Students from New York City’s Calhoun School are visiting South Dakota this week to attend a Youth Camp in Badlands National Park. It’s an opportunity to learn about a new environment as well as meet students from another culture.
Badlands National Park spokesperson Julie Johndreau says the third annual Youth Camp has the same goals as the first two had.
“The idea of youth camp is to get diverse groups of kids together to learn and experience the Badlands together,” Johndreau explains. “So we have 12 kids from New York City and we have 7 kids from Red Cloud Indian School…in Pine Ridge.”
But as important as all that is, the students from New York City and Pine Ridge will also have the chance to learn about each other. Noelle Clark is 18 and lives in the Bronx. She chose to take part in the Youth Camp for two reasons.
“Coming out here…as I had expected it would…just gave me a new perspective on how vast the country I live in is,” observes Noelle. “And how it is entirely possible to be comfortable in a space that is not cluttered with buildings on top of each other and tons of people running from here to there.”
Noelle says she’s also looking forward to learning the truth about the history of the Lakota.
Born and raised both on and off the reservation, Kristian Big Crow is attending the annual Youth Camp for the second time. Kristian sees the experience as an opportunity to learn about students from different backgrounds as he learns about himself.
“The New Yorkers that came last year…and even this year…they were taken back by everything that’s around them,” Kristian observes. “And I noticed that for me…I usually just take it for granted. So, it kind of opened my eyes to seeing what’s around me and understanding what I have and what others would…die for to get to see, I suppose.” 20
Students at the Youth Camp will spend the week in the Badlands with artists, park rangers and scientists learning about the park and one another.
Badlands National Park
http://www.nps.gov/badl/index.htm
Red Cloud Indian School
https://www.redcloudschool.org/
The Calhoun School
http://www.calhoun.org/home