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.

Overcoming Fear and Obstacles

When I was a little girl, I was terrified of speaking in front of a big group of people. I would panic and feel so self-conscious. My palms would sweat and my heart would beat so fast – to the point I had to listen closely because it was so fast I couldn’t hear the pitter-patter at all.  This fear was magnified at the age of 10 when my family immigrated to the U.S. and I had to learn to speak English.

The truth is, most children are afraid something. Often times the first step to overcome a fear or obstacle is to face it in a safe setting with people you trust. This can help you realize you have what it takes to overcome it.

Recently, the Native American kids we work with at St. Joseph’s Indian School did just that! We were on duty in the Afra Home with the Lakota girls (grades 1-3) and Dave, our fellow houseparent, invited us to be a part of his kid-friendly version of “Fear Factor”.  Does the title make it sound dangerous? I thought so too at first.

About 17 boys and girls were split into teams of two and faced a series of secret challenges. After finding out what a particular challenge entailed, each team could make a decision to either pass or try. The amount of points they could earn depended on whether they performed a partial or full completion of the challenge.  The teams with the most points could win first or second place. There were also special awards for Best Heart and Best Sportsmanship. That way, their perseverance and attitude while either trying a challenge or cheering for other teams might qualify them to win a prize.

It sounded like fun and the girls were up for it.  I joked that if all the girls had nightmares I was going to come and wake Jachin up so he could help me comfort them. To Dave’s credit, this activity was so awesome that I not-so-secretly wished it had been my idea. Haha. It was so successful!

Some of the challenges included:

Fear the Peer-Teams had to face their fear by choosing to sing a song, tell a story, dance, or read a poem in front of their peers. They could give a speech, teach a lesson, come up with a skit, or do pretty much anything else that would require them to do it in front of our crowd. We had some time to brain storm and then the show began. I do have to make a special shout out to my really nice husband, Jachin. In real life, he HATES to dance with a passion, but one of our boys said he would only do it if Jachin did it with him. I have never seen him dance like that before. What a trooper!

Fear the Dark- Each person could choose to sit in a dark room alone for 60 seconds to get points of their team. If they indicated they wanted to come out, we would immediately open the door.

Fear the Burn- Challengers would hang from the monkey bars and endure the burn of their muscles for as long as possible.

Fear the Food- Teams could eat “Monster Guts” and drink “Lizard Pee.” Obviously, we didn’t feed them the real stuff. There were no monsters around.  : )

Here’s a video of some of our day to prove it!

Our “Fear the Peer” activity reminded me of my own fears. It reminded me that it took one person to make me believe I could actually try to stand in front of my class without freezing or feeling like I could burst into tears. That person was my 6th grade Language Arts teacher. That year, I slowly improved because of her. I remember our final project was a speech.  I did okay. After that, she signed me up for a county-wide speech competition. The speech had to be about the meaning of optimism.  With a lot of practice, I went on to win second place overall. I couldn’t believe it!

It took a few other people to help me grow and polish the bit of skill I had. In high school, it was a retired lawyer who volunteered with youth in after school activities. He not only convinced me that I was a good public speaker, but he helped me believe I could be anything I wanted in life. While in college, it was a professor; he helped and encouraged me to further my skills by getting rid of verbal pauses such as “um” and “like” to hide my nervousness while I spoke.

Although their presence in my life was brief, those are a few of the people I can thank for being able to do the things I do today. Just yesterday, I had to do a presentation for a Staff Development Meeting. Even after all these years, their faces and names came to mind.

I say all that to say the following:

I believe in the combined power of relationships, encouragement, trusting God, resilience, and hard work. This power can help people overcome fears and obstacles.  I hope every child can experience it at least once in their lifetime. I also wish all adults could play a role in that powerful combination for a child at least once in their lifetime.

Did you ever experience that power as a child? Have you played a role in empowering a child? I’d love to hear your story and our kids would too!

