Last month, the Cheyenne River Youth Project® kicked off its annual College Night Series, which allows visiting “Alternative Spring Break” volunteer groups from schools around the country to help educate local teens about applying for and attending college. Now in its eighth year, the College Night Series already has included presentations from Emerson College from Boston, Massachusetts, and Iowa State University, which is based in Ames, Iowa; and the 2014 program is just getting started.
This Wednesday, April 9, CRYP will host a special College Night event that highlights information about U.S. tribal colleges and universities. It also will detail the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and the variety of internships native students have available to them — through programs such as the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, American Indian Business Leaders, and even the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, more commonly known as NASA.
The free evening program will take place at 5-6 p.m. at CRYP’s Cokata Wiconi teen center, and CRYP encourage Cheyenne River middle- and high-school students to bring their parents and other family members. Attending tweens and teens will have an opportunity to enter to win exciting door prizes that include an iPod, a camera and 10 gift certificates, and CRYP will provide refreshments.
The next College Night is scheduled for Wednesday, April 23. Staff from CRST Higher Education Services will be on hand to discuss the various types of financial aid that students can receive from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Then, CRYP will welcome Kyle, South Dakota-based Oglala Lakota College on Wednesday, May 14 and Northern Kentucky University — which is located near Cincinnati, Ohio — on Wednesday, May 21.
According to Tammy Eagle Hunter, CRYP’s youth programs director, Wednesdays are always College Nights at the 25-year-old, not-for-profit youth organization’s campus, even if there isn’t a scheduled presentation.
“Between now and the end of the school year, on Wednesday evenings that don’t have scheduled presentations, we’ll offer homework help in our Cokata Wiconi Internet cafe space,” she explained. “Staff members Valerie Collins and Annie Sonnenberg also will conduct short presentations that will help our youth with college applications, scholarship applications and financial aid.”
The youth programming staff is hoping to conclude the 2014 College Night Series with a college fair this summer. The fair would include information about South Dakota schools as well as the many tribal colleges and universities around the country.
Eagle Hunter said CRYP also is planning its first-ever college field trip. The trip, tentatively slated for mid-July, would include Oglala Lakota College in Kyle, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation; Black Hills State University in Spearfish; and National American University and the School of Mines, both in Rapid City.
“Some of our other South Dakota schools are too far away for the field trip, but we’re going to make sure we have information to provide to our teens through the college fair,” she said. “These include South Dakota State University in Brookings, Northern State University in Aberdeen, Dakota State University in Madison, and the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.”
Julie Garreau, CRYP’s executive director, said she is very pleased with the 2014 College Night Series to date. Each school has its own specialties, she noted, and that appeals to different groups of teens on Cheyenne River.
“When Emerson College’s 11 volunteering students made their presentation on March 4, we had more than 40 young people listening to what they had to say,” she recalled. “Our artistic students took particular interest, as this is a liberal arts school with strong programs in theater, dance, art and art history.
“We had 11 student presenters from Iowa State as well,” she continued. “It’s more of a sports-oriented school, so when they made their presentation on March 18, we had approximately 30 teens who were excited to learn more about Big 12 sports opportunities and watch a video of an Iowa State basketball game. One young man who regularly plays ball in our gym told us that this really caught his attention and made him realize he could play at the college level someday.”
All CRYP College Nights take place on Wednesday evenings at 5-6 p.m. at the Cokata Wiconi teen center. The presentations focus on the featured schools and about college life in general, including information about the application process, degree programs, financial aid and social activities; a lengthy question-and-answer session; and distribution of college literature that guests may take home with them.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for Cheyenne River’s young people to start thinking about life after high school,” Eagle Hunter said. “We’re so eager to expose our kids to the many options that are available to them. Through College Night, they get to learn more about different schools, they can ask questions about the issues that concern them, and their families can learn more about how to best support them as they face the application process and leaving home for the first time.”
Garreau also observed that the program gives visiting volunteer groups a chance to serve as ambassadors for their schools, learning about reservation life and Lakota culture along the way.
“One young man, a performing arts major from Emerson College, said, ‘I got the opportunity to try to honestly understand a history of peoples who have been long ignored and disrespected,’” she said. “This is important, because we’ve always believed in the power of our youth project as a meaningful exchange program. Our volunteers benefit from the relationship as much as our kids do.”
CRYP will post any additional College Night events, including the college fair and college field trip, on this website and on its social media sites as soon as more information is available.
The Cheyenne River Youth Project, founded in 1988, is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing the youth of the Cheyenne River reservation with access to a vibrant and secure future through a wide variety of culturally sensitive and enduring programs, projects and facilities that ensure strong, self-sufficient families and communities.