Tag: Chamberlain South Dakota

Mark 9:37

This morning’s gospel focused me on the main purpose of the ministry at St. Joseph’s Indian School:

“Whoever welcomes a child such as this for my sake welcomes me,” (Mark 9:37).

I’m reminded that even with meetings and paperwork, I owe the students here some quality time every day.

After yesterday’s wet sleet, today’s sunshine and 40 degrees felt warm, and the children on the playground were full of life and energy. Looking back, I was able to catch a glimpse of God in the children’s laughter and activity.

When she saw me striding onto the playground, 4th grader Trinity ran up to me, grinned broadly and greeted me with a big hug. She talked about representing St. Joseph’s Indian School in the upcoming regional spelling bee, which will be held Saturday.  I quizzed her on a few words and reminded her to say the word before she started and when she finished.

Harold, Jashon and Richard were surprised when I reached out and intercepted the football coming toward me, and threw back a tight spiral in the direction from where it came.  I spent a lot of time playing sandlot ball when I was growing up. Little encounters like those mean a lot, and remind me what I’m here for.

I ran up to Central Receiving during break and found Glenda and Cathy opening and sorting all the boxes that came in today. Donors sent us clothing, shampoo, books and educational computer programming that we’ll put to good use.

After that, it was back to budgets and meeting with our facilities supervisor to decide what projects we can afford to do in the coming year, and also what must be put on hold. Besides cost, we have to also figure in which projects our workers will have time to do. What they do, they do well, and I’m grateful for their ongoing efforts to keep the campus well attended to.

Projects around St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus

The facilities crew continues to keep busy with their projects around campus.  During Christmas break we were able to employ a few college kids that helped the grounds crew trim up some trees around St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus.  Who would have ever thought we would be trimming trees in December in South Dakota? That is something that doesn’t happen very often!

The renovation work on the Stevens and Mathias Homes is going smoothly.  Right now our carpenters, electricians and plumbers are working every day to make it possible to meet our completion date.  We are hoping for the homes to be completed this summer and ready to move into at the start of the 2012 – 2013 school year.

The Stevens Home is in the painting stages.  The painting crew has finished the main floor of the Stevens Home and has begun working on the remaining painting, which should be finished by the end of next week.  The carpenters are also in the Stevens Home installing door frames throughout, and floor tile is being laid on the main floor.  The kitchen cabinets and counter tops for both homes arrived last week, so they are on site ready to be installed.  The Mathias Home will be completely sheet rocked this week and the taping will begin.  The duct work is also being completed this week on the Mathias Home.

Even though the renovation is keeping our facilities crews extremely busy, they also have the day-to-day maintenance that occurs around campus.  These gentlemen do a great job managing their work and making sure everything on campus is in tip-top condition.

Until next time!

The Facilities Staff

Supporting community events

Today was Jennifer’s farewell. She has been a houseparent at St. Joseph’s Indian School for eight years. When her husband Chris decided to go back to school this past fall to become an electrician, we knew it was just a matter of time before Jennifer found other work closer to home, which she did. We are glad for her generous service to our students. In addition to the houseparent roll, Jennifer also helped with our admissions and record keeping.

After school Monday, we had an open house in the Rec Center, with refreshments and a large farewell card made of poster board. Each student and  co-worker wrote a few words of remembrance as they said their goodbyes. Thanks for all the children’s lives you helped and cared for!

Tonight the Chamberlain High School Band and Show Choir performed to the backdrop of a lasagna supper. The big band jazz pieces got my toes tapping under the table. The junior high group rocked out with a 50’s number with the girls wearing poodle skirts and the boys with greased back hair and black leather jackets. The show choir performed a group of five songs that all had to do with falling in love, including a crowd-pleasing “Kiss the Girl” Reggae number, complete with dreadlocks and knit caps.

Although we’ve had students in past years involved in the show choir, none of our current students are in this year’s ensemble. Several of our staff have children who sang or played instruments, however. One of the people at my table admired that I show up to be supportive at so many community events. With other commitments, I don’t get to do that enough, but try especially to support youth activities in the community.

