- When I look back (soft music) and I think of all of the teachers that made an impact on my life, that's what I wanna be.

- When I left home for a period of time, and it made me see the real need that was needed here in my community.

- And I was like, you know what?

I wanna help people.

I can help children because first of all, I love children and children usually love me.

- [Narrator] Graduating high school is an unofficial transition to adulthood.

We end our season on children in South Dakota with stories from graduating seniors and how they decided what's next.

That's tonight's South Dakota focus.

- [Announcer] This is a production of SDPB.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] It's graduation season!

Thousands of South Dakota high school seniors are celebrating an unofficial end to their childhood, and the next steps into the rest of their lives.

So many parts of children's lives are decided for them.

So we wanted to hear how these young people decide for themselves what comes next.

Earlier this season, we talked with Katelyn Christopherson.

She's a rising senior at Harrisburg High School, and newly appointed President of the South Dakota chapter of Educators Rising.

It's an organization that gives high schoolers first-hand experience teaching.

When we met Christopherson during her teaching demonstration for elementary students, she already had a strong idea of what she wants after she graduates.

- When I look back and I think of all the teachers that made an impact on my life, that's what I want to be for the future generations and for those kids.

- [Narrator] The influence of memorable teachers and first-hand experience can make a big impact on how students decide what comes after high school.

We met a couple other future teachers in Aberdeen.

- So, today is our state conference for Educators Rising, and that is just a really fun organization for, like, people who want to be future educators someday.

I personally want to be a history teacher, so that is why I'm here.

But everybody else can get to compete in their projects that kind of support and uplift Ed Rising a little bit, and it's just kind of a fun thing to be in.

- Since I've joined it really just confirmed that teaching was something that I really wanted to do, and then picking what to teach proved itself a lot harder than what I thought it would be.

I thought, maybe lower elementary, and then I was like, maybe not.

Not really a big fan of little kids running around and snotty noses.

But, and then I was like, what about music?

I'm really good at music, I play piano, I sing in the choir, and then I realized that theory is something that really interests me in the music realm, and it's something that I actually kind of excel at, so, kind of solidified music ed.

So yeah, I'll be taking music ed courses next year in college.

- [Narrator] In Huron, we met another senior inspired to study music education because of a teacher's positive influence.

- Working with her and doing all those lessons, she really made me feel like I could... She motivated me to step out of my comfort zone and try out new things, like try out for All State chorus and the Honor Choir that they have in the state, and I thought I would never like actually be able to get into these things, and I didn't think about trying, like when I first got into choir and singing, that wasn't my main goal.

I just wanted to be involved.

But she really pushed me and I did end up making it into those things and it's because of her, like, confidence and her, like she had faith in me.

And I thought, well, if she can do that for me, why can't I do that for anyone else?

And so, that's kind of like been my motivation to help others.

I think that if I'm able to successfully help one student and help them feel the same way I did, then that'll be good.

- [Narrator] Other students are inspired by family and friends.

Another Huron High School Senior, Chasity Christiansen, is heading to the University of South Dakota for criminal justice and, eventually, law school.

- I have a friend who's doing that currently and so she'll tell me about it, and she loves it.

And I have taken dual credit classes in high school to kind of see if I was interested in it.

So I've taken, like, generals, but then I also took Intro to Criminal Justice and I loved the class.

I was the top two students.

- [Narrator] Class experience helped Huron senior, Chloe Culver too, by process of elimination.

- I've taken tons of classes that I've hated, like, I took welding.

I had no, like, I was just thinking, Oh that sounds fun.

I know I don't want to do welding any more!

I've taken biomed.

I absolutely know I do not want to go in the medical field because of that class.

- [Narrator] She landed on political science at South Dakota State University, where most of her relatives have gone.

- Both USD and SDSU are part of the Board of Regents.

That's the governing body over the states six public universities.

Most of the seniors we've heard from so far tonight are going to a regental institution, but that's not the trend the BOR has seen in recent years.

Nathan Lukkes is the Executive Director of the Board of Regents.

- We've been trending in I guess the wrong direction from our standpoint in terms of, there are fewer South Dakota graduates that are going directly from high school into post-secondary education.

And that's not unique to the public university system, but post-secondary in general, you know.

I think a couple years back, we were seeing about 30% of our high school graduates were matriculating into our system.

And this last year, we were looking at about 28%.

