Climbing Connects South Dakota Mines Community with Hill City Students

For climbers, the sport is about more than scaling rock walls. It’s about the camaraderie, trust, teamwork and bonds built through shared challenges. 

Those connections recently brought together the South Dakota Mines Hardrocker Climbing Club and a group of students from Hill City High School. 

Jeremiah LeTourneau, an avid climber and Hill City High School math teacher, brought his climbing class to the Mines campus to speak with Ethan Brown, a civil engineering major, recent graduate and president of the Hardrocker Climbing Club. Brown shared how he first got involved in climbing before giving the students a chance to test their skills on the university’s climbing wall. 

“The club is always looking for ways to be more involved in the Black Hills climbing community, so we were happy to help out,” Brown said. 

The visit was part of a unique physical education course LeTourneau introduced two years ago. The class was inspired by Hill City High School Principal Todd Satter, who wanted students to experience a different approach to PE beyond the traditional curriculum. Knowing LeTourneau’s background in climbing, Satter encouraged him to bring that passion into the classroom. LeTourneau, who has been climbing for a decade, started on the small crags of Minnesota, but has since accomplished climbing 10 Big Walls, six of which have been on El Capitan, a 3,000-foot vertical rock face in Yosemite National Park. 

The Hill City climbing class is part of a new physical education class LeTourneau introduced a few years ago. 

“Hill City is placed right in the center of some of the best granite climbing the country has to offer and he believed that our students should get a taste of what the sport has to offer,” LeTourneau said. 

The response from students has been overwhelmingly positive. 

“I often get from students that rock climbing is their favorite part of the day,” LeTourneau said adding that students have extending their learning into a new climbing hobby outside of the class. 

For Brown, LeTourneau and the Hill City students, the experience highlighted how climbing can be a great connector. 

“I wanted students to be able to connect with people, faces and spaces that South Dakota Mines has to offer,” LeTourneau said. “I wanted them to realize all of the other great opportunities that the school has to offer other than traditional academics.” 

Brown said the students arrived having a strong foundation in traditional climbing, including technique, rope skills and climbing ethics.

“Jeremiah is such an interesting guy and a true climbing veteran,” Brown said. “Hill City is very lucky to have him teaching a climbing class at their school. The students were also awesome. They knew how to have fun, while also being respectful to their teacher.” 

Brown hopes the visit will become an annual tradition. “I hope Jeremiah continues to partner with the climbing club on opportunities like this,” he said. “It could be a fun tradition to have their class visit campus every semester or to even do some outdoor climbing with them.” 

LeTourneau plans to continue expanding Hill City’s physical education offerings hoping to add fly fishing, canoeing and mountain biking in the future. “I want to help students experience all of the great outdoor athletic experiences our great Black Hills has to offer.” 

Four South Dakota Mines Students Celebrated During Annual Native American Honoring Ceremony 

Four graduates from South Dakota Mines were honored during the university’s annual Native Honoring Ceremony, a growing commencement tradition celebrating the academic achievements, perseverance and cultural identity of Indigenous students. 

Held during commencement week, the ceremony recognizes the graduates in a culturally grounded gathering that reflects the traditions of the Oceti Sakowin – the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people – whose homelands include the Black Hills. 

This year’s honored graduates included Shawn Clemmons, civil engineering; Michael Dubray, physics; Farynn Knutson, biology; and Morning Grace Spotted Bear, pre-professional health services. All four graduated with their bachelor’s degree during last weekend’s commencement, and were part of the university’s Tiospaye Scholar Program. Also honored during the ceremony was Ashley Clemmons, Shawn’s sister, who recently earned her Master of Science in nursing from Walden University. 

The event featured an opening prayer, honor guard, drum group, keynote speaker Levi Lange, a 2015 Mines graduate and Tiospaye Scholar, blessing of the feathers and recognition of the graduates’ families and support systems. 

The graduates also added their handprints to the university’s tipi, joining a lasting legacy of Indigenous students who came before them. 

What began in 2008 as a small feathering ceremony during the fall commencement has evolved into a meaningful annual tradition that complements the university’s formal commencement exercises. 

The Honoring Ceremony also displays all nine South Dakota tribal flags and incorporates traditions rooted in Plains cultures. 

For graduates, the ceremony provides a meaningful opportunity to celebrate their academic accomplishments, as well as express gratitude to relatives, friends and community members who supported them throughout their educational journeys. 

“As participation and support continue to grow, the Honoring Ceremony is becoming an enduring and valued tradition at South Dakota Mines,” said Chris Pappas, student engagement coordinator at Mines. 

Upcoming Events: 

Public Outreach Talk with Kate Shaw, Ph.D., associate professor in particle physics at the University of Sussex and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics – 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 19, in the South Dakota Mines Surbeck Center Beck Ballroom. Come at 7 p.m. for liquid nitrogen ice cream.