Dr. Laurie Becvar, senior associate provost and graduate school dean at the University of South Dakota, will become Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation’s new president and chief operating officer in July.

She will report to Ruth Ziolkowski, sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski’s wife who remains at the Memorial’s helm as chief executive officer. Ruth’s daughters Jadwiga Ziolkowski and Monique Ziolkowski will continue to serve as executive vice president and director of mountain operations, respectively.

“We warmly welcome Laurie and we look forward to working with her,” Ruth Ziolkowski said on behalf of her family and the Memorial’s staff.

“Laurie Becvar is a highly qualified and motivated individual with a passion for Crazy Horse,” Board Chairman John Rozell of Sioux Falls said May 3. “She brings the skill set and experience needed to help continue the stellar operational performance exhibited at the Memorial over the past number of decades. She will be a great asset for the Ziolkowski family and the Foundation in accomplishing the Crazy Horse dream and all that it stands for.”

The nonprofit Memorial honors the historic heritage and living traditions of North America’s Indian people. The Memorial holds that education is the key to fostering understanding and reconciliation, as well as in assisting Native Americans to maintain vital cultures.

To establish its long-planned Indian University of North America, the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation turned to the University of South Dakota for assistance. Chairman Rozell said Dr. Becvar, as lead developer, has been instrumental in the success of the new university and its students.

“I was immediately inspired by the Crazy Horse story and mission,” Dr. Becvar said.

“I find Crazy Horse to be a place of faith, imagination and fortitude, where all people are accepted and inspired to fulfill their dreams. It is a South Dakota and North American treasure and I am honored and privileged to be a part of its progress.”

Over three years, 68 Native American and non-Native students have completed the 8½- to 10-week summer program that offers freshman-level math, English and Native Studies courses. Native American students completing the 2012 classes “significantly surpassed state and national averages” on college readiness tests, Dr. Becvar said. The low attrition rates among the students who have remained in college after completing the Crazy Horse summer program the past three years are equally impressive.

Longtime educator Dr. Sid Goss of Rapid City recently told his fellow Crazy Horse Foundation directors that the university’s overall early results are “nothing short of phenomenal.”

The unique program, a partnership involving the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation and USD, is funded privately by the Crazy Horse Centennial Fund endowment established by Muffy and Paul Christen, retired bankers from Huron, SD.

Crazy Horse Memorial began 65 years ago, dedicated on June 3, 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear and several Native American elders, including five Lakota veterans of the 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, established Aug. 16, 1948, is the nonprofit entity governing the nonprofit cultural education project that includes the world’s largest mountain carving in progress. There currently are 26 volunteer directors on the board.

The Crazy Horse Memorial mountain crew noted the day with a double blast to help further the rough shaping of the horse’s head.

The tribute dates to 1983 when the South Dakota Legislature unanimously approved a concurrent resolution praising the Crazy Horse Memorial sculptor for his humanitarian contributions in honoring Native Americans. The special legislative recognition responded to Korczak’s unexpectedly death on Oct. 20, 1982.

Korczak moved to the Black Hills on May 3, 1947, at the invitation of Chief Henry Standing Bear and other Lakota elders, who asked him to create the mountain carving honoring Native Americans.

The South Dakota Tourism Department in 1983 also posthumously honored Korczak with the Ben Black Elk Award “for excellence in tourism development.” The sculptor’s colossal carving attracts ongoing international publicity that helps the state’s promotional efforts.

The award is named for the Lakota man who greeted Mount Rushmore visitors for decades. Ben Black Elk and his father, Old Black Elk, were friends of Korczak. Old Black Elk, a cousin of Crazy Horse, who died in 1877, told the sculptor about his relative’s prediction that “I will come back to you in the stone.”

“In addition to special activities, these weekends offer an opportunity for visitors to see the winter progress on the mountain and new displays in the visitor complex,” said Ruth Ziolkowski, the Memorial’s chief executive officer.

Admission to Crazy Horse Memorial on the following dates will be waived in exchange for three cans of food per person or monetary contribution for the KOTA Care & Share Food Drive benefitting people served by the Feeding South Dakota food bank:

• May 17-19, Friday through Sunday. Crazy Horse, other area attractions and state parks invite you to “See South Dakota.” The Memorial will be open from 8 a.m. until after the “Legends in Light” laser-light show. The dynamic visual storytelling program is projected on the mountain carving beginning at dark and starts Friday night, May 17.
• May 25–27, Friday through Sunday. The traditional Crazy Horse open house over the Memorial Day weekend will bring the seasonal return of American Indian art market and the anticipated opening of the new Mountain Museum addition.
• June 1-2, Saturday and Sunday. The popular Crazy Horse Volksmarch is a 10K or 6.2-mile round-trip hike along marked woodland trails to the carved face and back to the visitor complex. While admission is free to hikers contributing the food drive, the Black Hills Volkssport Association charges $3 per person for the hike.

The June hike coincides with the kick-off of the Memorial’s 65th year. Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, Chief Henry Standing Bear and other Lakota elders, including five veterans of the 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn, dedicated Crazy Horse Memorial on June 3, 1948.

