Prayerful and refreshing

The big event in the life of our high school students this weekend was the school play – A Year in the Life of Frog and Toad. The production was whimsical and fun, with catchy songs and colorful sets. Two of our seniors, Chris and Erika, had supporting roles on stage. I laughed as they sang and hammed it up. Another half-dozen of our St. Joseph’s students took part behind the scenes, working lights and props and helping as student directors. The play was especially kid friendly, and space was reserved on the floor in front of the stage for any youngsters who wanted to sit on the floor close to the action. For a small school, Chamberlain has some talented and dedicated staff to work with students and put together quality performances.

On campus, basketball reigned as king. Saturday morning fourth, fifth and sixth grade girls played against cross town rivals Chamberlain. St. Joseph’s swept three very close games, two of which were decided in the last 15 seconds. Many of our staff were on hand not only to cheer on our students in blue and yellow, but their own kids wearing Cubs red and white. One of our counselors who has a daughter on Chamberlain said it’s too hard to root for both teams, but you have to! Sunday afternoon the boys played intercity, where Chamberlain and St. Joseph’s students played alongside each other. Again, you had to root for all the teams and players!

Because of the drought in our area, an earlier burning ban prevented us from opening the sweat lodge for inipi ceremonies during the fall months. Now that we’ve had a little moisture and the weather has turned colder, it’s safe to build a fire. An elder from the Rosebud Indian Reservation, grandfather to three of our students, came to campus to offer the opportunity for our junior high and our high school boys. For a few of the younger students it was their first time, and they were prepared and guided through the ceremony, which they found prayerful and refreshing, with good bonding as a result.

Sharing Sunday brunch in the Stevens Home (6th-8th grade girls) Frank and Wanda mentioned that this is their 25th year as houseparents at St. Joseph’s, and they are seeing a second generation of families they’ve had long ties with. They pulled out the yearbook from their first year here, and showed the moms of two families of girls they currently have with them. In residential care, such longevity is rare, but we have several long-timers who have built trust and relationships that are wonderful.

Guest Bloggers: Rec Center Staff

Our Native American kids love playing outside in the South Dakota fall weather!
The kids love playing outside in the South Dakota fall weather!

We had lots of fun at our Enrichment Activity on Wednesday!

On a nice early evening here at St. Joseph’s after the elections, Mark and I decided to take the kids outside for some fresh, cool air.

In the first session, we had the Perky and Cyr (fourth and fifth grade) boys involved in some flag games. Mark really had the boys moving and trying to avoid getting their flags (or as we called them, tails) pulled off. We played a game with lions and gazelles. The lions really did a number on the gazelles! Much thanks to Teresa, Odis, Lloyd and Joe for their help.

In the second session, the wind picked up and there was a little nip in the air, but it was perfect football weather! The boys from Fisher and Rooney (sixth, seventh and eighth grades) were out to show their football skills.

We had blue vs. yellow teams. It was close all the way to the end, and the clock ran in with a tie. That was only because Daryl kind of got into Trenton’s way toward a touchdown and they both hit the ground. Many thanks to Dick and Jan for braving the cool South Dakota breeze.

Next week, we have the Dennis and Afra Homes (first, second and third grade girls) at 6:00 pm and the Pinger and Stevens Homes (sixth, seventh and eighth grade girls) for the 7:15 pm time slot.

Mark and Andy

Guest Blogger: Dixie

Hello everyone, here is a quick update on what is happening at the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center!

The new Historical/Alumni Center addition is complete! Visitors can now access the museum through the new front entrance.

The exhibits for the Historical Center are in the process of being fabricated by Split Rock Studios.  The installation process is scheduled for December 2012 – February 2013. Split Rock Studios will be working on site during this time; I understand that the exhibit installation is an interesting process and invite everyone to stop over and explore the progress.

Over the past few weeks, we have moved our museum collection out of the old storage building into our new collection storage space.  Sara C. our Curator/Conservator has moved into her lab space and will now begin the process of re-housing our collection in our new space.

Last week we were busy dismantling museum exhibits and moving out of the museum classroom and Collector’s Gallery, preparing for the next phase of the construction project.

This week, Phase II began! The contractors started enclosing the space to the east side of the museum that will undergo renovation.   In this area we will be removing the reception desk and expanding the Camp Circle story line to chronicle the importance of childhood and adolescence among the Plains tribes.  The Collector’s Gallery area will be opened up to make room for the additional exhibits. The existing entrance and bathrooms will be removed and replaced with additional gift shop space.

