St. Joseph's Indian School

A word from Fr. Anthony

Greetings once again from St. Joseph’s Indian School in Chamberlain, South Dakota. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Fr. Steve Huffstetter, SCJ was on the road again having the chance to visit family in Florida to take part in a Baptism. While he was able to enjoy some personal time, it gives me the opportunity once again to share with you what happened over this past weekend.

We saw a lot of red on campus as St. Joseph’s Indian School’s annual Fall Sobriety “Red Ribbon Week” kicked off. It is a program to help our American Indian students realize there are a variety of ways to get high on life that do not require turning toward drugs or drinking. The students wore shirts carrying the saying, ‘My extreme commitment is living drug free’. On Friday night, the rec center rang with oh’s, ah’s and shouts of laughter as several large inflatables were erected for the students to jump on, climb over and slide down. There will be several special theme days this week: on ‘Drugs turn you inside out’ day the students are urged to wear their clothes inside out; on ‘Being drug free is no sweat’ they can wear sweat clothes to class; and on ‘Team up against drugs’ they are urged to wear a sport’s jersey.

Friday also was the end of the First Quarter at Chamberlain High School. The mid-term grades hinted there might be a new name on the trophy our high school homes contend for. The Hogebach Home has been the defending champion, but it looks like Sheehy Home might beat them out by a narrow percentage. We’ll have to see if the grades hold up. Several students were working hard to achieve 4.0 grade points. It seems to highlight a renewed interest in academics.

The members of the football team received some exciting news that they qualified for the South Dakota state play-offs. Though they had a tough season, they played tough teams which enabled them to have enough power points to qualify. We have four young men on the team, one of our young ladies is a member of the cheerleader squad and another student is the Cub mascot. They will be playing Little Wound on Tuesday.

The high school also qualified several for the cross-country championships which were held this past weekend in Sioux Falls. The girls’ team came in 5^th out of sixteen teams. Two of the teams have St. Joseph ties. Talia, who moved up from JV to Varsity, and the daughter of one of our staff were part of the team. They have a strong tradition of cross-country at CHS which ought to continue since several key members of the team return again next year.

On Sunday, the inter-city boys’ basketball season kicked off. This program is geared to offer an activity for the 6^th, 7^th and 8^th grade young men of St. Joseph’s and the Chamberlain area to play basketball and get to know each other while the girls’ season is underway. Then when the boys have their season, after Christmas, the girls will have the chance to take part in the inter-city program for them. This is the first year that 6^th graders are able to take part and, as they may not get a lot of playing time, the rec center staff decided that at half time sixth graders will have a five-minute quarter just to themselves.

With Halloween on the horizon, our youth are looking forward to the activities for that. There will be trick-or-treating here on campus and the high school students have a dance, movies and games at the high school. The students here on campus will have a grand march in the rec center with prizes given for best costumes.

Have a great week. May the Great Spirit continue to bless you and yours. We are always grateful for your generosity and keep you and your intentions in our prayers. Until next time.

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

St. Joseph’s Indian School

Very excited and happy

This weekend was one of travel for me as I baptized a nephew in Florida. It was a joy to spend a little time with a lot of my family who gathered for the occasion. Today it was back to the desk to look over the mail and messages that have come in over the past few days.

I met with two junior high girls, Zoey and Mia, who were chosen to go on an upcoming donor appreciation luncheon trip. In my first meeting, I want to try to answer any questions they may have. For both girls it will be their first airplane ride and they are excited. But they threw me a question I couldn’t answer. Zoey broke her arm quite badly last year, and now has a metal plate. “Will that set off the metal detector at the airport?” I’ll make sure we have a doctor’s note just in case.

Otherwise they’re very excited.

We have our exchange program with a sister school in Handrup Germany, which is also run by the Priests of the Sacred Heart, and we also raise funds in Germany. Kory, our Director of Development just got back from a meeting with the German SCJs, so he filled me in on we talked about how things are going there. The SCJs were gracious hosts and supportive of a continued relationship and collaboration.

The students took on the St. Joseph's Indian School staff tonight - and won!

Tonight, was our faculty verses student volleyball game. Bryan, our Athletic Director, said that the students were more motivated tonight than in any game of the season and he wished they could have played like that every game. They played their best game of the season and beat the faculty in straight sets.

The staff was happy to make it through the matches with no injuries, except maybe their pride!

Changes to serve more students

Walking down the hill to church, the weather was still frigid. We had the first hard frost of the season and the grass crunched underfoot. I know this is just the first of plenty more to come, but know there is still plenty of time for lovely fall days.

