Tag: Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center

My favorite day of the year –the homes open and Native American families are arriving with students for the start of St. Joseph’s Indian School’s school year.

I got to  the office at noon, when the homes officially opened. There were already five students on campus, the first one arriving at 11:30, excited about being back. There are also students who are very homesick as soon as their family leaves, and the houseparents try to be supportive and guide them through the tears and sadness. By mid afternoon, lots of kids were outside playing, which always helps with adjusting. Out of 203 children, 42 are new to our programs this year.

I made the rounds to all of the homes. I visited the Benedictine homes twice – in early afternoon and after supper. Afra, Raphael, Ambrose and Dennis house the 1^st – 3^rd graders, and those always have the most new students to get to know, and it takes me several tries to make sure I get all the names down. I also spent time with families as I saw them arrive. We want to continue to find ways to keep them involved, even when they may live many hours away and not make it back to campus all that often.

Our High School students attend the local public high school, which doesn’t start until next week. But about half our high school students have come back to participate in football, golf or volleyball. Two of our four high school homes are open this week. The rest of the crew comes back a week from today.

Students have two sets of houseparents they work with. One set of houseparents works in the home for 6 days and the others for 3. These first two days everyone will be on duty so they and the kids can get to know each other from the beginning.

Yesterday I enjoyed a day of prayer and recollection when I visited my spiritual director. Summer has helped me get into a very good space and I want to keep it that way once school begins and the pace gets more hectic. In order to stay on the right path, I know I must consistently make time for prayer and exercise. Now that I’ve mostly cleared my desk, I also want to avoid procrastinating and handle things as they arise. I accept that each day will bring a longer to do list than I have time for, so I pray for wisdom to prioritize, especially spending time with the staff and students .

Lower Brule Indian Reservation celebrates their annual powwow this weekend and I made my way there for the festivities. I split my time between the powwow dancing and the rodeo grounds. Since the Sioux were great with horses, and the prairie is well suited for ranching and agricultural pursuits, many tribal members have become skilled cowhands and riders. A few even compete on the national stage in rodeo.

The Grand Entry at the powwow is a kaleidoscope of color and motion, with the beat of the drum reaching down deep inside. The drum beat draws you in so you’re more of a participant than observer. Inbetween rounds it’s great fun to walk around the arena and see who you run into. I know many of the folks from when I was Pastor there. I also am tickled to see and talk to St. Joseph’s Indian School students and check up on how their summer has gone. I overheard one family talking about having to get their first grader to bed at a decent time so they could get to St. Joseph’s Indian School early tomorrow. I introduced myself and met Tayron, one of our new first graders, and offered him an early welcome.

On one fun powwow side note, a  group of mostly St. Joseph’s Indian School houseparents won the tug of war, with bragging rights for a year and a little pocket-money. The gathering is laden with culture and ceremony, but also lots of fun like a picnic at a family reunion.

I’m always a little nervous when a lawyer knocks on my office door, but this visit made me very happy. A generous donor had willed St. Joseph’s Indian School a tract of land and we are finalizing the sale. The monies from this request can go into long-term investments that will benefit the Native American students a long way down the road.

I only had one scheduled meeting today, with Human Resources. But since everyone is back on campus and scurrying around to make sure all is in place for the students’ arrival Sunday, there are many, many impromptu meetings, phone calls and emails and we try to take care of all the details. As folks started going home at the end of the day, I had to work backwards to conscientiously answer the backlog of post-it notes I had written on top of other memos as they came in.  But we will be ready.

St. Joseph’s Indian School’s annual powwow isn’t until September 17, but we are already starting to set up the work schedules to make sure it all goes smoothly. We’re expecting another good crowd of visitors.

After supper, I took a walk around campus. Most of our houseparents go to their own homes or apartments for the night. Some however, live several hours away. During the school year they stay here for the 6 days they work, then go home for a 3 day break. For these prep days, it isn’t worth all the travel, so a few of them are on campus already. I saw the lights on in the Matthias home (jr. high girls) and stopped in to see Lisa, who had materials for her girls spread out all over the kitchen table as she tried to get organized. Like the other houseparents, she had a good break and is excited as she prepares for the arrival of the kids she knows well, and a few new students.

