Youth Councils in Action
The Mother Corn Festival at White Shield School brought cultural learning into an ordinary school day—and gave Koya Bearstail another opportunity to help younger students connect with Arikara teachings. Working with the MHA youth leadership chapter, Bearstail took part in planning meetings and helped teach freshmen about Mother Corn at the August 25 celebration.
Bearstail, a member of the MHA Nation, served as Great Plains Representative in UNITY’s 2023–2024 National UNITY Council Executive Committee cohort. The cohort connects regional youth councils, represents Native youth perspectives, and develops leadership through cooperation and service. At White Shield, that responsibility took a local form: supporting a gathering grounded in the community’s own cultural knowledge.
The chapter’s preparation involved advisor Margret Yellowbird and the participation of elders. Prayer, teachings, and corn connected the festival to relationships between people, food, and cultural continuity. Younger students had a chance to learn from people carrying that knowledge while enjoying a welcome break from schoolwork.
“The mother corn festival is always fun and I learn some new things each year,” Bearstail wrote. “Why this festival is important to me is because it’s apart of my peoples culture, knowing what mother corn did for us. How could it not be important?”
Her reflection explains why a small school gathering can carry significance beyond its size. The festival created time for students to learn together and for cultural knowledge to remain part of their everyday environment. Bearstail described an event open to the wider community, with games for children and corn to share.
“Plus seeing these young kids have fun and enjoy their corn will always be the highlight of the mother corn festival,” she shared.
Helping organize that experience connected planning responsibilities with care for younger community members. It also brought together several areas of UNITY’s work: cultural identity, social connection, youth leadership, and respect for the natural world. The teaching came from the community; the youth chapter helped make space for students to encounter it.
For Bearstail, leadership included listening and continuing to learn alongside the freshmen she helped teach. Her report shows how a regional representative can support a national youth network while remaining accountable to the relationships, traditions, and young people at home.
