On April 25th, the Prior Lake High School Dakota language class took 6 teams to the Hocokata Ti Dakota Language Bowl. A total of 24 youth teams competed, including teams from the Lower Sioux, Upper Sioux, Prairie Island, Sisseton, Standing Buffalo Canada, and Harding High School in St. Paul. In addition to the youth competition, the Language Bowl also featured 18 adult teams, for a total of 42 teams that competed in this event.

The Language Bowl was judged by fluent Dakota elder speakers. Students had to demonstrate their knowledge of vocabulary and how to make sentences. They also had to sing a song in the Dakota language to everyone.

Out of the 24 youth teams, Prior Lake students took 3rd, 4th, and 5th place for youth beginners. Prior Lake also had one team compete in the youth intermediate level, and they took 3rd place.

Members of the winning teams include…

Youth Beginners
3rd place- Raya Mathiason, Neko Seaboy
4th place- Legend, Onyx, Angel Young
5th Place- Dakota Zimmer, Jayden Low, Ike Coursolle

Youth intermediate
3rd place- Mni Cloud, Lucy Blaess, Sidney Haider