I continued my walk, and ran into Dick who was taking a break from the Fisher Home (jr. high boys) where he was cleaning and organizing and out for a walk himself. I changed direction and made a lap around the campus enjoying his company. It’s relaxing just to stroll and get caught up with what’s going on in the lives of staff members.

I notice an excitement in the air at St. Joseph’s Indian School and a buzz of conversation when all the child services staff comes back for our all staff orientation. About half of our staff work year round, and half are on 9 month contracts. I’ve seen some houseparents and teachers over the summer as they worked in the day camps,  summer school or in the summer homes. But some folks we’ve not seen since graduation in May. Just standing at the chapel doorway as folks streamed in for our opening prayer service brought many smiles, warm handshakes and hugs.

Today is the one time of the year when all our staff can be together with no kids to supervise. We used the day to discuss and move forward our strategic plan. Strategic planning is a lot of work. I feel tired and drained at the end of such days. Part of the struggle is the actual discernment – what is God calling us and asking of us? What direction should we move? The great principles always meet the reality of limitations and all the day-to-day duties that distract from longer range goals. It’s a comforting support to know that we’re not alone, but working together on this common project.

This year’s theme is Partnering brings inspiration, strength and commitment.

Seeing all of our staff gathered in one place gives me the opportunity for my annual “state of the union” address. It’s more a chance to introduce new people, highlight all the work that’s gone on over the summer, look ahead to where we hope to go, and try to inspire. If nothing else is remembered, I hope each employee feels themselves a valued and an important part of all that what we do here. It takes so many different skills and talents to make the work at St. Joseph’s Indian School possible.

 

Our school bus was sitting in the parking lot, hood open and a group of people were gathered around looking at the engine. There wasn’t any trouble, just several of our St. Joseph’s Indian School staff members taking part in CDL training so they could get certified to drive the bus. Jerry  Vaad had been our mainstay behind the wheel, transporting several generations of sports teams and classrooms bound on field trips. But Jerry died toward the end of last school year. I’m grateful that six members of our staff heeded the call for help. Alice, one of our houseparents, was the only woman to sign up, but she said that if she could do it, anyone can, and she was going to encourage more women to sign up next time.

These last days of summer are a bit quieter and more relaxed. I have longer periods of time uninterrupted by meetings or phone calls, which lends itself to reading and preparation.  Today I worked on talks for the upcoming orientation and strategic planning, and got started on a homily. The time also lends itself to prayer and reflection. Walking by the Missouri River, I held up our students and staff in prayer, asking God for wisdom and dedication to make this another good year.

After a morning at the desk and computer, I spent the afternoon walking around campus. The heat wave has let up for a few days, and it felt good to be out and about and see what staff members have been up to. When I’m on foot I always find out about projects that don’t make it into reports.

The Rec Center fixed up space in the activity room and now has an exercise station with 3 different computer activity systems – Connect, Wi Fi and Play Station. Like most young people, our students get immersed in gaming. We want to channel that interest in activities that help students both educationally and physically instead of allowing them to become couch potatoes. Watching some of the home computer activities last year, I know these games will be well used and prompt some healthy movement, jumping and dancing and building hand-eye coordination, all while also having some fun.

At the school, the Residential Coordinators were lined up in front of two long tables filled with pages and pages of paperwork. They were putting together packets to be handed out to houseparents and teachers for next week’s orientation. These include student handbooks, forms, guidelines, schedules and lists everyone will need.  We try to do as much as we can via computer, but there are some things that you just need in a file at your fingertips.

Tipi Press was producing stacks of the brochures that we will send out over the year: Planned Giving’s charitable gift annuity program, powwow materials, book marks and newsletters.

In the dog days of summer, before school actually starts, the incoming mail to Donor Services is lighter than other times of the year. Right now, we are actually able to respond to all the letters that come in the same day. But the staff is busy updating people’s files, weeding out duplicate addresses and cleaning out the nooks and crannies around the office. They found some Chuck E Cheese gift certificates tucked away in the recesses of the safe, so we’ll have to figure out which home gets dibs on those (although the closest such restaurant is 135 miles away in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and will have to wait for a home trip).