St. Joseph's Indian School

Dancing and Advent; practice and preparation

The first significant snow of the winter blanketed our campus in white. It began with a couple of inches on Friday, another couple Saturday morning and about 5 more inches overnight. While the kids were riding bikes just a few days ago, this weekend they dug out the sleds and snowboards and saw who could make the longest slide down the hill to the football field. With strong winds and cold temperatures today’s powdery snow drifted thigh high in some places around campus. But with the morning light our crew was out in force clearing a path for students and staff, in vehicles or on foot.

The Native American girls did great dancing! — The girls did great!

We gathered in church more often than our usual weekend. Saturday morning is usually a bit of a sleep in day, but the Immaculate Conception Holy Day found a sleepier than normal group of Lakota students in the pews. St. Joseph’s regular Sunday mass is at 10:00. This morning we also added an 8:30 mass so the girls participating in the Dancing Dolls recital would enough time to get ready for their show without rushing. I rather enjoyed the more intimate, homogenous group to pray with and preach to. It’s hard to find messages that resonate well week after week with both first graders and high school seniors. Today I had a group of about 30 girls in 1^st – 5^th grades. In a dialogue homily style, I got them to tell me about their dance practice and preparation, and make the connection between getting ready for a big event like that and getting ready for the Lord as we enter more deeply into Advent.

Snow and ice closed the Interstate between Sioux Falls and Chamberlain and kept some of the crowd down, but the Dancing Dolls and Dudes performance was lively and fun anyway. The preschoolers are always the most heartwarming, doing simple steps and movements. The older kids have a little more razzle dazzle. And every grandparent in town vied for the front row and a good picture taking vantage.

As my own pride swelled seeing our St. Joseph students performing, I had a good idea of how grandparents might feel. The fruits of the kids dedicated practices showed. We’re grateful for the people in town who volunteer to organize the program every year, and give our students the exposure to fine arts and a fun opportunity.

77 year old Fr. Gary is a retired SCJ, part of our Chamberlain community. For his birthday we treated him to lunch downtown at the Anchor Grill. Santa Claus was making the rounds of local businesses and stopped by our table to pose for a mug shot and wish him the best. (He knows if we’ve been naughty or nice, but isn’t telling). Happy Birthday Fr. Gary!

Guest Blogger: Clare

Entering into the hopeful spirit of the Advent season.

In Religious Studies, as we prepare the students for the coming season of Advent, we have invited them to enter into the hopeful spirit of the season. We talked about the hope that surrounded the first coming of the Christ child in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago; how we still long for the presence of Christ coming into our everyday lives; and how we wait in joyful hope for the coming of Christ in the fullness of time.

The topic provided a valuable opportunity for our Lakota students to gain perspective on the much-needed hope in their lives. We talked about patience, courage and persistence as essential for enduring hope.

That is when one precious first-grade girl helped to define patience as,

“Being able to wait for your turn to use the basketball without getting unhappy.”

The same wise little one explained that courage is,

“When you are learning to write in Kindergarten, and you aren’t sure you’ll be able to do it, but you keep trying.”

Ah, keep trying! That explained the value of persistence, as well.

This led into viewing the video “Keep Going” by Joseph Marshall III, writer, speaker, actor and technical advisor for films, who was born and raised on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. His short but valuable message encourages viewers to use the storms and difficulties of life to grow stronger. He advises that even the smallest, weakest step made in hope is stronger than any trial we encounter.

To round out the lesson, our students were invited to write down three things for which they hoped. These hopes were recorded on “leaves,” which my partner and I are assembling into an Advent wreath made up of all of the hopes and dreams of the students at St. Joseph Indian School.

Sure, there is more than one hope about what will be found under the tree on Christmas morning. But reading hope around this precious circle, one finds messages of healing brokenness in families and the world.

For me, the most tender hope was expressed by one little boy who recently lost his mother.

“I hope my mom can hear my prayers in heaven,” he said.

“She can,” I dared to promise him.

The hopes and dreams of the Lakota students at St. Joseph Indian School.

Growing to their potential

Placing the finished box of staff Christmas cards on Carma’s desk in payroll gave me a feeling of freedom. I could just sign my name and be done quickly, but I try to write a personal note to each because everyone here has an important role to play in making a difference in the lives of our Lakota students. I feel blessed and grateful to be surrounded by so many passionate, creative, hard working folks with lots of ideas and the knack for following through to make things happen. My next task will have to be attending to the incoming pile of Christmas cards growing on my desk . We hear from lots of donors this time of year, and I’m humbled by their generosity.

