Guest Bloggers – Page 16 – St. Joseph's Indian School

Preparing to receive the Sacraments at St. Joseph’s Indian School

Good day from St. Joseph’s,

This was a big weekend at St. Joseph’s Indian School with the Rite of Christian Initiation for Children (RCIC) Sacramental Prep Class having a mini-retreat on Saturday. Over 30 students are preparing to receive the sacraments of Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation, which is a decision they make with their families.

Most of the class will be baptized and receive the other two sacraments. Nine are preparing just for First Communion and one, who is already baptized in another denomination, will be making a Profession of Faith and then receive First Communion. The students have been studying since early October. They joined with others around the world to take part in the Rite of Election on Sunday by which they again affirm their desire to draw closer to God and sign their names in the Book of the Elect which acknowledges their commitment in front of the whole faith community present at Mass.

As you can see from the pictures, they made stoles decorated with various symbols relating to the sacraments and will wear them when they are baptized. In Our Lady of the Sioux Chapel I explained the vestments, colors, books, chalices and paten, the altar and tabernacle and sanctuary lamp.

They also had the opportunity to practice receiving the host and taking a sip of wine, which brought out some interesting facial expressions!

Another session dealt with the seven Gifts of the Spirit, followed by painting a blessing cup. They made bread, which was shared with their individual homes. It was a wonderful time helping them prepare for their big day in April!

Also on Saturday the fourth, fifth and sixth grade Braves took part in a basketball tournament hosted by Chamberlain. Teams came from surrounding communities in central South Dakota. Sadly our fourth and sixth grade teams went out early despite keeping their games close. Our fifth grade team lost their first game but came back strong to beat Crow Creek and Mitchell to capture third place. Way to go guys!

Besides the basketball tournament, there was also a wrestling mini-clinic that some of our younger boys took part in. Thank you for helping us offer the Lakota children a variety of activities to help them cultivate lifelong interests!

I hope you have a great week as the month of February comes to an end. Know you and your intentions are remembered in our prayers as the children ask the Great Spirit to bless and reward you for your generosity for their education and care.

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

Greetings from St. Joseph’s Pinger Home!

Greetings from the staff and students in St. Joseph’s Pinger Home (4^th, 5^th &

Mike works with the Lakota girls in 4th and 5th grades — Mike, a St. Joseph’s houseparent

6^th grade girls)!

Since we last visited, things continue to go fast and furious for the girls. We finished up our basketball season in December and all the teams (4^th, 5^th and 6^th) came home with winning records. We had a great year working with the girls and they really progressed as the year went along. I was fortunate enough to be able to help coach all three of these grade levels and there was a lot of talent on the floor. The best thing though, is that they came to practice with a smile on their face and worked hard every day.

After Christmas break, the girls came back and we had our St. Joseph’s Christmas party. What a great time that was! Thank you for your generosity – without your support, these things wouldn’t be possible for our students.

We had our St. Joseph’s Christmas parties when the students returned from break. — The Pinger girls had an awesome Christmas thanks to you!

Now the girls are staying busy with cheerleading, gymnastics and martial arts. The sixth graders are still involved in basketball through our inter-city program, which combines the St. Joseph’s girls with girls from Chamberlain for scrimmages on Sunday afternoons.

St. Joseph’s girls’ basketball season concluded just before Christmas break. — Mike helped coach the 4th, 5th and 6th grade basketball teams.

We are still walking almost every morning and so far have put in almost 15,000 laps which equals out to 750 miles. Spring break is closing in fast and that will mark the end of the 3^rd quarter of the school year. It’s hard to believe that it has gone so quick! Thanks for all that you do to help the children and support our mission at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

Best wishes from the Pinger Home girls and staff,

Mike P

And the Lucky Winners are…

I hope you enjoyed Presidents’ Day yesterday!

Fr. Anthony, St. Joseph's Chaplain — Fr. Anthony, St. Joseph’s Chaplain

You may recall last week I mentioned the Lakota students participated in a Penny War to raise money for St. Joseph’s staff team – TURTLE POWER – taking part in the Polar Plunge. We gathered this past Thursday to see who the lucky winner of the Penny War would be, the grand prize being a pie in the face!

