St. Joseph's Indian School

Poetry from the Lakota students

Before the end of the school year, we learned about the poetry the Lakota students were working on in Linea’s classroom. You asked to see their work, and here are some “I Am” poems.

St. Joseph’s eighth grader Deavontay learned about writing poetry — Deavontay

Deavontay and Melvina both graduated with St. Joseph’s eighth-grade class in May and will attend Chamberlain High School next year.

Stay tuned for more poetry later this week!

I Am Poem

I am Quiet and Intelligent

I wonder about my own future

I can hear my grandchildren laughing

I see the future

I want to be forever youthful

I am Quiet and Intelligent

I pretend to be old

I feel as young as a newborn foal

I touch the warm sun

I worry about world peace

I cry for my people

I am Quiet and Intelligent

I understand the hardship of the world

I say Wakan Yeja (Children are Sacred)

I dream of tomorrow

I try and try again

I hope to be successful

I am Quiet and Intelligent

by Deavontay

I am…

St. Joseph’s eighth grader Melvina learned about writing poetry — Melvina

I am creative and a dreamer

I wonder what it is like to be famous

I hear fans yelling mine and Chandler’s names

I see millions of people in the crowd at our concerts

I want to be famous

I am creative and a dreamer

I pretend I am a superstar when I’m alone

I feel excited about the future

I touch the sky and let my dreams take me where they may

I worry about child abuse and people that have to suffer

I cry when I think about Shauntae

I am creative and a dreamer

I understand it takes hard work to get to the top

I say “Thank you America!” when I get done singing to myself

I dream about someday performing at Madison Square Garden

I try to do my best in everything I do

I hope people learn to keep their promises

I am creative and a dreamer.

by Melvina

A project inspired by St. Joseph the Worker

In honor of the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1, the older Lakota children at St. Joseph’s Indian School used their Religion class to take on a building project.

The Lakota tradition teaches that we are all related. In the Catholic tradition, this truth is called the communion of saints. For the Lakota (Sioux) people, this concept extends to all of creation. Our brother St. Francis and the Catholic Celtic tradition of Ireland also affirm the belief that God is present in earth, wind, fire, water and indeed all of creation.

When Jesus went to return to the Father, he unleashed his Holy Spirit in the world in a new and remarkable way. And through that Holy Spirit ̶ present in each and every one of us ̶ we share in a special communion. In the same way, we share in that togetherness with all of the people who have gone before us. We are all related.

Because of this wonderful connection, Catholics turn to the holy ones who lived before us, like St. Joseph, and we ask them to pray for us. We also keep their memories alive and look to them as role models. Our role model, St. Joseph, understood that all people were his relatives, too, and worthy of love and respect.

So, when he could have, by law, had Mary punished for being with child, he chose not to. And when he was encouraged by an angel to take her in, he did not hesitate. Because of his generous heart, he opened his life to her and her unborn son. He became the foster father to Jesus and I imagine that, while he taught him his trade as a carpenter, he also schooled him in seeing all people as related to him and worthy of love and respect. Perhaps that became the foundation of Jesus’ teaching, “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Inspired by St. Joseph’s trade as a carpenter and his generosity, we built a shed, which we donated to the Missouri Valley Crisis Center in Chamberlain. The center responds to the needs of our brothers and sisters in the world who find themselves in need of special help, not unlike Mary when she faced uncertainty in her life before Joseph took her in.

What started with picking up trash…

Hello everyone! My name is Kelli, Planned Giving Summer Intern at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

Lakota boy imitating snake — A Lakota boy imitates his favorite animal—a snake!

A few days ago, I was able to spend some time with the youth of the Lower Brule Indian Reservation at the St. Joseph’s Rising Eagle Day Camp here in Chamberlain, South Dakota. On this particular morning, they were imitating animal movements and practicing summersaults and cartwheels on the football field. Their giggles and smiles made me take a trip down memory lane to two years ago when I was a camp counselor at the St. Joseph’s Rising Eagle Day Camp.

Although every day brought many joys and wonderful experiences, one day in particular still stands out in my mind.

On this particular day, one of our St. Joseph’s staff was reading a Native American children’s story to the kids. While The Rough-Face Girl was being read, nearly all of the children were listening quietly, but one little boy was not following the rules and was being disruptive to everybody else.

Feeling like he may need to burn some energy, I grabbed a plastic bag and told him to follow me outside—we were going to go pick up some trash.

For the first few minutes, the young boy was quite unruly. However, when he saw how much fun he could make the situation, he began to laugh, smile and run around—the first time I had ever seen this young boy so alive and carefree.

