St. Joseph's Indian School

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Today, I did my civic duty and went down to the county courthouse right after breakfast to vote. Our students also got to take part in the process through a state program called “Kids Vote”. The main difference between my ballot and theirs was that theirs included pictures of each candidate.  After school, I met the 8^th graders who volunteered to tabulate the ballots.  Since they were all marked with crayon or pencil, there were no hanging chads. But if the voters didn’t write their grade level on the otherwise anonymous sheet, we had to disqualify the ballot. That is part of the learning process about elections too. The students’ votes were fairly reflective of the state-wide averages, and for some the passions ran just as deep.

Besides voting, another cycle we regularly go through every four years is accreditation. The staff here has worked very hard to pull all the paperwork together. Today, we finished two days of our on-site visit. The reviewers always find things we need to work on, but that’s why we go through the process – so we can have other eyes looking to see what we can take for granted, and spur us on to improve.

It felt good to hear that our students seem genuinely and generally happy to be here. The reviewers told us they were very impressed by how good a job our maintenance staff does in taking care of the campus, and our system of repairs that gets things done in a quick and timely manner.

The observation I was most proud to hear, was that they see our programs and staff working together in an integrated way. We are all in this together, and our work compliments each other as we strive for the same basic goal – the education and well-being of the students who live here.

Monday, November 1, 2010

After supporting St. Joseph’s with their donations for many years, three boyhood friends were traveling through South Dakota and stopped by to see the school. One still lives in their hometown in Wisconsin, while the other two have branched out to Texas and Florida. When we stopped by the 4^th grade classroom they were tickled when the students started asking questions about their states, “Do you have an ocean by you?” “Is it hot where you are?” “ Have you ever been to Tallahassee?” (they are learning state capitols) and “Does Texas have many cows?”.

Some donors like to remember their loved ones with a memorial gift. Clayton donated to the Jubilee Scholarship Memorial and had his deceased wife’s name engraved on a brick.  It’s often a touching moment to witness a family member go to such a place of remembrance. Seeing the name of a loved one can bring back many years of memories. I enjoyed our tour and time together.

Before supper with the Stevens Home (6^th-8^th grade girls) I got talked into an outdoor game of basketball on their driveway hoop. I’m still not able to run or make quick cuts, but my shot started to come back a little. The camaraderie with Irene, Jaelyn, Martina and Devona was such a blessing. My foot was a little sore afterwards, but worth it as I keep pushing to do a little more each day.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Some weekends I’m convinced I have a great homily, but it doesn’t connect with the students. Other days, I’m not too confident of what I have to say, but it strikes a chord in someone’s life. Many Sundays you just never know if you’ve inspired anyone or not, until further down the road. I do my best to find appropriate words and examples. But I never know what space the listener is on or how the Spirit will work. Like many parts of life, we do our best and leave the rest in God’s hands.

After mass was over, this Sunday was truly a day of rest. Many of the students went into town Trick or Treating, so I didn’t make any rounds. I stayed home and enjoyed the quiet time to read, exercise and get ready for the upcoming week.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

I received a gift certificate to the local bakery for Bosses’ Day and decided to go there for lunch with the 8^th grade student that I’m a mentor for. After a sandwich and dessert, we decided to browse in a couple of the antique stores downtown. One sign read, “We buy junk and sell antiques.” I saw many things that I’m sure my family threw out that are now treasures. It was a fun trip down memory lane. Robert was most fascinated by the old telephones that you had to crank to get the operator’s attention.

Friday, October 29, 2010

I chuckled at God’s sense of humor this morning during morning prayers when I read the scriptures from Habakkuk 3 – “He makes my feet swift as those of hinds and enables me to go upon the heights!”

I drove to Rosebud to see my Spiritual Director and talk things over, as I try to do every month or so. While I may not be where I want to be physically yet, I think I’m getting to a better place in the other areas of my life. And the spiritual journey is most important of them all.

Usually, I’m one of the judges of the Halloween costumes, but due to today’s trip I missed seeing all our Trick or Treaters come by the school offices. I did get home in time to peek in on the High School Party, complete with music, strobe lights and lots of treats. As I could have predicted, there were way more students around the edges of the room than on the dance floor, but I was sure no different in my teenage years.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

A fellow priest from out-of-town visited today to see about starting spiritual direction. I myself, have been seeing a Spiritual Director regularly, ever since I began college. The practice has helped see me through the hard times, and discover God’s hand in both the ups and downs of life. When I worked in formation ministry, I regularly directed seminarians. This is the first priest that has asked me, and I felt honored and humbled. I’m hoping the candid conversations about prayer and the interior life will deepen my own faith.