Changing Weather, Changing Activities

Greetings from St. Joseph’s Indian School!

I hope everyone had a great week and lots of fun on Halloween.  The Lakota students capped off their celebration of Red Ribbon week — a time focused on reminding them of the danger of drugs — with some spooky fun, wearing costumes to school and trick-or-treating on campus. The students then gathered in the rec center for the Grand March and judging of costumes.  There were awards for scariest, funniest and most creative costume, along with awards for pumpkin carving and home decorations. Check out the fun on our Facebook album!

The Lakota children enjoyed decorating and dressing up for Halloween.
St. Joseph’s students capped off Red Ribbon Week with Halloween fun!

Our High School Academic Advisor, Tara, announced the members of the 2013 Lakota Nation Invitational (LNI) Knowledge Bowl team. LNI is an annual event held before Christmas each year in Rapid City, South Dakota.  It gathers members of the Lakota nation from all over the state and surrounding areas to compete in a wide variety of events — basketball, archery, an art show, Native American hand  games, language contests and the Knowledge Bowl.  Our students, Erica, Ashley, Michael, Cody, Kyran, Liliana, Jacob and Angela will meet every Sunday night until the competition to practice. 

The CHS volleyball team – including some St. Joseph’s students – hosts Cheyenne-Eagle Butte on Tuesday in the state playoffs.  This will be a tough one to watch since I spent five years in Eagle Butte serving on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation; but since I’m now in Chamberlain, I have to say ‘Go Cubs!’ 

As the weather is changing and cooling down, St. Joseph’s students are spending more time indoors.  We recently held sign up for archery and wrestling. The younger students are also getting ready for Dancing Dolls and Dudes. 

With the end of the first quarter, we acknowledged our honor roll students in grades 1-8. Students received certificates and a special prize for A and B Honor Roll and for perfect attendance. 

Have a great week.  Know that you and your intentions are remembered in our prayers. Thank you for your generosity!

Fr. J. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

My old friend Fear

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year.  I get to spend some quality time with my old friend Fear.  Fear has a lot to teach me, but I generally avoid her and don’t return her phone calls.  Once a year though, we get to hang out and have fun for a change.

At St. Joseph’s Indian School, I hang out with Lakota (Sioux) girls in sixth, seventh and eighth grades, and they love Fear.  They love to watch scary movies and tell scary stories.  They love to jump out from dark corners and yell, “Boo!”  They love to hide plastic tarantulas in the coffee maker and severed hands in the cereal. They also like to cause Fear by screaming for no reason, failing to come back home on time, and playing contact sports with ruthless abandon.

This is what St. Joseph’s has taught me about Fear:

Talk about what scares you.  Ok, sometimes it’s true that sitting around talking about the winagi (spirit) in the basement causes everyone in the home to freak out.  But it is also true that if you talk about the winagi in the basement (or the elephant in the living room) chances are you aren’t the only one who is dealing with it. Phew!  What a relief!  And, chances are someone else knows what to do about it.  Sometimes a simple prayer or blessing can set things right again. Or sometimes you can get a friend to go to the basement with you, so you don’t have to be scared by yourself.

Stick together.  My houseparent partner Cathy and I took the girls in the Stevens Home to a Haunted House.  Two hours of waiting and 12 minutes of sheer terror… We moved through there like a tiny freight train, everyone packed tightly together.

Cathy led the way, taking the terror head on and clearing a path through the zombie minefield… Until she ran us all into a wall and then we got turned around and the machete guy had to break character and very nicely say, “This way, ladies.”

I grabbed someone in the dark and steered her to safety.  “I got your back.”  No child left behind in this haunted house!  “Wait.  You’re not my kid.”

Face your fears. OK, so if you’re in a scary situation like a haunted house, it is a good idea to laugh in the face of fear.  Or in Freedom’s case, laugh at the ugly machete guy and say, “Nyaa nyaa, you’re in a cage.  You can’t get me!”   What could go wrong?  Feeling braver already!

