Category: Guest Bloggers

New thrift store open for business

St. Joseph’s Thrift Store staff has been working with our Facilities Crew since September 2012 on the remodel of a downtown Chamberlain building built in the 1900’s – formerly a grocery store.

St. Joseph’s Indian School purchased the building in the summer of 2012 with the intention of remodeling the building for a new Thrift Store and center to process in-kind donations.

We started moving in to the new building March 1!

We were grateful our move only took a week. The store opened to the public again on March 11, though there is still some exterior work to be finished once the weather warms up.

We first considered the project because of the lack of storage on campus for the donated items our benefactors so generously send. As we move forward, the plan is to have all donated goods delivered to the new In-Kind Processing Center, which is located downtown in the back part of the new Thrift Store.

Donated goods are sorted into many different categories. The main three are:

  • Campus use
  • Thrift Store
  • Mission Run

First, we make sure the needs of the Lakota students are met. They have first pick of all donated clothing and other items.  If we’re not able to use a particular item on campus (such as baby clothes), then it will go to the thrift store or a reservation outreach. After a certain amount of time, items we have not been able to use are packed up and sent to an outreach on an Indian Reservation near us.

As this project comes to an end, the staff here at the Thrift Store and the processing center would like to thank the Facilities Staff for all the hard work and organization they put into this project.  They have helped make this transition an easy one!

St. Joseph’s new Thrift Store is located on Main Street in Chamberlain, South Dakota.
A mock up of what the storefront will look like when it is 100% complete.

Preparing eighth graders for graduation

We are looking forward to graduation for our eighth grade class in a couple of months. I am proud to say that I have had many of these Lakota students since they were in their younger elementary years at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

St. Joseph’s eighth grade graduates receive a small medicine wheel and feather as a gift.
The Lakota eighth graders craft small medicine wheels, which are a gift to their classmates at graduation.

This time of year, I have the honor of helping them to prepare their class banner, make their medicine wheels (which are used in the graduation ceremony) and prepare them for life after St. Joseph’s.

Each class of Lakota eighth graders creates a banner to commemorate their class.
After graduation, eighth grader banners hang in St. Joseph’s Rec Center.

One of the more enjoyable items I share with them is giving them their eighth grade portfolio.  This portfolio encompasses all of their works from the time they entered my Native American Studies room until they graduate.  It is so fun to hand back papers and watch them look through their past years of learning!  I can hear them sharing their drawings and writings with each other.  The giggles and smiles reinforce the reason I have them create the portfolios.

The students made their personal portfolio out of brown paper bag and yarn.  They are modeled after the par fleche containers Lakota/Dakota/Nakota (Sioux) people used long ago.   The containers from long ago were made of rawhide and sinew.  Today, we make them in a much more inexpensive, modern way.

In the past, the par fleche was decorated with tribal designs specific to one’s tribe and tiyospaye – extended family.  This made it easy to return a lost container to its rightful owner, much like luggage tags today.  The par fleche carries meaning and a lot of knowledge of each St. Joseph’s student.

Can the school year be almost over?

The Lakota (Sioux) girls in the William Home have had a great year!
The girls in the William Home have walked over 1,000 miles since the start of the year!

Greetings from the staff and students of the William Home (4th-5th grade girls)!

It is amazing how fast this school year has gone at St. Joseph’s.  We have been able to accomplish so many things and are working hard to finish up the school year with many positive memories.  The Lakota (Sioux) girls in our home have been so busy this year with basketball, Dancing Dolls, cheerleading and gymnastics as their extracurricular activities.

We have completed our walking program for the year and it is safe to say that we far exceeded our goal!  We put up a map to track our walk with a goal of walking to the hometowns of each girl in our home, which would have been just over 15,000 laps in the gym (750 miles).  We are happy to say that our final total is over 20,000 laps, or 1000 miles!

Recently, we were able to travel to the Lower Brule Indian Reservation to attend mass and then serve treats afterwards.  The girls have always enjoyed doing this and, of course, love to show off their cooking abilities. We still have the circus coming up, as well as our home trip that will take us to Rapid City, South Dakota, to the water park.

