Wolakota Waldorf Society

Giving Tuesday is our biggest fundraiser of the year!

The Lakota Waldorf School (LWS) provides a tuition-free education for Grades K-8th, for children living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

As a tuition-free school, we believe every child deserves access to a high-quality education, regardless of their family’s financial circumstances. We rely entirely on donations and grants to fund our programs and operations. LWS receives no federal funding and does not charge tuition or fees to parents.

Founded in 1993, LWS honors Lakota culture and language while blending it with the holistic principles of Waldorf education. These are our programs

Why Support the Lakota Waldorf School?

The Lakota Waldorf School is more than an educational institution; it is a community-driven movement dedicated to preserving the Lakota language, values, and traditions while fostering academic excellence. By supporting LWS, you are investing in programs that make a difference.

1. Waldorf Education Curriculum

Our experiential and age-appropriate pedagogy nurtures the whole child – head, heart, and hands. Early childhood classes foster creativity through storytelling, art, and nature-based play.

2. Lakota Language and Culture Program

The heart of LWS is our commitment to language and cultural preservation. We provide immersive instruction through interactive dialogue and culturally rich activities. From morning smudging rituals to seasonal powwows, children learn to honor their ancestors and embrace their identity.

3. Healthy Meal Program

For many of our students, meals at LWS are their primary source of nutritious food. Supported by our school garden, this program not only feeds our children but also teaches sustainable practices and food self-sufficiency.

4. School Gardening

Our garden is a vibrant part of our curriculum and community. Students learn to grow and harvest vegetables, which are then used in our Healthy Meal Program.

5. Bee Keeping

Through our beekeeping program, our students care for our school’s hives and gain hands on experience in bee keeping.

6. LWS Eco-Friendly Practices

At LWS, every day is Earth Day. Our campus is a model of sustainability, with eco-friendly initiatives like composting, recycling, organic gardening, and the use of non-toxic building materials.

7. Juvenile Detention Center Education Program

Our Juvenile Detention center education program offers incarcerated youths a chance to reconnect with their culture, build life skills, and envision a brighter future.

How to Donate:

Visit our secure donation page at https://lakotawaldorfschool.org/donations/ to make a one-time or recurring gift.

Lakota Waldorf School

112 Wanbli Wakita Canku Dr,

P.O. Box 527,

Kyle, SD 57752

Contact Us

To learn more or donate, visit lakotawaldorfschool.org or call (605) [phone redacted].

Together, we can preserve the Lakota language and culture while building strong, resilient futures for our children.

We are thrilled to announce our pow wow on September 20th, marking our second event dedicated to celebrating Unci Maka (Mother Earth).

In 2019, we hosted our first zero-waste pow wow to raise awareness for climate change. We are excited to continue this tradition and to honor the land and our culture with the same commitment to environmental sustainability.

This year, we are committed to respecting our Unci Maka by discouraging the use of single-use plastics. We are encouraging all guests to bring their own reusable dishes and water bottles to help us achieve our goal of a zero-waste event.

Because our organization is funded through donations, we need your support to make this vision a reality. We are raising funds to cover essential expenses: flyers for promotion of the event, materials for our students to create their own regalia, food for 300 guests, and custom pow wow t-shirts.

Dancing has always been, and continues to be, an essential part of our culture. It plays a vital role in our school by boosting our students’ self-esteem and deepening their connection to their heritage. Dance brings joy and pride into our lives, and we strongly encourage our students to join the pow wow club, Teca Wacipi Okolakiye.

For our students, this pow wow is a time to showcase the regalia they made with the help of our teachers and embrace their culture.

By donating, you are helping us create a space where culture, community, and environmental awareness exist in harmony.

Our ultimate goal is to host a successful gathering that not only celebrates our traditions but also sets an example for future events. We aim to emphasize the importance of sustainability by honoring our Unci Maka and keeping the Lakota culture alive by weaving it into the lives of our children.

Your support is essential in helping us bring our powwow to life. Wopila (thank you) for standing with us!

