CRYP staff and volunteers have grown accustomed to two familiar faces around The Main in the last year. Cousins Kazmira Runs After, 6, and Xavier Sebastion, 10, are regulars at the youth project’s center for 4- to 12-year-olds, and more often than not, they attend youth programming together.

Kazmira says her mom told her about The Main, and the first-grader thought it sounded like fun. Xavier, a fourth-grader, says he heard about it from Kazmira, and he wasn’t going to miss out. 

The pair’s favorite activities include making bracelets during arts-and-crafts time, and riding bikes through The Main’s Bike Club.

“That’s really fun, because I get to ride a mountain bike,” Xavier says.

Kazmira calls out the Playroom as her favorite space, and at this point, she has zero interest in what’s happening at the Cokata Wiconi (Center of Life) teen center. Xavier, however, is keeping an eye on the big building next door. 

“I’m looking forward to going there, because I can do an internship,” he explains. “I want to be a doctor when I  grow up.”

Kazmira says she would like to be a teacher, and while her cousin aspires to travel to Australia, she notes that she’d like to make a trip to Pierre, South Dakota’s capital city.

When asked what they’ve learned in the year they’ve been coming to The Main, the cousins are thoughtful. Xavier perhaps says it best.

“I’ve learned to share, and to be nice.”