Sapa Un Catholic Academy is home to 40 Lakota students on the Rosebud Lakota Reservation. In August, it commenced its fourth year of a comprehensive and holistic approach to growing students and supporting their families.
The co-ed school enrolls students in kindergarten and provides a nurturing space for educational advancement through grade 12. While Sapa Un’s ultimate goal is to prepare students for college, the cross-curriculum emphasis on critical subjects, native tongue, and Catholic faith.
As students are mastering reading, critical thinking, and writing, they are infused with the Lakota language. By the time they graduate, they are prepared, faithful well-rounded learners who are fluent in the Lakota language.
Under St. Francis Mission’s Education program, the Academy instills the Catholic faith into the children. Every week, the children are guided to develop and enhance the knowledge and practice of the faith. After-school programs are available for students to deepen their faith and understand God’s love and forgiveness. By preparing the youth for baptism, communion and the reconciliation, the Mission hopes to provide hope and strength to see past their circumstances so that they can achieve a healthy faith-filled future.
Sapa Un annually evaluates the performance of its students, faculty, staff, and parent-volunteers in the areas of: academic excellence, professionalism, moral uprightness, school stewardship, sobriety, and participation in Church life. The Academy uses the evaluations to assess its’ standing of its mission as a Jesuit-Lakota school of excellence and the impact of the school’s programs on student’s academic success.
