Tag: community

Snow on the ground, overcast skies and a cold and grey day made for lots of yawns for everyone I came across today.

But it was no lazy Saturday because eight of our student families were on campus for our FAST (Families And Schools Together) weekend. I met a few of the parents and guardians I hadn’t yet met, and said hello to some very familiar faces of those who have sent several of their family through our program.

Our high school girls took care of babysitting for the younger children and served the lunch as well. It was a chance for them to earn some spending money, but also help free the staff to have more quality interaction with the families.

Fr. Anthony and I saw a matinée at the Chamberlain Movie Theater this afternoon. It’s nice that our small town is still able to support a movie theater. While we may have to wait a couple of weeks for a movie to come out, my friends in the cities are always envious of the prices. For two tickets and two bags of popcorn I paid $9.50!

Our newest board member, Doug grew up here in Chamberlain, South Dakota and has been on campus countless times for events at the Rec Center, museum and chapel and even had his wedding reception in our Dining Hall. But there were many areas of campus he never toured before. We started in the Development Office. He asked great questions about our business practices, but also insightful ones about our educational approaches and student population. He assumed a lot of the mailing, design and computing was all jobbed out. But Doug quickly learned that  most of  it is done right on site with our own locally grown “experts” who have been on staff for many years. Doug knew most of the people we met along the way, but hadn’t known exactly what kind of work they do here at St. Joseph’s Indian School. It takes so many people working together, to make St. Joseph’s Indian School successful.  Though the staff in the Development Office doesn’t have as much direct contact with our students, they are just as committed to the program and kids as the teachers and counselors.

I had a scare tonight as I drove back on campus from downtown Chamberlain. When I went by the pool in our Rec Center I saw an ambulance outside, and a group of people huddled around someone poolside. I raced inside with my heart beating with worries that something had happened to one of our students. What I didn’t’ know was that it was a scheduled ambulance training, and all the area EMT’s were doing their continuing education on how to work with people on backboards. After the wonderful sense of relief wore off, I was thankful that we can make our facilities available to the community to help train people for the times there really are accidents.

After a morning filled with meetings, I looked back over the week and realized that with everything else going on, I hadn’t once visited the  youngsters classrooms. When I did, the first sight I saw Scott, our PE teacher walking the hall with a baseball bat over his shoulder. My first thought was of the movie Lean On Me where the principal patrolled the halls to cut down violence. But Scott’s bat was plastic, and a sign the whiffle ball season is upon us. He was meeting the 4^th graders to walk them to the gym so they could play ball. I watched for a bit, then batted myself once (a single) before resuming my school tour.  

I stopped by the Dean’s office to see if many kids were in trouble, but there were no serious discipline issues for the day. Mike, one of our houseparents, was subbing for the Dean today, and working on some of our Affiliated Programs like our Soup Label Project that he also oversees. We have turned in 465,000 labels this year, which has meant earning things like printer, lap top computer, digital camera for a home and many more. Because so many people help with small, regular donations, it all adds up together to make great things possible.

The 7^th graders were in the computer lab, working on a program called, “Grammar Gorillas”. They were being quizzed on distinguishing nouns from other parts of speech in the sentence.  The other section of 7^th graders were enjoying their block of library time. Many were reading, and a few were taking computer quizzes on books they had just finished. A few with free time were working on a 1,000 piece puzzle of the United States. We talked about places we’ve been. Dawson pointed to the 5 states he has been in so far. Many of our students have limited travel opportunities and experiences. The younger kids hear tales of travels brought back by 7^th-12^th graders about their travels to donor appreciation luncheons, and hope someday themselves to get the opportunity.

After school was a frenzy of student activity. Several students ran by me, their first track workout of the season. Others played football in Fisher Field and a few were shooting baskets and dreaming of a final four appearance. At the Rec Center the 1^st – 3^rd graders were taking part in the first t-ball game of the season, moved indoors because our brief taste of spring has turned to wintry weather again. 4^th and 5^th grade boys were doing a cardiovascular video workout. And our mini buses shuttled 4^th-6^th grade girls to the two-week gymnastics practice that Chamberlain High School is putting on to get younger students interested in that sport.

I ate supper with the Pinger Home (6^th-8^th grade girls). The gymnasts were excited about their flips around uneven parallel bars and learning some floor exercises. The runners complained of sore calves as they try to get into shape. Other girls talked of school and classes, or life back at their “home home”. The 7^th graders are preparing for a week-long cultural trip as soon as school gets out and the 8^th graders excitedly recalled their adventures at Bear Butte, Devils Tower and the Little Bighorn Battlefield.

Another full day of meetings. We met with the architect and creative designers for our museum expansion project. We hope to break ground at next September’s St. Joseph’s Indian School Annual Powwow. A part I am most excited about is a space for our alumni to come back and visit campus and tell their stories – a place where we can create a living and ongoing display of  history.

I let others work out details as I excused myself to go next door to a budget meeting with my SCJ brothers, some who work on the reservation and came into Chamberlain. After the business was taken care of, we enjoyed a nice meal together. It’s hard to follow the buzz of 4 conversations going on at once, but we settled down to a time of storytelling, with lots of laughter and memories.

