Author: St. Joseph's Indian School

At St. Joseph's Indian School, our privately-funded programs for Lakota (Sioux) children in need have evolved over 90 years of family partnership, experience and education. Because of generous friends who share tax-deductible donations, Native American youth receive a safe, stable home life; individual counseling and guidance; carefully planned curriculum based on Lakota culture and individual student needs and tools to help build confidence, boost self-esteem and improve cultural awareness. All of this helps children to live a bright, productive, possibility-filled future.

Huge grins and a warm handshake

This afternoon was our annual rivalry basketball game with Chamberlain’s 7^th and 8^th grade teams to earn bragging rights for the year. Both teams play hard to win, but since many play together in our fall intercity basketball league, there is also a good sense of familiarity and friendship. I noticed at the tip-off of the 8^th grade game, Michael was jumping against a boy he played on the same team with in the fall. They had huge grins and gave a warm handshake before the competition began.

Chamberlain has a strong group of 7^th graders, and easily defeated our crew. In the 8^th grade, we have a strong group of boys and definitely had a height advantage. But, the Cubs played good team ball and forced overtime. Our Braves finally won by three. Since it’s really a local game for both schools, we had a great crowd in the stands to cheer the players on. Many of our staff had kids or grandchildren playing for the Cubs, and most of us had to root for all the kids on both sides of the ball.

A reporter from the local newspaper came to interview me about the progress of our Akta Lakota Museum expansion and alumni/ historical center. The workers have lifted the ceiling beams into place and are working on roofing now, so it’s really taking shape. Still, it will take another year plus for the whole project to be completed.

Tuesday was Valentine’s Day! At the end of the day our students passed out cards, many store-bought, but a few homemade, to friends and classmates. The boys at Cyr Home baked treats to share with their 4^th and 5^th grade classmates – yummy and very appreciated!

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, in my spiritual reading, I came across this quote about love from Pedro Arupe, former superior general of the Jesuits:

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything.”

In my weekly meeting with Mike, director of Child Services, we discussed our Lakota cultural programming. In our strategic plan we identified the need to add another staff position to complement what we are already doing in this regard. We’re looking at moving forward and hiring someone for next school year. We have begun some good things in terms of dance, drum group and language and see the need for continued staff education and development as well.

At the William Home (4^th and 5^th grade girls) for supper, I got to meet Chuck, our newest houseparent, who is shadowing Mike and Jessica to learn how we do childcare here at St. Joseph’s Indian School. Chuck had his two year old son Izzy with him, and the girls were quite enamored with the little guy. Izzy had a dozen big sisters willing to play and watch after him, and seemed to enjoy the attention.

A busy weekend at St. Joseph’s Indian School

Our weekend was filled with lots of activity. Friday evening, grades 1-5 gathered in the Rec Center for a Valentine’s Day Sobriety Carnival. Older students helped with the games, which included a fish pond, bean bag throw and ring toss, to name a few. We had lots of smaller prizes sent in by our donors, and the students were happy to win fun little knick-knacks, toys and games.

Lots of kids lined up at the cake walk, trying to win a small personal-sized cake. We joked that as many dill pickles as our Native American students buy at the concession stand during basketball games, we could try a pickle walk instead and it would be just as popular!

Fr. Steve, getting a heart face painted on his face! — Who doesn't love a little face paint?

One group of junior high girls staffed a face painting station, and many of the students got colorful temporary decorations to highlight their features. I got in the act and, since it is Valentine’s Day, (or maybe because I’m a Priest of the Sacred Heart), I got a bright red heart painted on my cheek.

After the younger students cleared out, grades 6-12 came back for a dance. Chris, a junior in high school, helped DJ. He pointed out to me that he’d edited a lot of the popular songs on his playlist so they could be marked with an asterisk denoting “clean,” meaning there was no inappropriate language.

Like many dances, boys spent most of the time on one side of the room, and girls on the other. A few brave souls occasionally ventured out. By the last two songs of the night, everyone wanted to dance, and bemoaned the fact it was ending so early.

