St. Joseph’s Indian School had another musical treat again today with the performance of a woodwind quintet, The Tradoc Winds, from the US Army Training and Doctrine Command in Virginia. One of the soldiers is from the Chamberlain area, and she and her group met with our Native American students to explain their instruments and encourage our youngsters to stick with their musical instruction, since many of them began at 9 or 10 years of age. I wanted to get up and dance when they played the Clarinet Polka, but had to be satisfied with tapping my feet in time to the music.
Besides a whole bunch of catch up meetings, I had the pile of College and Vo-Tech scholarship applications to look over and sign off on. We have a committee who makes recommendations. We have 26 St. Joseph’s alumni who will receive help continuing their education. The variety of majors is broad, including auto mechanics, pharmacy technician, business management, construction management, chemical dependency counseling and nursing.
It’s gratifying to read the application letters, seeing how we can help people pursue their dreams of a better life for themselves, their family and tribe.