Four staff members, myself included, were seated in front of the student body in the rec center nervously smiling as the names were read to see whose name would be called last. Thankfully I was named first, so I avoided the pie to the face.

Julie, our Residential Director for 1^st-5^th grades, ended up becoming the target. One of our third graders, Devon, was selected and he really let the pie fly. Julie and half the basketball court were covered in whipped cream!

Four staff members competed in a penny war for the Lakota children to help raise money for South Dakota Special Olympics. — The lucky winner of the Penny War earned a pie in the face!

Everyone was pretty excited that the Penny War raised more than $200 for Special Olympics. Thanks Julie for being a good sport!

Julie, our Residential Director for 1st-5th grades, was the “lucky winner” of the pie in the face! — Thanks Julie for being a good sport!

The Explorers are getting excited about their up-coming trip to the state capital in Pierre, South Dakota. They’ll have a meeting with Governor Daugaard and tour the Discovery Museum.

The group just wrapped up a fundraiser that involved selling subscriptions for our local paper. One of our sixth grade boys, Tayeden, sold the second most subscriptions! He won a $25 prize and, according to the boys’ advisor, “a ton of confidence.” Way to go Tayeden!

On Saturday, I accompanied Kathleen, our principal, and nine contestants to the Spelling Bee in Mitchell. Three students took part in the competition for the national championship in Washington, D.C. Our three gave it their best and one student came in seventh out of 20. The others were class winners who competed against their own grades. Everyone did well and received a nice certificate congratulating them on qualifying for the contest. We even had some of our students’ families attend to encourage their son or daughter. It was a great day!

This coming weekend we’ll be having a retreat for students taking part in the Sacramental Prep Program. Participating is a decision students make with their families. Students are not required to

The Explorers sold newspapers subscriptions as a fundraiser. Tayeden won a prize for his sales skills! — Tayeden sold the second most newspaper subscriptions for the Explorers and won a $25 prize!

be Catholic to attend St. Joseph’s Indian School – we welcome children of all faiths. The aim is to help those who have not yet received First Communion prepare and enable other students to take part in the RCIC (Rite of Christian Initiation for Children) so they can receive the initial sacraments of Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation.

One student, who is already baptized, will make their Profession of Faith to join the church. We have over 30 students taking part. On Sunday they will be involved in the Rite of Enrollment as they continue preparations for the sacraments on April 12. We ask that you please keep them in your prayers.

Have a great week. May God’s blessings continue to be with you. We keep you and your intentions in our prayers.

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

Serving & Teaching, Receiving & Learning from the Lakota students

We serve and teach, we receive and learn.

This is a saying we have here at St.

Chelsey and her mentor match, Hope. — Chelsey’s mentor match, Hope, is in St. Joseph’s high school program.

Joseph’s and the truth of it is becoming more evident as I spend each day working with the Lakota (Sioux) students at St. Joseph’s Indian School. In my short year and half, I’ve had the privilege of working with the students in first grade all the way through seniors in high school. Staff members receive and learn various things from each age group.

I’ve learned from the younger students to live life spontaneously and carefree. Their little spirits, full of life and laughter, never cease to leave a smile on my face. They are full of curiosity and always asking questions. After spending an evening in one of our younger homes (students in grades 1-3), I can’t help but walk out feeling energized and reminded to live simply.

Recently we celebrated Catholic Schools Week and the seventh and eighth graders did a video on what faith, knowledge, and service mean to them. I was reminded of the role technology is playing in the world today, when one of the kids said service is something you have on your phone when you can call or talk to other people. The teacher needed to clarify a bit more on what type of service they were talking about. J

I was so inspired and encouraged by what these young students shared about their core beliefs in faith and what it means to them!

Occasionally I’ve had the opportunity to hang out with the high school students too. I am part of the mentor program and my mentor match is in high school. We enjoy getting together to do fun activities. She is always up for anything and the high school students are very active! Several of the high school students have siblings or cousins who also attend St. Joseph’s – they are great role models to the younger students. They set high goals for themselves and are continually working toward becoming the adults they desire to be.

