Seven Third Year Volunteers Look Back on Their Red Cloud Experience
posted August 09, 2016
Summer brought a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of another successful year at Red Cloud Indian School. It also turns the final page on another chapter for Red Cloud’s Volunteer Program. In June, a very special group of volunteers packed their bags and said their goodbyes—a group that had lived and worked on campus for three years, the longest volunteers are able to serve. They embraced community members, some with tears in their eyes, knowing they had reached the end of a rewarding, challenging, and momentous life experience.
“I love the students and the people who have worked and volunteered beside me have become lifelong friends,” said Brittany Weidel, who served as the high school art teacher for three years through the volunteer program. “I am not the same person I was when I first came to Red Cloud. I am so grateful for the growth I have had here.” A SUNY-Oneonta graduate with an undergraduate degree in art, Brittany is leaving Red Cloud to begin a graduate program at the New York Academy of Art.
Each year, the Red Cloud Volunteer Program welcomes as many as 24 individuals eager to serve and learn from Red Cloud’s mission. On average, only one or two volunteers in each new cohort chooses to stay for the maximum three years of service. But this year, the Red Cloud community said goodbye to an unprecedented seven third-year volunteers. For each one of the seven, the volunteer experience at Red Cloud provided a life-changing opportunity to serve the community, develop new friendships and make an extraordinary difference in the lives of Red Cloud students.
Over their three years of service, this group—like all volunteers—lived in intentional community while filling crucial positions across the Red Cloud school system. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is designated as a teacher shortage area, where access to professional teaching support is severely lacking. Only 12% of Oglala Lakota County’s adult population identifies as having bachelors degree, and volunteers play an essential role in filling the gap of qualified teachers.
A number of the group of third-year volunteers are moving on to graduate school or entering their preferred profession, but some decided that they were not ready to leave Red Cloud. Katie Montez came to Red Cloud through the Magis Catholic Teacher Corps at Creighton University which allowed her to earn her Master’s degree while teaching. While the Magis Corps only requires two years of service, Katie decided to stay for an additional third year. Now, with her third year complete, Katie has been hired on as a permanent Red Cloud staff member and will return for a fourth year this month.
Third year volunteer Rebeka Stowe, who arrived at Red Cloud in August 2013, believes it is her connection and relationship with the children that kept her here.
“What inspired me the most was my students,” said Rebeka, a graduate from Benedictine College. Rebeka started as a Kindergarten teacher in her first year and went on to became the middle school social studies teacher during her following two years of service. “Regardless of the challenges students face in their personal lives, they come here eager to learn. It is inspiring.” Like Katie, Rebeka will also remain in the Red Cloud school system next year and join Our Lady of Lourdes as a permanent teacher.
In looking back at their time on campus, each third-year volunteer recognized the extraordinary value of their service at Red Cloud. And each one believes that future volunteers will experience the deep satisfaction they felt as their term came to an end.
“Come with love, be ready to give, and look to others for support. You will find it,” shared Rebeka.
Before leaving campus for the last time to embark on a new journey in graduate school, Brittany Weidel made just one promise to new volunteers who are just beginning their term of service.
“You are in for the most enriching and incredible experience of a lifetime,” she said.
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Photos © Red Cloud Indian School