In the school, I stopped in on Peggy’s 4^th grade class to check out their Monster Workshop. With Halloween coming up, they had to write a story about a monster, then they had to design and build a child sized model. Their creations were made of cardboard, straws, cloth, milk containers and whatever else they could imaginatively use. I listened to their stories as they honed both their writing and presentation skills.

In PE class, the students were playing basketball. I couldn’t help try running the court with them, but was quickly reminded that my recovery is not to that point yet. I did later get on the elliptical machine in the Rec Center, where the motion of running was easier on my foot and leg. I’ll keep plugging away.

After school, the 1^st – 4^th grade awards for Honor Roll and Outstanding/Perfect attendance for the 1^st quarter were given out. The students were more excited about the pens and mini-footballs given out as prizes than they were with the certificates. But all signaled a job well done.

I ended the day with supper at the Afra Home (1^st – 3^rd grade girls). They all showed me the Halloween costumes they will wear, and the pumpkins they painted for the home decorating contest. Leola decided to draw my “portrait” on a napkin, and before I left I had original artwork by Chassidy, Tamika and Allyssa as well.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The first snowflakes of the season started flying today, but the ground was warm enough that it didn’t stick. It jus melted as it landed. Still it was a wet and windy, dark and damp afternoon, and nobody wanted to be outside for long. Our scheduled “Red Wash” of the road in front of the school to mark Red Ribbon Week got washed out.

I had my first attempt at stock trading, or more accurately, selling today. Occasionally people donate stock gifts to St. Joseph’s, and the business office is usually able to have me authorize them to handle the logistics. This generous gift was a diverse portfolio left on an Ameritrade account, and I had to go through each stock and put in a sell order where appropriate. It isn’t one of those tasks I imagined myself doing back in seminary, but that money will go towards our endowment and help students down the road.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Fr. Dominic is visiting us, helping out at the downtown parish for a week. I invited him to join me for supper at the Raphael Home (1^st – 3^rd grade boys). I saw aside of him unbeknownst to me, when Dominic saw a deck of cards and asked the students if they wanted to see a trick. Time after time he pulled the cards from the deck the children were looking for. They crowded around, quiet and mesmerized, begging him to show them “one more time.” The boys were convinced he was magical.

Besides seeing the boys at their excited best, he also got a glimpse of the difficulties of houseparenting. While we were at a table, two boys argued over who should have the parmesan cheese first; which led to name calling, hurt feelings and tears. The houseparents addressed the situation right away. We use the conflicts as teachable moments. Urging children not to fight,  learn respect and cooperation is an ongoing battle. We adults need to be reminded of those same lessons too!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Today when I visited the school many of the students were wearing pajamas. Others sported baseball caps with their favorite teams or woven stocking caps. I asked the 3^rd grade class why they were dressed up that way.

“Red Ribbon week” They all chimed in.

“Why are some of you wearing hats?”

“Put a cap on drugs!”

“So why are some of you wearing pajamas? Is there a theme for that?”

“Kids should sleep more!” volunteered one of the girls.

That’s probably true, but their theme for the day was, “Follow your dreams. Don’t do drugs.” That’s always our hope with these kinds of activities. We teach that early and often.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

After church, KP asked me what I had planned this afternoon. He mentioned he had a soccer match at 2:00.  When a student goes out of their way to tell me about a game, performance or event, I do my best to show up, since I know it’s important to them. Soccer is still a club sport in this part of South Dakota, but is catching on quickly. I was only able to stay for the first half, but cheered the team on and enjoyed being outdoors on a brisk fall day. It brought back memories from when I played in High School.

I also had brunch with the Cyr Home (4^th – 5^th grade boys). When I go into the homes with younger students, there’s always a race to see who gets to sit next to the “visitor.” Maybe it’s my personality, but maybe it’s that the visitor’s table gets to go up for food first!

Chris, one of their houseparents, got to travel to Chicago with some buddies to see a football game. He called his wife and told her he had seats in the end zone. The boys rushed through the meal and dishes so they could sprawl out on the floor in front of the TV and look for Chris; especially at extra points and touchdowns. When I’d left, they still hadn’t located him yet.

I stopped in the gym to check out some of the action at the boy’s inter city basketball league, which started this afternoon. Our students play with kids from town and it helps build bonds and friendships outside the immediate circle of St. Joseph’s.