Tag: children in need

A few years back, a Long Beach California teacher named Erin Gruwell worked with inner city students to help them tell their stories through a project know as “Freedom Writers”. Their writings were published as a popular book and the story was made into a successful movie. Richard, our Religious Education teacher, organized a Skype video conference for our 8^th grade students with one of those original Freedom Writers, Darrius Garret. Darrius had experienced homelessness and gang life, and many of our kids could identify with the poverty he grew up with.

Our students prepared many questions to ask, but were a bit shy at first. One question was, “How do you handle the hate when you feel like people are treating you like a 2^nd class citizen?” Darrius warned how hate consumes you. He told them especially when others treat you wrong, you can’t stoop to their level and still have to do the right thing. That will eventually bring to light the wrongs that exist. He told our kids the best response is to study hard and get a good education so they can be in leadership positions one day, and be able to set examples of how people should be treated.

Once the ice was broken our timid crew started to have more back and forth interaction. Darrius asked our kids how they could make things better for their reservation.

“ If you had a million dollars, what would you fix?”

“Drinking” was the number one answer that continues to cause hurt and heartache for our Native American students’ families. That’s not an easy fix, but helping our students deal with that reality is key for their success. My hope is that our students can find their voice and tell their story, and in the end make it a story of triumph over tragedy.

This afternoon, Steve’s 4^th grade class dressed in biblical looking clothes and acted out Stations of the Cross.

Today, I was either meeting or eating. At our management meeting, we keyed in on strategic planning and preparations for the Board of Directors meeting. Mike, our Executive Director of Child Services, celebrates a birthday this week, so afterward we enjoyed a lunch together. We’re always tempted to talk business, but it was fun to let our talk drift towards sports and personal anecdotes.

This afternoon Fr. Jack, another of our SCJ Board of Directors arrived. While there is always work to be attended to, when SCJs come to visit it’s always a joy to sit around and talk, and find up what confreres are up to across the province. After Fr. Charlie’s death in Milwaukee over the weekend, we did some reminiscing about him. During Lent, we have all been spending extra prayer time praying for vocations so a new generation of SCJs can take up the great work that’s been started, and take up new challenges that our world will pose.

Today was a picture perfect sunny spring day on the St. Joseph’s Indian School campus. I enjoyed it by walking around quite a bit to check in on folks around campus. Mark, who oversees our printing press operation, is back at work after recovering from a surgery. With most of our spring mailings printed, they are doing maintenance on the presses, but Mark has to be careful to supervise and not do any lifting for now. Dave is back in central storage after vacation where he did lots of fishing. He was getting supplies ready to deliver around campus. Another Dave, in the maintenance shop had a birthday, so I stopped in at morning break to wish him well. Then I met with Kory-our Executive Director of Development-to review finances,  mail campaigns and look at our strategic business planning.

Usually Monday brings a slew of campus emails, but today was oddly quiet on that front. A large group of our Child Services staff spent most of the day in training, trying to build team work. In the midst of the day-to-day activities with the students, we still need to set aside time to give staff the tools they need to do their job well, and have them reflect on ways we can improve.

Tony and Odis are heading up our 7^th grade cultural trip this summer, and they stopped by to firm up some plans. This week the students will have a lesson about one of the sites they’re most interested in visiting: Battlefield at the Little Bighorn or the Greasy Grass as it was known to the Sioux. Some of our students can name great-great grandparents who fought for their people’s freedom there!

 We SCJ’s received sad news today that one of our confreres, Fr. Charles Bisgrove, had a stroke and died at the young age of 58. When I was in Novitiate, he taught a class on the Documents of Vatican II, and also a course on Liturgy. He brought such enthusiasm to his teaching; it was contagious. I learned a lot from him. It reminds me how much impact a good teacher can have on their students, even many years down the road. May he rest in peace.

It reminds me how much impact a good teacher can have on their students, even many years down the road

I helped Fr. Anthony with the regular Sunday morning mass. I led a second one at 4:00 p.m. so our prom students could have a chance for a little shut-eye after post prom and actually be awake instead of struggling to stay awake in church. I enjoyed praying with a smaller, more focused congregation. I preach to high school students differently than when I’m trying to reach a first or second grader, and can talk from the heart about more serious subject matters. Like their relationship struggles and questions of self-identity that weigh heavy on their hearts and minds.

