BGSU Magazine Summer 2007

A transformational pilgrimage to the heart of Native American culture

This summer 28 BGSU students embarked on a pilgrimage across vast canyons and desert wilderness to the ancestral lands of America’s first peoples. As they traveled from Chaco Canyon, N.M., to Rock Point, Ariz., from Window Rock to Pine Springs, from Canyon de Chelly to Spider Rock, they formed a community of seekers on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth.

Gathered in talking circles around campfires, inspired by boundless excess and irrational beauty, they felt a visceral connection between Navajo lands, art and world view that made tangible the Navajo circle of life–a universe in which everything is connected to everything else.

It’s an example of experiential, transformational learning at its best.

Click here to view the photo gallery (By Brad Phalin, University Photographer)

Day 1–Chaco Canyon
Day 2–Rock Point
Day 3–Rock Point Community School
Day 4–Window Rock
Day 5–Trading Post and Na'nizhoozhi Center
Day 6 & 7–Francis Burnside residence
Day 8–Canyon de Chelly