The screening committee picked 32 freshman-level students and eight alternates from 78 applications.

The reviewers heard from students living in 10 states – Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

The hopefuls included members of the Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Lower Brule, Oglala, Rosebud, Standing Rock and Yankton Lakota (Sioux) tribes; and Athabascan, Blackfeet, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Chippewa, Crow, Fort Peck Assiniboine & Sioux, Gros Ventre, Navajo, Northern Arapaho, Ponca, Santee Sioux and Spirit Lake Sioux members.

Crazy Horse university students earn up to 14 academic credits they can claim in getting their degrees at other accredited schools. The Crazy Horse university students also work in paid internships, learning various job skills at the visitor complex.

Here at Crazy Horse we are busy getting ready for a busy season and at the same time we remember the blessings in our lives.

May spring fill your heart with new expectations, dreams, faith and love.

Ruth and the family of Korczak

Monique said the project list focuses on the outstretched left hand atop the horse’s mane, while bulldozing and blasting at the bottom of the horse’s head will continue to rough out the muzzle.

In scaling the mountain to sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski’s artistic plan, the mountain crew creates a series of horizontal work areas called “benches.” Spaced 20 feet apart, the “benches” form a network of access roads for the heavy equipment.

The area at the muzzle is the last of 11 “benches” created in rough shaping of the 219-foot-tall horse’s head since the carved Crazy Horse face was completed 15 years ago, in 1998.

“It is such a big project, it really is,” Memorial Chief Executive Officer Ruth Ziolkowski said. “There are places where we had to take 150 feet off the front of the mountain just to get back to the horse’s head. Now that we are at this point, I believe this year people are going to notice a decided difference.”

How long will it take to complete the carving?

“Korczak had no idea when he started and he was a lot smarter than I am, so I have decided not guess,” Ruth Ziolkowski said. “The important thing is that the work never stops, and it hasn’t since we started. That’s what we are interested in.”

Crazy Horse executive vice president Jadwiga Ziolkowski said that the word spreading about the first Crazy Horse Autumn Volksmarch, is generating “a lot of excitement … I think the National Guard will be the happiest because they can never walk the mountain on the first full weekend in June. They always need to be at (summer training) camp or whatever, so they don’t get to go.”

And, yes, for those who are wondering – there will be separate commemorative medals for the 28th Crazy Horse Volksmarch in June and the first Crazy Horse Autumn Volksmarch in September, which is timed to follow the Custer State Park buffalo roundup, which is set for Friday, Sept. 27.

The nonprofit Memorial, which is dedicated to honoring and preserving Native American cultures, is on U.S. Highway 16-385 between Custer and Hill City. The museum and food service areas will close at 5 p.m. However, the visitor parking area and the mountain carving viewing deck will be open for you to see Tuesday night’s special lighting. Admission will be free and donations of money or 3 cans of food per person will be accepted for the KOTA Care & Share Food Drive to help those served by the Feeding South Dakota food bank.

“Light It Up Blue” and other special activities support those currently afflicted with Autism Spectrum Disorders and point out the need for more research into ASD.

The developmental impairments (autism, Rett syndrome and Asperger syndrome, among others) affect brain functions for life. ASD cases, from mild to severe, cross all ethnic, regional and economic lines.

The Autism Speaks advocacy organization says ASD afflicts five times more boys than girls and 1 in 88 children in America. The number could be higher, possibly 1 in 50 school-age youngsters, according to a recent survey.

ASD can produce physical health issues and cause problems with balance, behavior, speech and understanding others. The symptoms usually emerge early, typically becoming noticeable in toddlers before age three. Experts say early detection and therapy can help a child’s lifetime abilities.

Click here for details about regional autism support groups and the April 2 Light It Up Blue event.

Mountain carvers currently are focusing their rough shaping efforts on the 340 and 360 benches. The horizontal work areas are created in thinning the mountain from the top and working downward in following sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski’s artistic vision. The world’s largest mountain carving in progress will be 641 feet wide and 563 feet tall.

The last of 11 planned benches that block out the rough contours of the rider’s torso and the horse extends to just under the horse’s muzzle and is 360 feet below the top of the head of Crazy Horse.

The drilling, blasting and bulldozing occurs all year as weather permits. For more on the process, take an inside look at carving the mountain.

The Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation and the University of South Dakota have offered the unique program since 2010. New college students complete their first semester, earning up to 14 transferable credits.

The application deadline is April 1 for this year’s 32 student openings.

Students seeking admission must be age 17 to 21, have a high school diploma or general education degree and a cumulative grade-point average or equivalent of 2.00.

All students meeting admission standards are welcome to apply, however, preference is given to members of federally-recognized American Indian tribes.

Accepted students receive a scholarship covering the costs of tuition and class materials. In addition, Crazy Horse Memorial subsidizes the cost of lodging and meals, holding a student’s overall costs at $800.

However, thanks to paid working internships at the Memorial’s visitor complex, it is possible for students to pay for their program expenses and leave with money for their future schooling.

For details, go to: www.usd.edu/summer-school/crazy-horse.cfm