Comanche Academy Documentary Premiers in Lawton

“Comanche Academy: A Healing Journey” documentary by Kathryn Boyd-Batstone will premiere at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, February 14, at Great Plains Coliseum in Lawton, Oklahoma.

Entry is 5 dollars, and the sponsorship tables are sold out.

Linette Amparan, a kindergarten teacher and wellness room coach, said the planning began about two years ago.

“After I was interviewed for the 'Roadtrip Nation' by Catherine Boyd Batstone, the connection just was there. We talked for many hours after the interview, discussing different types of needs that maybe the school might have. When she toured our school, she had a feeling, and she couldn't explain it,” she said. “So, we left it at that. And then a couple of months later, she reached out. She emailed Dave and I. And David said, ‘Linette, if you want to run with this, run with it.’”

Amparan said it’s vital for people to see the premier.

“Community was taken away from us. So, we're bringing we're reclaiming that community. We want to have unity within our community. As for people that are not a part of our community, I think the education aspect of it, a lot of these people that have seen the trailer or we go out, and we promote it,” she said. “They don't understand it was taken away from us. You don't know what it feels like if someone came in and took English away from you. It's the same thing. Someone came in and said, ‘You can't have your culture. You can't have your family dinners. You can't sit by the fire and play the piano.’ If that's something you do in your culture, you have to go a different way. ‘You have to come over here, and you have to speak this, and you have to do this to some people.’ They take that for granted. But when you actually start working in the community and working with the kids, you see how that intergenerational trauma is trickled down even to this generation. And that's why it's vital that we change it. And I think that this film just is going to cause a ripple effect throughout the community and globally. To bring awareness to that, because it's not just our community that it's occurred in. It's in a lot of other communities.”

Amparan said the educators at the charter school have delved into the culture and spirituality and have accepted what every kid has to offer.

They also have their own wellness room as a dedicated lesson plan to help students reconnect.