One of our big highlights of the year will come soon when we start moving back in to the newly renovated William Home.  All of us are excited to see the new home, although the fifth graders are a little bummed they will only be in the new home for a short time.

As always, with a school year winding down, you think about all the memories you have made with those fifth graders and will miss them when they move up. Thank you to everyone for helping to make this a wonderful and memorable year in the William Home!

Lakota Students Give To Others

The Lakota children practice generosity by giving food to the poor.
St. Joseph’s fourth and fifth graders delivered food and toiletries to St. James to share with those in need.

During Catholic Schools Week in January, St. Joseph’s fourth and fifth grade students collected food and toiletries for St. James Catholic Church.  The church has a pantry that is open to the Chamberlain community.  Tubs were placed around campus to collect a variety of useful items.  Many students also brought items they picked up.

At the end of the week, all fourth and fifth graders went to St. James to deliver the goods in person.  We collected four tubs of toiletries and food items!

We got to see the pantry and Fr. Guy explained to the students how it works.  Fr. Guy was very grateful for the donation.  St. Joseph’s students were excited about the project and hope to do it again sometime.

Statistics tell us we feel happier or better about ourselves when we are able to give to others.  I feel projects like these give our Native American students the opportunities to get such a feeling.  Many were excited to go with their houseparents or counselors to pick out items to put in the tubs.

Fr. Guy’s excitement about our gifts made it even better!

I hope each of you who are benefactors feel the same joy in giving to the Lakota (Sioux) children.  Like Fr. Guy, we are very thankful and I hope you get a sense of how excited we are by your generosity.  In this season that expresses the kindest and biggest gift of all, Christ’s sacrifice, may we all be motivated to give of ourselves for others.

Time flies when you’re having fun!

I can’t believe March is here already and we have started the fourth quarter at St. Joseph’s Indian School. WOW, time really flies when we are having so much fun!
We had a lot of fun when we celebrated Read Across America Day on March 1.

The Lakota students and Fr. Steve read in the hallway to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday.
Fr. Steve joined the Lakota children for reading.

The Lakota students loved the time they were able to spend reading to each other and to Fr. Steve in the school hallways. They also enjoyed ice cream treats at the end of the day.

The Lakota students had lots of fun reading to each other.
We had so much fun celebrating Read Across America Day!

Our eighth grade girls were able to miss a day of school last week and attend GEMS (Girls Engineering Math and Science) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They enjoyed not being in school for a day, but the real enjoyment was being able to attend a session on makeup. Imagine that with teenage girls! They also were able to visit other booths related to engineering and science.

Our Native American girls in eighth grade learned about careers in math and science.
Our eighth-grade girls attended GEMS and learned about GIS mapping.

Staff and students are gearing up for St. Joseph’s Spring Break which will start on March 22. We are looking forward to having an educational morning at the Recreation Center doing a Science/Weather program called Tornado Alley, which features a 3D movie! This will be a great start to Spring Break.

When the students return on Easter Monday, they will return to an Easter Egg hunt for the younger students (Grade 1-5) and the older students (Grades 6-8) will have a picnic dinner in the Fisher Home driveway, weather permitting. Considering our weather the past few weekends has been snow and rain, we will hope and pray for better weather on Easter weekend.

The staff would like to thank all of our donors for the help, support and encouragement that our students receive throughout the year.
“Experience Jesus’ presence each moment. Pray as you enter each place, welcoming Christ to touch and to heal. Embrace God and the way God touches your life again and again.”

Another reason I love St. Joseph’s Indian School

The Lakota students and their teachers took a break to read a Dr. Seuss story.
Who can go to work in their pajamas, then sit in the hall and read Dr. Seuss with kids? ME!

There is much testing going on at St. Joseph’s at this time of year, especially in my area. Individual Education Plans are wrapping up for this year, but new students coming in need to be placed in the appropriate setting. I have been using Key Math to see where our holes are in Math and this has become a very useful tool! I learned something new this year! 🙂

Winter is teasing us right now. It will be nice outside one day and then it turns ugly cold! It is creating cabin fever! We do go outside with the Lakota boys and girls if it is above zero and the wind chill is above zero. Even though the kids might complain when they go out, they enjoy getting a breath of fresh air and running to keep warm.

