University of South Dakota Native Student Services

We had a good time celebrating the 52nd Annual Wacipi and the 14th Native Alumni Dinner in early April. Shout out to Tiospaye Student Council for all their work in planning. This year’s board included Co-Presidents, Taya YellowMule and Melody Scott; Vice President, Jeslyn Deserly; Secretary Trinity Kull; Treasurer Cristina Harlan; Marketing Chair Anessa Morales; and Wacipi Chair Angel Vazquez. Student and Faculty Advisors were Collette Bowman, Christian Skunk, Dr. Megan Red Shirt-Shaw, Brooke Jackson, and John Little. Thanks to Trista Mooney Photography for taking the photographs!

Congratulations to these incredible Native student leaders who were all recognized today at the Coyote Excellence Awards for their importance contributions to campus

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Thanks to all who attended the 14th annual Native Alumni Dinner! We celebrated the 60th anniversary of the USD Upward Bound program and heard from keynote speakers Charles “Chuck” Swick ’71 (Oglala Lakota) and Charlie Luecke ’11.

Congratulations to USD alumni Elizabeth Cook-Lynn in memorial, as well as Ashlan, Marvin, & Josie - all USD & USD bound athletes - for these recognitions!

Tiospaye Student Council is excited to announce the co-keynotes, Chuck Swick and Charlie Luecke, for the USD's 52nd Annual Wacipi & 14th Annual Alumni Dinner on Friday, April 10th at 6:00 PM in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion, South Dakota!

This year’s Native alumni dinner theme celebrates the 60th Anniversary of the USD Upward Bound Program that was founded on campus in 1966. Chuck served as the Director of Upward Bound for 37 years and was also in the inaugural 1966 Upward Bound class. Charlie served first as Assistant Director and then Director of Upward Bound for 34 years.

We hope to see you there!

We’d like to thank Brave Heart Society for a wonderful day at Waterlily Storytelling Institute learning about pte oyate 🦬♥️

Hey Victor! See you tonight at *Free Movie Monday* Smoke Signals?

7 PM • COYOTE TWIN • FREE SMALL 🍿 & 🥤

Congrats to Laurel Ketelhut (Sicangu) '20 and Adam Pearson on receiving awards for the Sungmanitu: The Wilderness Dog video! Here is the full description: USD received two awards at the 2026 American Advertising Federation - South Dakota Awards, which recognizes advertising campaigns developed by organizations across the state. Congratulations to Laurel Ketelhut, digital content producer at USD, and Adam Pearson, photographer at USD, on their work being nominated for a Gold AAA Award in Film, Video and Sound; they were honored with Best in Class in the category and received the Mosaic Award. You can watch the award-winning video, "Sungmanitu: The Wilderness Dog | Behind The Helmet,” on USD’s YouTube channel.

Sungmanitu: The Wilderness Dog | Behind The Helmet From the translation, to the design, to the voices that helped bring it to life, this is a story of culture and pride.The Sungmanitu helmet was created in co...

From the participation to the donations to the kind words, every bit of support made an impact. The Early Scholars Program thanks YOU! ❤️