Saturday we hosted a four team 8^th grade basketball tournament. St. Joseph’s won their first game. We played Pierre Indian Learning Center evenly in the first half of the championship game, but they caught fire in the third quarter and won going away. The Stevens Home (6^th – 8^th grade girls) made chili dogs and sloppy joes for the concession stand, along with some homemade baked goodies that were popular with players and fans alike. They’re saving up money to get a few extra fun things for their home.

The Summerlee Home (4^th-5^th grade girls) took a day trip to Sioux Falls and spent the day learning to ice skate. They came home a little sore, but with lots of giggles and laughter and are eager to try again soon.

Our local bowling alley has eight lanes, and St. Joseph’s had them all for a couple of hours Saturday night as the high school students had a bowling party. Some take the bowling more seriously than others, but all have a good time just hanging out. There was a 25 cent prize for each strike, and students pooled their money to pick songs to play on the juke box.

Saturday also brought another dance, this one in town, for 6^th-8^th grade students. Several of our boys have joined the local Explorers Club, which is a service organization that teaches them to become young gentlemen, and give back in service to the community. This dance was held at the public elementary school, and our students mingled well with peers from town. As our kids do more with Chamberlain children now, it starts to build relationships that will make the transition to public high school less scary for them later.

Sunday at church, Peter from the Raphael Home (1^st-3^rd grade boys) introduced me to our newest first grader, who just began this week. He told me the child was both excited and nervous because he had never been to church before, and didn’t quite know what to expect. His housemates helped him figure out when to stand and when to sit, and where to find prayers in the books, and it turned out okay.

Sunday afternoon, our junior high girls had two rounds of inter-city basketball. Afterwards, I hung around the gym when the younger grades came in for their recreation time. I worked with a couple of young girls on how to pass a basketball and shoot a layup, then took some time just walking around the gym and talking to the kids. Most of the time they seem me in black clerical attire, and they were fascinated to see me in sweat pants and shirt, learning that I do have other clothes!

A look into St. Joseph’s science lab

We are halfway through the 3^rd quarter here at St. Joseph’s and it is tough to believe! The 2011-2012 school year has flown by, and we will soon be starting preparations for the end of the year and 8^th grade graduation. But, until then, Science class continues on its journey to discover and explore new concepts.

The 6^th grade class has just started a unit on atoms and The Periodic Table. These two items can be difficult topics for students to grasp as they are somewhat intangible. Because of this, donations for the Science lab, such as supplies like different colored, rubber bouncy balls and various sizes of styrofoam balls would be greatly appreciated. These inexpensive tools can help make the concept of atoms much more concrete for my 6^th graders.

In 7^th grade, we are about to wrap up the topics of heredity and DNA. The students have really enjoyed predicting the possible outcomes of different traits by using Punnett Squares and Pedigrees. Throughout this unit we use dried beans and peas are used to demonstrate possible outcomes of traits. Dried peas and beans seem like an odd donation to a school, but they are greatly appreciated! Different colored clay or play dough is also used, allowing students to fashion their own DNA sequences.

Since the return of students from Christmas Break, the 8^th grade has been discussing The Rock Cycle and the three different types of rock: sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous. Early in this unit we created crystals using only water, salt, Styrofoam cups, string, and pencils. Donations of salt would be greatly appreciated! These crystals depleted my supply. Styrofoam cups, string and pencils are also welcome tools in the Science lab. The students thoroughly enjoyed this activity and really took ownership of their crystals. I had students reminding me it was time for them to observe their crystals.

Thank you so much to all you who donate to St. Joseph’s Indian School and also to those of you who keep our organization in your prayers. You are very special to us. You bring inspiration and hope to many.