There is still a lot of site work and landscaping that needs to be done around the building; some of this work is in progress now and some will be delayed until next spring.

The museum will remain open to the public during this construction phase, though there will be periods of time that will require us to close.

Throughout this project we have relied heavily on assistance from our Facilities team and I would like to thank Tom, Gary, Quentin and their staff for all they have done.   We have a great Facilities crew; no matter what the task is they get right after it.  Thank you!

Dixie

Helping children achieve their full potential

This morning after mass I saw a group of people wandering around Wisdom Circle looking lost. A group of education students from Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell started two days of observation in our classrooms. I escorted them to the principal’s office, and answered a few questions about our Native American students and programs along the way.

Later, when I checked how they were doing, they were impressed by what they saw in the classrooms. It helps to see the theory you’ve been learning about in college put into practice in a real and practical way.

The Honor Roll and Perfect Attendance awards for the first quarter were announced at the end of the school day. Students sat on the floor of the school gym and those so honored proudly came forward as their name was called to receive a certificate. They also got to choose from some attractive Native  American-themed notebooks and bookmarks.

We try not to be guilty of grade inflation, but did have FIVE students who earned all A’s! Those who continue with good grades, and those who can bring up their semester grades to all B’s and A’s will get to attend a fun and special banquet in January. Even without special rewards, our teachers are encouraging each student to work hard at achieving their potential.

What a great learning lesson!
What a great learning lesson!

Last night I stopped by Pinger Home (6th– 8th grade girls) for a visit and stayed for supper. The home won a Monopoly game from the Halloween decorating contest and Calista asked if anyone wanted to play. I’m a capitalist baron from way back, and soon was collecting big money from my railroads. There were lots of rules that students didn’t understand, especially having to do with mortgaging property or the 10% tax on the space just past GO, so we turned it into a fun math lesson. The game ended in a four-way tie as we ran out of time and the girls had to go to their Wednesday night enrichment class. Ironically, the theme the 6th-8th grade community is covering this month is money management!!!

Winter months make for a quieter season in our Akta Lakota Museum, so we chose this time to start the demolition of the old bathrooms and about a third of the display space to make room for some new presentations. After checking out the work, I stopped to see how our receptionist was doing in her new space. She was on the phone with a donor so I decided to check out how the new archive and collection storage facility looked now that we’ve moved everything into that area.

As soon as I opened the door the alarms went off with a loud siren! It took Vicki and I a while to figure out how to disarm the system and, by then, we’d attracted plenty of attention. At least we know the security system works!

About two weeks ago we sent out our Christmas appeal, which is the biggest mailing of the year. People have begun generously responding and we had many trays of mail arrive at the post office today. Our departments take turns helping sort mail when we’re busy, and it was Tipi Press staff’s day to sort. When I saw the email appeal for help sorting, I left my desk and joined them.

I enjoyed the chance to chat and catch up with what everyone is doing. While such a job can tedious, when many people pitch in it goes quickly. And I never complain about lots of mail, but give thanks that people care and want to help us make a difference!

Fourth and fifth grade students from Crow Creek grade school, our neighbors to the north, came to our gym for girls’ basketball games. The referees give players that age lots of leeway as they try to learn the basics of the game. They usually let double dribbles slide until it obviously becomes triple dribble. Our St. Joseph’s fourth graders played with enthusiasm, but could only get a couple of balls to drop through the hoop and were never in contention. Our fifth graders were more competitive and led the whole game until the fourth quarter, when the Chieftans rallied to win by 4.

Guest Blogger: Marina

Hau kola – hello friends!

My name is Marina and I have worked at St. Joseph’s Indian School since 1971.  As you can imagine I have seen many changes and they definitely have all been GOOD!

I work in our business office where I manage our mail schedule and send out all the special packages you receive, keeping you informed of what the Lakota boys and girls are doing.  Over the years our mail program has changed in many ways. We are always looking for new ways to share information with you on what the students are doing, how they are progressing in school and the importance for each child to be proud of and learn about their Native American culture.

For those who are just learning about our work with Native American children I invite you to visit our website, www.stjo.org. It is filled with information that will give you an inside glimpse of what we are all about.

Although, I don’t work directly with the students I am proud to be a part of their tiyospaye – extended family.  To see the happy faces of the children as they play outdoors, participate in our annual powwow and just enjoy the safety they feel in their homes and classrooms is simply amazing.

Thank you for the special part YOU play in making their dreams come true as you share your blessings with each Lakota child!

I hope the photos and mailings I send your way bring you a sense of joy and pride for all you do for the Native youngsters on the prairies of South Dakota.