Each student is unique and special, bringing different qualities, characteristics, and personalities to St. Joseph’s. Every day is an opportunity for staff and students to serve and teach, and receive and learn from each other.

Thanks for making this work possible!

Chelsey, Family Service Counselor

An amazing, busy week at St. Joseph’s Indian School

Good day from St. Joseph’s Indian School!

Last week was amazing. The weather was great — no snow and lots of sunshine. It was a busy week for the Lakota (Sioux) students!

We have recently been talking about grades for our elementary students and their induction into the National Honors Society. Now I can report on the high school program! The home with the lowest number of missing assignments for last quarter was the Giles Home (junior boys, plus one sophomore). The home GPA trophy went to Hogebach Home (sophomore, junior and senior girls) with an average of 3.32. Our five high school homes combined to earn 93 A’s and 18 students earned a GPA of 3.0 or better. Way to go!!

This past Saturday saw the local community take part in the annual Polar Plunge with 28 participants. Seven of our staff signed up to be St. Joseph’s TURTLE POWER team. The event raised a little over $15,000.00 which will benefit the Special Olympics in South Dakota. St. Joseph’s Turtle Power team contributed $2,100 along with the $200.00 from the Penny War held at St. Joseph’s to give our students a way to participate. Three other staff members and myself ‘volunteered’ to have our pictures put on jars that students and staff could drop pennies in. Next week, the ‘loser’ will be announced and receive a Whip Cream pie in the face in front of the whole student body. Those who donated were also able to enter a contest to see who gets to ‘throw’ the pie.

St. Joseph’s staff members teamed up to raise money for South Dakota Special Olympics. — St. Joseph’s TURTLE POWER team raised $2,100 for the Special Olympics of South Dakota.

Recently the Knights of Columbus held their annual free throw contest and the Chamberlain-Oacoma Area Chamber of Commerce piggy-backed on that to hold their Hot Shot competition for 9-14 year olds. St. Joseph’s students racked up several wins, along with the children of staff members. Congratulations everyone!

Campus was bust last Saturday as we hosted our annual 8^th grade boys’ basketball

St. Joseph’s hosted a basketball tournament for 8th grade boys’ teams last weekend. — Miller, Pierre Indian Learning Center (PILC) and Chamberlain were invited to take part in St. Joseph’s 8th grade boys’ basketball tournament last weekend.

tournament. Miller, Pierre Indian Learning Center (PILC) and Chamberlain were invited to take part. St. Joseph’s beat Chamberlain 54-29 in the first game and Miller beat PILC 48-28 in the second. Chamberlain and PILC then played for 3^rd and PILC won 34-31. In the championship game, St. Joseph’s fell behind early and could never quite catch up, losing to Miller 57-51. We congratulate all those who took part and thank them for some exciting games!

I hope each of you has a relaxing and enjoyable week ahead. Know that we keep you in our prayers in gratitude for your support and encouragement of the programs we offer our Native American students and their families here at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

P.S. The local paper had a recent article that named Adrian, one of St. Joseph’s high school students, as the Chamberlain High School Athlete of the Week. This is the same young man who earned the attention of an opposing coach, who then called up the local high school to commend Adrian for his sportsmanship. Congratulations and good job to Adrian!

Lakota Hand Games – a Victory at LNI

LaRayne imaciyapi ksto – hi, my name is LaRayne. I get to live out my passion of sharing Lakota culture in the classroom at St. Joseph’s

LaRayne is St. Joseph's Native American Studies teacher. — LaRayne, St. Joseph’s Native American Studies teacher

Indian School by teaching Native American Studies.

Recently, I was able to take 11 students from grades 2-8 to a gathering of our nations at the Lakota Nation Invitational Conference in Rapid City, South Dakota with my co-teacher, Allen, for a statewide Lakota hand games competition.

You might remember reading about LNI and St. Joseph’s Knowledge Bowl Team.

