The University of South Dakota School of Medicine is the only school in a large, low population state in the rural Upper Midwest with reservations for nine federally recognized tribes of the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota people. USDSM has a demonstrated history of involvement in encouraging American Indian student interest in biomedical research. American Indians make up 8.5% of the total population of South Dakota. comprise 20% of the population living at or below poverty level, and predominantly (80%) live with the reservation boundaries of the state. The Minority Health Affairs Committee of USDSM has accepted the challenge to obtain funding for developing programs that will help USDSM reach its goal for the American Association of Medical Colleges 3000 by 2000 Program. After grade three, the majority of American Indian students in South Dakota score one to two grade levels below the national average on standardized tests and the American Indian high school dropout rate approaches 50-70%. American Indian students, as a whole, are not well prepared for college. In South Dakota, American Indian typically make up fewer than 5% of the state's college population and most American Indian college graduates come from one of the four Tribal Colleges. The two largest state universities, reported graduating no American Indian science or mathematics majors or educators in recent years. With these statistics in mind, the Minority Health Affairs Committee had developed a plan to enhance science and health education for American Indian students in a continuum from grades K-12 through professional or graduate school. Some of the components within this continuum are already in place: the Institutional Short-term Research Training for Minority Students Program, the Indians into Medicine satellite office, the Family Practice Residency program, and the University Affiliated Program. Grants have recently been written for a high school science curriculum enrichment component at some of the reservation-based schools and for a health career enhancement program at three of the tribal colleges. Future plans include expanding the continuum for science enrichment to the K-8 level at various schools. The Minority High School Student Research Apprentice Program (RAP) has been present at USDSM since 1989 and has developed quite a level of excitement amongst American Indian high school students. The program has served twenty different students and has had a phenomenal success rate with 90% of the students currently enrolled in a college or university and the other two counseling to return to school in the fall of 1994. This grant application would allow USDSM to continue the RAP Program. The RAP Program is an essential component of the USDSM continuum for improving science and health education for American Indian students in South Dakota.
