Helping Native American youth – Page 5 – St. Joseph's Indian School

School and life

I went over to school for a while today. When I visit, I find that first grade is always one of my favorite stops. The day was winding down and the students had some self-structured time for learning activities. I helped Paite work on a jigsaw puzzle for a while. Once I helped him sort out the straight edges for the frame, he started to make speedy progress. Gavin asked if I wanted to help him build a tower with colorful plastic connectors. It fell over a few times on us, but we built it high and had fun. Other students simply read some favorite books, which is always a hopeful sign when kids learn to enjoy reading.

Mostly, I worked on materials for our Board of Directors meeting which will take place in two weeks. Budgeting gets complicated and takes not only good explanations, but careful checking. We have a great accounting staff that keeps the numbers balanced and true, which helps tremendously.

I stopped by Carola Home (high school boys) and shared a burger with the crew as they came in from sports practices and time with the tutor. The high school homes seldom have everyone together for dinner; they eat in shifts because of all the coming and going. But sitting with four or five guys at a time gave me a better chance to visit, asking about school and life.

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

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 (6^th-8^th 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 1^st– 3^rd 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.

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.

Pilamaya – thank you so much

Natalie with her new Christmas gift. — Natalie loves her new gift!

Hey everyone! Jona here, from the Development office.

As you know from our other bloggers, St. Joseph’s Christmas celebration was a huge success – thank you so much!

In my role, I get to play a big part in Christmas on campus. I start by collecting wish lists from our Native American students in the fall.

As Christmas approaches, I am the lucky one who opens the boxes of gifts as they arrive. I check to see that nothing has been damaged in shipping (broken Christmas presents are no fun) and send the boxes on to the appropriate houseparent to be wrapped for the boys and girls. I am continually amazed at how thoughtful and generous you are with our students.

It seems corny to say that your work brings you joy but, year after year, it is this task that truly puts the Christmas spirit in my heart.

After the celebration, thank you notes from the students are sent to me, and my Christmas joy is renewed again! My desk is stacked with lovely notes from grateful children, drawings of their favorite toy and pictures of the celebration.

In the mail they go to those who made St. Joseph’s Indian School a special part of their Christmas tradition.

So many notes from the children are brutally honest,

“if not for you, I would have gotten nothing for Christmas.”

But also so unabashedly appreciative,

“I’m so happy there are people like you.”

As one second-grade girl wrote,

“I pray for an angel to bless you every day.”

She couldn’t have said it better. We pray for angels to bless you every day. Thank you for making our Christmas celebration so special!

Jona

Quality time with the Lakota (Siioux) youth

Basketball season is a favorite pasttime at St. Joseph's Indian School!

After cheering on our girls teams last semester, our 6^th, 7^th and 8^th grade boys’ teams tipped off their basketball season against the first school west on I-90 rival: Lyman County. They took the 6^th grade game and our 7^th and 8^th grade team claimed bragging rights. In the nightcap, the score never got farther than four points apart the entire game and we prevailed 52-49. A couple of my former altar servers from Kennebec were on the Lyman County team, and it was fun to visit with their families and check up on happenings in their community. At halftime and in between games, I helped with the concession stand, where you get to run into so many students, staff, parents and visitors.

D’Kera, one of our high school seniors, started a part-time job working at the development office. After school, she calls donors to say thanks, which they appreciate. Or she might wish a happy birthday for the folks we know are celebrating a special day. She relayed to me how many people sent me their personal regards. I wish I could thank everyone more personally, but have many others helping me so that I can not only do other work, but spend quality time at ballgames and events which are special for our Lakota students.

Lakota (Sioux) students represent

Six high school students made up our St. Joseph’s Indian School’s Knowledge Bowl team, and traveled to Rapid City, South Dakota for the Lakota Nation Invitational Tournament (LNI). The competition was double elimination, and our team won three games before losing our second in overtime. All but one game was decided by 3 points or less – those back and forth games kept me tense and on the edge of my seat the whole time. I wanted so badly answer some of the questions myself. What young people often lack is the breadth of knowledge and countries, cultures and history that come from reading, travel and a few more years of life experience. In one game, I was pleased that Erin earned our winning points by completing one of my favorite phrases, “It’s better to light a candle that curse the DARKNESS”. Our Lakota (Sioux) students represented the school and themselves well.

Besides two seasoned seniors, we had a junior, two sophomores and a freshman on the team. The newcomers intend to study harder, hungry to return next year.

The LNI is a combination basketball tournament, knowledge bowl, art show, wrestling tournament, Lakota language competition and much more. It’s like a huge family reunion for so many of the tribal people in the great state of South Dakota. I ran into folks from all three of the Indian reservations I’ve worked on and several former St. Joseph’s students. The Rapid City Civic Center was filled to capacity with so many people and activities.