You are probably wondering what “hand games” are. I am told there are more than 50 different ways to play, but we played “Lakota” style for this tournament.

Two teams of up to 10 players sit directly across from each other. Each team has four wood pieces (called bones) to hide behind their back. One of the “bones” is marked with a line and is called the male. Each team also has eight sticks, which are used to keep score.

Lakota hand games teams have up to 10 players each. — Two teams of up to 10 players sit directly across from each other with four wood pieces (called bones) to hide behind their back.

Each team has a turn to have one of their players guess which hand the male bone is in. If they guess correctly, they take the bone from the other team. If they guess incorrectly, the guessing team gives up a stick.

The team hiding the bones uses movement, drumming and singing to distract the guesser on the opposing team and break his or her concentration. The first team to acquire ALL of the sticks is the winner. There are lots of detailed rules in addition to this, but I will keep it simple here.

There were 20 teams in the competition, and we played six games (the last three via the loser’s bracket) through the day to come out CHAMPIONS!

But wait, that isn’t the end!

We also were asked to be a part of the grand entry during the evening session of the basketball tournament that is held at the same time! We pinched ourselves to make sure we weren’t dreaming! After lunch, we stood on the gym floor in front of many of our oyate (nation) and listened to many honorings, speeches and names of student attendees.

Among the honored guests was Shoni Schimmel, the most popular WNBA player (according jersey purchases). The kids thought it was really neat to see her in person.

But wait!

While searching for some cotton candy, Aurelia and I stumbled upon the opportunity to have our picture taken with Shoni Schimmel! We gathered our team and set out to have our photo taken with the WNBA star!

And just because that wasn’t enough, the kids were presented with new coats designed for the winning team and 15 seconds of fame by being announced on television during the halftime awards ceremonies.

Needless to say, our students are more interested in hand games than ever!

Pilamaya – thank you,

LaRayne

St. Joseph’s hand games team took first place at LNI – congratulations everyone! — With their first place hand games victory, St. Joseph’s team got specially designed jackets, a plaque and were announced at half time.

Last week the Super Bowl, this week the Polar Plunge at St. Joseph’s Indian School

Dear Friends of St. Joseph’s Indian School,

That dreaded word was back again over this past weekend — SNOW. It seems like Chamberlain was on the edge of the storm, but starting with Chamberlain and moving east the amount of snow fall just kept rising — Mitchell got about 3”, Sioux Falls received 6”, Chicago had a foot and a half and New England another foot or so. Our grounds crew did a great job of getting all the streets on campus open as quickly as possible.

Last week was Catholic Schools’ week, we ended the week focusing on academics. The day ended with the induction of members into our new chapters of the National Junior and Elementary Honors Society. There were eight Junior Honor Society members and seven Elementary Honor Society members. At the Friday ceremony we encouraged the rest of the student body to continue doing their best with their studies.

Prior to the ceremony, the Lakota students took part in some academic games, but as I was visiting the classroom it looked more like preparation for a trip to Las Vegas! One class was playing Go Fish and the cards were being passed around quickly as everyone tried to match up their cards to win. Another class was throwing marked chips to see how many you could get to come up with the mark showing. They would shake them in a cup prior to throwing; at first I thought they were playing Yahtzee.

This weekend several of our staff will be taking part in the annual Polar Plunge to raise money for the Special Olympics of South Dakota. They had bake sales to raise money and also are sponsoring a Penny War in which students and staff can select from four staff members, yours truly included, to see who gets a whipped cream pie in the face. Final results will be revealed on Friday, February 6. On February 7 our polar plunge team, TURTLE POWER, will join others in the local Chamberlain community to take a dip in the frigid Missouri River.

St. Joseph’s Polar Plunge Team is called Turtle Power. — This weekend several St. Joseph’s staff will be taking part in the annual Polar Plunge to raise money for the Special Olympics of South Dakota.