His smile and laugh were contagious and I began to get into the game he created out of his own imagination. “Kelli, hold the trash bag really high!” I would hear, so I would hold it above my head and he would aim, shoot, and SCOREEEEEE! A silly celebratory dance and lots of cheering would always follow.

Two girls partner log roll — Two young Lakota girls practice partner log rolling.

After about 20 minutes or so, I asked the young boy if he would like to go back inside and be on his best behavior.

He replied yes, gave me a huge hug, began to cry, and thanked me for spending time with him because “no one ever spends time with me.”

This little boy was my best friend the remainder of the Rising Eagle Day Camp. He was usually one of the first ones on the bus bright and early and one of the last to walk back to his house. He was my right-hand man and was often given certain ‘duties’ to help me with.

The young boy who had multiple disciplinary problems on his first day never had an issue again.

Thank you for allowing me to pick up trash and spend quality time with young Lakota Sioux children. Although picking up trash is a messy and sometimes stinky job, I am so grateful for this young boy and the opportunity I had to make a little friend that changed my life forever.

Summer Day Camp with LaRayne

Hi everyone! LaRayne here, St. Joseph’s Native American Studies teacher. Each year, I work into the summer, providing Native American Studies for the Lakota children who attend day camp.

The Lakota students love playing outdoor games at day camp! — Erika and the other girls line up for dodge ball.

Giving and Receiving is going around St. Joseph’s Day Camp. I wish that you could all see the relationships building between our campers and staff at St. Joseph’s Indian School! The whole group is like a sponge; taking in the learning, loving and living that happens all day long.

The staff and kids get to eat breakfast together and answer questions like “what’s your favorite movie?” and “Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?”

The kids are eager to get to know our young camp counseling staff, and staff members are just as eager to make the day’s experience meaningful for all. After breakfast, the kids play games together or learn about more of their Lakota culture through Native American Studies.

This year, the kids are playing Lakota hand games and we are reading several books that pertain to the daily lesson, like creating star knowledge constellations, painting horse designs. We are also touring the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center on our campus and learning about dream catchers, hair braiding, Lakota songs, colors, numbers, and ledger art. Through all of these activities, the campers and counselors learn a little bit about each other and even about themselves. Sharing in learning, arts and crafts, swimming, playing and eating are great ways to spend the day!

Visiting the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center is a great educational experience for the Native American children who attend day camp. — The boys and girls learn about their Lakota (Sioux) culture as part of day camp as well.

I especially like that three of my four daughters have been able to give back to our organization by being a part of our day camp. To watch my girls spend time with our day campers is good for my spirit and drives me to understand why we are here doing the work we do.

We are striving to create a great day for our day campers and, in the middle of it all, we get to feed our spirits with the gifts the Lakota children bring each day as well.

Openness to the Spirit

Last week in Wisconsin was both affirming and emotional. My religious order, the Priests of the Sacred Heart, held our election assembly for new leadership, and my brothers in the community asked me to become the next Provincial Superior.

I was honored to be chosen, though know the position also carries a lot of responsibilities. The hard emotional part for me is that this means finishing up my time at St. Joseph’s Indian School as Director. By August, I will be leaving South Dakota and no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the school. I will become a member of the Board of Directors, however, which will give me good reason to come back to visit a couple times each year and help set direction in a broad way.

So many of our staff were praying I would NOT be elected, but religious life calls for openness to the Spirit. When I first came to St. Joseph’s eight and a half years ago, I was sad to leave parish work on the Lower Brule and Crow Creek Indian Reservations. But I trusted, and my time at St. Joseph’s has been such an amazing blessing in surprising and unexpected ways.

I will enter into the new role with the same faith and trust and enthusiasm.

One of my main responsibilities will be personnel. My first difficult task will be to call forth good leadership to follow here at St. Joseph’s. We don’t have a successor named yet, and it will take some time to get the right people in place. In the interim, I know staff here have a clear sense of our mission and purpose, and lots of work and vision still to be done with our strategic plan. They will press on in the right direction regardless.

Today at mass, I saw the Native American students who are in the summer High School Prep Program, and I got teary-eyed thinking about the day I will have to say goodbye to them. A couple of them were first graders when I arrived, and we have so many memories together.

Every year we say goodbye to our students as they move on, hopefully prepared to make their way in the world. It will be so different with me doing the leaving… But, the Lakota people don’t really say goodbye. They say doksa, which means until we see each other again. During the time between, they will be kept close in my heart and prayers.

I will also miss the incredible interaction with our donors. A few stopped by the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center today, tickled to finally see campus and get a better idea of what we do at St. Joseph’s. We have a wide and generous circle of friends that make what we do possible. Their interest, support and prayers inspire all of us to work hard to make the difference we believe we are making.

