By Sammie Bordeaux
Sinte Gleska University hosted a summer computer camp in July in partnership with the University of South Dakota and EROS Data Center of Sioux Falls. This is the second year of the camp which is designed to introduce Native students to opportunities in computer science while working with tribal families in strengthening and preserving the Lakota language.
Twenty-four middle and high school students attended this year’s camp, learning to use software designed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop short animated cartoons telling stories in the Lakota language. Families participated in the camp as they could. Staff of the camp included faculty and students from both SGU and USD.
“I’m very, very pleased with the outcome of this camp,” said Ione Quigley, SGU Lakota Studies faculty member, who coordinates the camp with Dr. Asai Athaimbi at USD. “Technologically, this is very important, and we need for our younger generations to realize and use the language. The learning wasn’t just one way. The students helped us learn as well.”
Speaking in front of the students and families at the awards ceremony on July 29, Quigley encouraged the students to continue learning and developing both their projects and their fluency in their native language, saying that the experiences they gained at the GAIN-It camp would be invaluable in future endeavors and for use on their college applications and resumes.
SGU President Lionel Bordeaux also encouraged the students to continue their education, and told the group he was proud and surprised at the kind of work they were doing in the camp. “I see something here that is really our foundation and our future. The missing ingredient in what we’re trying to do with language and
technology is here with you young people. We need to do this all year round, not just once a year. We know you will continue to be a very significant part of our education for the future,” he said.
The camp is sponsored through a grant from the National Science Foundation titled “Getting American Indians to Information Technology” (GAIn-IT). The three-year grant seeks to bring more Native students into the computer science field.
The grant aims to encourage American Indians to pursue an education in Information Technology (IT) by overcoming several barriers:
• lack of opportunities to link IT to a cultural context
• lack of adequate access to higher education within the American Indian Community
• lack of background preparation including math skills
• lack of resources, especially computers, at home
• lack of career opportunities available in computing
• lack of encouragement from family and friends
• Limited faculty resources in computing at tribal institutions
Dr. Asaithambi points out the importance of bringing USD resources to the tribal community to lower the barrier for entry into the program. Here are the subprojects proposed in the grant:
• community-based summer camp for families to provide opportunities to explore context-based computing activities focused on Lakota language skills development and land resources exploration
• summer background preparation program for high school students preparing them for computing majors in college
• school-year follow-up of the summer background preparation program
• computing-major readiness program for SGU freshmen and sophomores
• distance-education and web-based USD computing courses to help SGU students complete undergraduate degrees in computing
• 3-2 B.S./M.S. transfer program in computing for SGU students
• faculty development program for SGU faculty members to obtain master’s and/or Ph.D. degrees in computing at USD
The first week of the camp concentrated on high school age students, who worked to develop their projects and learned how to use the software, Scratch, developed by MIT. The second week of the camp focused on high school students mentoring younger students in developing their own projects. The two-weeks culminated in an awards ceremony and field trip, with students receiving first, second or third place awards for their work on their projects. Students traveled to the EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls to visit the museum there and learn more about the work EROS does with satellite imaging and geolocation.
According to Dr. Asaithaimbi, the grant is designed to provide a computing-major readiness program for SGU freshmen and sophomores; distance education and Web-based USD computing courses to aid SGU students in completing their undergraduate degrees in computing; a development program for SGU faculty members to obtain a master’s degree or a Ph.D. in computing at USD; and an opportunity for SGU students to enroll as computer science majors, including a combination of SGU and USD courses, and earn both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years.
“Our goal is to increase participation of the people of the tribes in computing so that they become more self-sufficient in the long run, while providing a larger base for the future information technology workforce for the entire United States,” Asaithambi said.
SGU has one student, Bud Poor Bear, currently working toward a master’s degree in computer science at SGU and USD through the GAIn-IT grant at USD. Through the program Poor Bear takes online classes while working and teaching at SGU, receiving help through the program in the form of mentoring from USD and a scholarship to help with tuition. Poor Bear is scheduled to receive his master’s degree next year.
There will be a third year of the GAIn-IT Camp at SGU. Next year’s camp promises to be even larger, with the camp growing by 100% each year. The third year will mark the final year of the project, though Dr. Asaithambi expressed hope that another grant could help make the program go on longer.
Staff at the camp included: Dr. Assai Asaithambi, Chair of the Computer Science Department at the University of South Dakota; Ione Quigley, SGU Lakota Studies Department faculty; Kalpana Prajapati, graduate student in computer science at USD; Abul Shaifullah, graduate student in computer science at USD; Meredith Kills In Water, Lakota language mentor at SGU; Jackie White Bird, Lakota language mentor at SGU; Bud Poor Bear, graduate student in computer science at SGU/USD.
Students who won awards at the camp were:
High-School Winners:
First Place: Keith Whipple (Team of 1); Cassidy Bordeaux (Team of 1).
Second Place: Sheridan (Sinclair) Broken Leg (Team of 1); Bridget Aeschbacher, Maddison Engel, Shaydel Engel (Team of 3).
Third Place: Bradley Covey (Team of 1).
Middle-School Winners:
First Place: Grayson Bordeaux, Ryan Long Warrior (Team of 2).
Second Place: Zachary Broken Leg (Team of 1).
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