May our paths cross as we put our efforts together to provide a hope-filled future for the Lakota boys and girls.

Igloyaye – responsibilities

On the national election day, our Lakota students also got to learn about the democratic process by participating in a vote themselves. Students served as poll watchers and vote counters and got to weigh in on national and state-wide candidates, as well as the constitutional amendments on our state ballot. Perhaps someday our students will be in the running for tribal or state office.

Paul, one of our alumni, now works for the Sanford Heart Hospital in Sioux Falls. They have a mobile screening unit, and through Paul’s efforts they are on St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus this week to offer heart screenings to St. Joseph’s staff. We put a lot of emphasis on health and wellness, and identifying potential problems before they get too far along is crucial.

I took advantage of the offer and went through the tests. It began with taking a blood sample to examine cholesterol, and an EKG to monitor the heart. We won’t get the EKG results back for a few days, but when we moved on to the mobile CT unit for a scan of the heart and arteries, we saw the results moments later. I was pleased and relieved to find out that I don’t have any plaque buildup in my arteries. But like all of us, I cannot rest on my laurels and must stay active and be more careful with my diet.

A word we’ve used for years to describe the chores students do to help around the home has been “charges.” Students rotate the duties of dishes, setting the table, sweeping, vacuuming and keeping the house neat and tidy. Our Child Services Team has recommended now using the word “responsibilities” instead.

The Lakota word  for this is “igloyaye.” Dave, our Lakota language instructor sent us all a brief recording so we can all learn to pronounce the word, and more importantly help the students to learn that helping in a responsible way has deep roots in their own tradition. Click here to learn how to pronounce igloyaye – responsibilities!

We took preliminary eighth grade graduation pictures today. These are the group photos we’ll print and send to our donors a few months from now. I’ve been at St. Joseph’s Indian School a full 8 years now, so I was here when this group of Native American students entered St. Joseph’s as first graders!

Some came later along the way, but I have many memories of each of them growing up before  my eyes. I encouraged the students to keep working hard so, when they walk down the aisle six months from now, they’ll be ready to tackle the new demands of high school!

Guest Blogger: Dianne

Hi, my name is Dianne—I am Administrative Assistant in the school— and I just thought I would catch you up on what is going on at St. Joseph’s Indian School!

We are in the fourth week of the second quarter of school—just a couple of weeks until Thanksgiving Break, and midterm is a week away.  This year has gone by so fast, but time flies when you’re having fun!

And fun we have had … Halloween was so much fun for all the students and staff. A good portion of the school was dressed up in their costumes for the day and after school everyone went trick or treating here on campus.  I, myself, came as a rock star!  Many of the offices and all of the homes have had Halloween treats to share.  At the end of trick or treating, the Rec Center has a grand march and costume judging contest.  There are so many innovative costumes to see!  It really is fun to watch!

We are very busy here at school with our regular schedule of classes and many extracurricular activities also.  Today, we have two girls basketball games—one here at St. Joseph’s and one away.

Service Plan Meetings are being held, which are much like Teacher/Parent Conferences and are held twice per year. These include the teacher, the parent/guardian, the family service counselor, the houseparent and the student themselves.

This week we will have our Honor Roll Assemblies for first quarter.  Our prizes have arrived and they will be given out to those on the A and B Honor Roll and those with Perfect/Outstanding Attendance for first quarter.  I think the students will love what we ordered for them—notebooks and bookmarks with Native American designs. They are quite beautiful!  I also have made their certificates on award paper with Native American designs.

We have a lot to accomplish before Thanksgiving Break, which seems to be just around the corner.  It will be a good time for staff and students alike to take a little break from all the daily schoolwork and teaching to regroup and be ready to begin refreshed when we return.

Thanks for all your support to aid us in what we do for our Native American students!

Hope and support

Four of our houseparents and I traveled two hours to Parmelee on the Rosebud Indian Reservation for the funeral of the mom of four of our students. All night wakes are still a tradition, and the boys spent most of Saturday and Sunday in the church hall keeping vigil with their mom, who was only 37 years old.

The pastor who led the services knew the family well, and was able to personalize his remarks. He was honest about the tough life and issues the family faced, yet offered hope and support. An elder in the community offered prayers in Lakota, and sang a traditional song. I offered my condolences and spoke about the Lakota concept Mitakuye Oyasin – We are all related and how in facing the loss of a mother how important the other relationships in life become.