I think you look across the board, and it's been similar to two and a half percent decline.

And it's not all bad, it could very well be that more students are taking gap years.

They're working for a year to save up money and then eventually coming back into the system.

And if that works for their personal situations, then great.

We just want to make sure we're not letting them slip through the cracks and missing students.

- [Narrator] Affordability is a big factor in choosing college.

That's why the BOR and lawmakers worked together to freeze tuition for the six public universities for the third year in a row.

But there's another way the Board of Regents is trying to reach prospective students.

This coming fall, a few schools are experimenting with direct admission, giving students the greenlight to attend certain BOR universities without even applying.

- We're starting with the Sioux Falls School District, the Spearfish School District and Aberdeen school district, and that's really a proactive approach to look at how students do in high school?

What's their GPA?

What's their transcript look like?

And then based on that, reaching out and directly admitting them into our institutions, you know based on your high school credentials or performance, you're admitted to attend, you know, Northern State University, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, whatever the case may be.

And the intent of that is really to maybe open doors or knock down barriers for students that maybe didn't see post-secondary education as an opportunity for them or they maybe didn't think they had what it takes.

We want to make sure that they know that they are qualified, they are ready and we're here to help them get them on campus and help them to be successful once they get there.

- [Narrator] Of course, scholarship opportunities can also play a role in a young person's post high school decisions, not to mention job security.

The Build Dakota Scholarship offered through the states for technical colleges is a key example.

Jayda Kenyon is a second year surgical technician student at Southeast Technical College in Sioux Falls.

She knew in high school she wanted to do something in healthcare, but as she looked into medical school and nursing programs at four year universities, they didn't seem to fit.

- But then I was like, well maybe I should look into what Southeast Tech has to offer.

And then when I came to visit, they had a plethora of health healthcare programs and so we toured every single one of them and I just, every time I walked by the lab and saw like, oh wow, like this is real.

This is a real real program, it's surgery.

Like how cool.

And so from there I continued to just like look into like search tech and what they do every day.

Just tons of different facts and things about that.

And I fell in love with it like immediately because I'm a huge "Grey's Anatomy" fan and so this just by far like the best thing I'd come across.

And so I knew right then and there I was like, this is what I wanna do and I'm gonna make it my passion.

- [Narrator] The Build Dakota signs outside the lab caught her attention.

- I wasn't really sure, I was like, okay, like scholarship.

But then they were explaining that it's full ride and then you know all these different things that come with it.

And I was like, wow, like that would be something spectacular to be involved in.

And then someone I knew had received the Build Dakota and I got to see from their perspective like what it all entailed.

And I was like, okay, that's what I'm doing.

Now I'm set.

- [Narrator] The Build Dakota Scholarship program started in 2015.

Private donations and state contributions fund full ride scholarships for high demand jobs.

By accepting the Build Dakota Scholarship, students agree to work in South Dakota for at least three years after they graduate.

Kelly Rogotzke is a student advisor and career services coordinator at Southeast Tech.

She also works with businesses who want to work with Build Dakota students.

The most common question she gets from potential business partners is, of course how much it'll cost.

- So the Build Dakota Scholarship Fund pays for a little bit over half of the scholarship and then the business pays for the other half.

The great thing for the student is everything is included in that.

So when they come to Southeast Tech, they're gonna have their computer covered, their books are covered, all of their tuition and their fees are covered.

And so the student is ready to be set up to graduate with no debt upon graduation.

- [Narrator] Businesses interview scholarship applicants who are interested in their industry.

- So if it is an autobody shop looking for an auto tech, they're gonna receive a folder of applications for students who have applied for that.

Then they get to go through and help select the students that they would like to interview and go through their own processes.

So it's a really unique experience where the employer holds and decides who they're going to hire, but also gives the student the opportunity to learn more about that organization.

And we encourage them to ask those tough questions, like what are my hours gonna be like?

What kind of salary can I expect?

What is my PTO, my vacation time?

Because they're also committing to three years post-graduation.

And so we really encourage them to say, this is not only an opportunity to have that full ride scholarship, but to make sure that your first experience in field is a positive one.

- We have a huge applicant pool, we have 500 applicants for our scholarships.

So for them to received it in the first place, like they should be very proud of that.

- [Narrator] Emily Olson is the Build Dakota advisor at Southeast Tech.

She sees the positive impact the program has on her students.