Last night the five high school homes had their community meeting and announced who gets possession of the traveling academic trophies. The boys of Carola Home not only retained the trophy for the least missing assignment, but passed the Hogebach girls for the highest GPA. Hogebach had the trophy on a shelf near their dining room table. When I walked by the boys home this morning, I saw both trophies sitting in the window, out there for everyone to notice. That kind of pride and competition is OK in my book, and hope that our Native American students continue to push each other to learn and grow to their potential.

Guest Bloggers: Mike and April

This past mid-term, five of our boys were on the honor roll and two were very close, which is awesome for freshman. We call that success!!

Hey everyone, this is Mike and April from the Carola Home.

This time of year our boys are balancing school and athletics as well as preparing to go home for the holidays. This can be an overwhelming time for all the boys, but especially the freshman.

Freshmen have already been adjusting to new houseparents, new school, new curriculum and new friends. Our four Juniors have had a couple of years to learn what works for them to succeed in all areas. However, our three Freshmen still have a lot to learn and this is usually the hardest time of their high school years.

Thankfully, our Juniors have taken our Freshmen under their wings and given them advice on how to deal with homework – number one being do not get behind with missing assignments – classes and teachers, where to go and who you may have to be extra nice to. 🙂 And of course advice on their houseparents – don’t try that, they won’t let you get away with this, handle your business and they won’t make it theirs.

Each student has their own ways to succeed and all seven of our boys are doing just that, succeeding. With all that high school life brings to offer our boys, they are doing an amazing job keeping up with it all.

In our eyes my boys are all number one!!!!

St. Joseph’s gives the boys a lot of support with the learning center, which is run by our High School Academic Advisor, Steve. Steve works with Chamberlain High School to help them with their homework. Our Transitional Specialist, Pam, helps our Juniors with upcoming college trips and helps them plan for the future after St. Joseph’s.

Basketball season has started with Errol, Cody, William and Kyle playing for the Chamberlain Cubs. Our home will be attending many games in the next couple of months to support their fellow classmates.

Shawn is involved in CHS’s Wrestling Team. We also have one student Dean, who has been actively preparing for the past several weeks to attend LNI (the Lakota Nation Invitational), to participate in the Knowledge Bowl Competition. Trey, one of our Freshmen, is not in any sports. He thought it would be best to give all his focus on his schoolwork, so he can continue his streak of no missing assignments and A honor roll.

Guest Blogger: Cindy

Hello and welcome back! I’m Cindy and I blogged in October about the many things that take place at the beginning of the school year. I like to think that it is the busiest time of the year but it has not slowed down at all!

We are just returning from Thanksgiving Break (where did the time go?) and the students are starting to look forward to Christmas (and break: hooray!) that will be coming up in a few weeks.

Most of our students were able to go home for the Thanksgiving Break. The day before Thanksgiving is a chaotic, but fun-filled day. The student’s guardians all come and pick them up at the school. The Dining Hall puts on a delicious lunch for them to enjoy. Many of them have been coming to St Joseph’s for many years and it is fun to catch up on their lives.

We do have a few students that stay on campus during this time. They are housed in what we refer to as the “break home.” Their time is filled with fun activities such as shopping, movies and games.

This year, the students and staff who stayed on campus were able to participate in the Thanksgiving dinner at St. James Catholic Church. This is a wonderful experience to have fellowship and visit with people from the surrounding areas. It is wonderful that the local people put this on in order to alleviate the loneliness that can be associated with this time of year.

I enjoy this time of year. As my family is grown, I still enjoy going to sports activities. The connection to my St. Joseph’s family is great as I now watch the St. Joseph’s girls play basketball. They are a lot of fun and I love to watch them play. This allows me to interact with the students outside of the school setting. I really enjoy visiting with the students the next day at school on their accomplishments during the game.

As we are preparing for the Christmas Season, two of our 6/7/8^th grade girls homes will be featured in the local Parade of Homes this year. This is a local event when people decorate their homes and allow the community members to tour them. This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to connect with the town of Chamberlain. The girls are giddy as they are enjoying decorating and getting ready for the tours. It is the first time that the homes have participated in the “Parade of Homes” showing off their home, their Christmas decorations, and spirit of the season.

We are also busy educating the students about Christmas during religion and Native American Studies classes. We celebrate the advent season in the school by having a ceremony every Monday morning. We try to get the students to realize that there is more to Christmas than just the presents under the tree.

I want to extend Christmas wishes to all our benefactors this Holiday Season. May your days be very joyful, fun-filled and blessed. Thank you for all the support you have given to St. Joseph’s throughout the years.

“Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day, even every moment in the interior temple of your spirit, remaining like a baby in the boson of the heavenly Father, where you will be reborn each moment in the Divine Word, Jesus Christ”—St. Paul of the Cross

Support and patience at St. Joseph’s Indian School

We had a couple of funerals the past two days that affected many people on St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus. Yesterday, a teenager who was a student at St. Joseph’s a couple of years ago, was laid to rest on the Crow Creek Indian reservation. She has a couple of siblings still here at St. Joseph’s and lots of cousins. We had about 15 students checked out to be with family during these sad days. Several homes made their presence felt at the wakes over the weekend. Shauntae and her family are in all our prayers.

