Cleveland Area Middle School Forms Historic Partnership

Ratner Middle School Students Travel to Northern Cheyenne Reservation

PEPPER PIKE, Ohio, May 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- One of  the top private schools in the Cleveland area is launching a Middle School program that is unprecedented in the United States.  Sam Chestnut, Head of The Lillian and Betty Ratner School in Pepper Pike, will travel to Montana from May 17th through May 23rd with his 7th and 8th grade students and teachers.  They will join tribe elders and students on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, build and sleep in teepees, attend a sweat lodge ceremony, visit historic battlefields, including Little Bighorn National Battlefield site of "Custer's Last Stand" and ride horses on a Cheyenne ranch. They will travel on to Bozeman, Montana to tour the famous Lewis and Clark Caverns, visit Old Faithful, Artist Point Canyon, and Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park.  Students will wrap up the experience at Buffalo Bill's Irma Hotel in Cody, Wyoming.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110509/DC97873LOGO)

To make this program possible, a partnership was formed with Dr. Richard Littlebear, President and Interim Dean of Cultural Affairs at Chief Dull Knife College in October of last year, creating the opportunity for students of the Tribal School to meet with their Ratner counterparts during this trip.

"This experience will transform the way our students evaluate American History and cultural identity, and help them to appreciate the significant contributions the Northern Cheyenne have had on all who have lived on these lands in the past and today.  This partnership will build a bridge between two communities as we explore together these human and historical themes," said Chestnut.

To prepare for this event, students have been engaged in a cross-curricular comparative study of history, language, science and art including the study of indigenous culture, land preservation, and geographic formations.

"I have traveled many places around the world with my family but this trip seems really different and special.  I can't quite put it into words, and I can't wait to get there," said one Ratner Middle School student.

Students will be posting pictures and detailing their discoveries and their experiences on The Ratner School's Facebook page   http://www.facebook.com/TheRatnerSchool. 

About The Lillian and Betty Ratner School

The Lillian and Betty Ratner School, through its Montessori and rigorous academic Day School programs, provides children with a strong sense of self and the resources they need to achieve in the classroom and in life.  In an environment enriched by universal Judaic values, Montessori influence, and a mosaic of diverse cultures, each child thrives.  The Montessori Program offers toddlers through kindergarten-age students nurturing classrooms, highly trained teachers and a firm academic foundation.  The Day School features grade-blended classrooms, an individualized curriculum, Spanish, Hebrew and Jewish studies, lab-based science and technology and an integrated arts program. 

Contact:
Sam Chestnut, Head of School
Direct Line:  216.464.0033 x 1122
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE The Lillian and Betty Ratner School