God Bless You,

Sarah

Needed supplies for the Science room:

Rubber bouncy balls in different colors
Styrofoam balls
Dried peas and beans
Clay or play dough in different colors
Salt
Styrofoam cups
String
Pencils

Learning from our Native American youth

This morning started with a staff appreciation breakfast at the dining hall. The food services crew put together a waffle bar with four different kinds of fruit toppings, along with syrup and whipped cream, that one could make into a creation to suit their own tastes. At these events, we also have a fun trivia contest to give staff a chance at winning door prizes. Donna, our Human Services Director told me we will have to figure out a new approach because, with the advent of smart phones, most of the people can just look up the answers at their fingertips!

I’m experiencing that time of year when there are fewer big projects to attend to, but lots of little, ongoing, daily events. While those aren’t the kind most likely to make headlines, sometimes it is most satisfying just to roll with the day as it unfolds and be able to pay attention to the people who pass my way.

Today I wrote copy for upcoming newsletters and visited the classrooms at school. Our photographer, Emily, was around and snapped a few shots that you’ll probably see somewhere down the road. This evening, I met with two of our high school girls, Daylon and Erica, who will travel to Miami, Florida next month. Both are freshmen and both have been here for seven years.

I learned a lot from their perspective as they talked about what they will share with our donors about their lives at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

An update from St. Joseph’s middle school

St. Joseph’s sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students are hard at work for the spring semester!

In language arts,

7^th and 8^th grades have just finished a unit on fiction, learning the elements of fiction and discovering author’s purpose, etc. Now we are moving on to nonfiction work starting with autobiographies and biographies, memoirs, journals and personal essays. We’ve also been working on reading and summarizing informational text.
Our 6^th grade students are discovering Great Expectations and learning about the inventions that have changed our lives. We are also studying characterization and understanding elements of plot and dialogue in drama.

A teacher lecturing in her classroom. — Learning can be challenging, but the teachers at St. Joseph’s Indian School also make it fun!

In math class, students are working with coordinate planes, learning order of operations and ratio word problems. We are also learning about adding and subtracting fractions with and without common denominators, as well as having to borrow with fractions

In science classes,

Sixth-grade students are learning about energy transformations.
Seventh-grade students are learning about DNA
Eighth-grade students are learning about rock cycles

For students who are having some struggles within a subject, we have Educational Interventions. They can work in any subject during this time, which takes place daily, for the last 30 minutes of the day.

A better life for themselves, their family and tribe

The Tradoc Winds, from the US Army Training and Doctrine Command in Virginia. — The woodwind quintet entertained our Native American students.

St. Joseph’s Indian School had another musical treat again today with the performance of a woodwind quintet, The Tradoc Winds, from the US Army Training and Doctrine Command in Virginia. One of the soldiers is from the Chamberlain area, and she and her group met with our Native American students to explain their instruments and encourage our youngsters to stick with their musical instruction, since many of them began at 9 or 10 years of age. I wanted to get up and dance when they played the Clarinet Polka, but had to be satisfied with tapping my feet in time to the music.

Besides a whole bunch of catch up meetings, I had the pile of College and Vo-Tech scholarship applications to look over and sign off on. We have a committee who makes recommendations. We have 26 St. Joseph’s alumni who will receive help continuing their education. The variety of majors is broad, including auto mechanics, pharmacy technician, business management, construction management, chemical dependency counseling and nursing.

It’s gratifying to read the application letters, seeing how we can help people pursue their dreams of a better life for themselves, their family and tribe.

Greetings from the William Home

Four of the girls in the William Home. — Greetings from the William Home!!

Hello everyone!

This is Mike from the William Home, (4^th and 5^th grade girls). We have been keeping busy since the Christmas season and have started on some new activities. Six of our girls are participating in cheerleading now and they are excited to provide some school spirit for our 4^th and 5^th grade boys’ teams during home games.

We have also started a new fitness program with our girls and they have really taken pride in their accomplishments. We set a goal to walk 10,000 laps (500 miles) in the rec center by March 6th. We are getting up in the mornings and off to the rec center by 6:30 am and walk for 30 minutes.

