Oglala Sioux

Pine Ridge, South Dakota

64 years old

I would like to participate in the Alcatraz Swim to become more healthy in my eating and exercising habits. During the week I would like to learn more about eating habits. I give up carbs but go back to old eating and cooking habits.
I am a cancer survivor. I gave up sugar and carbs but as time goes on, I am slowly letting them back into my diet.
The learning I would like to bring back to my family and community: we have many issues with eating that need to be taught, including in our schools; they only feed processed food now.
Our community members live on junk food, processed foods and pop. Nobody knows how to cook fresh foods.
My team is committed to learning more about eating well-balanced foods, getting in shape, and healthy life styles. We talk about it but need to learn more on how to make it a habit.
My team is committed to the week and to the year following the swim goals:
Lose weight—-50 lbs.
Exercise 6 days a week for 60 min a day.
Eat healthy nutritional foods.

Oglala Sioux

Pine Ridge, South Dakota

45 years old

MSA, Pine Ridge, South Dakota

I, Lyle Pilcher, would love to participate in PATHSTAR because diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, and obesity run in my family. I need to learn more about living healthy and learning to live a healthy life style.

During the week I am there i would like to learn to eat healthy and learn to look at what’s healthy and what isn’t.

The things I would like to bring back are to maintain the healthy life style I was taught and how to shop for healthy food and a great exercise. I would be very pleased to share everything I can to together so more people can understand the options out there if they are educated on how to shop and what to look for.

I commit to eating more healthy and maintaining everyday nutrition with exercise to maintain a good weight.
Goals:
Eating more green vegetables
Exercise daily
Quit drinking sweet drinks, including fruit drinks
Lose 50 lbs

Oglala Lakota

Pine Ridge, South Dakota

24 years old

Phlebotomist, IHS Hospital, Pine Ridge, South Dakota

Participating in the PATHSTAR Alcatraz swim will allow me to explore the strengths of my physical and mental health. I think it would be a great experience and opportunity for my teammates and myself to challenge ourselves and take the knowledge we gain back home.

During the week, I would like to learn more about the history of Alcatraz and proper ways to promote and live out healthy, active lifestyles.

The learning I’d like to bring back home to my own life is being able to commit to a physically and mentally healthy life. By proving to myself that our minds and body are capable of doing things I viewed as too big of a challenge, I can be more open and less fearful of change.

The learning I’d like to bring back to share with my family and friends is that anything is possible. Whenever you set a goal and commit and work hard, you can do anything. Challenging myself physically and mentally, and completing Alcatraz swim and overcoming the challenges it gives me, will show people that they can too.

Describe your team’s commitment to this experience during the year following Alcatraz Swim Week…
After Alcatraz Swim Week, my team will come together to promote not only PATHSTAR, but positive, healthy, active lifestyles. We are very strong willed and are great at promoting healthy lifestyles by living them the best way we know. By gaining more knowledge on healthier ways to live, I know we will do our best in sharing that within our community.

Three goals I will commit to in participating in the PATHSTAR program are:
Challenging myself more
Committing to being more active and making a full effort to eat healthier
I also will commit to sharing everything I will learn from this experience with my family and community members so they can make the changes they need to better their lives

Oglala Sioux

Pine Ridge, South Dakota

36 years old

Lakota Immersion Teacher/Trainer, Thunder Valley/Red Cloud School, Pine Ridge, South Dakota

I’d like to participate in at the PATHSTAR Alcatraz swim week because… I have heard it is an amazing experience, and I have personally been affected by the stories and experiences of friends and family. I have seen and witnessed the change in them and I would like to also experience this and be a part of the change for our Oglala lakota people.

During the week, I’d like to learn more about… meal prep, how to cook with natural herbs and spices, healthy meals kids would enjoy and anything that will impact my life in a heathy way.

The learning I’d like to bring back home to apply in my own life is… Being able to keep a good routine in healthy eating. I would love to be so disciplined and be able to set an example for my children and for the community to teach the things I have learned.

The learning I’d like to bring back to share with y family and community is… the options of foods, the routines of exercise, the education on what is healthy for us mentally and physically.

My team and I plan on continuing the things we have learned in community. We want to spread the knowledge and be the example. We all work in schools and we are always striving to do better in our lives personally and physically. I believe we can make a huge impact not only in our community but across the reservations and Lakota Country.

Three goals I will commit to in participating in the PATHSTAR program are:
1) Being dedicated to learning and taking notes and journaling my experience,
so that I can always go back to it and vamp up the experience.
2) Giving my 100% everyday, knowing that quitting is not an option.
3) Being a team player and helping as much as I can.

Oglala Lakota

Pine Ridge, South Dakota

42 years old

Oglala Lakota

Pine Ridge, South Dakota

39 years old

Nurse Aid, Wolf Creek School Elementary School

Hi! My name is Bessie LeBeau. I am 39 years young. I am the mother to 5 beautiful sweethearts; Leannah (20), Angelina (14), Jewella (13), Joaquin (11), Kendall (8). I was a participant of PATHSTAR in 2018.

