Students kicking back and just having a good time in Circle of Trust.
Ateyapi: Changing lives for at-risk children
By Richie Richards
Native Sun News Staff Writer RAPID CITY –– Rapid City based Rural America Initiatives (RAI) is a non-profit organization founded in 1986, in order to have direct connection with at-risk and low-income Native American families. This organization prides itself on having drug and alcohol free staff and activities provided. The goal has been to strengthen families beginning with pre-natal growth through high school age teens, by supplementing services available through state and federal organizations. The Ateyapi Mentoring Program has been at Rapid City Central High School since 1994 and has been encouraging healthy living for Native American students despite the challenges they face at home and in school. Rapid City Central High School (RCCHS) and Rapid City Area Schools have been very supportive of the Ateyapi Mentoring Program providing a large classroom for a safe and comfortable environment for students to socialize while being tutored with homework assignments and learning traditional practices. According to Whitney Rencountre II, Ateyapi Program Coordinator for RCCHS, “Central High School staff and administration are very supportive in working with Ateyapi to identify students for the program.” The staff of RCCHS recognize Ateyapi staff and treat them as peers who share the goal of helping students graduate and apply to college. Mentors in the program are sober and self-motivated and many are students enrolled in college courses themselves. This professional development at Ateyapi helps in training the staff for challenges in the professional world, while lending encouragement to teens in need. According to Rencountre, there are many challenges students are confronted with daily. These include; the high-risk period after school while parents are working, culture shock of moving from the reservation into a small city, transportation to and from school, not having positive things to do after school, and being distracted by issues at home.
Staff of Ateyapi program. Standing from left are Arlo Iron Cloud Sr., Larissa Looking Elk, Robbie Yellowhawk, Amber Twiss, Rhonda Yankton, Lisa Dobyns, Fred Sitting Up Jr. Sitting: Whitney Rencountre II
Ateyapi provides a place during these high-risk times where traditional cultural beliefs are enforced as a coping mechanism. Students are welcome to talk about family and home problems with staff and peers. Also, Rencountre expressed the need for parents to become more pro-active in their children’s academic lives and make attendance and participation a precedent. He wants families to challenge their students to prepare for life after school- which involves their academic and professional lives. Ateyapi prepares students for a very real world. Besides tutoring and mentoring, students are given many incentives to participate throughout the school year. Every Friday, students are taken on fun trips around the area to reward them for good attendance, attending curriculum and overall participation in the program. Students are welcomed into the Ateyapi classroom at anytime to avoid having to leave the school grounds; and prevents skipping classes during the day. Ateyapi provides transportation to those needing a ride home after school and will pick students up in the morning upon request. Family socials are scheduled each month for families to come enjoy a meal and discuss the program with staff. The staff helps families locate resources in Rapid City in times of need. All of these services are provided free of charge to parents. Native American students, for many reasons, often feel isolated and separated from other social and cultural groups. In speaking with three students in the Ateyapi Mentoring Program at RCCHS, Native American students sometimes feel dispirited by peers and teachers who discourage them from joining school clubs or trying out for sports. Often times, they are told their grades are not good enough and coaches, they feel, play favorites with students. Still many Native American students find success in programs like the art and photography clubs. As one student stated, “Ateyapi gives us the chance to take field trips we can’t afford to go on.” When asked, the students said they would be home playing video games, sleeping, visiting family and friends, and would not be taking the exciting field trips or getting the tutoring needed to pass classes. One student even called Ateyapi her “second home." One of the upcoming events for the Ateyapi Mentoring Program at RCCHS is the hand game tournament held during the Lakota Nation Invitational tournaments in December. This traditional game is used by Ateyapi as a fun activity but also as a teaching tool. Students learn traditional songs, cultural history, Lakota language, leadership skills, teamwork, positive lifestyle mechanisms, and social bonding. In coming weeks, students and staff will be practicing for the upcoming hand game tournament being sponsored by Rural America Initiatives. For more information about the Ateyapi Mentoring Program please visit their website ruralamericainitiatives.org, find them on Facebook @ Ateyapi Central, visit the Rural America Initiatives offices located at 628 ½ 6th Street, Suite 201, Rapid City, SD 57701 or call (605) 341-3339. (Contact Richie Richards at staffwriter@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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