Or not.  Until you realize that there is a back door to the cage.  And he IS coming to get you.  In that case, apologize. “I’m sorry Mr. Crazy Scary Monster Guy! I’m sure that you’re actually quite nice!”    Then grab your friends and run screaming.

Have faith.  What makes Fear tolerable – either in the imaginary world of a haunted house or in the very real world of St. Joseph’s – is faith.  Even when we can’t see where we are going, and everything feels mixed up and crazy, we know that we are not alone.  We are surrounded by love and support.  We have faith that we can get through this, and that our calls for help will be heard.  We can see the Spirit at work in each other and in our Tiyospaye—our extended family.

The Lakota children wish you a Happy Halloween
Happy Halloween from the Lakota students and staff at St. Joseph’s Indian School!

There are other fears that we will continue to work on throughout the year, like Chantochurchophobia – the fear of singing in church.  We will prepare for scary situations by having fire drills, lock down drills and tornado drills.  We will talk through daily fears like, “What is going on back home?” and “What if I make a mistake in the basketball game?”  But for one night, we will have faith and we will befriend our Fear.

Happy Halloween to all our supporters and thanks for having our backs!

A little snow on the way?

Dear Benefactors,

It looks like our Indian Summer may be over in South Dakota – that dreaded word ‘snow’ is in the forecast.  It won’t be a lot, but it does remind us we are moving later into the year and our warm, sunny days will not be around for a while.  We saw some evidence of snow and slush yesterday up in Fort Pierre on my way to a board meeting in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.  We visited the abused women’s shelter and residential care center for Native American youth in that community, both sponsored by St. Joseph’s Indian School.  They are doing wonderful work as they reach out to the local community on a variety of fronts.

Several of the homes for St. Joseph’s older students got together and headed to Mitchell, South Dakota to go through a haunted house and pay a visit to McDonald’s as well.  They had a great time!  With our Halloween party and costume contest coming this Thursday, it may have given them some ideas for costumes.

Last Wednesday, I was invited by the local Kiwanis to be their guest speaker. I shared an update on recent happenings on campus, encouraging them to visit our new Alumni and Historical Center. I also filled them in on Fr. Steve’s new role as Provincial for the Priests of the Sacred Heart.

Our students worked with an artist in residence last week to create Christmas ornaments for the National Christmas tree in Washington, DC! Currently 48 ornaments are nearly ready to go. St. Joseph’s Indian School is the only school in South Dakota to take part in decorating the tree, so this was a very special opportunity indeed. Stay tuned for more information on this exciting project!

On the sports front, the Chamberlain High School football team has qualified for the State playoffs! The first game will be tonight. They are hosting Todd County, whom they recently beat. We hope they are able to repeat the victory.  Several St. Joseph students are contributing their talent and skills.  Go Cubs!

Sunday, our inter-city basketball league got started. This program gives St. Joseph’s Lakota students and local 6th, 7th and 8th graders the chance to play basketball on Sundays.  They play together on four teams and compete against each other every Sunday afternoon.  We see it as an important way for the students to meet each other now so that when they enter high school they’ll know each other a bit better.

The experience of playing together also helps them to be aware of each other’s talent, which is great in high school.  The upcoming boys’ varsity basketball team for Chamberlain High School should be a good team this year. Last year, the “C” team was undefeated; it had several St. Joseph’s players on the team, so we’re looking forward to an exciting year!

 

I hope each of you has a great week.  May God’s blessings be with you now and always.

God bless,

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

Inipi – the Rite of Purification

Hello friends of St. Joseph’s,

My name is Amanda and I am a family service counselor at St. Joseph’s Indian School. I work with girls in grades 6-12, along with two other female counselors.

