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Kola representatives Brittany Hopper, John O’Hara, and Nahree Ki visited Red Cloud and Little Wound High School to give presentations on educational opportunities at the University of Illinois.  With handouts and brochures in hand, they engaged bright students who were interested in attending the University of Illinois.  The Kola Foundation members also met with local business owners and Pine Ridge Elders during evening activities such as Rapid City’s high school basketball tournament and the Pine Ridge pow-pow.  During the trip, 6 students from Red Cloud and 10 students from Little Wound completed and submitted applications to the Research Apprenticeship Summer Program and were also invited to be matched with Illinois MBA mentors.  Though the trip was short, The Kola Foundation feels that it was very productive and looks forward to making higher education more accessible to the high school students of Pine Ridge.

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Over 100 runners turned out for the 85 degree day for a chance to run on the course that the University of Illinois Cross Country team uses. The GMA raised over $2,500 for Kola, with the proceeds from the race being used to bring three high school students from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (S.D.) for the ACES Apprenticeship Program.

“The funds will be used to pay their expenses for getting here,” said James Cantu, race director. “We want to expose them to an experience they have never been exposed to before.”

Ron Lavaire, a teacher at Urbana Middle School, finished first in the 5K with a time of 16:37.6 and used this race as a training session for his upcoming full marathon competition

Special thanks to the sponsors of the race: CrossFit CU, Body ‘n Sole and Community Insurance Agency.

Additional Stories:

April Fools’ 5K Run/Walk in arboretum to benefit Kola Foundation

April Fools’ race benefits Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

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With your support, the myriad contributions from Kola Foundation volunteers at the University of Illinois MBA Program, and the partner relationships we have developed on Pine Ridge, Kola has successfully made a rapid evolution in just one year from a start-up to a viable organization already beginning to make a significant difference in the lives of the Oglala Lakota.

In 2011, you supported us in facilitating a massive goods distribution at Porcupine School on Pine Ridge where over $80,000 worth of clothing, school supplies, personal care items, newborn kits, and thick blankets were provided to those who desperately needed them. In total, the goods distribution touched over 1,000 people. Over the last year, Kola has worked hard to build relationships on the reservation, develop long-term strategic goals, and create an internal operating structure that ensures the foundation’s sustainability as a non-profit organization operated by Illinois MBA students.

In 2012, you can expect even more impactful initiatives from Kola. In addition to another mass goods distribution, we will be rolling out three new initiatives that will afford Kola members and supporters to influence sustainable and positive change on Pine Ridge.

1. Kola Summer High School Student Programs
Beginning in July 2012, Kola will be bringing reservation high school students to the University of Illinois to spend a few weeks out of their summer immersed in education enrichment courses and real world projects sponsored by companies like Kraft and ADM. This first summer program will not only help students to develop practical skills and an appreciation for how course work applies in the real world, it will also expose them to college life and great new friends off the reservation, increasing the likelihood that they will enroll in and be successful in college after completing high school.

2. Kola Small Business Consulting Services
The second initiative provides expert assistance in developing and improving small businesses on the reservation through Kola Business Consulting Services. This group will be focused on working with small business owners on Pine Ridge to help them improve their growth prospects and profit potential. With the broad range of business experience available through our volunteers and supporters, and our access to business leaders and resources, we believe that Kola can make a meaningful impact for one of the groups most important to economic development, the native small business owners themselves.

3. Kola Joint Sponsorship of Lakota Student Business Plan Competition
Kola is excited to announce its upcoming joint sponsorship of the Lakota Nation Invitational Business Plan Competition, now in its fourth year on the Pine Ridge Reservation.   This competition encourages students to do more than just dream, to actually plan and create the small businesses that will be the foundation of economic vitality on the reservation.  In addition, it creates opportunities for Kola volunteers to interact with students, teachers and local businesses and make real contributions to the business education provided to students.

These three new initiatives support Kola’s long-term strategy to leverage the skills and resources available through the Illinois MBA Program to connect with Lakota youth and improve economic development activities on Pine Ridge.

As planned since its founding, the Kola Foundation will always be run by current Illinois MBA students, which means a new, highly motivated and impressively skilled team will be taking over in 2012. It is because of the individuals that comprise the new team that the initiatives planned for 2012 will be successful, and that Kola will exist for years to come. Please join us in welcoming the following very talented and dedicated individuals to Kola’s new leadership team:

President/CEO – Shelly Wohadlo
Chief Operating Officer – Bob Meinig
Director of Education & Culture – Sarah Zigman & Aaron Kumar
Director of Consulting Services – Brian Schneider
Chief Development Officer – Reshma Patel
Director of Corporate Outreach & Partnerships – Stephanie Barry
Director of Fundraising & Special Events – James Cantu
Chief Financial Officer – Brian Schneider
Chief Marketing Officer – Trent Pelman

My involvement with the Kola Foundation has been a profound experience, and all of us involved with Kola on a day-to-day basis are deeply grateful for your support. Through that support that we were able to facilitate the distribution of essential goods and build a foundation for future operations in 2011, and through that support we know we will be successful in these valuable new programs for 2012. We hope you will allow Kola to continue to hold a special place in your heart.

With deep gratitude and respect,

Adam Ratner
Co-founder and Departing President/CEO of the Kola Foundation
Vice Chair, Kola Foundation Board of Directors

Prior to the airing of 20/20, Kola Foundation leaders were approached by ABC channel 15 in Champaign to talk about the work Kola has done on Pine Ridge. You can watch the featured segment here!

We’re excited that the national audience is learning more about the people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. While a single news program can make only a small difference in a relatively small number of lives, every improvement is a move toward a better life and a brighter future for our Lakota friends.

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The Research Apprentice Program (RAP) is an all-expenses-paid four-week college experience for high school students provided by the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Participants work on small teams to complete real-world business projects for world-class firms like Kraft Foods Inc, Oscar Mayer, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, PepsiCo (Barrington Group), Archer Daniels Midland Company and the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Through experienced project advisors, field trips, seminars and a hands-on laboratory, students get experience in a wide variety of career fields and see how the math and science skills they learn in school translate directly to real jobs they could pursue after graduation.

The Kola Foundation has secured reserved placements in the summer 2012 RAP I program for two high school students from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.  Successful completion of RAP I will allow those students to apply for RAP II in the summer of 2013.  RAP II provides a seven-week laboratory-based experience where students complete intensive projects in areas such as plant genetics, animal physiology, plant tissue culture, nutritional sciences, food chemistry, food engineering, child development, agricultural marketing, computer imaging, or environmental sciences.  By the summer of 2013, Kola hopes to have two reservation students in RAP I and two returning students in RAP II.  Kola will arrange travel and supplemental scholarships to students selected to participate in each of these programs, to ensure that financial hardship will not prohibit these promising young people from participating. To expand opportunities to more reservation students, Kola has also begun to work with a number of other summer education and internship programs at the University of Illinois, and hopes to continue the expansion for several years.

On the Pine Ridge Reservation, where 70% of students never make it through high school, and most high school graduates are unable to find employment or attend college, the Research Apprentice Program will provide both experience and hope to students from the reservation.  RAP provides a positive early college experience where high school students live on a college campus, share experiences with peers from around the Midwest, apply their education to real-world problems, and get to know a variety of possible career paths. The Kola Foundation is providing application support for interested students and travel scholarships for successful applicants, allowing all students to apply without fear of the financial burden.

We are very excited to join in this program with the University of Illinois to promote opportunity through education for our friends from the reservation.

For more information about the RAP program, see http://summerprograms.aces.illinois.edu/rap