We also invited students from town who wanted to join us, and it’s nice when classmates from Chamberlain High School can feel welcome and take part in our campus activities. I also noticed that the students who volunteered to read the scriptures were more relaxed when there were fewer people around, and all did a good job.

I don’t handle hardly any of the day-to-day business, but I started the day with a bank run. I never mind getting asked to go downtown to take paperwork for a signature, because that usually means someone has gifted us with stocks or bonds in a sizeable amount that requires my certification. Especially in a difficult economy, I am so grateful for people’s generosity.

In the school assembly room, our houseparents set up booths with photos and hands on activities so other staff could stop by and learn about their home activities. One table showed the Lakota (Sioux) cultural projects jr. high students were working on. Another showed lovely wooden picture boxes  the houseparents built as keepsakes for their graduating 8^th graders each year. The Girl Scout troop leader showed examples of the many crafts her girls created over these last months. One home uses pictures of their 4^th and 5^th grade girls to make calendars for the families and guardians each year. Yet another makes a DVD to send home with the kids at the end of the year. Our houseparents are not only a very dedicated group, but they have lots of creativity and go the extra mile to make our homes feel more like a home.

Emily is our new photographer, and we set out for some new pictures with the students. It’s fun to take part in a classroom activity or have fun on the playground, and I do those things regularly anyway. Most of our kids have practically grown up around me,  so they’re not at all bashful if there’s a camera present. It was a gorgeous-though windy-spring day, and the break from the office felt invigorating.

Dixie from our Akta Lakota Museum & Culture Center gave me a folder of art submissions for next week’s Museum Acquisition meeting. I’m not well schooled in art, and I don’t make the selections. However I did have some fun at the William Home (4^th-5^th grade girls) showing them the pictures and asking them to choose some of their favorite pieces. I want to show them that there’s more to art than just trying to make something look as realistic as possible, but the use of shape, color and texture can all be used creatively. After supper, I cheered for the girls on the softball diamond. I volunteered to pitch one inning. Though I tried to lay the ball right down the middle for students to hit away, I had surprisingly stellar defense behind me. They caught every ball that was hit and I finished with a perfect 1 2 3 inning.

I finished the evening at the gym, taking part in a game of 21 with three high school boys all several inches taller than me. With my limited “3 inch” vertical leaping ability, I didn’t earn many rebounds among the trees. When I did get a board through a lucky carom or bounce, I had to make the most of it. I hit a few outside shots, and left knowing that even 10 months after surgery, I still have much work to rehab my leg.

The St. Joseph’s Indian School was eerily quiet today when I walked over to see what was going on. All the students are taking part in the semi-annual Dakota STEP testing in order to measure their yearly progress. Our teachers use the results to see what areas they need to  work more closely with the individual students. Kids were very quiet as they were reading, figuring and filling in the circles with good old #2 pencils.

The only noise I heard was coming from the 1^st grade classroom.  Their attention span is too short for a 2 hour block of testing, so they have more breaks. They had their crayons and markers out and were coloring pictures of Easter eggs and a Good Friday picture of a hill with three crosses on it. It gave me the chance to explain part of the Good Friday and Easter story.

We got word that one of our alumni was elected president of the Native American Club at South Dakota State University. Congratulations Stefen! We keep working so our graduates can fulfill more and more of their potential, and it’s a boost to hear when they are doing well.

This morning our maintenance crew finally got to a project they’ve been thinking about for years. Since the 40’s or 50’s we’ve had the cement remains of an old foundation in the center of Wisdom Circle, at the heart of campus. They finally dug it up, to improve the safety of the play area. The project will take a couple of days and after school-kids will be kids-and were having more fun climbing the mounds of dirt and running back and forth through the hole left behind. I’m sure the houseparents will have some extra clean up to do once the kids get home!

The students who’ve been learning archery put on a demonstration this evening in the Rec Center. The girls won round one, and the boys saved face and won the second round. The equipment came from a grant from the South Dakota division of Game Fish and Parks. I enjoyed seeing a few students who are not athletic in football or basketball, shoot extremely well in this sport. It requires a good eye, steady hand, lots of concentration and self-control. I always hope learning such discipline can also translate to the classroom and life.