In the first week of the program, you will be on the campus of South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota, for an intense orientation in Lakota culture, to meet faculty, the program director, and other participants, and to learn the expectations of your service assignment. You begin your academic work through meetings with faculty in literature, sociology, anthropology, and education, and through guest lectures on Native American culture and spirituality, cultural differences, the Dakota conflict, Lakota language, economics, and politics. You will also go on a field trip to the Upper and Lower Sioux Agency, or to Pipestone National Monument or current cultural event.

In the second week, students go by van on a tour of the state with the program director as guide, visiting service agencies where program participants will be serving on the Rosebud, Pine Ridge, Sisseton, Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, and Lower Brule reservations. You will also visit historic, geographic, and cultural locations as the site of the Wounded Knee massacre, Bear Butte, Black Hills, Crazy Horse Mountain, Devil's Tower, and the Akta Lakota Museum.

Service Placement

You will then go to your service site for the 10-week placement to serve in a Native American community. You will settle in with your host Native American family. Academic study will continue through weekly correspondence with your professors. The program director makes a mid-term visit to each student and also keeps in touch by phone and e-mail.