We drove 10 miles out into the country, mostly on gravel roads, to reach the cemetery. Pall bearers used leather straps to lower the coffin into a rough wooden box at the bottom of the hand-dug opening.

The hammering of the nails echoed across the prairie as the box was closed and then the pallbearers began filling in the grave with shovelfuls of dirt. When I noticed the men tiring  I tapped one of them on the shoulder and helped for a while until I was relieved. When the grave was filled in, the family lovingly placed all the flowers on top of the dirt, and we headed back to the hall for a meal.

The soup pots were about 3 feet high and about as round as a circle with my arms. They were filled with delicious homemade soup on a chilly November day. The star quilts that decorated the walls around the room were taken down and gifted to people who had helped the family through these sad days. One of the boys lives in Speyer Home (6th– 8th grade) and since the whole home came in a show of support on Sunday the family wanted to make sure we took home a quilt for them. I was also honored with the gift of a quilt.

Talking over supper, the pastor told of a retired teacher in the community. He and his wife always have a big pot of soup on the stove, and if youngsters in the community don’t have anything to eat, or just need a safe or quiet place to be for a while, that was a place of refuge. Those are the kind of folks that so inspire me. Hopefully our work at St. Joseph’s can provide a respite and shelter for Lakota students when their lives at home get tough.

The aunts who are the boys’ guardians had been working nonstop three days to get everything ready for the wakes and funeral. They asked if we had room to take the boys back with us and we were glad to be able to help. On the trip back there were more tears, and alternating times of quiet. After we stopped half way for gas and a break, the boys seemed to put the grief on hold for a while and talk about sports and other things. Our staff will try to be especially attentive and supportive of their needs in the difficult days and times to come.

Goodness and generosity every day

Last night Mark at the Rec Center tried a new activity with the fourth and fifth grade boys – water polo!

He used the deep end of the pool and played side to side to shorten the field. The boys learned the basics and enjoyed it, but had to keep asking for subs to come in because they found treading water the whole time and trying to get their arms out of the water for a good shot to be very tiring. I’m sure the houseparents who had to make sure they went to bed at the end of the evening didn’t mind at all. We like to have our Lakota students try new activities; you never know what might catch their passion and interest.

Saturday I was in the office working on weekend liturgy when a call came in from Raphael Home (1st – 3rd grade boys) that a gentleman was looking for someone to donate a picture to. Turns out a hunter from Wisconsin had a beautiful limited edition print of a painting of a white buffalo calf, which has great meaning and sacredness in Lakota culture.  He wanted to know if we had a good home for it. I gratefully accepted the gift, and I showed the boys the image. They liked it so much we decided to let the print make its home in Raphael. People surprise us with their goodness and generosity every day.

Usually when I’m at the Rec Center I see activities for students around the same grade and age. This afternoon as I approached the building I found students from all grades and corners of St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus streaming in. Andy had just announced over the intercom that the prize money for the Halloween costume contest was available to the winners, and they made a beeline for the treasure. It was just a few dollars, but that meant extra treats at the snack bar, or a few bucks to put into their account for later use.

Several homes used today for day trips, while others shot baskets in the gym, tossed footballs around outside, or watched a favorite movie.

Guest Blogger: Julie H.

Greetings friends of St. Joseph’s Indian School!  I hope the Feast of All Souls Day finds  you doing well!

Things here on St. Joseph’s campus are going well!  It is hard to believe we have finished our first quarter of school and are already a couple of weeks into the second quarter.  My, how times flies!  The students are working hard to keep their grades up and do well in school.

Happy Halloween from everyone at St. Joseph's Indian School!
Happy Halloween from everyone at St. Joseph’s Indian School!

Halloween was a great hit.  Most of the kids dressed up in costumes and there were some great costumes!  The students were able to trick-or-treat here on campus and then take part in a costume contest.  Some of the homes also went into Chamberlain to trick-or-treat as well.  All of the students I have talked to say they really enjoyed Halloween!

With Halloween past us now, the next big events on the campus of St. Joseph’s Indian School are girls basketball, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We haven’t seen much snow here yet, so I wonder if we will have a white Christmas this year!

Our girls’ basketball seasons kicks off on Monday, November 5.  The girls are very excited to begin their season.  The girls are working hard in practice and learning all they can in the short time they have before their games begin.  Basketball season is always a busy time as all of the games take place between early November and Christmas Break.  With as fast as this school year is going, both Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before we know it!

As we move closer to Thanksgiving, I would like to thank each and every one of you for all of the support you give to St. Joseph’s Indian School.  Please know that you are remembered in our prayers!

Julie H.
Family Service Counselor