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Badlands National Park
Rockyford School Students Raise Tipi at Badlands

Rockyford School students set up the park's tipi.
Sara Feldt - NPS Photo
Rockyford School students assist Ranger Ellen Conroy in setting up the park's tipi.

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Date: May 22, 2009
Contact: Judy Olson, (605) 433-5240

Students from Rockyford Elementary School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation spent the day experiencing the wonders of Badlands National Park with Park Ranger Ellen Conroy. On May 6, 2009, the students came to the park on a field trip to learn how to set up a Lakota style tipi. Twenty-five 7th grade students from the science and social studies classes participated in the event.

The students carried the poles and canvas to the tipi location, set up and raised the tripod and arranged the remaining poles before setting the canvas in place. During the lesson the students learned how to work as a team as well as learning the steps of setting up a tipi in the Lakota style. Ellen is a seasonal interpreter at Badlands National Park near Interior, SD.

Painting of a mosasaur  

Did You Know?
During the Age of Dinosaurs, a warm, shallow sea covered the Great Plains, including what is now Badlands. Since dinosaurs were land creatures, no fossils of these animals have been found in the park. Giant marine lizards called mosasaurs swam in the ancient sea, along with sea turtles and fish.

Last Updated: May 22, 2009 at 13:40 EST