Students leave classrooms for study on the Great Plains

The distance from Winona State University, across the Black Hills of South Dakota, through the plains of Nebraska, to Devils Tower, Wyoming, and then back again, is nearly 1500 miles—easily, twenty hours of solid driving.  For a group of WSU students and faculty, however, this excursion into the nation’s northern Great Plains is only part of a much larger journey.  For this group, it’s a road to learning and teaching, to knowing and understanding, which begins at Winona State, but leads to some amazing destinations not found on any map.

In fall of 2000, English professor, Rob Brault, and physical education and recreation professor, James Reidy, envisioned this journey.  It was a vision that saw beyond the four walls of the traditional classroom.  It was a vision that merged the benefits of inter-disciplinary learning and travel study.  It was a vision that encompassed their shared interest in Lakota and Cheyenne culture.  It was a vision that saw students surrounded by beautiful landscapes writing about their new experiences.  It was a vision that looked west.

The result of their vision? The Northern Great Plains Experience, a 6-credit, summer travel-study program unlike any offered at WSU.  The program, which takes students every summer on both a geographical and intellectual journey across the northern Great Plains, offers a comprehensive introduction to the natural and cultural heritage of the region.

“We present an in-depth learning opportunity for students to immerse themselves fully into the culture of the people we’re studying,” Reidy said.  “Once our group gets on the road, we’re constantly experiencing this culture in many different forms and settings.  It really is an all-day learning experience.”

Once enrolled in the program, which includes an advanced writing course and a course in leisure and different cultures, students do some serious preparing for the rigors of camping and hiking.  Beginning in March, months before the trip begins, students learn how to tie knots, what kind of clothing to wear, and what camping skills they’ll need to acquire.  There’s even a practice campout in Dr. Reidy’s backyard.  Throughout this prep time, students read books, write papers, and participate in discussions about the culture of the people and land they’ll visit.

All this advanced preparation and study is vital, Brault said, for the success of the travel program.

“Once we hit the road, we don’t want students worried about camping logistics or textbooks.  We want the learning to be experiential, what they can only learn on the road,” Brault said.  “The learning has to be active.  During the preparation time, students develop something specific they want to accomplish, some goal they want to achieve, something particular they want to study. There’s a great degree of ownership in this kind of learning.  Students own this experience.  It’s theirs.”

Brault illustrated this kind of learning by contrasting the structure of the Northern Great Plains program with traditional classes. 

“In a regular classroom, students have very little in common when the course starts.  In our program, by the time we’re on the road,” Brault said, “students have already read so much about the places they’ll be traveling, and the culture they’ll be immersed in, that they have so much to say, so much they want to learn, and so much in common.”

Another important factor for the success of this program is the group dynamic. 

“Our program works best with small groups,” Reidy said, “so our enrollment is limited to 16 students because a larger group disrupts students’ ability to learn from the people and places we visit.  Tent partnerships and rotating camp duties keep the group dynamic changing, so students are engaging in different activities with different people.  We make sure all the students interact with each other, and we do it daily.  It really fosters interdependence.”

What do the students who make this journey think of their experience? Jenni Pachan, a WSU public relations major, said she was looking for more excitement in her education, and the Northern Great Plains Experience seemed like a good opportunity.

“I was getting burnt out in the classrooms,” Pachan said. “I needed to do something different to spark my interest in learning again.  This course really changed the way I think about learning.  Standing at the exact place where the Massacre of Wounded Knee took place more than one hundred years ago required more than just memorizing a date and some names; it really helped me to understand.  The words printed in a textbook about the battle are empty and forgettable compared to the experience of being there.  I won’t remember the printed words in the books, but I will remember the way I felt standing outside of that graveyard.”

Cindy Putzier, a non-traditional student who wanted to improve her writing and study skills but worried that the writing course might be too demanding, felt the program was surprisingly effective.

“To my surprise the writing has proven to be a challenge, but one that I seem to want very much to pursue.  I felt like this journey was one in which I gained far more knowledge than I thought possible,” Putzier said.  “Part of our class assignment was to keep a journal while on this trip.  One of my concerns was that I would not find enough to write about.  It turned out in the end the problem was not the lack of ideas, but not having enough time to write them all down.”

Perhaps a good indication of the positive impact the Northern Great Plains Experience has on student learning was expressed by Bucky Flores, a WSU therapeutic recreation major.  Flores said that he’s gained a better understanding, not just of the cultures throughout the northern Great Plains, but of his own culture at home.

“I have a heightened awareness of what’s going on around me: the weather, the actions of people, the understanding of diverse ideas on a common topic, and my own reflection on how to form my own ideas and arguments.  I’ve gained a lot of personal realization and self determination from this trip.”

Flores said the kind of learning he experienced during the twelve-day journey was intense and ongoing. 

And it was unforgettable.

“We literally had a twenty-four hour a day learning experience where everything we encountered, from waves of grass in the wind, trucks over-turned on the highway, and discussions with local experts, were the lesson plan.  The trip portion of the course has ended, but the learning has not.  I don’t know that it ever will.”

The geographical and intellectual journey across the northern Great Plains, offers a comprehensive introduction to the natural and cultural heritage of the region. The Northern Great Plains logo is derived from a medicine wheel developed by the Lakota People at the beginning of their time. It represents the term “Mitakuye Oyasin” or “all things are related.”

The design outside the circle denotes that the medicine wheel is dynamic not static, it moves. It moves with other constellations and stars in the universe. The Lakotas like to refer to this movement with other constellations and stars as a dance.