Lakota Nation Education Conference announces speakers

RAPID CITY—There is an impressive lineup of speakers at the 2022 Lakota Nation Education Conference (LNEC) being held in Rapid City at the Ramkota Inn December 14-17. In its 44th year, the Lakota Nations Education  Conference has been offering quality educational training to Teachers, Parents, Paraprofessionals, Administration,
School Boards, and all staff that serve Native American students.

The conference staff feel strongly that the needs of the “whole child” must be met. In an attempt to assist with this, LNEC will offer Trauma training. In addition, LNEC will be offering a variety of sessions dealing with all needs of  the child.

The conference begins with a Pre-conference with two parts- A and B. Part A is School Funding and Finance with  experts from Washington DC and the State of South Dakota. Part B is School Choice and Options. Presenters will address the interest in different school options available.
Bus Driver Training is back! LNEC works with Western Dakota Tech to training. Participants will receive training and the written test for achieving a CDL. Plans will be made with the participant to complete the driving test in the required 14 day waiting period. This training is held at the Western Dakota Campus. Transportation can be provided from the Ramkota to the Campus each morning. Lunch is provided by the conference, and will be served in the classroom. Transportation can be provided back to the Ramkota Inn at the end of the day. Full attendance is required at this training.

LNEC also offers specific training for School Boards and Administration. Also training in Federal and State Programs, and this year we include Secretarial training to our list.

Every effort is made to research and address the current needs of all parents and school staff. The coordinators of this conference, with over 50 years of combined experience, welcome advice and input as to the best topics to address each year.

Unfortunately, the pandemic is still with us. As part of the efforts to keep everyone safe, the LNEC are encouraging all participants to wear masks at the conference and practice social distancing when possible.
Masks will be provided by the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Health Board.

Billy Mills and Levi Horn will be speaking at the conference.

William “Billy” Mills, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, was born in Pine Ridge and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Orphaned at age 12, he took up running and set records in numerous track events during high school at the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kan., a former residential boarding school for Native American children now known as Haskell Indian Nations University. He earned a track scholarship to the University of Kansas, where he excelled in cross country. He became a three-time NCAA All-American Cross-country recipient and won the individual title at the Big Eight cross-country championship in 1960. After graduating, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 1962 to 1965. Mills was largely unknown in the running world when he qualified for the 1964 Summer Olympics. His competition included Ron Clarke of Australia, who was the world record holder at the time. At those games, Mills became the first, and remains the only, gold medalist from the U.S. in the 10,000-meter run. His winning time of 28:24.4 was almost 50 seconds faster than he had run before and set a new Olympic record for the event. Mills later set U.S. records for the 120,000-meter run and the three-mile run. He and fellow American Gerry Lindgren both broke the six-mile run world record in 1965, when they finished in a tie at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Championships. He is an author, public speaker, and co-founder of the non-profit Running Strong for American Indian Youth.

The South Dakota Science Teachers Association (SDSTA) honored SDPB’s Education Specialist Steven “Science Steve” Rokusek with its 2019 Friend of Science Award during its annual conference in Huron in February.

As Education Specialist, Rokusek works to provide PBS and SDPB resources to South Dakota’s PreK-12 educators, routinely provides science teaching demonstrations at conferences and in-services throughout the state, and maintains close contact with teachers and others to build and navigate SDPB’s educational resources. “The SDSTA is an amazing organization of science educators dedicated to the advancement of science education in South Dakota,” says Rokusek. “I’m proud to be part of this remarkable group of educators and humbled that I’ve been selected for this award. I’ve always enjoyed science and have never considered science education as a ‘job.’ For me, it is a privilege to share my love of science with others.”

Thank you, SDSTA, and congratulations, Steve!

We are honored to have Steve join us every year to offer his passion and love of Science to students and adults.
Former NFL athlete Levi Horn (Northern Cheyenne) will be one of the speakers at this year’s 2019 Lakota Nations Education Conference. He was the keynote speaker at the 6th Annual WSU Native Youth Sports Summit.
Horn emphasized to the audience the importance of making good choices, setting goals, and being resilient. Making it to the NFL was not easy.

Horn had the size and ability from a young age to be an amazing football player. In middle school, he was 6’4” and 240 pounds – too big to play football against other kids his age.

At the beginning of his high school football career at Rogers High School in Spokane, he was nearly kicked off the football team because of the bad decisions he was making at the time. Horn told the group he had a friend who was dragging him down.

“A decision I made in the ninth grade not to kick it with him anymore changed my life,” said Horn. His high school coach could already see his potential and told him if he wanted to play in the NFL, he needed to make better choices. Horn said he decided, “I choose football.”

However, even with his size and evident talent, Horn lacked the confidence to think he could pursue a career in football. Negative people around him did not help.

“I’ve had a lot of people tell me I couldn’t make it. And I believed them,” said Horn.

One pivotal night, though, he received a recruitment call from Minot State in North Dakota. Horn remembered thinking it was his friends playing a prank on him. The coach managed to convince him it was for real, telling him, “Levi, you’re going to play college football somewhere and we want it to be here.”

“That moment changed my future because I never thought I was going to go to college,” said Horn.
At one point when he was at “rock bottom” as a freshman at Oregon, Horn said he started praying. His prayer was something along the lines of:
“Creator, if you get me to the NFL, I will do whatever you want,” said Horn.

Well, he got to the NFL, and it appears the Creator wanted to continue to use him to inspire youth. He is currently finishing his education, working as a substance abuse counselor, and traveling the nation sharing his journey with Native youth.

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