Senior Lexi Sanburg is literally stampeding her way into Centennial history, by painting a mural that focuses on a Native American medicine wheel and the beloved buffalo.
“It (the buffalo) is sacred in the Native community,” Lexi said. “They are symbols for so many different things.”
“The buffalo is one of the strongest animals on the prairie,” said Stephanie Spencer, Centennial’s American Indian Education Program Coordinator. “There’s a saying that when a storm is coming every other animal runs away, but the buffalo runs directly into that storm. I think that’s our people, our culture. We keep running.”
Lexi started the mural in January and it should be finished by mid-May.
“Really I have gotten nothing but positive feedback from everybody,” Lexi said.
Lexi is clearly leaving her mark in a positive way. Her artistic expression is designed to uplift a group of people that are often ignored.
Said Spencer: “She’s definitely a role model for a lot of us.”
Brick by brick process
It took four years to get approval to paint the mural and it was a brick by brick process from start to finish. Centennial Students initially asked for a mural, then voted on a design. The American Indian Ed Parent Committee was part of the process along with an art teacher. Once the design reached the principal, it took less than 24 hours to get the green light.
“It’s so cool to actually see Native people represented at Centennial,” Lexi said.
Lexi – who is part Pottawattamie and Ojibwe – hopes the painting can build bridges between Centennials’ 162 Native students and the rest of the school.
“You’d be surprised at the number of people that still have the stereotypes,” Lexi said. “Like we all live in a forest in a tepee and dress in buffalo hides and don’t have cell phones and stuff.”
For decades many Natives have been invisible in mainstream USA. Finally, that is changing.
“It is a big moment for our students and our people to have doctors, lawyers,” Spencer said. “We just had our first golden globe nominee. We have Natives that are winning Stanley Cups. This is a big moment for us. What a time to be Native, to be accepted and to be seen and Centennial allowing them to have this moment. It’s so beautiful.”
“Education is the new buffalo”
The centerpiece of the painting is the buffalo, which Natives have a spiritual connection to. Centuries ago, when the animal was hunted, the entire tribal community was fed.
“There’s a saying going around that education is the new buffalo because education is now what’s going to be feeding our community,” Lexi said. “All of the Native people going to school for 12 years and then becoming lawyers, doctors, teachers.”
Native graduation rates at Centennial are excellent, but around Minnesota 40 percent never get out of high school with a diploma. The trauma of the past still affects tribal communities today. Maybe Lexi’s painting can be a springboard to create academic motivation.
“If this right here will get a kid to want to be proud of who they are, walk through these halls and complete that journey,” Spencer said. “Then we should paint a buffalo on every wall.”
“I get all sorts of compliments every time I am working on this thing,” Lexi said. “People tell me that it looks great. It’s been received really well. Even better than I could have hoped for.”
“The mural here at Centennial not only goes to show that these kids are still here and thriving, it goes to show that Centennial as a district is really supporting them and backing them,” Spencer said. “I think that is what is going to heal and mend that bridge.”