My interest in participating in PATHSTAR (again) is that I fell in love with the program and what it was about. In all hostel, when I first applied I was scared…of everything about PATHSTAR. Once I got into the program, met the people behind PATHSTAR and heard the history of how PATHSTAR came to life, it got my love. I am a very passionate person. i love meeting new people and learning new things. I believe life is a journey of learning, loving, and living.

Both of my paternal grandparents lived to their mid 90’s. My grandfather passed away in 1995—he ws 95. My grandmother passed away 2 weeks after we got back from PATHSTAR last year—she was 95. She was so proud of me, after she told me I was crazy for swimming in the ocean. When i got back she gave me a big hug and said, “I’m glad the sharks didn’t get you.” She was quite the jokester.

Last year during PATHSTAR we learned about healthy cooking, meal prep, calorie counting and protein intake for weight loss. Although it worked for me during the week, I was unable to take this to my home and follow due to financial difficulties. In South Dakota it is cheaper and easier to be unhealthy and eat unhealthy than to be healthy. Just recently PATHSTAR has implemented another piece to the program that has helped me make better eating choices. I received a gift card to buy healthy foods. It was great! I was so excited being able to shop for healthy foods! Once I started cooking, my husband showed an interest in the foods I was eating. Actually, my whole family started showing an interest. I was intrigued. I honestly didn’t think they would be interested in it. I am super excited to start making healthy foods for my family to see how they react!

The food prepping and cooking is what I would like to apply more of when i return from PATHSTAR. I found it considerably difficult to want to try to change my lifestyle (of healthy eating) when i was by myself on it. I tried talking to my family about helping me change but my family wouldn’t budge. I feel that if I have my husband with me during PATHSTAR he will gain the knowledge and importance of preparing food and making healthy choices.
Being a part of PATHSTAR makes me want to do more for my community. I look around and think about the food choices we have and they are limited to greasy, fatty fast food: Taco John’s, Pizza Hut, various cafe’s…. My dream is to open a small grocery store/deli that we could prep small meals and have protein/calorie counts on them and people could buy them for their meals/snacks. Personally, the hardest part if doing the prep. If we had someplace that did all the work for us it would make it more convenient: maybe we would be less likely to make bad food choices.

Diabetes runs rampant in my husband’s family. I worry about him and our kids because if it runs in his family then our kids are likely to have it. I would like to live to the age of my grandparents. I would like my kids to live to that age as well. I want us to live successful in that endeavor.

The three goals I am committed to are:
1) Eating 4-5 vegetables daily
2) Eating adequate protein
3) I will learn and apply (to daily meals) a healthy caloric intake

Already so many people have expressed interest to me after reading about my experience in the newspaper and i have told them what a wonderful opportunity it is to be a part of PATHSTAR. Like Nancy says, “who’s meant to be there will be there.”

Woplia tanka!

Auburn, California

51 years old

Lifestyle coach, nutrition specialist, Chapa-De Indian Health

It’s December 12, 2018. at the clinic where I work, Chapa-De Indian Health. We had Aftercore, a monthly meeting with American Indians and their support people. It was a different gathering, one during which we would pay special attention to some of our community members. Each of them had spent a week in San Francisco, California with Dr. Nancy Iverson and her team. The energy in that room, the hope, the laughs, the strength, the emotions, I am so thankful to have been part of that night. We discussed KC’s, Michelle’s, Tahvooche’s, Carol’s, Sylvia’s, Donna’s, and Val’s participation with PATHSTAR. I had written letters of recommendation for several of the participants, and Chapa-De Indian Health had received a glass blown sea star earlier. That night it was ending, it seemed. But nothing is farther from the truth. It was just starting. The 2018 participants are working on their health, exercising regularly, losing weight, eating better, changing their future for themselves and the people around them, including my own. 

Two years into my job at Chapa-De I was introduced to PATHSTAR. Kristen was going to participate with two of her patients. She didn’t know how to swim and had avoided swimming her whole life. Over the next 2 years other participants followed and the PATHSTAR team asked if any of the lifestyle coaches were interested.  2018 came around and I had followed KC’s and Tahvooche’s journey from up close. It brought them excitement, motivation, strength, but also nervousness about challenges that would come along. And I decided to take the dive after that December Aftercore session during which they shared their stories. 

If I am accepted to be part of PATHSTAR 2019, I hope to learn from other team members and participants who are willing to share their stories. I like to be able to share with my friends, family and the Chapa-De community the power of a team and being able to accept help, the power of building people up, and the power of physical activity both mentally and physically. 

My current health goals are eating adequate protein each day, exercising for at least 30 minutes 5 days a week and planning meals and snacks one week ahead, each week. I would like to share activities and/or healthy eating practices several times a week with my buddy if at all possible. 

Thank you for creating this amazing opportunity for all who have come before me and for those applying in the future.