When Joanne Willis, a youth minister at Immaculate Conception Church, was inspired by a news article to conduct a mission trip to an Indian reservation a few years ago, she never intended the trip to become an annual event.
"I read an article about the Pine Ridge Reservation and thought I want to go there. When I called the reservation, they were not really in need of our assistance, but suggested I call the Redbud Reservation, and things just fell into place from there," said Willis, who traveled with a group of nine youth from the church last month for the group's third trip to the south central South Dakota reservation.
The students, along with Willis and two other adult chaperones, Randall and Cheryl Chism, made the trip to learn more about the Native American culture and assist with numerous projects at the Rosebud School. What they found though, was that they came away from the experience learning far more than they ever imagined.
"Going to Rosebud, I saw a whole different lifestyle I never thought existed. You would go for miles and not see a thing," said Leah Aldrich, a 10th-grade student at Traverse City Central High School.
"It made me feel good to help out and bring school supplies to the kids for the next school year. This trip was a real eye-opener and I'm really glad I got to have this experience," Aldrich noted.
Thirteen-year-old Kay Gray, a student at Traverse City West Junior High, echoed Aldrich's feelings.
"This trip to Rosebud was amazing, enriching and inspiring. It's one of those character-building and eye-opening experiences that everyone should do at least once," Gray said.
While everyone felt that they made a useful contribution to the reservation, the thing that is most significant in their memory is the people they met.
"The Lakota people were very generous to us. I'll never forget the Rosebud land and there will always be a little slice of it in my heart," said Traverse City West Junior High School ninth-grader, Makenzy Bullard.