Guest Blogger: Julie

Hi, my name is Julie L. and I am the Clinical Services Director at St. Joseph’s Indian School. I have worked at St. Joseph’s since 1987. I currently oversee the Clinical Department and the Health Center.  During the summer months, the Health Center is not as busy as it is during the school year.  We see less activity as there are fewer students on campus.  We do, however, provide services for the staff and their immediate family and have a nurse on call when students are here.  The Clinical Department (Family Service Counselors or FSCs) is busy with admissions work and home visitations.

I have just returned from Germany as part of an exchange program that we have with the SCJ school in Handrup.  Another staff member and I took four high school students on this journey.  It was very fun and exciting for all of us to travel overseas, as none of us had done this before.  It was so great watching the students experience many new things during this trip.

The students spent much of their time with their individual host families and with one another. Patrick and I stayed at the monastery and were treated very well by the priests and sisters.  We got to see many sights and learned a lot about Germany while we visited for two weeks (fun times at an amusement park in the Netherlands, a weekend in Berlin, and visiting a castle, to name just a few things that we accomplished while there).  The students also shared presentations about themselves and St. Joseph’s Indian School to different classrooms at the Handrup school.

Our German host students and a chaperone will be coming to South Dakota in October to see our school and visit some sites around South Dakota.  All of the students are very excited about this as they bonded quite well as a group and can’t wait to see one another again.

The last two days we spent in Amsterdam.  This was really fun for the students as they enjoyed staying in a “Botel” that was right on the water.  We also visited Anne Frank’s house which was interesting as the students have read her book for one of their high school classes.  As we flew back to the United States, you could see that the students were tired but very happy with all that they had experienced.

We hope and pray that you all are having a wonderful summer and, as always, thank you for your continued support for the students at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

 

 

A part of St. Joseph’s Indian School

I spent most of the day working on finances and budgets, not too exciting but necessary to keep things running well. Thankfully we have such good and dedicated people in the Development Office that think ahead. Much of our discussion right now is planning for a future where postage costs are going to be higher and services probably curtailed. Since anyone reading this blog is already internet friendly, we really see this as a continued opportunity. While online giving grows every year, many of our donors are still more comfortable with standard mail, so a gradual transition will take some time. Instead of taking months to design, print and mail a newsletter, we can have a photo and article posted online the next day. It can save us both time and money and get interactive updates out in a timely way.

We want folks to feel a part of what happens on St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus, even at a distance.

In the evening I talked with Daylon and Erica, high school students chosen to speak at our donor luncheons in Miami on March 21 and April 1. They were both incredibly excited and look forward to meeting and thanking our donors in that area, and sharing some of their experiences at St. Joseph.

I also stopped in the Carola Home (HS boys) to visit the walking wounded from the ski trip. I think their egos were bruised as much as muscles, but they are eager to try again!