Buffalo meat, corn and instant mashed potatoes -- most Dartmouth students have never had to prepare a meal using only these ingredients. Cinnamon Spears '09 and Miigis Gonzalez '07, however, spent the majority of their spring vacation creating a menu out of these foods daily for a group of 50 to 75 children the Main, an after-school center on an Indian reservation in Eagle Butte, S.D.
The two even received compliments for their culinary endeavors.
"A lot of kids keep coming to the Main 'cause you guys are such good cooks,'" a maintenance technician told Spears on he last day at the reservation.
He added that the quality of the meals directly affected the amount of time that children spent at the Center.
"It is good to know that when they are there they are not getting into bad things," Spears said.
Spears and Gonzalez, both Native Americans, took part in a spring break trip along with six other Native American students; Peterson Brossy '07, Bethaney Hale '10, Jiles Pourier '08, Aaron Sims '09, Ian Tapu '08 and Hannah Watah '09. Pourier grew up in Eagle Butte.
The group of students, all but one of whom grew up on a reservation, spoke to feeling comfortable and familiar in Eagle Butte.
"I'm a Plains Indian and we were going to a Plains reservation, so I knew I'd feel comfortable there," Spears explained.
The common condition of Native Americans, combined with living in a small community allowed others to feel at home as well, Tapu said. Tapu, who is from Hawaii, was the only Dartmouth student who has not lived on a reservation.
The idea for the trip came from Pourier and Cody Harjo '04 over the summer of 2006. The trip was funded by a corporation in South Dakota, which paid for the group's airfare.
While on the reservation the group coordinated activities such as kickball, arts and crafts and board games.
They also participated in various types of community service and fundraising in order to purchase books for the Main's empty library
The Main, built in 2003 as an after-school center for youth on the reservation, has only one permanent volunteer.
The center is often closed, opening only when groups of volunteers arrive.
"The center was really surprised how well the children responded to us, I don't know if it was because we are native or because of our group dynamic," Tapu said.
One of the highlights for many on the trip was a college night panel hosted by the group to talk to high school students about college admissions and financial aid, as well as the Native American program and community at Dartmouth.
"I really wanted to show the younger generations that there are Native students that are doing good with their lives ,and they come back provide a good healthy example," Pourier said.
Tapu said that after the college night, counselors and teachers informed the group that students were wearing Dartmouth paraphernalia proudly and discussing the College as an option.
"The very fact that these students are thinking about college, and thinking about Dartmouth, makes us proud that they are thinking about life outside of the reservation," Tapu said.
Spears said that the group's presence taught the children a valuable lesson.
"It is real, that we came from the exact same conditions and we are in college. These opportunities do exist."
Spears called the trip different from the other spring break options available to Dartmouth students.
"This is the only trip that goes to a reservation and that drops you into those conditions," Spears said.
Tapu, however, is reluctant to use the term "alternative spring break" to describe the group's experience.
"We feel that [the title] doesn't really apply to us because we have done more than that; we thought of calling it 'caring for our own,'" Tapu said.
"Even if that's not what it ends up being called, that is more like what we did."
The group hopes to obtain additional funding from the Tucker Foundation so it can expand the number of reservations and participants.