Guest Bloggers – Page 47 – St. Joseph's Indian School

Guest Blogger: Mike

The heat is on … as the saying goes.

It looks like the temperatures are high throughout the US, and it is no different here in Chamberlain, South Dakota at St. Joseph’s Indian School. Even though the thermostat has topped out over 100 degrees every day this week, our facilities staff are working hard to have the campus ready for students’ arrival on August 12th.

Hi, my name is Mike T. and I am the Executive Director of Child Services. I have been here at St. Joseph’s Indian School for 27 years. Each summer I am amazed what our facilities crew is able to accomplish. From home renovations to street repair; from keeping the grounds looking great to dealing with a variety of summer maintenance requisitions (small jobs that need to be done in offices, homes and classrooms), there is no shortage of work to be finished. And although it is hot, our staff continue to work hard to get the campus ready.

In terms of programs we have one home still open including two high school students living here as they maintain summer employment. Our counseling staff have been on the road visiting our students, making sure they are doing well and getting paperwork for the upcoming school year. Also, our administrators are busy preparing for staff, then students to arrive in August. So, as you can see, even the summer is a busy time here at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

We appreciate all your support that allows us to upgrade our campus and prepare for our students to arrive. All of the above helps us to provide a quality environment and first-rate programming to work with our students who are never far from our thoughts …

We hope you had a good Fourth of July! God Bless!

Guest Blogger: Melissa

Hi, my name is Melissa and I work in Human Resources (HR) at St. Joseph’s Indian School. I recently returned from the national SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management) convention in Atlanta, Georgia. We had amazing keynote speakers such as Condoleezza Rice, Malcolm Gladwell, Jim Collins and South Dakota’s very own Tom Brokaw, who were all inspiring. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn about the direction that HR is going. But most important was the idea that no matter where you work, it is employees who are the heart of the organization.

Of course, St. Joseph’s is all about people. We serve children. Our impact not only directly affects the children that attend our school, but also their families. This in turn affects their communities. The influence people have on others is an incredible idea. At St. Joseph’s, we are fortunate to have some extraordinary people who are committed to changing lives of others for the better.

The work done at St. Joseph’s truly takes cooperation from everyone to progress in our mission. One of my responsibilities in HR is to conduct exit interviews when employees leave St. Joseph’s. One question that is asked of everyone during the exit is, “What did you like best about working at St. Joseph’s?”

The overwhelming response I get, even from employees who don’t work directly with the children is, “The kids.”

We couldn’t do it without the employees and donors who are paying it forward and helping make this world a little better for someone else.

Guest Blogger: Delores

I am Delores, a Family Service Counselor (FSC) and have been at St. Joseph’s Indian School for 15 years. I used to work with the middle school girls but, for the last 12 years, have worked with the youngest boys at our school.

Our FSC roles change during the summer. During the school year, we serve as counselors and are the main contact person for the families. Summer gives us a chance to be out of our offices with kids and families. We make home visits to our current students and their families. They are excited to see us as we become their second family while they are here during the school year. We usually find the kids freshly showered with their cleanest clothes on, often waiting for us to drive up.

In July, their attention starts to turn to returning to St. Joseph’s. They are interested in what is going on here, who their houseparents and teachers will be, and if I have visited their friends yet. We get to reconnect, talking about last year and looking forward to the new school year.

We also go to interview children who want to come to school here. It is a time where we get to hear about the child’s life – the good things and the challenges. They are usually very excited about becoming a student at St. Joseph’s. Some are full of questions about what school is like and have a twinkle in their eyes as they imagine experiencing all the things they’ve heard about. It’s always enjoyable for me to meet new kids and their families. At times I am interviewing boys whose mothers used to be my students in middle school! A reminder that we do become their family!

And off I go to plan my visits … I wish you all the best of summer during this July!

Rising Eagle Day Camp comes to an end

Native American boy getting on to school bus. — See you next year, camp friends!

It’s been a great month with kids from the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation and then kids from the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation. For our two weeks with Crow Creek, 428 students attended. Added to the 455 from Lower Brule, we were able to serve 883 Native American children through Rising Eagle Summer Day Camp! Wopila tanka – many thanks – for your generosity in making this program possible!

Monday was a very hot and beautiful day with 38 children for today’s camp.