The girls enjoy keeping track on our sign at the rec center. We will be going over 5,000 laps this week! Hopefully, our next update will let you know that we have reached our goal.

We hope you all had a safe and merry holiday season!

Very adventurous kids

We got back late last night from our donor luncheons in Austin, Texas. After 8^th graders Dawson and Kyle shared their experiences living and going to school at St. Joseph’s, one donor asked,

“How many times have you spoken before a group like this?”

“Never!” Dawson exclaimed.

But for a 13 and 14-year-old, they did a great job and now walk a little taller and more confident.

Our donors come from a wide variety of backgrounds. This trip I met two men who became interested in St. Joseph’s Indian School while searching out their own tribal roots. In periods of our nation’s history when tribal people faced persecution, some families kept quiet about Native heritage. Some children were adopted without knowing of their original people or roots. We hope all tribal people, especially our students, can draw on the wisdom and beautiful aspects of their tradition and culture to overcome obstacles and move toward a brighter future.

While in Austin, we had to visit the University of Texas. With over 50,000 students enrolled, if it were in South Dakota, it would be the 3^rd largest city all by itself, and not far from 2^nd place Rapid City! The students got a glimpse of large scale residential halls, educational buildings and football stadium on a major university.

We explored the downtown area, which in a few places lived up to the city’s theme of “Keep Austin Weird!” The boys got a kick out of the Museum of the Weird, with its PT Barnum-like displays of a two headed calf and exotic lizards. Some of our donors gave the boys Texas sweatshirts and mementos, and the downtown trip gave them a chance to pick up a few souvenirs for family and friends.

For both the boys, it was their first plane ride, and they found it fascinating to see the world from a higher view. When our students travel, I have a rule about food – they have to try some new foods, and I keep a little notebook to have them rate what they tried. Kyle would have broken the old record of 11, but Dawson was very adventurous, setting the new record for the weekend trip at 23 foods he had never tried, and said he’d eagerly try most of them again!

Jami Lynn Buttke, St. Joseph's Indian School's artist in residence. — The Lakota youth had so much fun singing along with Jami Lynn Buttke.

Back on St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus today, we have a young guitar-playing folk singer, Jami Lynn Buttke, as our artist in residence through the Artists in the Schools program, through the South Dakota Arts Council. She has been teaching our students some of the old folk songs, which I’ve always loved hearing. She also involves the students with some simple percussion instruments that they can join in making some entertaining music.

Hello from Fr. Anthony

Dear Friends,

It was another hectic weekend here on campus at St. Joseph’s Indian School. Fr. Steve Huffstetter, SCJ and a group of students and staff were in Austin, Texas for a donor luncheon, which gives me the opportunity to bring you up-to-date on what’s happening here in central South Dakota.

Group shot of Native American kids in the snow. — These Lakota youngsters stopped sledding to pose for a picture!

We are still enjoying a mild winter. What snow we got a few weeks ago is fast disappearing, which means that the students are missing out on sledding. The rec center staff sponsored a “midnight” sled fest recently – they turned on the football field lights so the students could sled on the hillside next to the field – and you could hear the shouts of laughter and joy all over campus. Sunday morning started out with fog, but as it lifted the cold evening air had given all the trees a frosted look which sparkled as the sun came out on another beautiful day.

This past week saw some activity at the construction site of the addition to the Akta Lakota Museum. Large beams were floating through the air as they were lifted into place. One benefit of the mild weather is that it is giving the workers the opportunity to get a lot of work done.

On Friday three of our high school students, Christopher, Jatonne and Erica, along with their fellow cast mates took part in the 56^th annual One-Act Play Festival in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Chamberlain High joined with 42 other high schools to perform before the judges and public. Each play has 45 minutes from set-up to take down. The Chamberlain High players performed “We wear the Mask” about some of the issues teens and young adults face. Chamberlain High received superior acting awards, a standing ovation, and much praise from the judges, other coaches and students for the courage to present such a hard-hitting message. On the hardwood court, the Chamberlain boys’ basketball team journeyed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to take part in the Dakota Schoolers Border Classic against Corsica-Stickney and won. St. Joseph’s has three students on the team—Nick, Claye and Elijah. The team currently has an 11-3 record.