Richard was one of our custodians until his battle with cancer made it necessary to quit work and focus full-time on treatment. He fought a long and courageous battle, but he too died this past week. His wife Mary still works at St. Joseph’s. I noticed a good crowd of co-workers that showed their support during the wake and funeral.

We get many letters each day from people who ask us to pray for them during their time of grief and loss. It’s a part of the human condition none of us escape. My prayer is that those who mourn will know the care and support of people around them to help get through the days of darkness. While it can be difficult to find words of comfort, a simple presence at wakes and funerals speaks loudly by itself.

Our high school students are starting to hear back from colleges they are applying for. Chris got an acceptance letter from Dakota State University today. He joins Elijah (U of Kansas) and LaToya (Presentation College in Aberdeen) as they plan for their post St. Joseph future. Other seniors are still waiting to hear from schools of their choice – appropriate during this Advent season of patient and hopeful waiting with expectation.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells" — “Jingle bells, jingle bells”

I walked by the music room and heard the sound of three beginning clarinet players working hard to get the sounds of Jingle Bells in time with the teacher’s lead and in harmony with one another. They are preparing to play in the Christmas recital on December 19^th. In encouraged them to keep practicing, and look forward to hearing how they do in two weeks’ time.

Our Human Resources Department organized our holiday tradition called “Sweet Sampling.” Staff brought a variety of colorful, scrumptious Christmas goodies to the skate room and folks dropped by throughout the day for treats at break times. Recipes were left by each platter for people to try on their own for the items they especially enjoyed. I can tell that our push on wellness is also making inroads. The tables were also laden with fresh fruit as an alternative, and I saw recipes for Weight Watchers Chocolate Marshmallow Fudge and 50 – Calorie Chocolate Toffee Puffs. HR also passed out cute homemade cookie cutter ornaments to get people in the holiday mood.

Advent is upon us

As I walked up the aisle to set up for church this morning, 3^rd grader Rudy motioned to me.

“Why is everything purple?”

The prayerful season of Advent is upon us, and he noticed the change in the externals. Of course Advent is more about interior decorating – of our hearts – getting spiritually ready for the wonderful Christmas season. Our children’s choir learned two new songs, Emmanuel, familiar lyrics but in a new setting, and Candles of Advent, to emphasize the hope we hold out in the Light of the World. While in church we can burn real candles, fire regulations won’t let us get away with that in the homes. All of the homes have Advent wreaths, but with electric candles. Each home has age appropriate prayer books and resource materials to help each child enter into the spirit of the season.

While holiday decorations are going up all around us, we ask our homes to hold off on decorating for Christmas until later in December, so our community can experience the Advent season of patient waiting with great expectation. This year, we made an exception for two of the homes. The Stevens and Mathias Homes where our 6^th – 8^th grade girls live just finished up a major remodeling this year, and were asked to participate in Chamberlain’s annual Holiday Parade of Homes. People buy a $10 ticket and are able to tour several area homes to get ideas for decorating and enjoy the Christmas spirit. Proceeds benefited our public library, so it was for a good cause. Our girls baked holiday treats and took great pride in giving visitors tours and showcasing their home. It gave people from town, who might not normally come onto St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus or into the homes, an opportunity to see how our Lakota students live and also learn more about our approach to residential education.

The Stevens Home was named after a long time St. Joseph’s employee, Virginia Stevens, who has since passed away. We did have two special visitors – two of her daughters back for a visit, which made the day doubly special. While one of the daughters was gazing at the dedication portrait of her mother, 6^th grader Jacquelyn remarked, “You look just like her!” That evoked a misty eye, a spreading smile and a big hug. We gathered around the Christmas tree for some photos.

Lots of activity over the weekend. Our high school wrestlers left Saturday at 4:30 a.m. for a tournament, and didn’t return until after midnight. In South Dakota, distances between towns and schools are great and some events have to be played 3 or even 4 hours away. The HS basketball teams had their first scrimmage of the season, and the crowd got a preview of things to come, with our St. Joseph’s students getting lots of playing time. Our own 8^th grade girls hosted a four-team tournament and kept the trophy for the second year in a row. The junior high students not on the team cooked Sloppy Joes and hot dogs, along with cookies and bars to sell at the concession stand.

Our archery team was busy practicing their aim in the school gym, vying for a spot on the team that will compete against other schools at the Lakota Nations Invitational Tournament in a few weeks.

We enjoyed sunny and warm weather, unusual for December. Lots of kids were outside playing games and enjoying time on the playground.

