Tag: Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center

Today at mass was our chance to honor our 8^th grade graduates. Our high school graduates, Andrea and Shaylene were presented with a shawl and Dominic was given a ribbon shirt. A woman who attended St. Joseph’s Indian School in the 1970’s, Rose Ann Dillon Kracht, was given our distinguished alumni award. Rose had a 15 year Army career and now works for the State of South Dakota in the juvenile justice system. She has helped many youth through the CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) program and as a foster parent. She also made Christmas very special for several of our Homes last year.

After mass, we gathered in the Dining Hall and our staff put on a wonderful feed for family, friends, and all our American Indian students from 6^th grade on up. We watched a slide show of the time at St. Joseph’s for our seniors. Between the three long timers, they totaled 28 years here on campus. Shay has been here all 12 years, what we call a “Lifer”. They each offered words of thanks and shared memories from St. Joseph’s Indian School. A few teachers from Chamberlain High School joined us and took the microphone, then several of our staff members and a few former students spoke as well. The 7^th graders were our waiters, and the high school students took care of the cleanup. When you reach this point in the year, it makes the difficult times quickly fade into the past, as we are filled with nostalgia, gratitude and hope.

This afternoon on a wonderful spring day,the 6^th-8^th grade homes held an outdoor 3 on 3 basketball tournament. The teams were co-ed, and had to have one student from each grade. There were lots of good games, but the Blue Bunnies made it through the double elimination tournament with an unblemished record. Congratulations to Kyle, Martina and John!

In the evening, the spring flag football league wrapped up. Again, lots of fun activity.

Crow Creek Tribal High School, which is about 40 miles north of Chamberlain, South Dakota, held their graduation this afternoon. I got invited by parishioners I used to work closely with in Fort Thompson. It was also a joy to see five former St. Joseph’s Indian School students graduating as well – Brittany, Celine, Josephae, Matt and Dylan.

The high school graduation rate for Lakota/Dakota youth in our area is only around 50%; it’s great to see these Native American children  overcoming obstacles, completing their education and preparing for the future.

Much like St. Joseph’s, the program included a honor song, a slide show of senior year and roses passed out to family and teachers who have been so instrumental in these students’ lives.  Going through the receiving line at the end is a good chance to visit with lots of people and catch up on dreams and plans. Afterwards, I was invited to a dinner at the church hall and enjoyed the company there.

St. Joseph’s Indian School received a Silver Medal certificate from the US Department of Agriculture for their Healthier Schools program today. First, we had a costumed blue “Power Panther” entertain our students with warm-up exercises and quizzes about a healthy diet. Power Panther led our students in cheers, with one side shouting, “Eat Smart” and the other replying, “Play Hard”. The program requires the combination of many fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy school lunches; in addition to a good Physical Education program in the school.

Mike, our Food Services Director and all his staff have made a steady and consistent effort to get healthier foods onto our students lunch trays. Fruits were probably the easy part, but vegetables has taken more convincing. But, our kids are realizing that Romaine lettuce and fresh spinach are just as tasty and more nutritious than iceberg lettuce.

After the Power Panther entertainment, Roger Campbell-the South Dakota Director of Indian Education-traveled from Pierre, South Dakota to present us the award. We are only the 2^nd school in the state to achieve the certification. Roger is a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and he recalled his days as a Todd County student when he played against St. Joseph’s, in the very gym he was speaking in. It’s hopeful to have such examples of what our students can achieve if they stick with their education.

Today was Fr. Anthony’s birthday. We sang to him at mass, and later enjoyed a nice supper and cake with the local SCJ community.

I’ve heard about Christmas in July, but today was Christmas in May. Sometimes life here means working ahead or doing things out of season. The Christmas pictures that we took in last winter we were going to use for next year’s Christmas letters didn’t quite turn out as we’d hoped, so Emily, our photographer and creative technician, asked me if I could pose for a few more.

