Nine students from the Blackfeet Nation in Montana spent a week in the Dominican Republic, where they taught English at an orphanage and helped out the local community.

The students from the Blackfeet Academy, an alternative high school on the reservation, said they learned a lot from the experience. They share a lot in common with the Dominicans but they said they were surprised by what they saw on the island.

"I saw poverty, but it wasn't what I expected," 18-year-old Jude Edwards told The Great Falls Tribune. "I saw people being happy given their circumstances. Regardless of how little money they had, they had smiles on their faces."

"It opened my eyes a little — to be grateful," said Riel LaPlant, referring to a Dominican teen who had little but maintained a positive attitude. "As Americans, we have a lot."

The school plans to send another group of teens to the Dominican Republic next year, probably for a two-week visit.

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Blackfeet teens teach Dominican orphans (The Great Falls Tribune 3/30)