happened on this reservation, dating back to 160 years ago?
Natay: ”When the Cooper kids come here, they don’t ask for anything. They come here to help. And the people have learned that. Twenty-one years is a long time, and it didn’t happen on the first trip or two. But the people here have learned that Cooper is coming here every year. They sit down and break bread with us, and we enjoy one another’s company. And, yeah, they’re going to bring some nice things for the people in our community, and that’s important. But the time they spend with our people makes a huge difference.”
Q: What do you want the Cooper students to take back to Abilene with them each year?
Natay: ”Every year when they leave, I hope they know how strong and positive their impact is on our kids. We have some kids who have e-pals who still keep in touch with each other. That speaks for itself. That bond is strong between Chinle and Cooper.”
Q: You’ve been a part of 20 of these 21 trips; did you think it would last this long?
Natay: “I honestly thought going into the first year we worked with Jimmy that this would be a one-and-done deal. But after meeting and working with Jimmy, I knew it wouldn’t be that. It was his commitment to continuing to do this. And then it became fun and a way of life. It’s the thing I look forward to the most every year. It renews my spirit. When Cooper shows up, everything is OK.”