At yesterday’s Child Service Meeting, our Rec Center staff gave a presentation on new programs they are developing. Besides coordinating the team sports against other schools, they have a vision about helping staff and students develop healthier lifestyles.
Mark has become certified in Circular Strength Training, which involves a series of body movements that can be done gently and slowly, but over time provide a great workout. Instead of just telling us about it, he had us get out of our chairs and walk through the activity with him. I admit it did help me stay more alert during the meeting than I normally would have after just eating lunch.
Our High School Program director, Shana, gave us an update on her meetings with the public school administrators. They have been brainstorming on ways to improve the transition for our eighth grade graduates at St. Joseph’s Indian School when they enter Chamberlain High School.
Our 8th grade girls attended a Girls in Engineering, Math and Science (GEMS) workshop this past Saturday. It was held at South Dakota State University. The purpose of the workshop was to generate female interest in the fields traditionally populated by males. The girls listened to female students who chose different fields of engineering and what they enjoyed about their chosen major. All the girls participated in a series of activities exploring engineering, math and science.
They built and programmed robots, investigated the science of forensics with a “Who done it?” scenario – complete with fingerprinting – and built load-bearing bridges out of toothpicks. Each participant received a backpack from SDSU loaded with lots of stuff, a notebook, calculator, logo cup, pens and a flashlight, to name a few.
This was an opportunity that really opened a number of unexpected future options for them.
Hello everyone, this is Mike from the William Home (4th and 5th grade girls). It is hard to believe, but we have started the fourth quarter of school here at St. Joseph’s Indian School!
The last time I was here I told you about the William Home and their walking. Well, we made our goal of walking 10,000 laps with a day to spare. The girls did a good job of getting their laps in and finishing what they started. 10,000 laps is equal to 500 miles.
As we set our sights on the last quarter of school we are also preparing to take a day trip with the girls. We are very excited about going to Sioux Falls. We will visit the zoo and the Washington Pavillion to see the science exhibit and the I-Max Theater.
The weather has also allowed us to get some outside play time, and softball season will be starting in the next couple of weeks.
We hope you are all enjoying our blogs as much as we enjoy keeping you up to date on the things we do at St. Joseph’s!
I sometimes hold the mistaken belief that I am teaching something. A few weeks ago, I sat down on the couch with a ball of yarn and my knitting needles, trying to make a cable knit scarf. Within minutes, several girls were sitting with me watching.
“Oooooh! Can you teach me to knit?”
We spent that evening, and many evenings after, sitting in the living room with donated yarn and needles, working on the basics. Knitting usually involves two kinds of stitches—either wrapping the yarn towards or away. Moving back and forth – between towards and away – creates patterns that are both beautiful and elastic. We spent our time focusing on just one direction, repeating it over and over again. The girls were surprised at how fast I could stitch, and I had to remind them that I had many years of practice. They settled in happily with their projects, slowly working their needles.
It turns out that I had a lot to learn from these girls. They had no trouble at all asking for help. Our knitting times were punctuated with,
“Help! I think I messed up! Did I do this right? Can you help me fix this?”
They weren’t always sure what “right” looked like. Often enough, they hadn’t actually made a mistake. We’d look together, count the stitches, examine the loops, and make a few tugs. Then they were right back to work. In order to master a skill, sometimes you have to rely on someone more skillful than yourself to show you the way.
They were also much better at handling unraveling. If they made a big mistake or got tangled up or things fell apart, they happily came back to me with empty needles and a skein and said,
“Can you start me over again?” And again? And again?
Dakota, and the girls did a great job!
Because sometimes the process is much more important than the product. Sometimes we really don’t need to get something “done,” we just need to do it. No need to get attached to an outcome. No need to freak out when that cable pattern gets turned inside out and it can’t be fixed and you have to give up and undo 6 hours of work (ahem). Unraveling is not the end of the world.
And sometimes we don’t need to “do” something as much as we need to be with someone while we’re doing it. If we’re sitting in the living room together – stitching and unraveling, moving towards and away, mastering and forgetting and re-mastering – then the real skill is one of belonging.
In these past few weeks I have learned so much from these girls. They set an example of how to recover from a mistake with grace. Whether on the basketball court, on the playground or in the knitting circle, they demonstrate the power of admitting a mistake and setting it right. They trust their houseparents to hold them accountable, help them course-correct, and then celebrate their success when they get it right. I’ve been inspired at their courage in the face of so much unraveling.
Perhaps the girls will come away from this experience with a scarf or a new hobby. I’m hoping that their time knitting will provide them with a sense of Mastery and Belonging. Learning, after all, will show up in rather unexpected places.
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.