Saturday gave me a chance to see the energy of our Native American students in action. Many of our 6^th, 7^th and 8^th graders are active in bowling. I followed the bus home from the lanes on Saturday after two hours of setting them up to knock them down. As the students poured out of the bus in front of their homes, many of the boys raced into their homes and were back out again heading to the gym for some basketball. They seemingly have energy to burn, which is why the rec center with its gym, workout room and pool is such a blessing – to give our students the opportunity to burn off the energy the Great Spirit has blessed them with.

Sunday brought the Super Bowl and our students and staff got caught up in all the excitement as many did around the country. Several homes hosted Super Bowl parties on campus and it was nice to see that the older homes invited some of the younger students to take part in the festivities. There was good food to munch on and various door prizes to be won during the game itself. I had the chance to attend one at Cyr Home where the 4^th and 5^th grade boys hosted some of the Benedictine Homes’ boys (1^st through 3^rd grades) and the one at Sheehy Home where the high school boys hosted the other high school homes along with 8^th graders. It helps give them some insight into what the future might hold for those continue in our academic program. Everyone had a great time, although I’m not sure if everyone was happy at the results of the Giants beating the Patriots, but the G-men did seem to be the choice of many of the students.

The Girls’ Inter-city Basketball program had a good day of play on Sunday. They also had the chance this past Friday evening to have some fun as the inter-city players from Chamberlain were invited out to have a swim party with the young ladies from St. Joseph’s. It was a way to have fun and help the girls continue to get to know each other to build up teamwork and help prepare them for when they’ll be together in high school.

The boys’ basketball team, about half way through their season, will meet one of our arch rivals, Lower Brule, as our 5^th and 6^th grade teams go there today, and Lower Brule’s 7^th and 8^th grade teams come here to play. These games should help us get a handle on what sort of team we have as the young men prepare for the St. Joseph’s boys’ basketball tournament this coming Saturday. It will be especially interesting since Fr. Steve has two of our stars with him on the luncheon visit to Austin, and they will not be back until after game time.

Again thanks for your prayers and generous support. We pray for you each Sunday at Mass. This Sunday we had the blessing of the throats for any of the students and staff who wished to receive it as the feast of St. Blasé was this past Friday.

Have a great week and may the Great Spirit continue to bless and reward you.

Until next time,

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

St. Joseph’s Indian School

The Sacred Cannupa

Kara is carving her soap into a Native American pipe. — Kara did a great job creating her pipe from a bar of soap!

The 4^th grade classes are learning about the rituals and beliefs of our Lakota Culture. Within this unit is the center of who we are as a people. The cannupa or pipe is a part of many ceremonies and everyday life. The pipe can be used for special ceremonies and for prayer when it is needed.

The class embraces the hands-on time of learning about the parts of a real pipe as well as singing the song that accompanies the filling of a pipe. We do not smoke the actual pipe because this is something that is for special use and I believe that many of our children should have this experience with their families.

Three Native American students carving pipes — The students did such a good job carving!

We cannot travel out of state for class trips, so we learn about how pipestone is harvested and shaped into a sacred, beautiful object which holds deep meaning. The students are told the story of the Pte San Win, the White Buffalo Calf Woman, who brought the pipe to our people centuries ago. The pipestone quarry in Pipestone, Minnesota holds historical meaning to the creation stories of our people as well. It is believed that the area where the quarry is today is the place where the last of our people drowned in the great flood. Their blood is the red-colored rock that we use for pipe-making today.

The Native American students are then able to do a little creating of their own. I demonstrate how to carve a piece of soft soap into what might be the bowl of a pipe. As you can see from the pictures, they are proud of their creations.

This unit of learning ties their American Indian culture to their hands, hearts and minds.