WVC receives grant for Indigenous leadership, character education project

WENATCHEE — Wenatchee Valley College has received a grant to develop a community-centered project focused on Indigenous perspectives on leadership, character education and tribal sovereignty.

The Educating Character Initiative Capacity-Building Grant from Wake Forest University will support WVC’s “Indigenizing Leadership and Character Education” project through June 2027.

The project will bring together a cohort of 30 WVC staff members, local leaders and educators for four workshops exploring leadership, Indigenous epistemology, tribal sovereignty and their connections to character education.

Participants will work toward a shared toolkit of core values and recommendations for future programming at WVC while developing a foundation in tribal sovereignty and relations through the John McCoy (lulilaš) Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State curriculum.

Part-time WVC instructor Saxon Spillman is directing the project, with Dr. María I. Morales-Sánchez, director of the college’s El Corazón Teaching and Learning Center, serving as principal investigator and Lynn Palmanteer-Holder as subject matter expert.

Spillman said the project grew from his experience at the 2025 Indian Education Summer Teaching Institute in Omak, where he learned more about the Since Time Immemorial curriculum and efforts to incorporate Indigenous perspectives into education.

“The institute provided guidance for educators to be tribal allies and showcased examples of Indigenized curriculum,” Spillman said. “When it comes to the enrichment of students, I’ve learned what is good for Indigenous students is good for all students.”

Spillman subsequently began looking for grant opportunities and working with tribal partners he met through the institute and with Morales-Sánchez.

“This grant is all about relationships, centering two main goals: first, sustaining respectful, reciprocal, relevant, and responsible relationships with our Native and Indigenous community members; second, creating a foundational framework that helps WVC staff and faculty integrate culturally relevant, respectful Indigenous knowledge into their practices,” Morales-Sánchez said.

The project is based at WVC’s El Corazón Center for Teaching and Learning, a faculty and staff hub focused on building community, developing educators and sharing knowledge across the college.

Morales-Sánchez said bringing the project into the center is a first step toward intentionally incorporating Indigenous knowledge systems into that work.

“This work aligns directly with our responsibility to honor and represent tribal knowledge across our curriculum, leadership, and institutional framework,” she said.

Rather than beginning with a predetermined program, the initiative is designed around listening, learning and collaborative planning with community participants. WVC said the work will help guide future college initiatives and future grant applications while grounding those efforts in community priorities and Indigenous leadership perspectives.

The grant period began July 1 and continues through June 30, 2027. The Educating Character Initiative is part of Wake Forest University’s Program for Leadership and Character and is supported by Lilly Endowment Inc.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media