Finally back on campus!

After being on the road for most of the past two weeks, I planned to park in my office and answer a slew of letters and emails, and attend to the various projects that are in progress right now. But, the building that houses my office is getting new carpets after perhaps 30 years, and this was the day they decided to install. So I was “homeless” for the day. But it gave me a great excuse to walk around campus and touch base with St. Joseph’s staff and students!

People ask me if I enjoy the pace of summer when school is finished, assuming it is low key and slow. If it’s possible, I think June gets even busier at St. Joseph’s Indian School than the regular school year!

I saw our recent eighth grade graduates leaving for Chamberlain High School to attend the classes that will help them adjust to the teachers and expectations at the new school. Shortly after, the bus doors opened and 53 Lakota children from the Lower Brule Indian Reservation spilled out for their first day of Rising Eagle Day camp.

On the maintenance front:

– Rocks and landscaping are now surrounding the new Medicine Wheel Garden

– The old thrift store has been painted and remodeled into office space

– The Afra and Raphael Homes are gutted as part of our last phase of renovation

– The picnic building where we host our powwow supper is getting a new roof to replace hail damage

– Central offices is getting new carpet and tuckpointing to preserve the aging brick exterior

– Surveyors have flagged the north side areas of campus for the next phase of our drainage improvement plan

– Curb and gutters have been poured to expand the museum parking lot

Several of our Native American high school students are working summer jobs here, either at summer camp, giving museum tours, or helping with maintenance. Erika is a camp counselor, and will start college in the fall. She is trying to be very frugal and save as much as she can.

She is anxious because her family has almost no income, and she knows that she will have to sacrifice and get by on scholarships and part time jobs. While I encouraged her, I was also inspired by her trust and daring in pursuing her dream.

Greetings from St. Joseph’s Health Center!

The last couple of weeks before school was out for the summer, the Lakota children weren’t sick much, which meant not many children staying at the health center for the day. We find more time in the spring to get our work done.

The health center staff is wrapping up for the school year and ready for a two-month break. For the most part, the students who stay at St. Joseph’s Indian School for the summer program stay healthy and rarely see the physician. We have a physician come in a couple days a week for an hour or so, just in case.

Nurse Ronda rounded up eyeglasses to keep over the summer. We do this for the children who tend to lose them frequently or those who don’t wear except for school and study. In the fall, when students check in through the health center, we give the glasses back to them. This makes life so much easier for everyone. They have their glasses and are ready for learning again.

I’m busy setting up eye and dental appointments for next fall already. We want to make sure that there are openings ready to go when the Lakota children return to campus this fall. If a student has an eye or dental issues we need to address right away, we’ll be sure to have an appointment!

Hope you all have a safe, fun-filled and blessed summer!

God Bless

Nancy

School Nurse

Cultural Trip Day 6 – Heading Home

Our cultural travels with St. Joseph’s seventh graders came to a conclusion last Friday, with a day driving home through Badlands National Park.

Fr. Jose was enthralled by the unique landscapes and asked for many stops along the way to take pictures. He thought he’d like to spend a week there to contemplate and take it all in.

The last two years, we’ve had drought conditions across South Dakota. This year, however, May brought about five inches of rain to our area, and the grasslands on the prairie and buttes were about as green as I’ve ever seen. The fresh new grass contrasted with the earth tones of the jagged peaks, whimsical sand castles and colorful mounds along the road. The mix of cloud cover and sunshine brought out the natural colors and beauty – a wonderful sight to behold.

When I travel, I make a game of looking for license plates from different states. In our 1500-mile journey, we found 47 states and the District of Columbia! The only ones missing were Connecticut, Delaware and Hawaii. If you’re from those areas, make sure you come visit us out in South Dakota in the near future!

Today we gathered all our traveling pilgrims in Our Lady of the Sioux Chapel back on St. Joseph’s campus for a prayer service. We gave each of the students a chance to share some of their reflections about the trip.

At first, they were reluctant and shared only a few words, but then a few started in with more stories. My favorite was when Hope spoke about explaining the significance of the prayer ties to a visitor at Bear Butte. The visitor was unfamiliar with the practice. Explaining it to her gave Hope greater pride in her Lakota culture, and while many years younger than the woman, hope became the teacher.

Hearing her story assured me the main goal of the trip was accomplished.

The students’ families joined us for lunch, then took their kids home for the summer.

Last Friday was also my birthday. Staff at the development office treated us all to cake and Marina’s homemade maple nut ice cream. I had plenty of cards and calls and well wishes. I looked on our St. Joseph’s Facebook page there were almost 200 messages – thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! I spent the evening doing laundry and getting ready for the next set of travels.