Serving those who have been hurt

Friday I was in Eagle Butte for a Cheyenne River Indian Outreach (Sacred Heart Center) Board meeting. The adolescent program seems stable, and is gaining the confidence of tribal and state placement agencies so it has been running close to capacity. Some youth in need of services have had to be put on a waiting list until a bed opens up, or referred on to other programs. The question we started discussing was keeping the program running as it is, or working at licensing for a greater number of children to meet the need. The tough issue is training and retaining enough reliable staff to keep up a good quality of service. The needs are great, and I applaud the Center’s mission of working to eradicate violence and serve those who have been hurt.

I traveled up and back with Fr. Joe, who is pastor of six parishes on the two reservations the SCJs serve. Personnel is an issue for him as well. The two religious sisters who have worked for many years among the people are both being called back to their community. It may be hard to find replacements, in which case the Pastoral team will have to work closely with the parishes to encourage local leadership to come forward to a greater degree.

Saturday morning I met with a young couple I’ve enjoyed working with for marriage preparation, and spent a couple of hours answering letters. With the previous days’ travel and meetings, I took the afternoon off for some rest and relaxation.

President’s Day weekend is an extra long one for our high school students, who were free of classes on Friday, and again on Monday. Many of them are checked out for the weekend with family. The Sheehy boys are on their annual ski trip to the Black Hills, and the Hogebach girls went to Sioux Falls on a shopping expedition. With so many away, we had a noticeably smaller crowd in church.

Today after mass, I visited the Rooney Home (6th-8th grade boys). I try to have a meal in each of the homes at least once a quarter, to be in touch with what students and houseparents are up to. Today’s visit meant I completed a round of all 18 homes, and will start the rotation all over again. What I noticed about the Rooney boys was that they have hearty appetites. Brunch consisted of waffles, sausage, eggs and hash browns. In some of the homes the kids eat and run. This group ate and talked and ate some more and told a few stories and ate some more . . . luckily they have a little more for food in their budget than the 1st– 3rd graders do!

Our local SCJ group gathers at least once a month, and this afternoon we met to go over budgets for the year. At the evening meal, it was our turn to eat and talk and tell stories. With everyone finished with church for the weekend, there was no hurry to rush off, but rather a leisurely time together for catching up and fellowship. Living as part of a religious order, that mutual support is not just appreciated, but necessary to keep a vocation healthy and alive.

Learning from our Native American youth

This morning started with a staff appreciation breakfast at the dining hall. The food services crew put together a waffle bar with four different kinds of fruit toppings, along with syrup and whipped cream, that one could make into a creation to suit their own tastes. At these events, we also have a fun trivia contest to give staff a chance at winning door prizes. Donna, our Human Services Director told me we will have to figure out a new approach because, with the advent of smart phones, most of the people can just look up the answers at their fingertips!

I’m experiencing that time of year when there are fewer big projects to attend to, but lots of little, ongoing, daily events. While those aren’t the kind most likely to make headlines, sometimes it is most satisfying just to roll with the day as it unfolds and be able to pay attention to the people who pass my way.

Today I wrote copy for upcoming newsletters and visited the classrooms at school. Our photographer, Emily, was around and snapped a few shots that you’ll probably see somewhere down the road. This evening, I met with two of our high school girls, Daylon and Erica, who will travel to Miami, Florida next month. Both are freshmen and both have been here for seven years.

I learned a lot from their perspective as they talked about what they will share with our donors about their lives at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

A better life for themselves, their family and tribe

The Tradoc Winds, from the US Army Training and Doctrine Command in Virginia.
The woodwind quintet entertained our Native American students.

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.

Greetings from the William Home

Four of the girls in the William Home.
Greetings from the William Home!!

Hello everyone!

This is Mike from the William Home, (4th and 5th grade girls).  We have been keeping busy since the Christmas season and have started on some new activities.  Six of our girls are participating in cheerleading now and they are excited to provide some school spirit for our 4th and 5th grade boys’ teams during home games.

We have also started a new fitness program with our girls and they have really taken pride in their accomplishments.  We set a goal to walk 10,000 laps (500 miles) in the rec center by March 6th.  We are getting up in the mornings and off to the rec center by 6:30 am and walk for 30 minutes.

The girls enjoy keeping track on our sign at the rec center. We will be going over 5,000 laps this week! Hopefully, our next update will let you know that we have reached our goal.

We hope you all had a safe and merry holiday season!

The Sacred Cannupa

Kara is carving her soap into a Native American pipe.
Kara did a great job creating her pipe from a bar of soap!

