Laguna Middle School
by the 7th and 8th Grade Journalism Students of Phil Sittnick

Laguna Middle School is special because it's a good school. It's a good school because we learn a lot and the school has really good programs for the students. It's a pretty cool place to be. It's the best school on the rez, and I think it's the best school in the state. Our mascot is the eagle, and our motto is "Where Eagles Soar with Pride, Respect, and Responsibility." We have the best food and every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we have a breakfast buffet, which gives a choice between different types of food. The cooks are nice. They talk to us and the food they serve us is delicious. To me LMS is special because it has clean floors. The bathrooms are clean and sanitary.

LMS is a pretty cool school because we have modern technology. We have a computer lab and we have computers in every classroom, and we have TVs in every classroom, too. We have the Internet on all our computers, and we have our own website. We have laptop computers that you can take home if you get a license. LMS has about 180 students in grades 6-8. All of our students are American Indian. Most of the students that go to LMS are from the Laguna tribe, but there are a few from our neighboring tribes, the Acoma Pueblo, and the Canoncito Navajo reservation.

Some of the subjects taught here are math, science, language arts, and history. One of our electives is Journalism. In that class we make our own school paper and we write the articles that go in it. Some of our other electives are music, home living, art, P.E., office aide, and library aide.

Some of our extra-curricular activities are MESA, yearbook, band, drama club, basketball, cross-country, and volleyball. We have about 20 teachers. The teachers care about us. They want us to learn. They stay after school for after school activities. The teachers are all nice and hard working.

LMS is special to me because all of my friends go here. Another thing that makes it special to me is that you can get smart here. We have grade checks every three weeks for students and their parents to see how they are doing in classes. We have rewards for students who make good grade checks. We have a good library with new and interesting books. We have basketball courts, volleyball, and a track outside. We have a program called "MESA Buddies" where we go to the elementary school and help our "buddies" in kindergarten. We also have after school Homework Help and after school care, which allows students to stay until 6:30pm if needed. We go on field trips, too.

Our school is located about 50 miles west of Albuquerque. LMS is owned and operated by our tribe. Our community is good and sort of quiet. Laguna is divided into seven villages, which are all around the reservation. Our reservation is big. We are one of 19 pueblo tribes here in New Mexico. On September 19, we have a Feast where there are carnival rides and all of us rez kids have the best time of our lives. We have a feast in every village, but Laguna village is the biggest one. It's the only one that has rides.

Laguna Feast is a time of celebration for our patron saint, St. Joseph. There are two feasts at Laguna, on March 19 and on September 19. The regular feast day is March 19, but the people decided that since there were no crops at that time to feed all the visitors, they moved the feast to September 19. In September there are more crops to feed all the people that come. The school participates in the Laguna Feast parade. Every year when the feast comes, LMS makes a float and we walk along with it and throw candy to the people watching. Then after the feast is over, we clean up the area where the feast was. The Feast is one of our local traditions that the school participates in. One reason we have the eagle for our mascot is because our tribe is known for its Eagle Dance. That is one of the traditional dances that are performed during the Feast. Some of our students take part in the dancing.

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