Basketball is a hit here at our school – both boys and girls! Even our little ones are pretty good at basketball! They take on the bigger kids when they get the chance. It is nice to see the care the older students show the little ones. Lifting them up to make baskets, stealing the ball and giving it to a little one, pretending that the little ones stole it from them, and “trying” to block the shot!

Have I mentioned this time, how much I love it here at St. Joseph’s? Well the basketball story is just one reason. There is a ton more reasons. Who can go to work in their pajamas, then sit in the hall and read Dr. Seuss with kids?

ME, that’s who! We are reading “Cat in the HAT!”

The kids loved it! It was so much fun, especially when we started reading in unison!!! Imagine that! What a magical time it was! And then we got treats afterwards!!!

There are still many more reasons I love it here – stayed tuned!

The Lakota children love their teachers at St. Joseph’s Indian School!
Samantha, Robin and Kyla read for Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

Eighth graders visit State Capital

The Lakota students found the Senate chambers very interesting.
Cassidy, Melvina and Vilencia look down to the Senate floor.

Last Friday, St. Joseph’s eighth graders went on their cultural trip to Pierre, South Dakota. We left school about 8:10 A.M. and traveled west on the interstate to Vivian and proceeded north to Pierre.

Upon arrival in Pierre, we toured the State Capital Building. The students were impressed with the beauty and grandeur of the building, and all the old features. The aspect of the tour that held their attention the most was looking for the blue and heart shaped tiles. The Capital building has a tile floor; when it was installed, the workers were given a limited number of blue and heart-shaped tiles to place throughout the building as a mark of their own.

St. Joseph’s eighth-grade students had a great time visiting Pierre!
St. Joseph’s eighth-grade students take a group picture on the steps of the Capital Building.

From there, we went to Pizza Ranch and enjoyed lunch. After lunch, the day brought us to the Cultural Museum. The museum exhibits items from the different eras of South Dakota’s people. The students seemed to enjoy looking at how people lived in the past.

On the way home, we took the road that follows the east side of the Missouri River. They were all looking forward to going down the stretch of road with the bumps!   It was a fun, educational experience for the Lakota eighth graders to get to see some country, take in some government and experience the history of South Dakota’s various cultures.

St. Joseph’s Graduates – giving back

St. Joseph’s graduates can apply for scholarships to help them further their education.
Shay graduated from St. Joseph’s High School Program in 2011.

We have been looking toward the future of the high school program, both short and long term, and thinking about what our Lakota students need to succeed. Of course, we have a lot of thoughts, ideas, and opinions on that, but we decided to go to the source: our graduates.

We were fortunate enough to round up three former students; Roz graduated in 2008, Stefen in 2009 and Shay in 2011. We met over dinner to catch up, and they had a lot to share with us!

Much praise was given to Pam, our Transition Specialist. She works with St. Joseph’s high school students on independent living skills and life after high school. All the kids agreed that, thanks to their work with Pam, they knew what to wear to an interview and how to fill out a job application, among many other things. They also suggested that we spend more time doing mock interviews with the kids to give them more experience in that area.

St. Joseph’s High School Program helps 50 Native American students each year.
Stefen graduated from St. Joseph’s High School Program in 2009.

Each of the graduates also agreed they were very glad that skills like how to answer the phone and “no technology” meal times were enforced. Roz said that in every job she’s had, her supervisors have complimented her phone skills. Stefen concurred.

After noting another table in the restaurant where several teenagers had their phones out and weren’t participating in their table conversation, Stefen said he liked that his houseparents didn’t allow any phones at the dinner table, “because that was our time together as a family.”

The graduates also talked about how some things just have to be learned the hard way.

They’ve all had their challenges since graduating St. Joseph’s, but each of them have plans for their future and are moving forward. They also agreed they are glad they attended St. Joseph’s Indian School.