In the development office, Marcia’ turned 50today, and her co-workers decorated her office well. At mid-day break, we had carrot cake awaiting, and Marcia came in wearing oversize silver glittery glasses in the shape of 5 and 0.

Our home remodeling project is moving along well. Next year, all of our homes will be back in play, and we will be able to serve more students. What we are starting to do now is evaluate how best to make use of the beds we will have. Which age group would best be served by expansion? Should we keep an equal number of boys and girls homes or change the mix? Should we change the mix of ages any? We will start to have discussion sessions with staff to come up with good and workable ideas.

Lots of giggles

When I arrived back in the office, I had several baskets of treats for Bosses’ Day awaiting me. While I try my best to affirm the staff at St. Joseph’s Indian School for their work and dedication, I receive far more affirmation than I ever give out.

While walking through the school to catch up on the news and see what our Lakota (Sioux) youngsters were up to, I met new Robin, our new Special Ed teacher. Robin isn’t exactly new, since she worked here at St. Joseph’s several years ago and we’re happy to have her return.

In first grade I met Glenn, our newest student. She was still a little shy and overwhelmed, but giving it her best try. When there are openings here because students are able to move back with their families, we look to our waiting to see who else in need we can be able to serve.

I ate supper in the Crane Home (high school girls) and was pleased to see that besides stories, they were full of lots of giggles. The house had that comfortable feeling when students are cooperating and helping one another. There is drama and conflict to be sure, but we always work towards creating more of the happy kind of memories.

The darkness of the prairie

Before Mike and I flew back to South Dakota, we had time to tour Arlington National Cemetery. We stopped as a funeral Procession passed us by, the casket resting on a horse-drawn caisson. We were told across the country WWII veterans are dying at a rate of about 1500 each day. Veterans killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan are also coming here for their final resting place. So much history starting with Civil War dead! The sailors who perished on the Maine during the Spanish-American War. Nurses killed in action. Civil Rights pioneer Medgar Evers. Korea and Viet Nam vets. Supreme court justices. The graves of the three Kennedy brothers. The astronauts from the Space Shuttle Challenger. We paid our respects at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and watched the ritual changing of the guard. We climbed to Robert E. Lee’s Arlington House, which overlooks the Potomac and the whole District of Columbia.

In a matter of hours we are transported back into a different world. After our 15 seat plane from Denver to Pierre lands at the airport we drive 90 miles home. There are no bright lights, no sky scrapers, and fewer than a handful of cars and the darkness of the prairie. But there is more that unites us than divides us.

Whether it’s a huge national cemetery, or a hill far away on a lonely reservation, cemeteries always move me to deeper prayer, reflection, and admiration of people who went before us.

St. Joseph’s Indian School at the White House

I always wondered what it would be like to be invited to the White House. Thanks to the efforts of our food services director, Mike Renbarger, and the collaboration of so many of our staff, St. Joseph’s Indian School met the Healthy Schools Nutrition Challenge, and Mike and I attended a reception on the White House lawn.

First though, we visited Senator John Thune’s office, and were given a great tour of the Capital from Katie, who lives an hour west of us in Murdo, South Dakota. She just graduated from Sinte Gleska University on the Rosebud Indian reservation with a degree in history, and is in DC taking part in an internship. She filled us in on the art and most especially all the history that’s taken place in the Capitol. We even saw the charred columns that witnessed to the burning of the White House during the War of 1812.

Rachel, a young woman from Chamberlain, South Dakota joined us for lunch. She is a research and policy aid, working on important issues such as health care and education, and enjoyed talking to folks from home.

We also squeezed in one hour at the American Museum of History. Seeing the actual chairs and table Grant and Lee sat in at Appomattox Courthouse and Geroge Washington’s dress uniform were treasures that spoke countless words. Also on display were remnants from the Battle of The Little Bighorn.

We did have a long wait to get in to the White House, including three separate ID checks and then a security screening. But we were joined in line by so many great folks dedicated to education that conversations easily flowed and time passed quickly. The folks behind us from Turlock, California ran an alternative high school, trying to provide hope for youth who would have otherwise dropped out. A local teacher from DC taught her students about health and nutrition and the difference that can make. Many spoke of the cuts in education spending, and how they are still trying to do more with less and improve the lives of children. My parents were both teachers; I have great respect for the work they do under often trying circumstances.

All hands were raised with a camera when First Lady Michelle Obama started her speech.

We arrived to the sweet strains of country music being played by the Marine and Navy bands, who were good enough to pass for Nashville studio musicians. Tents on the lawn were set up with fresh crisp apples (what else would you serve a teacher?) and sweet and ice-cold apple cider. It was surreal standing in front of the building that so many of us have had indelibly burned into our psyche from countless news stories and signing ceremonies, joyful times and national tragedies.

