Waadookodaading

Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Institute is an Ojibwe-language immersion school located on the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Reservation in Hayward, Wisconsin.

History

The immersion program was started during the 2000–2001 academic school year by the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.

Mission

The school was primarily conceived to preserve the Ojibwe -language in Wisconsin, where only a few dozen elderly native speakers were estimated to remain in 2019. The name of the school roughly translates to “helping one another.”

Facility

Waadookodaading is physically connected to the English-language Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe School, but functions autonomously.

Academics

In addition to state and federally-mandated academic requirements, Waadookodaading provides cultural activities such as harvesting wild rice and syrup, as well as snowshoeing. The school currently offers kindergarten through eighth grade education.

Organization and funding

Waadookodaading is an independent charter institution. In 2024, it received $5 million in federal funding aimed at expanding its operations to K-12. The Administration for Native Americans also granted the school $300,000 in 2024. In December 2024, the school announced that it received a $1.5 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.