One of our high school homes — Sheehy — hosted the annual Super Bowl party for all St. Joseph’s high school students. The seventh and eighth graders were also invited to give them a little taste of what they have to look forward to. The house was divided into two viewing rooms based on who you favored — Seahawks or Patriots. Snacks and refreshments were served, decks of cards and board games added to the fun. There was a variety of prizes awarded for a score or a great play came across the screen. We also had the chance to pick what the score would be at the end of each quarter. I had the prize in my hands for 36 seconds until the Patriots allowed Seattle to move down the field and score. Since the game was exciting down to the last minute everyone got caught up in the game and crowded into their favorite viewing area to cheer on their team. It was an exciting evening filled with a lot of fun and good times.

I hope you all have a wonderful week as we begin a new month!

God bless,

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

National Honors Society at St. Joseph’s Indian School

Wow, this year is going by so fast! There have been a lot of great things happening around St. Joseph’s Indian School. First I want to tell you

that Fast ForWord is going great, thanks to all of your generosity and support.

Next I would like to tell you about a wonderful opportunity we have to start a new group here at St. Joseph’s. We are now sponsoring two National Honors Society programs!

We are pleased and honored to welcome seven outstanding students to the National Elementary Honor Society for grades 4 – 6. We are equally pleased and honored to welcome eight outstanding students in grades 7-8.

Congratulations everyone!

Our induction ceremony was held Friday, January 30. — President Mike presented National Honors Society inductees with their certificates.

In order for students to be recommended for nomination – which is a SUPER honor in itself – they must have a GPA of 3.0 or above. There were 29 students in grades 4 -8 who earned that distinction.

Next, the students had to fill out a packet of information describing how they serve their community, and provide leadership, their responsibilities around school and home, as well as sports and extracurricular activities they have participated in.

Those packets then went to yet another committee comprised of one teacher, one administrator, and one houseparent. They each rated the packets on a 1 – 4 scale. Those numbers were added together and divided by 3. Our ceiling was 3.5 for membership. They all were so very close!

We had our first induction ceremony on Friday. It was truly a memorable event for our students! Parents were encouraged to come and we had our whole student body there. We will start meetings soon to elect our officers. Please keep us in your prayers, that we may work together for the benefit of others.

We’re so proud of our newest National Honors Society members! — St. Joseph’s is honored to welcome 15 Lakota (Sioux) students into the National Honors Society.

Celebrations, academics at St. Joseph’s Indian School

Dear Friends of St. Joseph’s Indian School,

Catholic schools around the country are celebrating Catholic Schools’ Week! Some of the activities the Lakota students will be involved with include tours of St. Joseph’s Development Office and being “teachers for a day” on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday, students will wear their Catholic Schools’ Week t-shirt and we’ll have a campus-wide prayer service. Academic games will be held on Friday afternoon prior to St. Joseph’s very first induction ceremony into our chapter of the National Honor Society. Watch for a blog post on this!

Each semester, St. Joseph’s awards a traveling trophy to the class with the highest GPA in each age group. — Katie’s second grade class won among the first to third grades with a 3.59 GPA.

Last week, several of our students took part in an Acalympics competition in Pierre, South Dakota. Our students came in seventh out of 11 schools participating. Our principal, Kathleen, feels the students are becoming more comfortable with the procedure and also recognize those areas of study they need to focus on. The competitions are not just about book knowledge, but awareness of general topics. It seems some sports question tripped us up. There will be another

competition in March in White River, South Dakota, so our team will be working hard to prepare!

We also awarded attendance and academic honors last week. We had more students than ever earn a spot on the B honor roll! We also have a traveling trophy for the class that has the highest Grade Point Average. They also get a pizza party for their efforts in the classroom.

Katie’s second grade class won among the first to third grades with a 3.59 GPA.
Ron’s fifth grade class took honors among the fourth to sixth grades with a 3.23 GPA.
Dave’s seventh grade class captured the plaque for the seventh and eighth grade classes with a 3.34 GPA.

Over the weekend, Chamberlain high school presented the one act play, Shel-ling It Out by Shel Silverstein, the author of Where the Sidewalk Ends and The Giving Tree. He uses his poems to tell a story of a young girl facing a variety of ‘what if’ questions. Several St. Joseph’s students were in the cast or working behind the scenes helping with props, costumes or music. Tomorrow, they will

perform in Pierre for the state-wide competition. Break a leg!