We have 17 high school girls who attend Daughters of Tradition two times per month. This group explores traditional Native American culture along with alcohol and substance abuse prevention. The girls in the group asked if we could hold an Inipi. An Inipi (also known as a sweat lodge) is a traditional ceremony that takes place to pray and purify or cleanse oneself. Two Lakota elders were asked to come from a local Indian reservation to lead the ceremony and pour water for the purification part.

Five students and one staff member participated in the ceremony while the other students and staff helped by making a traditional meal that included homemade beef stew, fry bread and chokecherry wojapi.

The fire was started around 3:30pm to heat the 15 rocks (they are also called grandfathers because they are the oldest entities on earth). When the female elders arrived, students offered a traditional gift of tobacco and money to thank them for giving of their time and wisdom to our students in this way.

Prior to entering the lodge, participants smudge with sage to cleanse and to bring positive energy to the Inipi. All enter the lodge clockwise and say Mitakuye Oyasin (all my relatives) to invite our ancestors in the lodge with us. The rocks are then brought into the lodge one by one and placed in the four directions by the fire keepers. The elders place flat cedar on the rocks as they pray for a good Inipi.

St. Joseph’s high school girls held an Inipi ceremony, which is the Lakota rite of purification.
The girls prepared a traditional meal of stew, fry bread and chokecherry wojapi to follow the Inipi.

Once all this has taken place, the flap to the lodge is closed. While we sit in the darkness with steam from the grandfathers, we all pray and ask for guidance. During this Inipi, we completed four rounds with a break in between so we could have fresh cool air and some water. Once the rounds were completed we all exited the lodge and thanked one another for a great sweat.

During an Inipi, it becomes very hot in the lodge. By the time you leave, you are soaking wet; however, you feel so refreshed and alive and cleansed! After the sweat was complete, we ventured up to one of the high school girls’ homes and enjoyed a nourishing homemade meal and fellowship.

St. Joseph’s is blessed to have a sweat lodge and fire pit, so several Inipis take place throughout the year. An Inipi is a truly amazing experience that allows you to pray with others and purify yourself. The girls always enjoy the experience and the delish meal. They often ask when the next one will be.

Have a blessed day!

Amanda

Enjoying Fall Activities

Good afternoon tiyospaye – extended family,

The pheasant hunting season opened in South Dakota over this past weekend and it sounded like the hunters were out doing their best.  I heard several shots across the river as we finished Mass Sunday morning.

We are in a period of transition at St. Joseph’s Indian School now, as the fall sports wrap up and the students get ready for the indoor basketball season. Yesterday, the girls in fourth through eighth grades signed up for their basketball teams.

The boys will start having their inter-city league on Sundays.  This program blends students from Chamberlain with St. Joseph’s Lakota students on teams that are made up of sixth, seventh and eighth grade boys.  It is a way for the students to make new friends before they meet up as classmates in high school.  The first game will be Sunday, October 27. The girls will have their inter-city season after the holidays.

Several of our seventh and eighth grade boys have joined the local Explorers Club in Chamberlain, which gives them the opportunity to be part of a service group. They do various community projects throughout the year to raise money – raking leaves, shoveling snow and a car wash, to name a few. Then, the boys decide as a group who or what cause would be a worthy recipient of the funds.  Last year they donated their money to several local people who were dealing with cancer.

They also remember to have some fun! The group has taken trips to a Minnesota Vikings football game and a Colorado Rockies baseball game.

Students who are new to St. Joseph’s are taking part in a program called ‘co-pilot,’ which matches them with another student to help them belong, enjoy and develop relationships at St. Joseph’s. It parallels our big brothers/big sisters program.

From my office, I can see the students playing outside after school. Kids will be kids, and it warms my heart to see them play games like Red Rover, Red Rover and tetherball. With Halloween just around the corner, many students are also busy getting their costumes ready.

Hope you all have a great week.

Sincerely,

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

Native American Day Activities

Monday, October 14, St. Joseph’s Indian School – along with the rest of South Dakota – celebrated Native American Day. We, along with several other schools around our area, embraced the opportunity to have a “teachable moment” while having fun reliving a part of our rich Lakota/Dakota/Nakota culture.

