Honoring Our Heritage, Building Our Future.
More than 125 years ago, Red Cloud's very first students—aroudn 100 Lakota children from grades one through eight—began their classes at what was then called Holy Rosary Mission School. Founded at the request of Chief Red Cloud himself, a group of Jesuits, Franciscan sisters and Lakota people worked together to construct the school's first building. At the time, Chief Red Cloud recognized the Lakota were facing irrevocable economic and cultural loss. His wish was for the Jesuits to educate Lakota children to "walk in two world" so as to survive in a rapidly changing environment, while still sustaining their Lakota identity.
Still today, we honor that wish.
Through an innovative curriculum that combines cultural, spiritual, physical and emotional grounding with academic excellence, Red Cloud Indian School continues to graduate Lakota youth who are poised to become—and are becoming—tomorrow's leaders, both on and off the reservation.
Red Cloud graduates are studying at top institutions across the nation. They serve in our nonprofits and military. They teach, lead, mentor and strengthen communities around the country and right here on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. And as Red Cloud Indian School continues to change the face of Native education, so, too, are our alumni changing the world.
125 year after our founding, our institution embodies a true and dynamic partnership between Jesuit and Lakota values, including education, the arts, culture and social justice.