- I think for most of them, it's a lot of stress relief that they don't have the same anxieties of, okay, how am I gonna get a job?

How am I gonna get a job?

And for a lot of our health students, they will have to go through an interview process to determine the placement where they're gonna be.

But they do know that they have a job waiting for them at X facility.

So it's a matter of kind of fill in the blank on where they'll be placed.

But they, they do have, you know, just a sense of I know where I'm gonna be and that I think relieves a lot of anxiety from just the very first day of a semester.

There are some, a lot of students that would not be here without the scholarship and those are remarkable stories.

Yeah, they're usually going to change the family tree then the dynamic within there.

There a lot of them are first generation college students and you know, that's gonna change a lot for their family going forward.

- [Narrator] For Jayda Kenyon, the Build Dakota Scholarship was an opportunity to do something different after her sister went to a four year university.

- When it all boiled down to it and I got my scholarship and all of those things came into play, I was very excited with what I was doing.

And then I saw that there was more pride too with my family, they were super proud of me for getting the scholarship and doing the whole process.

And so it was nice to have kind of like my own path in life versus just following what my sister did.

- [Narrator] She encourages current high schoolers to have an open mind about their future.

- I know like making a five year plan for yourself at the age of 18 is super scary because life can change at any moment.

But being in this program and knowing that you're gonna come to school for two years and then proceed on with your job for another three years at a set location or a set position, it's a lot more comforting to know that like you do have a path set for you and that after that you can branch out and do whatever.

- [Narrator] The chance to do something different than might be expected can also be attractive to students.

Marisol Dubon of Huron High School is heading to the University of Sioux Falls to study business.

- All these people kept telling me like, go into teaching or nursing and stuff like that.

But it's just, I tried to go for that stuff, like job shadowing and stuff, but it just didn't catch my attention.

So I went into a different like route and I was like business, you know, like it's something that's so gender stereotypical, you know, like guys are supposed to do business, like guys this, guys that.

And I feel like that's something I wanna do, like it's not true.

Like I want to show that women can do just as much as men or even more, you know.

And so business is just something that catches my attention because there's so many things you can do with a business degree.

Like you can work anywhere and it's something I can just fall back on, instead of like, oh I'm going for this and this is what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life.

- [Narrator] It's true that business programs nationwide have historically been male dominated.

General college enrollment today shows a female majority.

The University of Sioux Falls where Marisol wants to study business shows 64% of enrolled students are female.

Women account for 61% of students across all six board of Regents institutions.

There's less of a gender disparity when it comes to graduating high school on time.

Overall, 86% of females and 82% of males graduated on time in the last school year.

The state does not track graduation rates of gender non-conforming students.

There are more noticeable disparities ú for other groups of students though.

For instance, just 30% of students in foster care graduated on time in the last school year.

Lack of stability at home is just one factor that can lead to this disparity.

Hannah Brink is a former foster child we met last month.

Brink entered the system at age 12.

- After four months in that foster home, I got placed into residential treatment facility willfully for about nine months.

And then I'm not gonna go through the other 14 facilities, but there were a lot of other placements and most of them being facilities until I was 16.

I graduated high school because I was allowed to work at my own pace and that was the loophole I found to get out of that placement.

- [Narrator] Brink wanted to be an exception to the dire statistics that follow foster kids.

- I had to make the best of the situation I was in and better myself to prove that even though there's a statistic that within the first two years of aging out, over 80% of the youth and young adults fall to incarceration, death, or addiction and never get past that.

I wanted to change that.

I wanted to become one of the 20% and show people that there are those that do make it past that statistic.

- [Narrator] There's another group of South Dakota students who face discouraging statistics.

Last year, 48% of American Indian students graduated high school on time in South Dakota.

Again, there are many potential reasons for that.

19-year-old Precious Long Chase lives in Fort Thompson.

She moved across the state to three different schools in four years.

- I don't know, I just ended up dropping out.

- [Jackie] And then you decided to kind of get back in the game.

- Yeah.

- [Jackie] Yeah.

How come - My grandpa, like he's always wanted to see like either one of us girls I graduate.

- [Jackie] How many siblings do you have?

- I have four.

I am like right in the middle.

- [Narrator] Like Hannah Brink, Precious Long Chase also thrived when she worked at her own pace through an online program.

When we spoke in late April, she had just found out she'd be able to graduate this month.

- I just cried.

