How can it already be Wednesday? Time is like a vacuum here—standing still but moving forward at the same time. Snow is in the forecast again. This time for Thursday night and Friday. The students will be done with their planned teaching during the day on Thursday, so Friday was going to be sightseeing, visiting, maybe some screenings, and some sort of attempt to help with flood relief. Unfortunately, this is not to be. I can’t risk getting stuck here with 4 students who still need to complete their capstone hours. We are going to have to leave Thursday night to be on the safe side.
We were back to school this morning for first period in the health class. This day’s topic was again a sensitive one—drunk driving and drug and alcohol abuse. I had told Mrs. U. B.earlier in the week that I really did not want the students to be perceived as the “outsiders who know best”. I truly want their teaching to encourage partnership and to be done in a participatory, interactive way. The students asked Mrs. U. B. to say a few words when it came time in their presentation to talk about peer pressure, and boy, did she add to the presentation. Her approach with her students is one of gentle guidance, tough love, and a challenge to uphold the Lakota culture. She has frequently told the high school students to be role models and leaders and to share their new insights with others who may be in need of assistance. Her discussion on peer pressure focused on community and family as the source of the pressure. She also shared that she had been an EMT and discussed some of the meth-related ambulance calls that she experienced. These stories were heartbreaking and extremely sad. Before the main event of having the health class students experience the drunk goggles, they were asked to make a plan—a plan for what they would do if in the situation where drugs or alcohol were present in the environment. Several students wrote on their plan that they would choose not to drink because they did not want to be like their father. The drunk goggles were very exciting for participants, but my students did a great job of driving home the point that even though this was a fun activity, there were very serious implications in real life. Our traveling band of health promotion returned to the extended classroom and provided the same activities.
Just as we were leaving for the day, I received a text from Mrs. U. B. that we had been invited to participate in a radio program with the school’s principal. No time to work up any anxiety about this addition to the plans! Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at the radio show site, the broadcast was over, but more new plans were made. Thursday am we would return to the high school to be a part of the circle meet up which involved all of the students from Kindergarten through 12th grade in the gym. We were then to provide the healthy relationship and self-esteem education to all of the Juniors in the gym with more teaching to follow on the same topic at the middle school.
After teaching, we headed to the Red Cloud Indian School and Big Bats. I saw the following on one of the paintings in the Heritage Center at Red Cloud:
“Sing me a song
A song of promise
For all of my tomorrows”
This spoke to me, just like the poem and prayer at Crazy Horse on Sunday. I couldn’t help but think of how this fits the high school students that we have had the pleasure of interacting with this week. They have so much promise! No one has a guarantee of tomorrow, but with the ongoing guidance (or song) from Mrs. U. B. and others, their futures are filled with hope and promise. They can rise to meet the challenges that exist and be the role models for Lakota culture that are needed on Pine Ridge.
Nursing Students at Pine Ridge 