The Oglala Lakota College/ Cheyenne River College Center honored 70 Cheyenne River Lakota Elders over age 70 who are fluent Lakota language speakers. This event took place at the Oglala Lakota College Auditorium on June 19, 2015 at 3:00 p.m.
At the honoring, the elders received a plaque with the engraving “Preserver of Language”. The elders also received a $100 honorarium for attending.
The college came up with the idea to honor the elders as preservers of the language, focusing on those over 70 years of age who had experienced first hand boarding school mistreatment for speaking the Lakota Language.
According to Dave West, Cheyenne River College Center Director, the college worked with the CRST Cultural Preservation and identified 107 elders across the reservation who were fluent language speakers. West said they drove out and met with all 107 elders and extended them invitations to come to the honoring.
“It took two weeks to complete the visits,” said West.
After the honoring, West said that he received positive feedback from those that were honored.
“It felt good to be able to honor them,” said West.
Leave a Reply