SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – Students at Washington High School are reminding people that Native American culture can be celebrated any day of the year. The school’s Okichiyapi Club spent this morning setting up a tipi outside of the building.
Students used rope to tie the tipi cover to its poles. Lacing pins are then threaded through part of the tipi cover. Okichiyapi is a Lakota word that means to help one another.
“I feel like a lot of people forget that Native Americans still exist around the community and that we’re still like here, we still do things to embrace our culture,” WHS student Rosalia Szameit said.
The club sets up the tipi every year in honor of Native American Day.
“It is for Native Americans to show our culture, but it is also for all different kinds of races and nationalities to help set us up or to just see how Native Americans express how they used to live in our ancestors,” WHS student Gracie Lee said.
They also hosted several other events throughout the week including a Native American dance and a dream-catcher workshop.
Native American Day is October 14th.
