To an outsider, it can initially feel like organized chaos because of the sheer number of students and activities happening at once. But overseeing it all stands the heart and soul of the program — Connie Locklear. She started her education career as a math teacher more than 30 years ago. She loved it, but a higher calling eventually pulled her out of the classroom.

Since 2014, Connie has been the director of the Indian Education Program for the Public Schools of Robeson County, where a majority of the district’s students are Lumbee. The Culture Academies, held Tuesdays and Thursdays each winter and fall, allow students to learn Lumbee traditions that have been passed down through generations of ancestors. It’s not a traditional classroom, but Connie gets to absorb the energy of students excitedly learning their Lumbee culture and expressing themselves as Native people.

“I’ve always loved teaching math, but Indian Education gave me the opportunity to directly impact my people and that was powerful for me,” says Connie, who is Lumbee. “It has been one of the greatest joys of my career.”

Investing in Indian education

There are eight state-recognized Native American tribes in North Carolina: the Coharie Tribe; the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe; the Lumbee Tribe; the Meherrin Indian Nation; the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation; the Sappony; and the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe. The Cherokee in Western North Carolina and the Lumbee Tribe in Robeson and surrounding counties are the only two that are federally recognized. The Lumbee Tribe is the largest tribe east of the Mississippi.

Culture is who you are. I don’t take that off when I walk in one door and put it on when I walk through another.

The Indian Education Program in Robeson County has served Lumbee students since the 1970s and is federally funded by a $2.2 million Title VI grant, one of the largest in the country. Its mission is to close achievement gaps and prepare future tribal leaders by embedding education within Native American culture, rather than approaching it as a separate entity. Programming is designed to honor and preserve American Indian heritage and culture, while equipping students with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed academically without compromising their cultural identity. Last year, more than 10,000 Lumbee students were enrolled in The Indian Education Program.

The Title VI grant covers Youth Development Specialists who serve Lumbee students in the district’s schools. Students receive tutoring, college and career prep — all at no cost. It also funds the Culture Academies and a summer program, which focuses on culturally integrated reading, math, science and STEM activities.

“What’s important about Indian education and the grant, is that when we impact one sector of the population, we impact the entire population,” Connie says.

The culture connection

The connection between culture and education shouldn’t be overlooked, Connie says. There’s a cultural connection that can be made between Lumbee history and traditions and any core subject. Take STEM.

“We’ve been STEM innovators before that acronym was ever thought of,” she says.

Lumbees were architects, building their own homes, practiced medicine and used the sky as a navigational tool. There is STEM in jewelry-making and even cleaning corn, she says. She’s written a lesson plan about cleaning corn, linking it to STEM.

“How many silks are in an ear of corn?” she asked a student recently.

The answer: each kernel is connected to a silk. She asks students to consider the process of cleaning corn, ensuring that it’s edible for the future and what it takes to produce enough corn to feed a nation — all of it is tied to STEM, she says.

When it comes to literacy, Connie says every lesson or activity includes a writing component.

“The foundation of everything that we do is writing and reading,” she says. “We have to be able to communicate well and to speak well. And if we don’t, we will not have a seat at the table. And if you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re on the menu.”

Historically, Indigenous people were forced to discard their cultural traditions and to assimilate to a mainstream European standard. Languages were forgotten and traditions were suppressed. Connie says people today feel more pride in who they are. Although her students may not see themselves portrayed accurately in history books, her goal is to help them know their history and to be proud of it.

“‘What we fail to realize sometimes, is that we don’t embed culture into education, but we embed education into culture,” she says. “Culture is who you are. I don’t take that off when I walk in one door and put it on when I walk through another. Culture is what I’ve been taught and it is who I am.”

Realizing potential

Connie loved teaching so much that she actually cried for about three weeks after starting her new role as a curriculum supervisor then later becoming the Indian Education Director. She cried because she missed working directly with her students. She could see herself in them, she says. They shared similar backgrounds and faced some of the same challenges.

When students misbehaved in her class, she knew it was often because of something that was happening at home. She understood them, and they knew she genuinely cared about them. She even developed relationships with their parents, she says. One student whom she once visited in the ICU now attends church where Connie’s husband serves as a minister. That former student is also an assistant superintendent in a neighboring county.

Connie says her own successes and career path were shaped by mentors who saw her potential even when she didn’t see it herself. They include Zoe Locklear, who was the first American Indian woman appointed to the NC State Board of Education, and longtime math professor, Gilbert Sampson. Both were Lumbee professors at UNC-Pembroke.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have some great mentors,” Connie says, “so my job is to support all of our children who are part of our programming and to help them see beyond where they see themselves now.”