When junior Elie Lewin embarked on a summer Student Research Fellowship under Carleton’s Indigenous Engagement in Place initiative, she found her academic studies transformed through mentorship and on-site research experiences. As an Environmental Studies major, Lewin has a deep interest in the intersection of cultural heritage, archaeology, and Indigenous studies. Her collaboration with her research mentor Franky Jackson (Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota), Compliance Officer for the Prairie Island Indian Community’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office, and with Tom Trow, Grand Meadow Chert Quarry lead archaeologist and project coordinator, moved her research beyond the 4 walls of a classroom and into Southern Minnesota’s open landscape.
Through her research, Elie synthesized information to create a comprehensive visitor’s guide for Wanhi Yukan Preserve, or the Grand Meadow Chert Quarry (GMCQ). While the site recently opened to the public, much of the available information was fragmented or outdated. Working alongside Jackson and Trow, she sought to consolidate these pieces into a single, accessible online resource.
“We kind of came into it with a goal in mind and then found our way there,” she reflects. The process involved taking an older draft and completely reimagining it to ensure the final product provided a solid, publicly accessible base of information that went deeper than the site’s signage, which was newly installed in spring 2025.
Elie sees Jackson’s mentorship as key to her learning and success on the project, as he offered a community-based perspective that reshaped her approach to the work. “Franky always had an insight that hadn’t necessarily popped into my brain,” she shares. “He said, ‘We have to bring it into the present. We have to look at [the Grand Meadow Chert Quarry] how it is right now. And, we can look at how it got here, but I think the most important thing to emphasize is, it is here. It is still very much a real changing living place.’”
Before this summer, Elie had touched on research ethics with Indigenous communities in Intro Anthropology, Native American Religions, and two Archaeology courses. However, the hands-on nature of the project, guided by resources from Meredith McCoy, faculty in American Studies and History, and Marcy Averill, Carleton Indigenous Communities Liaison, revealed the true depth of ethical engagement.
“I thought I knew stuff. I didn’t actually know that much,” she admits. Meredith and Marcy “were critical resources” that helped guide how a college student should take on a project like this one.
Seeing her name in the credits of the visitor’s guide provided a realization that she contributed to work with tangible community benefits. As she enters the second half of her “college career”, Elie observed that the work was a meeting point of several things in which she is interested, noting she saw “the cultural research and archeology and Indigenous studies kind of all rolling up into one ball.” This research has opened Elie’s eyes to professional “niches” that can become lifelong careers.