The lead up to Friday was nearly excruciating for me. In addition to traveling with students as part of their coursework, I am also on Pine Ridge to complete my very last requirement to receive my DNP from Loyola. This requirement is a presentation of my capstone project, “NAP SACC: Implementation of an Obesity Prevention Intervention in an American Indian Head Start”. This presentation was to my contact at Head Start, Jennifer Her Many Horses; my capstone director from Loyola, Dr Andresen; and to the Dean of the DNP Program and another faculty member at Loyola who were to be on a conference call. I have been so nervous, realizing that as much as I plan this presentation, some of the logistics would be out of my control. I was so happy that my fellow instructor, Lisa Preston, and many of the students requested to attend the presentation. While this made the group larger, having students in the audience was actually very helpful to me. It felt more like teaching and less like a make or break presentation. Even though we could not get a cell phone signal at the Head Start building for the conference call making the Dean and other Loyola faculty member unable to participate (I will be providing them with a recorded version of the presentation later), the presentation really could not have gone better. I was actually less nervous than expected and finished the presentation without difficulties. Because the metal roof on the Head Start building blocks cell phone reception, my capstone is now being referred to as the “Tin Roof Capstone”. I am so relieved to be finished! After a visit to the Historical Center at the college and the bookstore, we returned to the motel for lunch. I walked into the 2-bedroom cabin that is the hub of our activities, and all of the students and Lisa had streamers up and confetti and blew horns to celebrate my completion of my DNP. Students made brownies and ice cream, and we had an impromptu graduation party. Can’t really express how much this meant to me!
We went to the pow wow later in the evening for the Grand Entrance. I love to see the students reactions and awe during this experience. The pow wow is such a profound experience–to witness Lakota families from babies to elderly participating in the pow wow is beyond description. While we always tend to see the negatives of a people or place, the pow wow provides us the opportunity to look past the perceived negatives and truly see the beauty of the people and how much their traditions, culture, family, and community mean to them. I usually spend most of the visit with goose bumps, and this experience was no different. Here are some photos that will do a better job than I can with words! (The first one is at Rosie’s).
Nursing Students at Pine Ridge 