Post by Okwes on Dec 22, 2005 22:07:09 GMT -5
Program, activities teach Lakota values
By Jomay Steen
Journal Staff Writer
RAPID CITY - In the semi-twilight of a winter afternoon, 10
middle-school boys scramble after a basketball in a pickup game in
Mother Butler Center’s gymnasium.
Acting as referee, Stephen Yellowhawk, an Ateyapi Program mentor,
ignores most of the rule violations as one team tries to control its
game while the opponents gleefully steal the ball on a bad pass.
A boy wearing black gloves on both hands finds himself cornered at the
edge of the court. His teammates run back and forth beneath the
basketball net, waiting for the pass that never comes. The ball is
wrestled away, and the boy’s gloves come off.
“It’s time to play for real,” he says as he runs after the ball.
Program coordinator Vince Gallagher said the program is more than crafts
and games; it is a way to instill pride in urban youth about their
Lakota heritage.
Gallagher joins Yellowhawk in the gym to observe the boys in play at the
after-school program.
Gallagher said Ateyapi, a Lakota word meaning fatherhood, brings to its
program male mentors for the children, some of whom come from
single-parent families. Mentors Mark Claymore Sr., Jeff White Bear Claws
and Yellowhawk also serve as support staff for the children in their
schools, acting as someone who the children trust to air their concerns
in a school setting.
Gallagher said the program attracts 85 American Indian and a few
non-Indian boys and girls from General Beadle, North Middle, Dakota
Middle, South Middle, Robbinsdale Elementary and South Park schools to
the center on weekdays for a variety of activities.
Troylynne Rock and Lisa Hatten join the men to mentor the boys on
Mondays and Wednesday, girls on Tuesdays and Thursdays and all children
on Fridays in a variety of traditional Lakota arts as well as an
abstinence program.
Upon arriving at the center, children generally play organized games of
basketball or volleyball in the gym before going to the dining area for
nachos, chili or some other snack. Then, the mentors sort the children
into small groups for an assortment of activities.
Entwined with lessons in beadwork, painting, silverwork, traditional
dancing, Lakota language and hand games are the elements of finding
their identity as Lakota people, Gallagher said.
“We teach values, good decision-making, respect and honor. The core
values,” Gallagher said.
Yellowhawk said his specialty is beadwork, but since Thanksgiving, he
and White Bear Claws have been rigorously practicing the intricacies of
gamesmanship for an upcoming Lakota Nation Invitational hand game
tournament.
“Our team took first at the Black Hills Pow Wow tournament,” he said.
A traditional dancer, Yellowhawk shares stories he has heard from
generations of relatives with his students as they make dream catchers,
create winter count calendars or fashion abstinence bracelets.
The Little White Buffalo Project, another Lakota after-school program,
instructs students in Lakota language and crafts, and Ateyapi adapted
Indian life-ways and traditions into its curriculum.
“We monitor their grades. We reward good attendance, grades and
behaviors with incentives and field trips,” he said.
Yellowhawk said the after-school program helps children realize that
while participating in powwows, they must live a life free of drug and
alcohol use.
Rock, a part-time mentor, has brought in a clothing pattern for a
traditional cloth trade dress and a pattern for a star quilt.
“It’s going to be very simple and something that the kids would feel
good about making on their own,” she said.
Rock’s daughters, Maria and Annie, both participated in the Ateyapi
Program. They developed a good rapport with their mentors, but, more
importantly, they learned how to resist peer pressure to experiment with
drugs, alcohol and sex — something that Rock said she reinforces with
her daughters at every opportunity.
“They are learning it is OK to abstain from sex,” she said. “It’s
important for kids to know you don’t have to have sex to be a part of
the ‘in crowd.’”
Hatten sees the program as a way to instill old values and traditions
into families who might rarely find time to talk to their children about
life beyond the urban setting.
Many of the children don’t know what tribe they are from, she said. That
provides a way for the kids to talk to their parents about their life
growing up on a reservation, traveling to powwows and living among their
relatives.
Because the mentors take pride in their heritage, the children learn
that they are valuable members of the same Lakota culture, she said.