Our Child Service Team met with updates and sharing. Now that spring break is over it feels like the end of the year is rushing towards us and we have so many end of the year activities to start planning. After that, I met with my management team. We are spending significant time working on our new strategic plan. We are surveying students, their families, people in the community and several of our donors to look at what we need to work on to keep St. Joseph’s Indian School strong and relevant for years to come.

Tonight was our annual Service Awards Banquet. Before I passed out other people’s awards, I was given some gifts for completing 5 full years at St. Joseph’s Indian School. When I took those back to my table I spontaneously placed the long-stemmed rose in my teeth and did a couple of tango steps, which drew chuckles. I overheard the remark, “He must be feeling better now!”

Thanks be to God!

Marina picked up her appreciation award for 40 years working at St. Joseph’s Indian School! When she started in the development office she got paid 1 ½ cents for every beaded Indian figure she could place on a card and stuff in an envelope. She told the crowd she’s seen so many changes over the years and so appreciates what St. Joseph’s offers both students and staff. The dedication and commitment of our staff really does make St. Joseph’s Indian School a great place to be a part of.

Our students returned from Spring Break yesterday and we began the day with a prayer service to start the 4^th quarter. We honored those students nominated by teachers, counselors and houseparents who have done well not only at school, but by their attitude and spirit of cooperation. We gave them certificates for being “Soaring Eagles”.

I spent most of the day with our Parents Advisory Committee. We welcomed three new members to the group, and the first timers spoke up freely and added a lot to our discussions. We had one session on our alumni efforts. Parents were pleased with our outreach and suggested ways to deepen the ties. Even a simple word change in advertising our “gatherings” to “honoring” would make them and others more likely to attend. They spoke of the ongoing need for healing for those who had negative experiences while attending St. Joseph’s Indian School. We discussed our outreach to alumni who are now in college and ways to encourage them to stay in school and finish.

The Chamberlain Public High School principal joined us to discuss efforts at respecting cultural diversity in Chamberlain. He impressed me as someone who not only said the right things, but who really cares, and understands that we need to bridge racial and ethnic gaps if we are ever to build a strong and life-giving community. Later, we addressed how we monitor and work with students who are taking medications.

We have a series of tunnels running underneath the campus, which are mainly used for our heating pipes, electrical and phone lines and the like. Years ago the students used to travel between buildings in the winter using the tunnels, and when alumni visit, one of the first places they long to experience is that tunnel experience. After lunch, I led the group on a tour through them, amid much laughter, recall, and storytelling. At one point we couldn’t find a light switch and things got dark until 4 or 5 people took out their cell phones and lighted the way. Things have changed a lot over the years!

I had two more masses in Kennebec and Lower Brule this morning. I again enjoyed the chance to reconnect with people I previously served as pastor. After Kennebec, one of the parishioners talked about a friend of his who is dying of cancer, and wanted to know if I had any words of wisdom. He is at a loss as to what to say to his friend. The times I was too sick or to tired for company, I did let people know. But, I appreciated it when people sent a card, called or visited. A serious illness is made much worse when people avoid visiting because they are uncomfortable. I advised him not to worry about what words to say. Perhaps the most important words are, “How are you doing” and being open to really listening. You can let the sick person themselves decide what they want to share; be it the weather, sports, what it is really like to face illness or even death.

The drive from Kennebec to Lower Brule was 30 miles along a state road to the north and then a tribal road along the Missouri river the rest of the way. I didn’t see another car the entire time, but the scenery was wonderful and made for some prayerful reflection.

We had three baptisms at Lower Brule. I don’t know if anyone heard much of my homily, because the infants made themselves heard and took turns drawing everyone’s attention. During the baptism after the two-year old saw what happened to his cousin, he didn’t like the idea of getting wet, and started to object. But once he felt the warm water over his forehead the first time he relaxed, calmed down and had a big smile on his face when all was done. The families served a nice meal afterwards in the hall and invited everyone who came to church to eat and help celebrate with them.

Our students are all coming back to campus. The question I asked most of them as I walked the campus was, “What did you like best about spring break”. The most common answer was: the chance to play outside. We have been blessed across the state with some wonderful and warm weather this week.

Yesterday was my day off. Between the NCAA basketball tourney and the South Dakota boys high school tourney, I had lots of games to watch. During the games I was either on the treadmill, sorting baseball cards or just hanging out with the other SCJs in the house. I also spent time reading and watched a movie. It was very nice to have some down time.

Today, I followed up on several phone calls, ran to town to pick up the mail and did some grocery shopping. At the store I ran into Amanda, one of our family service counselors. She enjoyed spring break yet said, “ I’m ready to come back – I miss the kids”. That’s a good sign that our staff are feeling refreshed and ready to go again. Later in that same grocery store, I ran into the mom of two students. She said, “I’ve enjoyed having the kids home, but they’re ready to come back. There’s more for them to do at St. Joseph’s”. That too, is a good sign.

People may soon forget the words you say, but they won’t forget how you made them feel …

I got a call from Fr. Joe who has come down with the flu, who asked if I could cover weekend masses in my old stomping grounds. Since we won’t have mass on campus this weekend,  I was able to fill in for him tonight at Reliance, 15 miles away. When I preach, I want to give people a word that inspires or makes them think. I didn’t have the usual time it takes to prepare an in-depth homily, so did the best I could on short notice. An old priest reminded me once, people may soon forget the words you say, but they won’t forget how you made them feel. I enjoyed seeing the folks and catching up.