Your past support of the Lakota Waldorf School has made a world of difference in the lives of the Lakota children, their families, and our community, for which we are extremely grateful.

Will you give today to help ensure these children continue to be empowered to create positive futures?

This year we celebrated our 30th anniversary. As a tuition-free Waldorf School, the generous support over the years from donors like you has been critical—allowing us to add additional grades, develop a strong Lakota culture and language program, provide healthy meals and snacks, and integrate environmental sustainability and compassion for the earth into

every aspect of the school’s operations. This momentum continues. Just this year, we also started a new Juvenile Detention Center Education Program to provide incarcerated tribal

juveniles with access to quality education tailored to their needs and interests.

And we were thrilled to open our new campus building, meeting an urgent need for a permanent space to serve students and support our community. It has been brought to life this fall with the children’s laughter, songs, energy, and creativity.

All of these successes have only been possible thanks to our friends and

supporters.

However, the need is ongoing. Our new building is proving to be a wonderful learning environment, but it has required tremendous time and financial resources. The cost of providing our Healthy Meal Program, the only source of nutritious food for some students, has gone up due to inflation and supply issues. Furthermore, not only are we a tuition-free school, we do not receive government or state funding. Your support, therefore, is crucial.

Your gift to our Annual Campaign will ensure that the important programs and services provided by the Lakota Waldorf School continue.

Our mission to support education is at a critical juncture, and we're reaching out to you for help. By the end of 2023, we aim to secure $35,000 to sustain the essential elements of our educational program. This funding will ensure that we can continue providing school supplies, essential equipment, nutritious meals for our students, and keep our school buses running. Your generous contribution will directly impact the educational experience of these students, fostering a positive and conducive learning environment. Together, we can make a lasting difference in their lives. Join us in this important cause, and let's reach our goal together!

Your gift this year will directly help to empower Lakota children and our community. We believe that the Lakota people’s strength and future rest on the continued teaching of our language and sacred values. Through culturally-relevant Waldorf education, your gift will provide the academic, social, and practical skills that will empower Lakota children to build a positive future for themselves, our community, and the wider world. It will support community outreach activities that educate families on problems critical to our future as the Lakota people. It truly will make a world of difference.

On behalf of our students and the Lakota Waldorf School community, pilauŋyayapi (We thank you all).

Isabel Stadnick, LWS Administrator

P.S. If you are able, please consider a recurring monthly donation to provide consistent and reliable support for the Lakota Waldorf School’s programs all year long.

Give online at https://lakotawaldorfschool.org/donations/ and choose the recurring donation option!

With a united heart, we come together on behalf of our students to ask you to support our all-important Annual Campaign for $30,000.

What will your gift support? It will help bring our unique and culturally relevant programs and activities (shown on the right) to children, Grades K-8, living on one of the poorest Indian reservations in this country.

What makes our school unique? Lakota Waldorf (LW) provides a unique learning environment – one that weaves together the age-appropriate pedagogy of a “Waldorf Education Curriculum” with a “Lakota Language and Culture Program.” In addition, LW is the only Waldorf school in North America located on a Native American reservation (the Oglala Sioux Tribe).

Founded in 1993 with only one kindergarten class, Lakota Waldorf now serves Grades K-8 with the programs and activities needed to fulfill our mission – to provide an education that prepares our students for the ever-growing complexity of the 21st century while also strengthening their cultural identity and native language skills.

Here are highlights of how the Lakota Waldorf School integrates its programs and supporting activities:

Please know that your gift is all-important. Why? Because Lakota Waldorf is a tuition-free school. The grants we receive only cover approximately 60% of our operating expenses. For the remaining 40%, we put our faith in the generosity of individuals like you from around the world who believe in our work.

Thank you ahead for making as meaningful a gift as you can. Truly, we are deeply grateful for every donation given to our Annual Campaign goal of $30,000.

