St. Joseph the Worker

May 1st is a day the church celebrates St. Joseph the Worker. Fr. Anthony lead a prayer service after school. He used a shortened version of evening vespers, and the left side/right side response pattern worked much better than I anticipated with our students. Their responses were loud and clear.

At the assembly, we presented the Leo John Dehon Circle of Courage Award for this school year. Staff nominate students each quarter for their efforts at Generosity, Independence, Mastery and Belonging. For the first time, we had a tie in the number of nominations, so we awarded both Alyssa (4^th grade) and Malaina (6^th) the honors. Besides getting their name inscribed on the plaque, they will have a special lunch at a restaurant downtown with Kathleen, our principal. Then, they get to choose a staff member whose job interests them and job shadow them for a day.

Melissa in HR had one of those milestone birthdays today, so her co-workers found an excuse to get her over to central offices where about 20 of us waited with hairbrushes in hand to lip sync “You say it’s your birthday…” She laughed mightily and then ice cream cake was shared by all.

Letters and donations to our development office slow down a bit as summer approaches, but spring is very busy, so we had our spring appreciation lunch to thank our folks for all their dedicated work. Summer is busy in different ways, as it allows us to clean up files, organize and update mailing lists. We’re switching over to a new software system soon, and lots of people are heavily into their training.

Houseparent Tia hails from Louisiana, and invited me to a special supper at the Carola Home (high school boys) to celebrate Louisiana’s bicentennial of statehood. She cooked a bevy of regional Cajun delicacies that our boys and their never-ending appetites scarfed down.

On a wonderful spring night, as I walked home I saw the fourth and fifth grades playing softball. I stopped and pitched a couple of innings. I’m pretty good at lobbing the ball right over the plate so they can get a good swing at it.

Author: St. Joseph's Indian School

At St. Joseph's Indian School, our privately-funded programs for Lakota (Sioux) children in need have evolved over 90 years of family partnership, experience and education. Because of generous friends who share tax-deductible donations, Native American youth receive a safe, stable home life; individual counseling and guidance; carefully planned curriculum based on Lakota culture and individual student needs and tools to help build confidence, boost self-esteem and improve cultural awareness. All of this helps children to live a bright, productive, possibility-filled future. View all posts by St. Joseph's Indian School