Cultural Trip Day 5

I had never been to Wind Cave before and appreciated making the connection with the place that figures so prominently in the Lakota (Sioux) peoples’ origins stories. The natural entrance is just a small hole in the ground, about as big as a basketball… but over 400 miles of cave lies just below.

St. Joseph’s students visited Custer State Park during their cultural trip. — The Lakota boys saw buffalo at a safe distance in Custer State Park.

The air in the cave is like the earth breathing as winds rush in or out to equalize the barometric pressure. The winds can reach up to 70 mph, and make a whistling sound. This is thought to be the place the earth breathes. As the story goes, the buffalo nation gave birth to the Lakota Oyate in this place.

Our students can be a bit shy, so early on I encouraged them to think of a question or two they would like to ask when we toured a site. I appreciated how they were growing more and more comfortable opening up, and I learned a lot from questions I never would have thought to ask.

On our way to the next campsite we drove through Custer State Park, and encountered several buffalo. At one point, we had to stop the bus as a half dozen crossed the road. One was a little too interested in our bus. Nate said he’d have a hard time explaining that damage to LeRoy in St. Joseph’s Maintenance Shop if the magnificent animal had gotten feisty.

At our campsite, the boys enjoyed skipping rocks in the gurgling stream, balancing on a fallen tree that served as a bridge to cross and scaling the hills and dreaming of adventure.

We visited the Crazy Horse memorial. Over 60 years in the making, the mountain will be twice the height of the Statue of Liberty when it’s finished. The four faces of Mount Rushmore could fit in the horse’s head. The site also includes a museum of the American Indian, which is a treasure.

One of my favorite activities at Crazy Horse is visiting the workshop where Native American artists work at their craft – a showcase of numerous tribes from South Dakota and beyond. There are plenty of beautiful pieces for sale, but you can also just observe and appreciate their craftsmanship. They are also good about answering questions. A highlight for Craig was running into his grandfather who frequently paints there.

The Crazy Horse Monument, still in progress, was another important stop on the trip. — Caden and Trenton enjoyed the Crazy Horse Monument on a cool day.

While we were in the neighborhood we also took in Mount Rushmore. While it’s a very different kind of cultural experience, we didn’t want to miss it. Fr. Jose is visiting us from Portugal, and it was high on his list. I was surprised that half of our students had never been there either.

We returned to camp and roasted hot dogs and hamburgers over an open fire. One highlight of my time on this trip is the talking circle where each student shared observations and what they learned from the day.

Cultural Trip Day 4

When I was traveling with the girls, they were usually coming to the bus at the last minute, or fashionably late. The boys, however, packed up the bus and were ready to roll 20 minutes early, so we got a head start on our 350 miles to Fort Laramie.

St. Joseph’s Indian School seventh graders are taking part in a trip to visit cultural points in South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. — The Lakota boys had the bus packed and ready to go 20 minutes early!

Nate, a St. Joseph’s staff member, had been talking with various site officials along the way, explaining that we were trying to give our Lakota (Sioux) students a better sense of their tribal history and culture. The Fort Laramie staff was especially helpful. The park superintendent and a seasoned ranger both came out to greet us. They spent over two hours walking us through the buildings and helping us to imagine the hustle and bustle of the Fort during the 1800’s.

Fort Laramie was strategically located one-third of the way on the California and Oregon trails, and at the halfway point of the Mormon Trail. Thousands of wagons passed through at the height of the drive westward. Settlers and their livestock disrupted the migration paths of the buffalo and took up precious resources as they grazed, hunted and gathered along the trail. This lead to inevitable conflict.

I was surprised that the fort had no stockade fence around the perimeter, and was open like any town would be. The ranger compared it to a modern shopping center, where people traded and mingled freely. She told us, “no one would want to burn down the Walmart of their day.”

The boys were enthralled by military things – barracks and cavalry uniforms, shackles and ball and chains placed on those in the guardhouse. An armory displayed the weapons used by the frontier army. A strong sadness overcame me when I saw the type of Hotchkiss canons that were opened up on Native American women and children at the Wounded Knee massacre.

Three tipis were set up in the pasture near the fort. That was likely the general area the treaties of 1851 and 1868 were signed.

We drove another three hours back into South Dakota and camped in Hot Springs for the night. After a day of travel and touring, our teenagers were ravenously hungry. It was too wet to cook outside, so we settled for a Chinese buffet. That wasn’t available in the 1800’s, but it sure was tasty and hit the spot before we called it a night.