I was so excited.

It's definitely been like one of my biggest like, gonna be one of my biggest accomplishments 'cause I just never thought I'd be able to graduate.

- [Narrator] Precious works at the Tokata Youth Center in Fort Thompson on the Crow Creek reservation where she's an enrolled member.

It has programming for kids in kindergarten through senior year of high school and employs high school students to help with the younger kids.

Precious first got a job there at age 14, after some persistence with the center's director.

- He was telling me about how once I turned 14, I would be able to get a job.

So I pretty much just kept begging all summer.

Like I'm so close, like my birthday's like so many days away and I would just keep telling him about it.

As a kid on a reservation, there's not much jobs you can get at 14.

So TYC pretty much helped you with the job and everything.

And then learning more with the kids.

- [Narrator] The Tokata Youth Center is connected to Diamond Willow Ministries, a Christian non-profit led by the Vaughn family.

Aaron Vaughn is the director of the youth center.

- Seeing Precious grow up over the years has been so cool that there's been a lot of ups and downs with her story and her life.

But I think for me, one of the coolest parts about the youth center is that like, even the negative and difficult things that happen in our staff's lives and in my life, like can be used for good because like we're in a world of broken and hurting people and we all make mistakes.

We all have hard things that come up.

But being able to use that to help someone else that's dealing with something similar can be so empowering and encouraging.

- [Jackie] What has that maybe learning process been like for you of like figuring out how to connect with kids?

- I guess being like more open towards them.

Especially being there for them 'cause a lot of the kids around here, they don't have like an emotional support or something.

- [Narrator] Seeing a need in a community can be another driving factor in what young people decide to do after high school.

That's true for Max Big Eagle.

He graduated high school in 2020 and eventually went to bible college in Missouri.

- For me, when I left home for a period of time and it made me see the real need that was needed here in my community.

And that was a young native American faith man like me to come home and really to pour into the kids and to minister to them, to be their mentor, to be a friend, you know.

- [Narrator] He came home to Fort Thompson and became the program coordinator at Tokata Youth Center.

He's finishing his Christian ministry certificate through Indian Bible College online and wants to take on a pastoral role in the future.

- What I love the most is seeing the kids smile, playing game, playing basketball, anything with sports, football.

Any opportunity I get here, I love to just really share, you know, my story and just the impact of what Jesus did in my life to really change a whole new me.

I mean, I was once blind, now I see, I mean, kind of type of deal.

Really this just the share to the kids that you are loved, you are worthy, and you have a purpose here on earth.

- [Narrator] Caring for children at every age is a need we've seen across the state.

We've learned throughout the season that childcare access is limited and the limitations of the business model make it hard to attract future childcare providers.

But in Sioux Falls, the next generation is planning to take over a family business.

Karen Rick runs Mrs. Karen's house childcare and preschool out of her family's home.

That means her four children have a lot of firsthand experience with the childcare operation.

Her oldest daughter Cordelia wants to study early childhood at Southeast Technical College this fall.

- [Jackie] Did you always wanna go into childcare?

What were some of the options that were rolling through your mind?

- I just wanted to help people.

I didn't care how.

I was gonna be a doctor when I was much younger.

I was gonna be a doctor.

I can't do that.

I wanted to be a vet because I love animals.

I also cannot do that.

And I was like, you know what?

I wanna help people.

I can help children because first of all, I love children and children usually love me because I am a child.

So it works.

- [Narrator] Karen wasn't too surprised her daughter was interested in childcare as a potential career path.

- She was born into family childcare.

We literally had her on a Thursday at 6:27 PM and our doors were open on Monday.

I mean, that's a big downside of family childcare is making those things work.

But with having Justin and I both home all the time, she actually got to have us here be a part of her life.

She had that friend group that was here that she grew up with, that she still knows.

And I think she's just sees the value and just the love that she can share with other kids.

She just, her heart is in it.

She lives it, she breathes it.

She knows how to get on their level.

And I'm very excited that she is going to Southeast Tech in the fall and she's getting her degree in early childhood and she wants to take this over, and I'm happy to help her do that.

- [Narrator] Well there are options for early childhood degrees around the state, including a new program at Northern State University in Aberdeen.

Cordelia wanted to stay closer to home.

- I wanna try and do all of, like the most of the classes online because I want to be here the most that I can this summer because I dunno, I feel like it just, because abandonment is one thing.