This afternoon was our annual rivalry basketball game with Chamberlain’s 7th and 8th grade teams to earn bragging rights for the year. Both teams play hard to win, but since many play together in our fall intercity basketball league, there is also a good sense of familiarity and friendship. I noticed at the tip-off of the 8th grade game, Michael was jumping against a boy he played on the same team with in the fall. They had huge grins and gave a warm handshake before the competition began.
Chamberlain has a strong group of 7th graders, and easily defeated our crew. In the 8th grade, we have a strong group of boys and definitely had a height advantage. But, the Cubs played good team ball and forced overtime. Our Braves finally won by three. Since it’s really a local game for both schools, we had a great crowd in the stands to cheer the players on. Many of our staff had kids or grandchildren playing for the Cubs, and most of us had to root for all the kids on both sides of the ball.
A reporter from the local newspaper came to interview me about the progress of our Akta Lakota Museum expansion and alumni/ historical center. The workers have lifted the ceiling beams into place and are working on roofing now, so it’s really taking shape. Still, it will take another year plus for the whole project to be completed.
Tuesday was Valentine’s Day! At the end of the day our students passed out cards, many store-bought, but a few homemade, to friends and classmates. The boys at Cyr Home baked treats to share with their 4th and 5th grade classmates – yummy and very appreciated!
Speaking of Valentine’s Day, in my spiritual reading, I came across this quote about love from Pedro Arupe, former superior general of the Jesuits:
“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything.”
In my weekly meeting with Mike, director of Child Services, we discussed our Lakota cultural programming. In our strategic plan we identified the need to add another staff position to complement what we are already doing in this regard. We’re looking at moving forward and hiring someone for next school year. We have begun some good things in terms of dance, drum group and language and see the need for continued staff education and development as well.
At the William Home (4th and 5th grade girls) for supper, I got to meet Chuck, our newest houseparent, who is shadowing Mike and Jessica to learn how we do childcare here at St. Joseph’s Indian School. Chuck had his two year old son Izzy with him, and the girls were quite enamored with the little guy. Izzy had a dozen big sisters willing to play and watch after him, and seemed to enjoy the attention.
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.
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!
Today was mostly a meeting day. I began with the monthly reports from all the Development Office managers. Our use of media and technology changes at such a rapid pace these days. What fascinated me the most was the suggestion that we move toward having PURLS (personalized URLs) on our website, so when people visit us online, the kinds of stories and information they will see can be personalized. We have some creative, hard-working people in that part of campus, and I’m proud of the initiatives and forward ways of thinking they bring to work each day.
I walked over to the Akta Lakota Museum for our bi-weekly construction update. I imagine that sometimes meetings between architects and builders can get contentious, but ours have been working very well together. The change orders have been small, and work is steadily moving along. Right now it’s mostly welding, which doesn’t show up as big progress. But it’s like school for our kids. You have to get the basics down well, in order to move ahead later.
My management team discussed next week’s Catholic Schools Week and the presentation of our new strategic plan. (Read more here about last year’s Catholic School’s Week at St. Joseph’s Indian School.) We’re also looking at budgets and trying to prioritize capital expenses for next year, deciding what we can do and what has to wait.
When you’re a kid and don’t have to worry about shoveling snow or driving to work on icy roads, winter weather can be a lot of fun. The snow we did get is starting to melt, but made the slopes very slippery, and the kids were out in big numbers after school with sleds. Some dug tunnels through the big mounds of snow piled up by our grounds crew or played King of the Hill.
The Perky Home (4th-5th grade boys) invited me to supper. Afterwards I tried my hand (well, actually my foot) at hacky sack, but am definitely not limber enough to keep it going very long. What I was better at was helping some of the boys practice for next week’s spelling bee. In reading the words, I realized that there is a lot of vocabulary that our students don’t yet know.
The kids have learned that studying hard pays off in the long run!
Today at school, academic certificates and attendance awards for the first semester at St. Joseph’s Indian School were handed out. We have a very large number of our Native American students who get perfect or outstanding attendance, since they all live on campus within a few hundred yards of the school. We try not to be guilty of grade inflation and the academic honor role is somewhat challenging to make. In fact, for this grade level, only one girl, 8th grader Jalynn, maintained straight A’s. As each student received their certificate, they also got to choose a little memento – a gel pen, ring or hacky sack.
Sometimes it’s the simple little things that bring a smile to a kid’s face.
Our Junior Miss St. Joseph selected at our last St. Joseph’s Indian School’s annual powwow has gone back to her home on the Indian reservation to live with her family and attend school there. While we miss the students who move on, we are pleased when they are able to make a successful transition back home. At the awards presentation, Mary, the runner-up Miss St. Joseph’s, was called to the front of the assembly and presented with the beaded crown and banner she will now proudly wear. Mary will now represent St. Joseph’s Indian School at other powwows and events. When we have visiting dignitaries, we usually ask our royalty to be among the first to welcome them.