St. Joseph’s graduates often return to share their experiences with the Lakota children.
Roz graduated from St. Joseph’s High School Program in 2008.

Roz said, “If I could tell the current students just one thing it would be this, in capital letters: BE GRATEFUL.”

She went on to say that life is hard. Sometimes when you’re surrounded by so many opportunities, and all of your basic needs – food, shelter, and clothing – are taken care of, it can be easy to start to expect those things. However, once you leave St. Joseph’s, you’re quickly reminded that those good things in life are not a given.

Roz has accepted our invitation to come and talk with our current high school students. We are thankful that she is willing to share her wisdom with the kids and believe it will make a positive impact on them.

Do you remember leaving “home” and discovering that things were different than you thought they would be?

Music & Sweet Snacks

Have you ever seen those colorful commercials begging you to order a Kids Bop CD? You know, the ones with a bunch of kids singing, jumping, and dancing? Well, that pretty much sums up what the Lakota girls in the Afra Home consider an ideal day. They love music!  They love singing, dancing, playing instruments, and making their own choreography; they could literally do it for hours.

Imagine having 10 little girls (grades 1-3) who all want to take a turn at “playing” one keyboard. Sure, I have a massive headache by the time it’s all over, but it makes me happy to see them happy, so that’s what we do.

All the kids at St. Joseph’s have to tidy up their rooms every morning as well as take care of their chores and responsibilities. As an incentive, the order in which the girls finish determines the order in which we pick songs to dance to later in the day.

Here is a homemade music video of one of their recent and awesome picks:

The differences between what motivates our girls versus what motivates our boys are really interesting. Among other things, the boys LOVE food. I really enjoy cooking for them. Here at St. Joseph’s we never withhold food as a punishment or give them food as a reward. Obviously, food should be something all children should have no matter what. However, sometimes I will cook things that take extra work in the kitchen if the boys have had a good day.

On Sundays after church, if the boys were good, I won’t make a “boring” lunch. I make brunch, which includes homemade chocolate chip pancakes and a special peanut butter sauce to go with them rather than syrup. I love seeing Jachin and the boys sitting at the table waiting in anticipation. They get so smiley and excited. I can’t explain it but my heart does a little dance when they exclaim “Thank you for cooking Luleisa!!!”

We are also doing a health challenge, which entails eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies with every meal. The word “challenge” is an understatement. Sometimes the boys just don’t want to eat vegetables. However, if they don’t eat their fruits and veggies at supper, then they don’t get “sweet snack” in the evening.

Fridays are a very important day for the Ambrose Home boys. Everyone has only one goal in mind: I. MUST. MAKE. SWEET. SNACK.

Dinner is their mission. They take it very seriously because on Fridays we give them a can of pop and a full sized candy bar. Of course, if you don’t eat your supper, you’ll chomp on fruit as you watch everyone else guzzle down their pop.

Ladies and gentlemen, if this video doesn’t inspire you to eat your veggies, there is no hope for you! Here’s Paite vs. Food: Friday Green Bean Challenge

Learning about poetry with Linea

The older Lakota students enjoy reading to younger children on Dr. Seuss’ birthday.
My sixth grade reading students reading to a fourth grader.

Another quarter is coming to an end at St. Joseph’s Indian School; the year is going by fast!  In my reading classes, we have wrapped up the units on nonfiction and have ventured in to the world of poetry.

It is a nice change for the Lakota students because they are introduced to not only serious poetry, but also poetry that lets them enter fantasy land.  They learn about the different elements of poetry including imagery, metaphors, similes, rhyme, rhythm, repetition, and alliteration.

The forms of poetry they are introduced to are narrative poems, free verse poems, and concrete poems.  We are hoping that they will be able to relate the themes expressed in these poems to their own lives and to the world around them.

On Friday, March 1, we celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday.  This is always a fun day for the students, especially the younger ones.  The students are allowed to wear PJ’s to school and we set aside a time in the afternoon for the older students to get together with the younger students and read Dr. Seuss books to them.   My reading class looks forward to this especially if they have a younger sibling.

Linea – 6-8 Grade Reading Teacher