The Dennis home (1^st-3^rd grade girls) were good sports and decorated a tree and wrapped up some presents. When the kids came home from school we gathered around the tree and sang some Christmas carols, which the kids thought was fun and silly. We found a book of Christmas stories and I sat on the floor and read to them. While they were disappointed that they didn’t get any actual presents, like Santa I told them to be good for goodness’ sake, and they’ll be happy when the real Christmas rolls around come December.

Our high school students had the opportunity this evening to pray inside our inipi. Two elders from the Rosebud Indian Reservation, whose family attends school here, joined us to lead the prayers. Several of our students pray in the sweat lodge regularly, but tonight was the first time for two of our boys. Afterwards our staff cooked up a tasty batch of fry bread and Indian Tacos, and also a pot of chicken vegetable soup for those who wanted healthier fare. On many nights, our students eat quickly and rush off to other activities, but the time of prayer bonded them and they all stayed longer and talked; more grounded in the moment.

We experienced sadness today on campus. We heard that after an illness that has lasted a few months, one of our long time staff members, Jerry Vaad, died this evening. He worked in the Rec Center and drove the bus to games and always encouraged our kids in so many ways. He had a heart of gold and will truly be missed.

Another one of our former houseparents, Dot, died a few weeks ago, and this was the evening the high school girls who knew her picked to have a memorial prayer service outside the home by the garden Dot loved to work in.  Roz is in college now, but working here for part of the summer, and she stopped in as well. Mark played a drum song in her honor, and we gave folks who knew her, the chance to offer a few words of remembrance. I said a prayer and blessed the soil and plants with Holy Water. As they grow and thrive, it is a reminder of the new life that springs from the grain of wheat that must die.

As girls recalled the hope and levity Dot brought to their home, it was obvious that she shared with them a gift of life.

We had some violent thunderstorms last night, with hundreds of lightning strikes that constantly lit up the sky. This morning we saw the damage from the high winds. At the campground across the river three RVs had been overturned. One home was destroyed and one of our staff lost the roof on his apartment. Thankfully, no one was hurt. On campus we had no major damage, just lots of branches and limbs to collect this morning.

The new Diocesan Director of Catholic Schools dropped by today for her first visit. Kathleen, our principal and I gave Katie, and her husband, a tour of the school and talked about some ways that we can be of support to one another. When people visit and tour the campus, they get a better idea of how we try to integrate services to serve the complete needs of  student, not just academically, but also through our residential, religious, counseling and recreational efforts. I think we made a good first impression.

Ashley and Angelia are the two junior high girls who were selected to represent St. Joseph’s Indian School at our August donor luncheons in New York, and I met with them to practice. One of the fun questions I asked them to talk about was, “So tell us what you like best about New York?”

Ashley said, “We haven’t been there yet, how do I know?”

So then I said, “But I want you to imagine – what do you hope you’ll see and do?”

Both girls had many hopes – to see the Statue of Liberty, and pay a visit to Ground Zero. To meet some famous people and look at all the tall buildings. To fly in a plane, get on a subway and maybe even ride in a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park. We’ll see how the trip does unfold, and I’m sure they’ll have lots of memories.

We were treated to a Native American Flute performance at the school assembly room this morning. I sat in with the group of 1^st – 4^th graders who had many questions about the flute, and enjoyed the sound. Two members of our drum group provided backup for rhythm.

Summerlee Home (4^th– 5^th grade girls) is leaving on their home trip after school today. They’ve saved up their recreation money so they can spend the weekend in Rapid City and the Black Hills. Each of them showed up at school today wearing T-Shirts they had made together as a home. Using finger paints, each was individualized and autographed by the other girls they will spend their time with. They were excited to be off on their adventure.

Cody and Marlo, two alumni who graduated high school in 2006, were back on campus this evening to talk to our high school girls about what life is like after high school, the challenges of college, the working world, and raising young children.

Hearing from those who have been here hit home. They told of how they hated all the rules that St. Joseph’s Indian School has too, but the structure really helped them in the long run. They encouraged each of our young women to hang in here, graduate, and keep going to improve themselves even more after that. Cody works in the business office at a school on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and Marlo is a juvenile probation officer at her home of Lower Brule. Each student who completes their education offers hope to those who will follow.