We had outside fun with Mark and arts & crafts with the group from Scranton Prep today. We swam in the afternoon and had snacks before we headed back to Lower Brule. The staff is doing a super job!

Tuesday started out cool in Lower Brule but ended up very hot!

We had 34 children for camp today. The children had a nice nature walk with Mark this morning before it got too hot. This afternoon we enjoyed a nice swim and watched a movie in air conditioning.

We had our usually healthy snacks and a special ice cream cone treat. Thanks to the dining hall staff for the ice cream! Camp staffers even enjoyed an ice cream cone, as everyone was very hot.

Wednesday turned unbelievably cool for this time of year! 26 children joined us for camp today. Mark had them inside the gym today because of the cool weather. We played dodge ball and other games.

LaRayne and April had Lakota Studies for the kids in the afternoon, followed by swimming as usual.

Thursday was the first real full day of summer; it was beautiful outside!

We picked up 35 children today, which gives us a total of 414 children so far from Lower Brule. Sticking with our routine, we had outside fun with Mark followed by arts & crafts with the Scranton group. After lunch came swimming; the pool has definitely been used to its potential!

Friday was our last day of camp for 2012.

Guest Blogger: LaRayne

Kids working on a craft at day camp! — Can you guess what they are making?

Hello everyone, my name is LaRayne. I’d like to give you a recap of St. Joseph’s Indian School’s Rising Eagle Day Camp. (Check out pictures here!)

Summer camp is a different time around St. Joseph’s Indian School. It is a time for new faces, old faces and a time for building a lot of new relationships. I have the pleasure of sharing some Native American cultural lessons with a twist of arts and crafts added to them. Each day is precious.

Having a class of 30 students is something I am not used to, but I have the help of some great young adult counselors who chose to share part of their summer with our day camp kids. It is great to have the help when we tackle making medicine pouches in one day, or learning to hoop dance in one morning.

St. Joseph’s Indian School campus becomes the village that raises the child for the day. We have caregivers, teachers, counselors, lifeguards, food service workers, recreation specialists and good ‘ol supervisors who look after the camp-goers each day.

I especially enjoy seeing former students, meeting new students, and talking to some students who hope to come to our school in the future. This camp brings together many good things. It is somewhat like a powwow. We celebrate, dance, create, build relationships, eat, play, and focus on culture. Yes, each day is precious in the life of a child.

Hec’etu ksto – that’s the way it is….

Don’t forget to check out the pictures!

Guest Blogger: Shana

Cante wasteya nape ciyuzapelo – I take your hand in friendship.

This is a common Lakota greeting; the literal meaning is “With a good heart I take your hand.” My name is Shana and I’m the High School Residential Director.

This summer is going by fast as we’ve had four of our five high school homes open and fully operational with 41 high school students on campus! High school students choose to remain on our St. Joseph’s campus so they can either work a summer job, take driver’s education class or participate in our Freshman Transition Summer Program.

Thankfully it’s not all work – students get to relax, take shopping trips, go to the movies or swim at Chamberlain’s city pool or public beach area. Students remain connected with family and sometimes get checked out by their parent or guardian so they can attend family functions or visit a family member in the hospital.

There’s never a dull moment on our campus!

We have 19 upcoming freshmen in our Freshman Transition Summer Program. These students were able to meet their future high school teachers, take a trip to visit Mitchell Vo-Tech, Oglala Lakota Community College and tour the Badlands on their way to visit the Red Cloud Indian School Art Show. This three-week camp is full of both education and transition activities in order to get them prepared for the challenges of their first year in high school – and beyond.

The transition program ends Friday with a Parent Luncheon. Here, we will review the changes the students will face in high school and the differences in our high school residential program from our elementary residential program. Everyone enjoys pizza, and then the students are able to give their parent or guardian a tour of their new St. Joseph’s high school home.

All the students will then return in August, either a week before school starts so they can begin sports practices with their Chamberlain athletic team, or return two days prior to the first day of school for our Student Orientation.

Our high school summer programs don’t end in July; we have three students participating on our Summer Transitional Living Program starting on June 22 through the end of July.

