Hi everyone! LaRayne here, St. Joseph’s Native American Studies teacher.
I recently teamed up with Sherry, one of our counselors, to oversee St. Joseph’s eight week inter-city basketball program.
Sherry and I were blessed with being able to watch some relationships being built between our St. Joseph’s Indian School girls and the girls from the Chamberlain community. We had 31 total girls take part in the fun and 16 of those were St. Joseph’s girls. We had four teams which were named after four WNBA teams: Charlotte Sting, Los Angeles Sparks, Washington Mystics and the Minnesota Lynx. The Lynx have a connection to St. Joseph’s through a church in Minnesota.
Not only did the girls get to build relationships as a team on the basketball court, but also in other areas. During the second week of the program, Sherry and I created a fun night of team building skills, games and activities along with a fun meal and a swim in the pool on our campus. The girls continued to build relationships while playing a game they really love – basketball. The community and campus come together for a great cause. Our referees and coaches were all from the community as well as St. Joseph’s employees and family members.
The last week of inter-city encompassed two all star games (one for the younger and one for the older girls) and another hour in the pool to finish the program.
Sherry and I look forward to building this program in the years ahead so that when our students from St. Joseph’s attend the public high school, they will see familiar faces at high school and will have built some relationships that will last for years to come.