“It’s a path to finding out who they are and where they come from,”
Hatten said.
Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com
By Jomay Steen
Journal Staff Writer
RAPID CITY - In the semi-twilight of a winter afternoon, 10
middle-school boys scramble after a basketball in a pickup game in
Mother Butler Center’s gymnasium.
Acting as referee, Stephen Yellowhawk, an Ateyapi Program mentor,
ignores most of the rule violations as one team tries to control its
game while the opponents gleefully steal the ball on a bad pass.
A boy wearing black gloves on both hands finds himself cornered at the
edge of the court. His teammates run back and forth beneath the
basketball net, waiting for the pass that never comes. The ball is
wrestled away, and the boy’s gloves come off.
“It’s time to play for real,” he says as he runs after the ball.
Program coordinator Vince Gallagher said the program is more than crafts
and games; it is a way to instill pride in urban youth about their
Lakota heritage.
Gallagher joins Yellowhawk in the gym to observe the boys in play at the
after-school program.
Gallagher said Ateyapi, a Lakota word meaning fatherhood, brings to its
program male mentors for the children, some of whom come from
single-parent families. Mentors Mark Claymore Sr., Jeff White Bear Claws
and Yellowhawk also serve as support staff for the children in their
schools, acting as someone who the children trust to air their concerns
in a school setting.
Gallagher said the program attracts 85 American Indian and a few
non-Indian boys and girls from General Beadle, North Middle, Dakota
Middle, South Middle, Robbinsdale Elementary and South Park schools to
the center on weekdays for a variety of activities.
Troylynne Rock and Lisa Hatten join the men to mentor the boys on
Mondays and Wednesday, girls on Tuesdays and Thursdays and all children
on Fridays in a variety of traditional Lakota arts as well as an
abstinence program.
Upon arriving at the center, children generally play organized games of
basketball or volleyball in the gym before going to the dining area for
nachos, chili or some other snack. Then, the mentors sort the children
into small groups for an assortment of activities.
Entwined with lessons in beadwork, painting, silverwork, traditional
dancing, Lakota language and hand games are the elements of finding
their identity as Lakota people, Gallagher said.
“We teach values, good decision-making, respect and honor. The core
values,” Gallagher said.
Yellowhawk said his specialty is beadwork, but since Thanksgiving, he
and White Bear Claws have been rigorously practicing the intricacies of
gamesmanship for an upcoming Lakota Nation Invitational hand game
tournament.
“Our team took first at the Black Hills Pow Wow tournament,” he said.
A traditional dancer, Yellowhawk shares stories he has heard from
generations of relatives with his students as they make dream catchers,
create winter count calendars or fashion abstinence bracelets.
The Little White Buffalo Project, another Lakota after-school program,
instructs students in Lakota language and crafts, and Ateyapi adapted
Indian life-ways and traditions into its curriculum.
“We monitor their grades. We reward good attendance, grades and
behaviors with incentives and field trips,” he said.
Yellowhawk said the after-school program helps children realize that
while participating in powwows, they must live a life free of drug and
alcohol use.
Rock, a part-time mentor, has brought in a clothing pattern for a
traditional cloth trade dress and a pattern for a star quilt.
“It’s going to be very simple and something that the kids would feel
good about making on their own,” she said.
Rock’s daughters, Maria and Annie, both participated in the Ateyapi
Program. They developed a good rapport with their mentors, but, more
importantly, they learned how to resist peer pressure to experiment with
drugs, alcohol and sex — something that Rock said she reinforces with
her daughters at every opportunity.
“They are learning it is OK to abstain from sex,” she said. “It’s
important for kids to know you don’t have to have sex to be a part of
the ‘in crowd.’”
Hatten sees the program as a way to instill old values and traditions
into families who might rarely find time to talk to their children about
life beyond the urban setting.
Many of the children don’t know what tribe they are from, she said. That
provides a way for the kids to talk to their parents about their life
growing up on a reservation, traveling to powwows and living among their
relatives.
Because the mentors take pride in their heritage, the children learn
that they are valuable members of the same Lakota culture, she said.
“It’s a path to finding out who they are and where they come from,”
Hatten said.
Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com