Like I leave for school, some of these kids don't realize that I'm gonna, like, I'm learning something.

They just kind of feel like she's leaving me.

- [Narrator] She gives an example from earlier that week.

- As I was leaving and explaining to them why I had to leave finally, they were just like, but you can't leave me.

What am I supposed to do when you're gone?

And I go, I do this every day, you guys.

I have to go to school.

And they go, but you are leaving me.

And I go, I have to leave you guys, I'll be back, I promise.

And the one of them, she goes, you have to pinky promise it.

And so I pinky promised her and she goes, now you have to come back, otherwise your pinky is mine and I'll find you.

And I was like, that's a little creepy.

Okay.

- [Jackie] Pinky promises are way more serious than I remember.

- I was like, okay, that's great, thank you.

And she goes, okay, love you, bye.

And goes back to cooking.

And I was like, yep, this is what I'm doing.

I was like, this is great.

- [Narrator] The State Department of Education reports 62% of last year's high school graduates went on to some kind of higher education.

Of those, just 15% went out of state.

Max Big Eagle of Fort Thompson was one of the few people we talked to for this episode who left the state for his education.

That perspective was important for him.

- I just encourage all high school students to, if you're gonna go outside of your community, outside of state, take advantage of it.

I mean, and learn.

Learn and and what you think you could master or do good in.

You know, if you wanna come back to your community to make it better or you feel like you can make it better, I mean do it.

- [Narrator] He jumped at the chance to come home and work at the Tokata Youth Center.

Aaron Vaughn also grew up in Fort Thompson as a homeschool student.

And he believes in the power of making positive change in his own community.

- I did do an internship at a church down in Houston, Texas for six months just to kinda get some perspective from outside of the community outside of South Dakota.

It's a big world out there.

There's more people in Houston, Texas than all of South Dakota, I think.

So just kind of seeing what the rest of the world's like and really coming back to like, there's no place like home.

Like I wanna come back to South Dakota, wanna come back to Fort Thompson and raise my kids here and be part of the community.

- [Narrator] Now, kids aren't just asking him for a job, they want his job.

- Yeah, there's a bunch of kids that are coming from my job, want to be the director down here at the youth center.

And I love that.

I love getting the youth center started.

I love being the director down here, but I want to pass the torch onto the next generation.

And so as I see these kids coming up through elementary school and middle and high school and going off to college, getting those skills, but getting that knowledge and coming back, like I want it to be, I want it to hand it off to them.

Like I want to pass that on.

Like, I don't wanna be 90-year-old guy, like getting pushed in with a wheelchair, like sitting at my desk and working.

I want the next generation of kids to grow up and be the leaders in our community.

And not only that, like I want them to train up the next generation of leaders.

Like I want the process to keep going and for these positive cycles to keep moving forward generation after generation after generation and really leaving that lasting legacy.

- [Narrator] As today's young people consider what's next for them, Karen Rick hopes some consider working with children.

- It does help to have your degree.

I have my degree in early childhood and I'm actually in the process of going back to school to earn my master's in child and youth family services.

And understanding brain development is huge.

Understanding that, yeah.

Because when you work with these guys and you don't understand their behaviors, if you rely on your knowledge of your brain development, it helps.

And so for those kids who don't know what they wanna do in life, early childhood is a great way to figure that out.

Because you're gonna have those kids who are gonna need a mentor and a coach.

You're gonna have those kids who need therapy services and maybe you witness that happening or you are gonna have kiddos who deal with trauma unfortunately at such a young age.

And maybe that pushes you into a social work background, but really working with kids as a stepping stone for finding a lot about who you are.

- [Narrator] This year's high school graduates are building their own future.

And in many ways, all of us are deciding what the future of South Dakota looks like.

Because if we've learned anything throughout this season on children, it's that the future of South Dakota is not hypothetical.

The future of South Dakota is waiting for a foster home placement tonight.

The future of South Dakota is writing an apology letter or painting a mural as part of their juvenile diversion program.

The future of South Dakota is playing basketball at the youth center or sitting in a living room while their parents decide who puts their career on hold because they can't find childcare.

What happens to us as children can shape the adults we become, and it's up to adults to shape the world for children.

Every one of us has a part to play, whether we have our own children or not.

No single state agency or nonprofit or grant can fix the challenges our children face.

If we want a better future for South Dakota, we have to build it together, now.