Two of these students are currently in Germany with two St. Joseph’s chaperones and two other St. Joseph’s students as part of our Germany Exchange Program with our sister school in Handrup, Germany. They will spend two and a half weeks learning about the German culture, giving presentations to Handrup students about their Lakota and American culture and, of course, doing some sightseeing. The Handrup students will then take a trip to the USA and come visit us here at St. Joseph’s Indian School in October so they can learn more about American and Lakota culture. It’s been a great learning experience for both staff and students.

These are not the only St. Joseph’s students who are able to travel during their summer vacation. One of our graduating seniors was awarded the Davis-Bahcall scholarship. Erin will spend one week digging deep into the science and engineering that exists at the Sanford Underground Laboratory in Lead, South Dakota. She will spend three weeks studying modern physics at Princeton University in New Jersey under world-renowned scholars and researchers. She will also travel to research laboratories in Europe to experience the world of modern scientific research.

We are very proud of Erin’s accomplishments and know she’ll succeed next year as she begins her college career.

One of our upcoming seniors was accepted into College Horizons, this is a six-day “crash course” in preparing for college. Aaron will learn about a broad variety of colleges and universities, and establish personal relationships with admission representatives and college counselors. At each site, 100 students from across the nation work with over 70 expert college counselors and college admission officers to help students learn how to fill out college applications, including essays and prepare for college. We hope Aaron has a great experience – congratulations!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as we are!

Pilamaya – thank you,

Shana

This week at camp …

Native American kids running together! — Look at the excitement on the kids’ face!

This week marked the start of day camp with children from the Lower Brule Sioux Indian Reservation.

Monday – The day began with meeting kids and parents at our pick-up spot, St. Mary’s Church in Lower Brule. Fifty students attended camp today.

After breakfast, we visited about camp expectations with all our campers. Everyone was very well-behaved and ready for a great day!

With two weeks of camp already under their belts, camp staff was ready for anything.

Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day with 58 children attending camp, 27 of which were new.

Janeen had Arts & Crafts going strong today, and Mark had a great game of kickball underway. All in all, camp is going well.

Wednesday turned sunny day after a nice rainfall in the very early morning.

We had 60 children in today’s camp for the water safety course presented by South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks and the Army Corps of Engineers, complete with the small boats for the kids to ride around in. Back on campus, we had Arts & Crafts and brick coloring.

The afternoon brought swimming and snacks.

It was another exciting week at the Rising Eagle Summer Day Camp!!!

Guest Blogger: Pamela

Hello to everyone out there!

I am Pamela. My position here at St. Joseph’s Indian School is Transition Specialist. So what do I do? I help our eighth grade students transition from St Joseph’s elementary school to Chamberlain High School.

We have a summer program here for our new freshmen, which allows them to take classes in the morning up at the high school with some of the high school teachers. This gives them the opportunity to get to know some teachers and the school before they attend in the fall.

Native American student shopping in a college bookstore. — Danisha shopping for her new school colors!

Another part of my job is to help our high school students transition from high school to the real world of being an adult. I have one senior girl attending the American Indian University at Crazy Horse. This gives her the opportunity to take college classes from the University of South Dakota and work at the Crazy Horse monument. Danisha has the opportunity to earn 12 college credits before starting her college years at Dakota State University.

Erin is another graduate who is making great use of her summer. She is working now and will be attending the Davis-Bahcall summer program. She will study physics for two weeks here in South Dakota at the Homestake mine and then go on to Chicago and finish the experience in Italy. Another one of our graduates is attending INMED at the University of North Dakota. INMED is a program for Native American students interested in a career in the medical field.

Four Lakota graduates. — St. Joseph’s Indian School high school graduates.

I also work with our high school students in the world of employment. We have students working on campus learning about careers. We have day camp counselors, janitors, maintenance workers, museum workers and students working in the dining hall. This gives our students a chance to earn some money over the summer and learn about the responsibility of having a job.

Summers can be as busy as the school year around here! It is nice to see our American Indian students doing things that will help them prepare for their future.

Wishing you all a great summer!

Guest Blogger: Julie H

Hello! Can you believe that summer is in full swing? Things here at St. Joseph’s Indian School, although it is summer, continue to move along swiftly!

My name is Julie and I have been here at St. Joseph’s Indian School for over 10 years. I currently work as a Family Service Counselor. During the school year, I stay busy seeing students for individual counseling, group counseling, and enrichment activities. But what does a counselor do in the summer when most of the kids are gone? Well, that is a good question!