After hearing from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, a school administrator from Mississippi who helped her whole district achieve the gold award spoke of their efforts. A 12-year-old student from Chicago told us how he has benefitted from the program.

When First Lady Michelle Obama came to the podium every hand was raised high in the air with a camera. Mrs. Obama gave a rousing pep talk about the importance, for the sake of our current students and the generations to follow, to promote healthy eating and lifestyle. After Mrs. Obama finished,

Mike was actually close enough to the podium to receive a congratulatory handshake from the First Lady!

He joked that from now on, he’ll only eat healthy food with that hand!

Benefit from their generosity

While I was in the office working on Sunday’s homily, I got a phone call from the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center. A couple from Houston, Mike and Carolyn, had brought up a truck load of clothes to share with us and wanted to meet me and say hello. I was in sweat pants and an old t-shirt, but that actually worked to my advantage as we went to the storage building and unloaded. I took Mike and Carolyn on a tour of campus.

The William Home (4^th-5^th grade girls) were most gracious about showing us the home and talking about their routine. They also volunteered to try on some of the sweatshirts and a coat so the good folks back in Texas who gathered it all up could see the kids who will benefit from their generosity.

Hidden America – Children of the Plains

A day of some sadness with a funeral and a wake to go to today.

Fr. Brian was a 46-year-old priest who pastored in Fort Pierre, South Dakota until an inoperable brain tumor was discovered about four months ago. He had been in the hospital and hospice care since then, and died earlier this week. During the homily, Fr. Michel acknowledged so many people were saddened that a young priest who touched so many people’s hearts should die so young and so quickly. But God’s ways are not our ways. What is most important not the length of our lives, but what we do with the time God gives us. Going to a priest’s funeral makes me more deeply reflect on my own priesthood and ask how I can be a better and holier servant of God.

The moment I was most moved to tears came at the beginning of mass, with about 40 priests lining the center aisle to greet the body. Fr. Brian’s niece and nephew sang a gospel song, “I will Rise”. I couldn’t help but think of my own cancer, which is still in remission. I had a sense of, this could have been me. But it led to a deepening of the psalmist’s attitude – “What return can I make to the Lord, for all the good God has done for me in seeing me through?”

One of our secretaries suffered a family tragedy when her college aged son died. This evening at the wake the church and hall were packed as tightly as possible, with a tremendous outpouring of care and support from the community.

Tonight ABC news 20/20 program with Diane Sawyer ran a special on Hidden America – Children of the Plains. South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation was the location for the reports. The images and stories were powerful and well done. The journalists were realistic about the tough living conditions on the Indian reservation. And they also showed some of the hope and promise in young people trying to break cycles of poverty and alcoholism. Those are much the critical issues we at St. Joseph’s Indian School try to address.

I value the wisdom shared

We had an all day Board of Directors meeting. The longest segment of discussion revolved around the new strategic plan that we have been working on. With the added input and approval of the Board we should be ready to begin in early 2012. We went through the annual audit; we were glad to hear there were no major problems or findings. We reviewed the plans for the museum expansion and alumni center, and heard reports from our outreach programs on the Indian reservations.

I’m always trying to make sure St. Joseph is headed in the right direction, and asking the right questions. It helps to have others who care about the mission of the school to ask the big questions too, and provide direction and recommendations.

While I finish these meetings feeling a bit worn out, I also value the wisdom shared, which makes the load of administrative leadership easier to carry.

Making the Akta Lakota Museum into a small town treasure

Today, 15 Northern Plains artists submitted their latest creations to our Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center acquisition committee, and the museum picked up several nice new pieces. The things I usually like are not the same ones our more knowledgeable artists recommend, and in the long run, they have done a great job of making our museum into a small treasure in town.

Two fellow SCJs Fr. Jack and Deacon Dave arrived for tomorrow’s Board of Directors meeting. Deacon Dave was my predecessor as director of St. Joseph’s Indian School. When I saw the school secretary at 11:30 mass, I asked her if anything special was happening at school today. “Deacon Dave dropped by to see us, so that made the day pretty special.” People still appreciate all he did to build up St. Joseph’s into the place it is today.

Adrian and Merrill are two 8^th grade boys chosen to represent St. Joseph’s at our next donor luncheon, which will be in Pittsburgh in early December. I practiced with them after school, asking typical questions our donors want to know. They’re excited and a little bit nervous, but that gives them incentive to practice harder. It will be a great chance for them to experience a big city and see what life is like there.