education

Kids are heading back to school this month and they’re likely full of first-day jitters, even some anxiety over new teachers and homework. Some schools in Flagstaff are trying to reduce stress in the classroom by giving lessons in mindfulness. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports from a classroom at Flagstaff Junior Academy, where a group of first and second graders are giving it a try.

Arizona has the worst school counselor to student ratio in the US, at 903 kids per counselor. In Northern Arizona, that ratio is slightly higher, and the majority of districts don’t have a single counselor on staff. KNAU’s Zac Ziegler reports on what the presence and absence of counselors means for students and staff.

A group of teenagers in Flagstaff are spending their summer… hanging out at school. They’re the CocoNuts FIRST Robotics Team, an award winning club of budding engineers at Coconino High School. They’ve built a replica lunar rover to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. The rover makes/made a grand entrance on a float at the Fourth of July parade today. In this audio postcard, we hear from the kids and one of their coaches about the project.

The Hopi language is endangered. A survey in the late nineties showed only five percent of Hopis under the age of twenty could speak it. Language loss is partially due to the legacy of boarding schools, which tried to assimilate Hopis into Anglo society. But it’s also because of modern pressures like television, the Internet, and employment. Hopis say losing the language means losing their culture.