As a Family Service Counselor at St. Joseph’s Indian School, part of my duties in the summer include traveling to see the students and families with whom I work during the school year. We visit with the students and families to make sure their summer is going well and to see if there is anything we can help with while the students are at home. Most of the time, this is just a check in and a great time to visit with students and families.

So far this summer, I have been to Eagle Butte to visit with one of my students. This week will take me to on two or three more trips and the rest of the summer is filling up with travel as well! Though many of our students are from the nearby Indian reservations of Fort Thompson and Lower Brule, we also travel as far away as Pine Ridge and Nebraska to visit Native American students.

Another thing the Family Services Counselors do during the summer is work on student admissions. Of course, we need to fill the first grade class with new students and other grades may have openings as well. Part of the admissions process includes going to the prospective student’s home to meet them and their family. A short interview is conducted to gain some background information on the student, and this is a great time to start building a strong relationship with the student and their family.

Interspersed with all of the travel, the Family Service Counselors work on getting consent forms signed for the next school year, finish up paperwork and start preparing for the kids to return. Summer is also a good time to attend workshops to keep us up to date on the current trends and best practices in counseling.

The best part of the summer is getting to go out and see our students and their families, as well as meeting new families. Although most of the kids were ready for summer to get here, they sure seem happy to see us when we visit! 🙂 And many times the first question they ask is,

“When do I get to come back to St. Joe’s for school?”

I hope you all have a blessed and safe summer! – Julie H

Guest Blogger: Laura

Hi, I am Laura from the Development office. Some of you may have talked with me over the phone or even met me while attending a Donor Luncheon! Part of my job is to set up and organize these events.

I just got back from a luncheon in Oklahoma City. Dean and RJ were able to talk to donors who attended and tell them what life is like here at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

Dean and RJ were with donors of St. Joseph's Indian School. — Pilamaya – thank you for your generous contributions!

We had a wonderful time and met some very special benefactors while we were there! This couple has been donating for over 50 years. What a joy it was to meet them!

The highlight of the trip was all the famous sports people we saw. These two high school boys were in heaven.

While checking into our hotel we saw the Oklahoma University girls’ fast-pitch softball team. They played great while we were there and were going to be in the championships games. RJ, who is going to be a sophomore in the fall, has an interest in being a NBA referee someday. He was thrilled when we saw that Ken Mauer, Ed Malloy and James Capers were also staying at our hotel. They were there to officiate the Thunder and Spurs game.

While greeting our wonderful guests for the luncheon, Stephan A. Smith from ESPN asked me for directions. Little did I know who he was until Fr. Steve and the boys told me!

The luncheon was a great time and the boys did really well talking in front of a group of people.

Later that evening, on our way back from church, we saw a group of people in a crowd and went to check it out. We found that it was the San Antonio Spurs getting ready to board the bus for the game! We added several more basketball stars to our list of celebrity sightings, including Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Boris Diaw to name a few.

After dinner we went and walked around the Chesapeake Energy Arena where the Thunder and Spurs would play their game. We saw Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson shooting TNT’s “Live in the NBA.”

We all got to shake their hands as they went into the stadium.

I better not forget to mention the Thunder cheerleaders.

Boys with the Thunder cheerleaders. — The boys were happy to smile for a picture with the Thunder cheerleaders!

Sunday we spent time at the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur, Oklahoma, which is a beautiful place. The boys enjoyed learning about a different tribe. On the way back from the Cultural Center we stopped by Oklahoma University and showed the two boys around the campus. What a huge place it is. Our last stop was the football field, where we happened to run into Bob Stoops – the head football coach! He offered to take a picture with the boys.

This is a weekend these two young men will never forget and I am so happy to have been able to share it with them. It really was an amazing time with good friends and good luck!

We hope to get to meet you at a luncheon in the near future to thank you for all you make possible!

Bob Stoops stopped for a picture with the boys. — Bob Stoops and the boys.

Please check our luncheon schedule at www.stjo.org/luncheon to see if we will be in your area to make more wonderful memories for the Lakota boys and girls of St. Joseph’s Indian School.

Thanks!

Laura H.

Donor Relations Assistant