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"While living and working on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota, my heart has been widened to understand and accept more than ever before. My whole outlook on life has been altered with the completion of this amazing program. I learned more than could ever be attained through a classroom setting about Native Americans."
- Michelle, Kenyon College
The state of South Dakota, in the heart of the Great Plains of the United States, with its unique geography and the culture and history shaped by it, has been a defining image of the United States. It is a major homeland of the Lakota/Nakota/Dakota peoples of the Great Plains, often referred to as the Great Sioux Nation. Understanding the origin of these terms and what is appropriate and acceptable to the Indian culture is part of what you will learn during the program. You will live and serve on an American Indian reservation, studying the history, culture, and issues of the Indians of the Great Plains and directly encountering the issues and concerns confronting this "culture within a culture."
In the beginning and end of the program, while you are at South Dakota State University, housing and meals are arranged by the University. For the period of service, you live on an American Indian reservation in a homestay with an Indian family and are provided with a monetary food allowance.
An integral part of the program, the homestay offers you the opportunity to make life-long friends and experience the culture from "the inside." Students are welcomed as if they are members of the community, and often are invited to participate in such "private" Indian events as the sweat lodge. Former students have developed a deep and lasting relationship with their hosts and return after the program for visits. Some have been offered and accepted jobs within the Lakota Nation.