The Regalia Relay was one of many games St. Joseph’s students played in celebration of Native American Day.
In the Regalia Relay, the Lakota boys put on girls’ regalia and vise versa to dance their way back to their teammates.

The morning greeted us with a line of colored banners carried by students who read a brief description about the corresponding color and direction of the medicine wheel.  Bridges were built between the Catholic and tribal spiritualities by centering ourselves with prayer and singing the hymn “There is a Well.”  Our drum group offered up two prayer songs to honor the day and what it might mean to our people.

During the afternoon, classes circulated around eight game stations to compete against themselves, others and groups.  Our stations included:

  • Lakota bowling
  • Hackie sack
  • Regalia relay (switch dressing – the boys put on girls’ regalia and girls put on boys’ regalia)
  • Leg wrestling
  • Arrow toss
  • Hand games
  • Musical chairs (with drum songs)
  • Cat’s cradle yarn art
  • Storytelling

Each game was explained with its historical significance and natural place in our world.  A plethora of adults helped to make the day possible by guiding, encouraging, and even taking part with the group as the students scurried through the rain and mist between the recreation center, the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center and the skating room.

I hope our St. Joseph’s students went home knowing why this day was set aside for our tribal people to be honored for our place on this North American Continent, rather than focusing on someone who thought they had found India.  We love the land and the culture that respects our footprints upon it.

LaRayne, Native American Studies teacher

The Lakota students learned to leg wrestle during Native American Day activities.
Leg wrestling was one of many games played in traditional Lakota (Sioux) culture.

Celebrating Native American Day, returning from a visit to Atlanta

Dear Friends of St. Joseph’s Indian School,

The weather is a big topic of conversation on the South Dakota prairie lately.  Deep snow in the Black Hills caused havoc with ranchers’ cattle herds.  The melting snow joined with this weekend’s rain and wind caused flooding in some areas.

St. Joseph’s students celebrated Native American Day on October 14.
The Lakota children played a variety of traditional games to celebrate Native American Day.

We had hoped to have good weather to celebrate Native American Day on October 14.  Elsewhere, it is called Columbus Day, but in 1990, the late Gov. George Mickelson, signed legislation that changed the name and put the focus on promoting reconciliation between the Native Americans and other citizens of South Dakota.  We kicked the day off with a prayer service geared to reminding our students of their Lakota (Sioux) heritage and asking the Great Spirit’s guidance in the second quarter of the school year.

Over the weekend, Chamberlain hosted the 13th Annual River City Band Festival, welcoming high school bands from miles around.  It was cool and windy, but the band members did a great job.  After a parade through downtown, the field competition was held on the high school football field.  We were also honored to have South Dakota State University’s THE PRIDE marching band make an appearance.  St. Joseph’s students took part in the parade by carrying banners thanking local businesses for their sponsorship of the event.

St. Joseph’s students and staff are just returning from donor luncheons in the Atlanta, Georgia area over this past weekend.  Our Homecoming King, Cody, and classmate, Errol, were excited to share a few words of thanks with the donors.

– St. Joseph’s hosts donor events around the country where benefactors can meet the Lakota students.
Errol and Cody visited St. Joseph’s benefactors in Atlanta, Georgia.

Our next two luncheons are in Houston, Texas, on November 23-24 and Los Angeles, California, on January 18-19.   If you would like to attend, visit our website or call 1-800-584-9200.

I hope you all have a great week.  Be assured of our daily prayers for you and those dear to you, especially in our monthly novena of Masses offered from the 11-19 of each month.

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

Off and Running with the William Home

Hello from Mike and the William Home! We are one of St. Joseph’s 4th and 5th grade girls’ homes. We have 12 Lakota (Sioux) girls living here and this is my eleventh year as a houseparent at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

Kyla lives in the William Home at St. Joseph’s Indian School.
Kyla brought home first place in the Traditional category at St. Joseph’s powwow!