Several students entered pieces in the juried art show. In the category of “Traditional Native Arts”, Merrill, one of our 8^th graders, took home first place. Merrill painted and decorated a deer skull, which also included a handmade dreamcatcher. He earned a coveted ceramic plate trophy from Sioux Pottery. Congratulations Merrill!

Lots going on

The girls had so much fun dancing like dolls!

During mass, we held the Rite of Acceptance for those students preparing for baptism next spring. Even though the prayers are simple, they mean a lot . I find that children are often far more committed to prayer than I am, and they inspire me to do better.

The Dancing Dolls and Dudes program filled the town Armory to capacity and was entertaining. Last year, we experimented by having our 4th and 5^th graders participate, since it means juggling our schedule here and getting the students to town to practice each week. But it was so successful and appreciated that this year we opened it up to the primary grades as well.

A good number of families attended to cheer their children on and watch the cleverly choreographed routines. But some of our students don’t have family close by, or have family members unable to come. In the days leading up to today’s big show, at least seven or eight of our students looked at me with big eyes and asked if I could be there. How could I every say no to that kind of request from an eight year old?

The greatspirit of fun and good sportsmanship fill St. Joseph's Indian School's gym!

The boys inter-city championships filled the rec center all afternoon. Each team had two trophies to give out, one to a St. Joseph’s Indian School student and one to a player from town. Those trophies go to the kids who have the best attitude, play hard and fair and help their teammates. There was also a hard-fought tournament for bragging rights, but all in a spirit of fun and good sportsmanship.

Tonight, our high school academic advisor gathered up the half-dozen students who make up our Knowledge Bowl team. Competition at the Lakota Nations Invitational is this Thursday and Friday, and this was the last chance to practice and review. I dropped in for some moral support and will go with the crew to Rapid City, South Dakota to cheer them on. Read how the St. Joseph’s Indian School team did last year!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The youth at St. Joseph's Indian School had so much fun with Santa!

While we haven’t had much snow this December, it is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Today was the day for our Christmas store. Our staff pulls aside many new or like new items that are donated and our Native American youth get a chance to “shop” for presents for their family. Each child has a book of tickets, some good for baby clothes, others for jewelry, toiletries, books and games etc.

Staff and other volunteers help wrap a few of the gifts and Santa makes his appearance to find out who has been naughty and who has been nice.

The High School Native American club held an Indian taco sale outside of our downtown Thrift Store. They are raising money for their annual powwow and other activities. I went downtown for lunch, and the food was all mouth-watering. But while our young entrepreneurs were great cooks, they forgot some of the other essentials, like paper plates to put the tacos on, or even utensils to dish out the food. Luckily our Thrift Store was able to come to the rescue until reinforcements arrived.

Our 7^th and 8^th grade basketball teams traveled to South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota. They attended a men’s and women’s college basketball double-header. Hopefully seeing life on a college campus gets a few of our students thinking along those lines.

Tomorrow is the Dancing Dolls and Dudes recital, so I had a special evening mass for the four younger girls homes so they could have extra time to get hair and makeup ready in the morning. The students seemed to enjoy the smaller, more intimate liturgy, and I had plenty of willing volunteers for the help I needed. Appropriately, our closing song was “Lord of the Dance.”

Generosity – Wacantognaka

This weekend is our Rite of Acceptance for the 20 students who are part of our RCIC (Rite of Christian Initiation of Children) program. One of the gestures is a seven fold blessing of the different senses – eyes, ears, lips, shoulders, heart, hands and feet. During practice, I asked the students what they thought each of those gestures meant.

I asked, “Why would we ever bless someone’s feet?”

One girl chimed in, “So we can walk toward Jesus.”

A second added, “And run away from evil!”

We definitely have a couple of good young theologians that I am constantly learning from.

The William Home (4^th – 5^th grade girls) has a tradition of a Christmas open house every December. Mike always makes his meatballs, and Jessica her peanut butter and chocolate Buckeyes. The rest of the menu is up to the talents of the girls in the home, and they came up with tasty finger foods and baked goods. From the moment you walk in the door, they offer to take you coat, get you some punch or hot apple cider and show lots of hospitality. I enjoyed looking over the photo album they’ve put together of their activities for the year up to this point. As I looked back on some older photo albums from the home, I got a real sense of the passage of time. After seven years here, the girls who were 5^th graders when I first arrived, have now graduated and gone off to college.

Our student leadership committee did a great job hosting their food/clothing drive!

Our student leadership committee held a food and clothing drive these past few weeks, mindful of families in town and on the Indian reservations that really need that kind of help right now. Generosity is one of those cardinal virtues we try to instill in all our students.