Event Allowed Revelers to Travel the World in Cokata Wiconi ~ and in their Dreams
The fashion capitals of the world took shape within the walls of the Cheyenne River Youth Project®’s Cokata Wiconi Teen Center on Saturday, March 10. That day, 74 teenage girls — and many of their mothers, grandmas, aunties, sisters and cousins —attended CRYP’s eagerly anticipated 2012 “Passion for Fashion.”
Passion for Fashion is one of CRYP’s longest-running and most popular teen programs. The annual one-day event, created in 2001, provides support for teens who need all the prom essentials. It also promotes intergenerational exchange, bonding and positive self-esteem and body image, and it helps combat bullying and school violence by giving girls from all social circles a chance to spend quality time together.
This year’s Passion for Fashion gave Cheyenne River’s young women the opportunity to travel the world. To start, the “Fashion Week” theme allowed the girls to experience a sidewalk cafe in Paris, beauty salons in London, boutique shopping in Milan and a high-fashion photoshoot and runway in New York City.
“Thankfully, we had ‘Alternative Spring Break’ volunteer groups here from Viterbo University in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, the week before the event,” said Julie Garreau, CRYP’s executive director. “They helped our staff transform Cokata Wiconi’s public spaces into something extra special for our girls.”
Festivities kicked off at 1 p.m. with a formal welcome, an ice-breaking activity and a French-inspired luncheon in the Parisian cafe. In addition to fresh fruits and veggies, the girls enjoyed ham-and-cheese croissant sandwiches, homemade French onion soup and a colorful assortment of cafe-style cupcakes and sweets.
During the luncheon, keynote speaker Janet Alkire-Thomas gave the young revelers yet another opportunity to travel the world — in their dreams. Thomas, a member of the Hunkpapa-Lakota Oyate, graduated from Standing Rock High School and Sitting Bull College; after joining the U.S. Air Force in 1983, she traveled to Hawaii, Guam, Thailand, Korea, the Philippines and mainland Japan. She became a certified scuba diver, and she got married.
“These things can happen to you, too,” Thomas said to the girls. “I came from the same place as you, and I’d think, ‘We’re never going to leave the rez.’ (But) if you have dreams to travel, don’t let go. Keep going after it.”
Thomas kept going. After her deployments to the Middle East in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, she worked at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, completed her degree in public administration, served as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s executive director, did consulting work for the Great Plains Indian Gaming Association and United Tribes Technical College and became the administrator for the Northern Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center at the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Health Board.
Most recently, Thomas was the national logistics coordinator for Keepseagle v. Vilsack, a class action lawsuit for Native American farmers and ranchers.
She told her young audience that she had three important messages for them. One: Never be afraid of opportunities and leaving the reservation to pursue them.
“See what the world has to offer,” she insisted. “It’s a big place, and there’s so much more out there. Then come back and share what you’ve learned. The rez is not a place of last resort. You can be a positive influence, a role model.”
Two: Listen to your inner voice.
“To grow and to be something special, you need to listen hard,” Thomas said. “That inner voice tells you to do the right thing, to take care of yourself, to be safe.”
Life, she said, is about maintaining balance between our emotional, mental, physical and spiritual selves. Those are the four legs on a chair, and if one leg is missing, the chair is broken.
And three: Protect your reputation.
“Your reputation will take you a long way,” she advised. “Value it now, even in high school.”
Applause erupted as Thomas concluded her talk. Then she joined the girls as they filed down a tree-lined boulevard and beneath a soaring Arc de Triomphe to enter the gymnasium. While the high school girls shopped Milanese boutiques for their dresses, shoes and jewelry, the younger girls visited the London beauty salons for manicures, pedicures, makeovers and hair styling. Then they switched, giving the junior high students a chance to find the perfect dress.
At 6 p.m., it was time to head across the Atlantic for the New York runway show. The girls strutted through, appropriately, a big red apple and down the runway, striking a pose for professional photographer Richard Steinberger. The budding fashionistas also visited the photo studio of photographer Matt Normann; he and Steinberger both volunteered their time to support what they called a worthy and inspirational event.
“This was a chance for each of our girls to feel like a star for a day,” Garreau said. “Everyone deserves to feel beautiful and special, and Passion for Fashion is about celebrating and supporting our next generation of young women.”
The girls embraced the idea. As the evening wore on, the photo studio overflowed with friends, siblings and families — even a proud dad joined the fun.
When it was finally time to go home, each girl received a large gift bag containing her dress, shoes and accessories, as well as a fun swag bag filled with makeup, bath-and-body items and other goodies. And each was invited to return the following week to pick up her free images from the photoshoot.
CRYP is already preparing for the 2013 Passion for Fashion event. If you’re interested in supporting this popular, long-running program on the Cheyenne River reservation, please consider donating new and gently used dresses in sizes 4-26, and especially in sizes 16-26. Also in demand are shoes, particularly sizes 9-12; jewelry and hair accessories; makeup and bath sets; and gift cards.
To learn more about the Cheyenne River Youth Project® and its programs, and for information about making donations and volunteering, call (605) 964-8200 or visit www.lakotayouth.org. And, to stay up to date on the latest CRYP news and events, visit the youth project’s Facebook “Cause” page. All Cause members will receive regular updates through Facebook.
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.