Lakota Empowerment through STEM

This solution is committed to challenge the problem we are facing with by equipping our people with the skills needed to be creative, collaborative, and empowered by the knowledge they already possess.

The solution I am proposing is to create a network of Lakota people to lead annual a service project with a tribal program to work through a STEM challenge that would support this tribal program with a solution or product. Along this process I want indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing to be at the forefront of the STEM processes we use to work through these challenges.

If this solution was scaled globally, other communities could use it to create their own empowering structure with their knowledge and community assets.

Unemployment rates in South Dakota are at and on the reservation is. Careers in STEM are on the rise and empowering our people with the skills needed will show them that they bring valuable knowledge to the field.

My solution is to show our people the power they possess to create community change with the knowledge they already have and to show the connection to other STEM processes such as engineering design process and systems thinking.

The target population is 18-30 year olds on the Rosebud Reservation. There is not many community networks for our young adults to be a part of. Many of our young people leave the reservation to get an education and come back to look for work where there are few jobs. I am hoping this solution opens up opportunities to possible jobs with our local businesses and tribal programs.

By supporting our Lakota people through a process where they can see that their traditional knowledge is being used to help support their community through a STEM process that also supports a local business or tribal program they will build an empowering network of STEM leaders.

This is a concept I have been dreaming and planning for over the last couple of years. I worked as a program associate to a youth leadership initiative in St. Paul, MN where students paired up with a local community organization or business to work with them on a community service project and loved the idea of applying STEM to this in my home community on the Rosebud reservation.