Spring Break '06: Family Life Center

Our place of residence all week was the Family Life Center, or FLC, as it is affectionately known around those parts. The mission of the FLC is to provide an alternative learning environment for kids who have been suspended or kicked out of their normal middle and high schools. There are FLCs in all parts of the country, but the FLC in Mission is one of the only ones that provide all-day services, not just after-school care. The kids, 15 or 20 of them currently, ranging in age from maybe 12-17, stay there for a period of 90 days and try to work on their studies, behavior, and social interactions. They are rewarded for their actions with privileges to leave the FLC for field trips, lunches, and other organized outings. Hoch, the director of the program, said that the FLC represents a "last chance" for kids. If they don't succeed at the FLC and get reintegrated into their schools, he said they will probably eventually end up in jail. There are tutors and prevention specialists who work with the kids throughout the day. I noticed that one of the positive fixtures at the FLC two years ago, Tipi, was no longer around. I learned she had moved on, showing some of the frustrations that accompany such a difficult position. Gloria, Myron, Jacinda, Harley, Hoch, and a couple of others seemed to be doing some really positive work with the kids, though. Not only do they teach them academics, but they, and other speakers who come in, try to educate the kids about their cultural heritage. As is the case with many minority cultures these days, their history, language, and customs are in danger of being relegated to a museum with the younger generations, so exposure to this seems to have become another one of the major aims of the program. Above is a picture of the FLC that I took two years ago. It looks pretty much the same now, save for the fact that we were not caught in a violent blizzard this year. As you can guess from the picture, it is nothing more than a normal, modest ranch-house. In the evenings, we would spread out our sleeping bags and sleep on the carpeted living room floor. Without a stove or refrigerator, food preparation for ten was a trick, but we made due with a microwave. In the morning, we would clean up the area in preparation for tables and chairs to be moved in for the school day. In the beginning part of the week, Hoch seemed to make sure that we wouldn't be around the kids much. Once they arrived in the morning, we would typically be leaving for a day's worth of activities. He was apparently not confident that this year's kids would interact favorably with us, and this set up a little confusion with the kids not knowing exactly what we were doing ("You sleep on the floor?"). Toward the end of week, though, this situation improved. Ones who had earned advanced privileges participated in various activities with us: attending a lecture, horseback riding, and a field trip across the state to Wounded Knee, the Badlands, and Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills. For the most part, they were some great kids who just happened to fall into some trouble. Which, when you look at the lack of options available to kids around Mission and the rest of Rosebud, wasn't shocking in the least bit. Over the course of the week, we scraped & painted the floor of the garage (that had been converted into classroom space) and sanded & painted the outside deck. Our work was minimal, though, in comparison to what we were learning everyday. The trip was definitely a cultural immersion and not what some people might call a "service" or "mission" trip.