Honoring Place, Deepening Belonging: Land Acknowledgement at Eagle Rock School

At Eagle Rock School, learning is inseparable from place. The land we live, learn, and gather on is not a backdrop to our work. It is a teacher, a witness, and a living part of our community. As we continue to live our value of Belonging, land acknowledgements have become an essential practice for grounding students in history, identity, and responsibility. Through this work, we invite students to move beyond recognition toward relationship, care, and action.

One of the people helping lead this work on campus is Asnoldo Benitez, Jr., Restorative Practices and Residential Life Coordinator and Piñon Houseparent. Through his leadership, Eagle Rock is cultivating deeper conversations about land, identity, and what it means to belong to both a community and a place.

Beyond Words: What Land Acknowledgement Means at ERS

In simple terms, a land acknowledgement recognizes the Indigenous peoples who lived on, cared for, and continue to have relationships with the land we occupy. At Eagle Rock, we understand this as more than a statement read aloud at events. It is an ongoing commitment to truth, learning, and respect.

Asnoldo brings a deeply informed and thoughtful approach to this work. An educator, facilitator, and lifelong learner, he has spent over a decade working in national parks, residential programs, mountain campuses, and urban wild spaces with diverse youth populations, including Indigenous and historically underrepresented communities. Grounded in his Intermountain roots and family heritage, and shaped by his academic background with a dual master’s degree in Natural Science Education and Environmental Management from the University of Wyoming, Asnoldo’s work centers identity, connection, and restorative practices.

At ERS, he has helped guide a shift from a traditional land acknowledgement toward what he describes as a “Land and Love” or “Love and Life” acknowledgement. This approach emphasizes not only historical injustice, but also the reality that Indigenous people are still here, creating, living, loving, and shaping culture today. It reframes land as something lived with and cared for, rather than owned.

This philosophy aligns closely with Eagle Rock’s commitment to belonging. Honoring the land means honoring the people, histories, and relationships connected to it, and creating space for students to reflect on their own identities and responsibilities.

Learning Through Practice: Classes, Clubs, and Connection to Land

Land acknowledgement at Eagle Rock comes to life through experiential learning across campus. In classes, clubs, and field experiences, students engage directly with the land in ways that build both personal insight and real-world skills.

This includes interdisciplinary coursework such as Asnoldo’s new winter ecology class focused on adaptation, migration, and hibernation, as well as humanities courses inspired by works like Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, taught by Literature and Literacy Instructional Fellow, Tanya Sopkin. In these courses, students practice ethical harvesting, forage juniper berries and wild bergamot (bee balm), and transform those lessons into shared experiences like making traditional juniper seltzer, which was served at graduation. These activities foster ecological literacy, teamwork, planning, and respect for natural systems.

Beyond the classroom, students participate in cultural learning experiences such as sweat lodge ceremonies facilitated in partnership with Indigenous communities. Through preparation, reflection, and participation, students learn accountability, humility, and the importance of showing up with care. Conversations about music, storytelling, and contemporary Indigenous artists further reinforce that Indigenous cultures are living, evolving, and present today.

Students have also helped shape new initiatives, including the development of an Indigenous-focused student group and the creation of journal caches placed around campus. These interactive spaces invite reflection, storytelling, and connection, turning the landscape itself into a shared archive of community experience.

Through these practices, students build skills that extend far beyond Eagle Rock: self-awareness, cultural humility, ethical decision-making, collaboration, and the ability to engage thoughtfully with complex histories and systems.

An Invitation to Learn, Reflect, and Belong

At Eagle Rock School, land acknowledgement is not a checkbox. It is an invitation to listen, to learn, and to deepen our relationships with ourselves, one another, and the land we call home. Through the leadership of educators like Asnoldo Benitez, Jr., students are discovering that understanding place is essential to understanding who they are and how they want to move through the world.

We believe this kind of education transforms lives. It prepares students not only for future careers, but for thoughtful citizenship, meaningful relationships, and lifelong learning.

If you are a student looking for a school where learning is rooted in belonging, connection, and real-world impact, we invite you to connect with us and apply to Eagle Rock School. Here, your story matters just like the land beneath your feet.