A New Mission: Education on the Rosebud Indian Reservation

Many American students begin thinking about higher education during their junior and senior years of high school. In a nation where there has been a lack of support for Native American education, a disparity noted as early as elementary school, many students often struggle to pursue a college-level degree.

Furthermore, Native American students have been found to have some of the highest high school and collegiate dropout rates, according to the National Education Association. Suspension and expulsion rates for Native students are second only to those for African Americans.

Against the backdrop of the Rosebud Reservation in Todd County, South Dakota, Brian Munoz and Holly Piepenburg take a look at the challenges that Native American adolescents face while pursuing degrees in a nation that, according to some, has failed them.