Pilauŋyayapi (We thank you all),

The Lakota Waldorf School Teachers & Staff

This spring, signs of vibrant life abound at the Lakota Waldorf School. Seeds sown by students in late winter are thriving and will be planted out soon, the garlic planted in the fall is well on its way to its summer harvest, and we recently welcomed our first bees to the garden. Your continued support makes all this dynamic growth possible.

Just as life bursts forth each spring after rest and inward focus over the winter, so does the culture of the Lakota children and our community revitalize and flourish through the integration of Waldorf education and our Lakota Language and Culture Program. As the only school in the US to provide this opportunity, we continually work to strengthen cultural identity and build the foundation for Lakota language fluency. Not only do we engage students in arts and crafts like beadwork and flute playing, native sports like archery, and Lakota stories and myths, this focus on the Lakota culture shows up throughout the school day in many other ways, such as smudging with sage and singing traditional songs.

The language program is of particular importance, as our language is truly our people's culture and spirit. We are striving to rebuild fluency and revitalize this key part of our culture, which is currently classified by UNESCO as a language vulnerable to extinction.

Wacipi, or the pow wow dance, is yet another way we celebrate both the Lakota culture and our students. The photo above shows our students duri. Alexandra Hunter, a 4th-5th grade teacher, shares below how meaningful this is for the students and the future of our community.

Your gift will ensure this flourishing of Lakota culture will continue. Your support not only helps to revitalize the culture of our students and community, it is also crucial to continuation of the many other programs and services we provide, such as our organic gardening program, bus transportation, nutritious meals, quality education for incarcerated individuals through the Juvenile Detention Center Education Program, in-house indigenous Waldorf teach training, and comprehensive Waldorf education for grades K-8.

As a tuition-free school, your support is crucial and tremendously appreciated. This spring, we aim to raise $15,000 to ensure the continuation of these important services and the empowerment of Lakota children and our community. With your support, the many seeds that have already been planted will continue to grow, thrive, and develop their full potential.

On behalf of our students and the Lakota Waldorf School community, pilauŋyayapi (We thank you all).

Isabel Stadnick, Lakota Waldorf School Administrator

P.S. If you are able, please consider a recurring monthly donation to provide consistent and reliable support for the Lakota Waldorf School’s programs all year long. Give online and choose the recurring donation option!

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Just one example of how your support makes a world of difference: Teca Wacipi Okolakiciye

By 4th-5th grade teacher Alexandra Hunter

As part of revitalizing our culture here at Lakota Waldorf Owayawa (school), we find it important to immerse the culture around our children throughout all the aspects of their lives that we have access to.

Thankfully, we are a member of the Teca Wacipi Okolakiciye (TWO), an organization founded 50 years ago for school children to learn wacipi (pow wow dance). Each school on the Pine Ridge Reservation strives to participate at Teca Wacipi Okolakiciye and host an annual pow wow at their school, to which all other schools’ dance club members travel.

Before the pandemic, wacipi was used as a social gathering, and ceremonies would be held at some wacipi, such as the naming ceremony, hunka (making of relatives), etc.

Taking a look back into history, when the abolishment of Native Americans was in the process, our ancestors had many things taken away from them, wacipi being one. I cannot say for what reason they (white people) were afraid of the things my ancestors did other than just not knowing or understanding another culture. So out of this fear, the natives were stripped from anything that tied them to the culture. Dancing and singing is a huge part of any Native American’s way of life. That’s how we celebrated, whether it was a big or small accomplishment, the successor would bust out some moves or let out a loud “akisha” or “lili.” Singing is also very important to our way of life because it is a way of sending our voices, prayers, and thoughts to Creator.

In present days, wacipi is a big celebration—some in celebration of when they got to have their first public pow wows, some in memory of family members, and some to celebrate the people in the place where the wacipi is held.

With the Lakota Waldorf School's pow wow club, it is amazing that the children be recognized and celebrated, because in our culture the "wakayeja,” the children, are most sacred and closest to Wakan Tanka, the big Mystery (sacred being). We here at Lakota Waldorf Owayawa make it a point to have all of our students involved. If they dance, want to learn, or have not had the opportunity to grow up in the culture, we are sure to make it happen for them.