The two students, Robert and Jatonne, recently attended the donor luncheon held in San Francisco, California. They were very excited to meet so many friends of St. Joseph’s and share what St. Joseph’s means to them. They also enjoyed seeing the sites in the city by the bay. A big pilamaya – thank you – to those who made Robert and Jatonne feel so welcome out West.

If you would like to attend a luncheon, please call 1-800-584-9200 or visit us online at www.stjo.org/luncheon. The final two events for this

school year will be in Panama City, Florida, April 25 and 26 and New York City on June 7 and 8.

Have a great week; may God’s blessings be with you and yours!

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

It’s the little successes that make all the difference

Groannnnnn.

Claire, Teacher's Aide & Houseparent — Claire, Teacher’s Aide & Houseparent

The sound permeates the classroom, alerting a tiny Bat Signal in my brain.

Groooannnn.

Someone needs help!!

Sometimes Groans are not too serious. Sometimes they mean that someone just doesn’t feel like working, in which case a quick redirection to the task at hand will do the trick. Other times, a Groan is accompanied by the complaint, “This is harrrrrd!” The problem may indeed be hard, but luckily our kids are pretty resourceful. What is needed is a boost of confidence, “I know you can do it! I know you can do hard things.”

I can hear that this Groan is serious though. I scan the room, and see that it is Joe who is struggling. He’s got his head on his desk and he’s pulled the strings on his hoodie so tight that all I can see is the tip of his nose peeking out.

I squat down by Joe’s desk to see what is going on. From the start, it doesn’t sound good. I know that he is already behind in his Math. He came to St. Joseph’s Indian School this Fall slightly behind his peers, and has been struggling with his basic arithmetic skills this entire quarter. This week he spent several days in the Health Center, too sick to even do homework. And now he is trying to catch up with the class.

On fractions.

His frustration is apparent.

Groannnn!

Not only does he not feel like doing it, he doesn’t think he can do it. He is falling into hopelessness. “There’s no point! Even if I do it, I won’t get to goooooo.” By “get to go” he means he won’t earn the extra hour of free time at the Rec Center on Friday. All students who don’t have D’s or F’s can earn this privilege, but Joe has a D.

This isn’t going to be a quick fix.

Joe will need to be coaxed out of his hoodie. Then he will have to be coaxed out of his anxiety and frustration about a subject that is difficult for him. His regular teacher, Sandi, is much better at this than I am. Still, it is a worth a try.

I say a little prayer and begin, “Let’s give it our best shot, shall we?”

At first it is like pulling teeth, with much groaning and flopping on the desk. “I cannnn’t.”

Yes, you can. We will do it together. Stay with me. We can do this.

This goes on for about 10 minutes—him flopping, and me putting the paper back in front of him and urging him on. And then the miracle happens. He figures out a part of the problem on his own. Something clicks. “Oh, hey, I know what this is.” Pencil goes to paper. His shoulders straighten a bit. “I think I get it.” More scribbling. “Is this it?” I breathe a grateful sigh. Yes, yes it is.

By the end of the hour he has finished the day’s assignment. His face is brighter and more relaxed. I don’t know if this will bring his grade above a D. I know it barely makes a dent in his pile of missing work, but for the moment, he is basking in his newfound success. Fist bump!

At the end of the day it is the little successes that end up making all the difference. I haven’t saved the world. I haven’t even taught him how to change fractions to percents. I’ve just sat with a student while he muddled his way through it on his own and kept him from giving up. Sometimes a little support and encouragement is all we need.

Thanks to all who made Joe’s success possible—from his teachers and houseparents who give him lots of structure and encouragement, to his family who entrusted him to our care. Joe also benefits from the small class sizes and individual, coordinated attention he can get at a residential school like St. Joseph’s Indian School. For this, we have to thank the many benefactors whose generosity makes it possible to help a great kid like Joe. Wopila Tanka – many thanks!

Claire Teacher’s Aide/ houseparent