The unusual December weather was enjoyed by everyone!

Guest Blogger: Peggy

Hello everyone, my name is Peggy, St. Joseph’s Indian School’s 4th grade teacher!

Second quarter is well underway! Thanksgiving Break is now beginning and it won’t be long until we are into the Christmas season. Maybe it is all the good weather, but the year has really seemed to fly!

hoop-dancing-SJIS I have included pictures of our Native American students at St. Joseph’s Indian School’s powwow. That was held in September, but it is a time always on their minds. They enjoy knowing about and participating in events related to the Lakota (Sioux) culture. On Native American Day, we did many activities to promote the culture. In my class, we listened to storytellers on YouTube.

In Science, we have Lakota words that go with the unit we are studying. It’s always nice to tie the two things together. It’s fun when students come in using the Lakota words. One time we were studying frogs, and the students came running in saying they had found a gnaska’ on the playground!

In they came with a dead frog in a sandwich bag … I tried to display it, but the smell was too much! I was thrilled that they had used the Lakota word instead of the English word. Right now we are studying weather. In South Dakota, Thanksgiving brings us osni’ – cold!

SJIS-powwow Today before the students left, we celebrated a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. We read the story, watched the video and then students were brought into a room that was set up like the actual dinner. We had pretzels, popcorn, toast and jelly beans! Some of the students quoted the story asking,

“What blockhead made this?”

It was a good laugh! It was nice to see the students sitting around, relaxing and visiting with each other.

Academics continue. We are well into multiplication. For some it is an easy transition from addition, but for others there is a real struggle. We continue to work and find ways for all students to feel success. In science, we are working on weather and soon will study the planets. Reading continues to work with fluency and comprehension.

I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving and are anticipating celebrating Christ’s birth in the season ahead!

Peggy
4th Grade Teacher

Guest Blogger: Linea

Hi! I am Linea and I teach sixth, seventh and eighth grade reading at St. Joseph’s Indian School. For the past nine weeks, we have been reading nonfiction stories, including biographies, autobiographies memoirs and historical nonfiction.

We are working on understanding the elements of tone, setting, characters and conflicts, and how they affect nonfiction. We are also learning how to determine fact from opinion. It is enlightening to see how nonfiction can grab their interest as well as fiction, and encouraging to see them relate different stories to their own experiences.

Our goal is to help the students comprehend information and make it a little bit fun at the same time!

Hopeful, patient waiting

Last night I met with Elijah and Shawn, two of our high school boys who were excited to be chosen to represent St. Joseph at an upcoming donor appreciation luncheon in Sarasota Florida come January. They were also a little worn out, since they are trying out for the Chamberlain Cubs basketball team, and just came home from practice. In fact, this week they’ve had two practices daily, one at 6 a.m. and one right after school.

I caught them in between supper and their Sons of Tradition meeting, where they meet with their Family Service Counselors to learn more about Lakota culture and take part in a talking circle to share issues that face them in their awkward adolescent years. The Daughters of Tradition group took part in an inipi – sweat lodge which I heard was well received.

Once the boys left for their session, I had time for conversation with Tim and Jessica, who started as houseparents in August. It is a big adjustment, and they work in two different homes for three days each. Another huge adjustment is raising a new baby – Lilya is now three months old. I’m around children all the time, but not that often lately with one so young. While the parents ate, I held the baby on my knee, and got along quite well. Every child deserves to be loved and nurtured, and that’s a main goal with all our students. Some need some extra care and attention, especially if they weren’t fortunate to have a stable and nurturing early childhood.

Our Pastoral Care group met today to finalize some details about Advent, which starts on Sunday. It seems odd when it doesn’t begin right after Thanksgiving. With many Christmas decorations already up, we still want to create an atmosphere of hopeful, patient waiting. We also looked ahead to our sacramental preparation. We expect to have about 25 students, a good number of whom are also preparing for baptism and confirmation.

Tonight was the last home game for our fifth and sixth grade girls basketball teams. Our opponents were from the Pierre Indian Learning Center. The fifth grade girls had the fast break going, and the game was never close, with a 31-12 final. Both Justina and Kendra scored in double figures. The sixth grade game was a low scoring defensive struggle. When the PILC Warriors tied the game at 11 with two minutes to go, some of us were thinking it might take an overtime or two before somebody scored again. But Mary got fouled on the drive and made both ends of a one and one free throw chance, and our Braves prevailed.

With girls ages 10 – 12, the improvement you see over a short time is remarkable. Looking back over the first few games, many weren’t sure where to stand or what to do with the ball once they got it. I noticed little things that start to make a difference – how to move without the ball, how to box out for a rebound. Our coaches’ patience and persistence is paying off. I hope our kids learn that lesson in all of life.