By Vince Gallagher, Ateyapi Program Director

The Ateyapi Abstinence Program is an after school program whose objective is to promote sexual abstinence until marriage. The program is geared towards 5th to 8th graders in the Rapid City school system. The program employs 4 mentors, all who very knowledgeable regarding Lakota culture. These mentors spend time in the Rapid City school system assisting teachers and counselors with students that may be struggling.

The Ateyapi Abstinence Program’s mission statement is “Mentoring through Cultural Perspectives”. In January the program started implementing bison meat into the after school meal we serve the students. The program has partnered with the Intertribal Bison Cooperative to help provide nutritious, healthy bison meals.

The Ateyapi Program mentors teach the students beadwork, silversmithing, Lakota language, hand games and hand game songs. We also strive to teach Lakota values as a way of life. Also, taught with the permission of the parents are sexual abstinence classes. The classes give the students the message to wait for sexual activity until marriage. One very important message we stress is that it is OK to be native, and to be proud of who you are. The mentors impress on the students to never forget their culture.

The program encourages students to strive for good grades and consistent school attendance. This is important to ensure that the students feel that good grades are important….as is attendance. The Ateyapi mentors stress the importance of an education and of being a good student. Incentives for good grades and attendance are rewarded.

The Ateyapi program has been in existence for ten plus years. Ateyapi translates to mean “fatherhood” in Lakota, The program was originally started to decrease the drop out rate in the school system. It eventually evolved into being what it is today through federal funding. We are currently on the final year of our grant. The program welcomes volunteers and assistance to ensure the future of our youth and the future of our culture. In working and partnering with IDEA we hope to educate our students on the benefits of a healthy diet. Our thinking is that with the high rate of diabetes and heart disease in the native population, we have a good target audience for change. The future looks promising in changing the eating habits of the youth we serve. With the help of IDEA the health outlook for native youth is promising.

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