It is hard to believe, but we are in the last week of the first quarter of school already.  It has been a very hectic schedule so far and we are having a lot of fun.  Some of the highlights for us have been St. Joseph’s annual powwow, where we had the opportunity to be one of the homes that donors toured as part of the scheduled activities.

The girls spent Friday evening making cupcakes and bars to serve to our guests, and showed them around our newly remodeled home on Saturday.  Seven of our girls danced at powwow – Kyla brought home first place in Traditional and Shawnna was runner-up to be Junior Miss St. Joseph’s!  One of our houseparents, Jessica, had a baby in September. She is away being a mom until mid-November.  While she is gone, Zee is filling in for her.  Zee is a new staff member who is originally from South Africa.

We are also off and running – or I guess walking – with the William Home fitness program.  Last year, the girls walked 20,000 laps in the gym, which is equal to 1,000 miles.  We will keep you updated on our progress as the year goes on.

Basketball season for the girls is just a few weeks away. They are getting anxious to start and have been getting in some shooting when we have gym time on the weekends. Our first game is scheduled for November 7 at Crow Creek.

We hope all is well for you! A big thank you to all the donors who took the time to visit the William home and St. Joseph’s campus during powwow.

God Bless,

William Home girls and staff

Spared the snow and power outages

Dear Friends of St. Joseph’s,

As you may have heard from watching various weather reports over the last few days, western South Dakota was blasted with over 30” of snow! It is being called one of the worst storms in South Dakota history.  We received some heavy rain in the Chamberlain area on Friday and Saturday, but thankfully were spared the snow and power outages.   The rain wiped out the Chamberlain High School Homecoming Parade, but the game was still played, despite a torrential downpour.

You may recall that both the Homecoming King and Queen elected last week were close to many hearts at St. Joseph’s Indian School. King Cody is one of our high school students, and Queen Marilyn is the daughter of two staff members. In addition, several other St. Joseph’s high school students were selected to be part of the honor court.

The Lakota children joined Kevin Locke in a flute recital.
St. Joseph’s students performed with Kevin Locke at the South Dakota Indian Education Conference last week.

Last week, our community was also the site of South Dakota’s Indian Education Conference. Our Principal, Kathleen, and several teachers attended.  A group of St. Joseph’s students, along with Kevin Locke, gave a flute recital and did a great job.

Today, members of St. Joseph’s Parent Advisory Council met on campus. Parents and guardians of current students and some former students themselves, these folks generously give their time to help us improve our programs. They provide feedback from a parent’s point of view and help us better understand their children’s needs and hopes.

At today’s meeting, they were brought up-to-date about our new anti-bullying program, the latest criteria for admissions and insight into a wellness program for the Lakota children.  They also had the chance to visit Chamberlain High School to get an idea of what a day is like for our high school students.

We are grateful for these parents and guardians giving of their time to listen and give responses as to how we can keep making things better and safer for the Lakota boys and girls entrusted to our care.  The council meets twice per year and membership rotates, so there is a good mixture of parents and guardians involved from different Indian reservations in South Dakota and Nebraska.

Have a great week!

Sincerely,

Fr. J. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

P.S. During our recent powwow, we had slips of paper for guests to jot down prayer requests for our students and staff to remember in their evening prayers.  As I was going through them to pick out some intentions for October, I came across a slip that asked a question:

“Since the government gives the Indian nations money, what percentage does St. Joseph’s get for subsidies, if any?”

Thank you for the question! Federal money is given to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which then distributes the money to the various Native American groups; however, as St. Joseph’s is not affiliated with any tribe or reservation, we do not receive any money from the government.

St. Joseph’s does get some financial aid for the school lunch program and Title program, which provides specialists to help with the education of our students.   However, the bulk of St. Joseph’s financial resources come through YOU and your generosity!   Your kindness and support make all our programs possible.  Pilamaya—thank you!!