Thank you to the awesome Yogi Ninjas who chose The Mitakuye Foundation as the organization they would run for in the Spartan Race December 11th, 2016. They trained hard and ran hard all to raise dollars for our youth programming, Our deepest thanks to this amazing crew. We are delighted that they exceeded their goal of raising $1000 for Mitakuye! Wopila!!!
Congratulations to all of our October winners for the theme of UNITY!!
Grand Prize Winner: Baylie Her Many Horses, Age 14
First Place Winner: Kimimila Deans, Age 10,
First Place Winner: Serenity True Blood, Age 10
First Place Winner: Lucas Shot With Arrow, Age 10,
Honorable Mention Award Winner: Daniel Catches, Age 10,
Honorable Mention Award, Skyline Thunderhawk, Age 10
Honorable Mention Award Winner: Colby Walking Eagle, Age 10
Award Of Merit: Shawn Janis, Age 11
Award Of Merit: Tailey May-Pourier, Age 9
Award Of Merit: Cody Mousseaux, Age 9
Award Of Merit: Anthony Bowmen, Age 9
Award Of Merit: De’Ambreah O’Rourke, Age 9
Artists and teachers gather around the drum!
Our Mascot BIG RED welcomes the students. Photo Simon Joseph.
Our amazing hosts Pahin Sinte Owayawa! Photo Simon Joseph.
Morning Circle. Photo Simon Joseph.
Morning greeting! Photo Simon Joseph.
Waylon Bllackcrow makes a traditional drum with the students. Photo Simon Joseph.
Preparing the Buffalo Hide for the drum. Photo Simon Joseph.
Preparing the drumstick for sanding and painting. Photo Simon Joseph.
Drum Sticks. Photo Simon Joseph.
Students painting BIG RED. Photo Simon Joseph.
Painting Big Red. Photo Maryan Captan.
Kids setting up our Mascot BIG RED! Photo Sandhya Ramachandran.
Our newly designed mascot – painted by the students – makes its debut! Photo Simon Joseph.
Working on content for the magazine. Photo Maryan Captan.
Even Vampires love writing class! Photo Brittanie Sterner.
Art Class. Photo Sandhya Ramachandran.
Painting. Photo Sandhya Ramachandran
Painting. Photo Sandhya Ramachandran
Drawing. Photo Simon Joseph.
JT teaches traditional arts to the students. Photo Simon Joseph.
Beading. Photo Sandhya Ramachandran.
One of our artists shows off a sweetgrass basket in progress. Photo Sandhya Ramachandran.
Students create Halloween monsters with our resident Hair and Makeup artist Paula Cantu. Photo Jennifer Jessum.
Students help get the monsters ready for filming. Photo Mary Gleason.
Our filmmaking team rehearses a scene! Photo Sandhya Ramachandran.
Our DP Tailyn sets up a shot for the film. Photo Mary Gleason.
Our camera operator shoots the exterior scenes. Photo Sandhya Ramachandran.
Braiding the sweetgrass for our art/service project. All the sweetgrass grown and donated by our friend Vanne Mocilac! Photo Sandhya Ramachandran.
Sweetgrass braided by the students in our art/service project for Tiny and the BEARs program. Photo Maryan Captan.
Little Beau belts out a prayer song! Photo Jennifer Jessum.
Our young resident singers! Photo Sandhya Ramachandran.
Traditional drum and sticks created by the students. Photo Jennifer Jessum.
Art Walk. Photo Maryan Captan.
Final Art display for the Art Walk. Photo Jennifer Jessum.
Students check out each others work during the Art Walk. Photo Jennifer Jessum.
Winners from our September Art Contest. This month’s theme was WATER. This has been a very important topic on many fronts and the young artists had many ways to interpret the theme. Congratulations to all of the winners!
Grand Prize Winner: Denato Two Bulls, Age 16, Oelrichs School
1st Place Honors Winner: Elizabeth Iron Horn Age 13
1st Place Winner: Joey Hill, Age 11, Wolf Creek School
1st Place Winner: Shawnee White, Age 13, Little Wound School
1st Place Winner:Dionne Mesteth, Age 14, Wolf Creek School
Honorable Mention Winner: Serenity True Blood, Age 10, Wolf Creek School
Honorable Mention Winner: Chamiqua Martinez, Age 11, Anpo Wicahpi School
Honorable Mention Winner: Eliza Brien, Age 10, Wolf Creek School
Merit Award Winner: Nisa Red Cloud, Age 11, Little Wound School
Merit Award Winner: Tara Roulliard, Age 12, Alpo Wicahpi School
Merit Award Winner: Mia Grant, Age 10, Wolf Creek School
Merit Award Winner: Ohiyesa Ramirez, Age 12, Anpo Wicahpi School
Merit Award Winner: Arlen Palmier, Age 9, Wolf Creek School
Merit Award Winner: Kayla He Crow, Age 10, Wolf Creek School
Merit Award Winner: Arianna Garcia, Age 11, Anpo Wicahpi School
Merit Award Winner: Tallinn Richards, Age 10, Wolf Creek School
Merit Award Winner: Britney No Leaf, Age 18, Gordon School
Merit Award Winner: LaTonna BlueBird, Age 10, Wolf Creek School
Check out the inspirational young Sacred Hoop Runners as they run into the Oceti Sakowin Water Protectors Camp at Standing Rock!
Check out our photos from the run here:
Sharing some images from our powerful weekend with the Pine Ridge youth who ran with prayers to join the water protectors in Standing Rock.
The kids ran hard with their prayers for two days from Pine Ridge to the Protectors Camp at Standing Rock! We were hosted by Cheyenne River Tribal council, given tribal police escort through Standing Rock and were honored by a procession into camp by the Horse Riders. The whole camp went crazy as the runners and Horse Riders did the last mile into camp. People along the road all the way down cheered the runners on, Akisha-ing, LiLiLi-ing, honking horns… the drums were pounding an honoring song and the whole camp made their way over to circle up and shake the runners hands. To witness these young people receiving all of that love and support was an awe inspiring experience!
It is impossible to capture how massive the camp is and how powerful the experience is of all of these tribes and people coming together in unity to stand up for the water and the earth. This is history in the making and these young people are a vital part of that. A beautiful and empowering experience for all. Wopila to all who helped make this happen!! We are already planning another trip to bring more youth. Stay tuned for the announcements!
Beautiful photography by Simon J. Joseph. More images and video coming soon.
Mitakuye is excited to be sponsoring this prayer run from Pine Ridge to Standing Rock! The youth will run from the center of Pine Ridge reservation to Eagle Butte then on to Standing Rock and will finish at the Oceti Sakowin Camp where they will camp out and join with water protectors from tribes around the globe! We will have cameras for the youth to document their experiences and will help them edit together a short film in our fall workshop!
We will be running with special prayers for our beloved friend Tabria Red Cloud who just made her journey.
Come pray and run and be a part of this historical gathering. Runners please contact Rick Gray Grass Ricky Sage at the number listed on the flyer for details. Donations can be sent via https://mitakuyefoundation.com/donations/ (please note “Standing Rock Prayer Run”)
And big thanks to Lo Sprague and Meera LeVine for being instrumental in helping to make this happen!
