Sunday, July 06, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 351 • 13 of 29

News from the

Yankton to Pierre wagon train route released

• YANKTON, S.D. (AP) -- Organizers have chosen the route for South Dakota's 125th anniversary wagon train that will start in the Dakota Territory capital of Yankton and end at the state Capitol in Pierre.
• The trip runs Sept. 3 through Sept. 20 and averages 15 to 17 miles a day.
• The route on roads and cross country includes stops at several pastures and 13 towns, including Tabor, Scotland, Tripp, Parkston, Mitchell, Plankinton and Wessington Springs.
• Thirty-six wagons and 84 people have signed up so far.

More Native Americans join SD Teach for America
NORA HERTEL, Associated Press

• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Kiva Sam hopes to draw more Native Americans to do what she did -- return to the reservation and teach.
• The 24-year-old begins her new role this month as a recruiter for the nonprofit Teach for America in hopes of diversifying the South Dakota corps of teachers in the program.

• The Oglala Sioux member is considered a legacy corps member because a Teach for America instructor at Little Wound School on the Pine Ridge Reservation made an impact on her. Then she signed up after graduating from Dartmouth College.
• Teach For America has expanded since it entered the state in 2004. The percentage of native corps members has also gone up. In 2004, the organization had 17 teachers, 5 percent of whom identified themselves as being native. The 2014-2015 crew includes 78 teachers, about 18 percent native.
• The organization works in the state to help ease teacher shortages and the achievement gap between white and native students. It initially served the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations and has expanded to include Standing Rock and Lower Brule.
• Teach for America staff said it's important to have Native American teachers on their team. The organization launched the Native Alliance Initiative in 2010 to help

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