The 4th grade classes are learning about the rituals and beliefs of our Lakota Culture.  Within this unit is the center of who we are as a people.  The cannupa or pipe is a part of many ceremonies and everyday life.  The pipe can be used for special ceremonies and for prayer when it is needed.

The class embraces the hands-on time of learning about the parts of a real pipe as well as singing the song that accompanies the filling of a pipe.  We do not smoke the actual pipe because this is something that is for special use and I believe that many of our children should have this experience with their families.

Three Native American students carving pipes
The students did such a good job carving!

We cannot travel out of state for class trips, so we learn about how pipestone is harvested and shaped into a sacred, beautiful object which holds deep meaning.  The students are told the story of the Pte San Win, the White Buffalo Calf Woman, who brought the pipe to our people centuries ago.  The pipestone quarry in Pipestone, Minnesota holds historical meaning to the creation stories of our people as well.   It is believed that the area where the quarry is today is the place where the last of our people drowned in the great flood.  Their blood is the red-colored rock that we use for pipe-making today.

The Native American students are then able to do a little creating of their own.  I demonstrate how to carve a piece of soft soap into what might be the bowl of a pipe.  As you can see from the pictures, they are proud of their creations.

This unit of learning ties their American Indian culture to their hands, hearts and minds.

St. Joseph’s Indian School’s spelling bee

Fr. Steve and the kids participating in the Spelling Bee.
The Spelling Bee was challenging, but a lot of fun for everyone!

Our school gym was filled with our Native American students competing in the annual Spelling Bee. We have two sections of each grade, so earlier competition produced the three best spellers in each class. Fr. Anthony and I were the official word readers, and alternated between the grades. Spelling Bees tend to throw in some obscure and complicated words, some of which I had no clue what they meant or how to pronounce them. I was glad that Scripps sends along a definition and pronunciation guide. A few of the grades were quickly decided, but some went back and forth for many rounds. I felt sorry for the kids who knew how to spell the words but froze up in front of the crowd. A few of the younger students got a case of the giggles, which made it hard for them to concentrate. We cheered everyone on, win or lose. The winners now advance to the regional competition at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota.

I wandered around St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus this morning checking out our building projects. Workers placed the 65 foot wooden beam on top of the Akta Lakota Museum expansion. Our own facilities crew is making steady progress on the Stevens and Matthias Home remodeling. One home is ready for the ceramic tiles to be laid in the bathroom and kitchen area. Even our heavy equipment garage is getting an upgrade – finally insulated after all these years. It will make it much easier to get the snow plow and tractor fired up on frigid mornings when they are most needed.

The Hogebach Home (high school girls) eat in shifts because everyone gets home from school, practice and work at different times. The houseparents filled me in on their comings and goings. As the students came home, I had a few moments to ask how each one was doing. Some of the students share readily and talk about many things. Others keep more to themselves. I try to engage them in topics I think they might want to share, listen attentively when they do speak and patiently accept the quiet when they don’t feel like saying much.

Student projects doing great

A couple interesting student projects of note. The William Home (4th-5th grade girls) has set a goal this quarter of 10,000 cumulative laps around the gym. Several mornings each week the home gets up early and goes out for a walk and exercise. They are keeping a thermometer on the door to the fitness room and coloring in their progress as they reach each new level. They’ve already passed the 3500 mark!

Gina’s computer class is spending a few minutes each day at the website Free Rice where fun quizzes increase their knowledge, make learning fun and educate them about hunger issue throughout the world. The students were talking about the activity even on the playground, so I knew it was a big hit.

Today was my day to run errands in town, to the bank and county building. While out, I stopped in to check on our folks downtown at our Thrift Store. With February around the corner, they’re redecorating with lots of red clothing for Valentine’s Day. The store is a great service to the community, and a good after school job opportunity for a few of our Lakota students.

St. Joseph's Indian School's cheeleaders.
These girls did a great job cheering on the basketball teams!

I ended the day in the gym, where our 6th-8th grade teams were in action. Besides the players, I cheer for our cheerleaders and encourage them to keep on improving. They had the help of our younger students, the 1st-3rd graders, who make up the pep club. This year they all have matching shirts that are St. Joseph’s basketball-style jerseys. They sure get both enthusiastic and loud when they start cheering. Half way through the games however, the time came for them to leave for supper, homework and bedtime. The gym quieted down considerably, but the action was still close and worth cheering for.