Tag: Indian school

What started with picking up trash…

Hello everyone! My name is Kelli, Planned Giving Summer Intern at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

Lakota boy imitating snake
A Lakota boy imitates his favorite animal—a snake!

A few days ago, I was able to spend some time with the youth of the Lower Brule Indian Reservation at the St. Joseph’s Rising Eagle Day Camp here in Chamberlain, South Dakota. On this particular morning, they were imitating animal movements and practicing summersaults and cartwheels on the football field. Their giggles and smiles made me take a trip down memory lane to two years ago when I was a camp counselor at the St. Joseph’s Rising Eagle Day Camp.

Although every day brought many joys and wonderful experiences, one day in particular still stands out in my mind.

On this particular day, one of our St. Joseph’s staff was reading a Native American children’s story to the kids. While The Rough-Face Girl was being read, nearly all of the children were listening quietly, but one little boy was not following the rules and was being disruptive to everybody else.

Feeling like he may need to burn some energy, I grabbed a plastic bag and told him to follow me outside—we were going to go pick up some trash.

For the first few minutes, the young boy was quite unruly. However, when he saw how much fun he could make the situation, he began to laugh, smile and run around—the first time I had ever seen this young boy so alive and carefree.

His smile and laugh were contagious and I began to get into the game he created out of his own imagination. “Kelli, hold the trash bag really high!” I would hear, so I would hold it above my head and he would aim, shoot, and SCOREEEEEE! A silly celebratory dance and lots of cheering would always follow.

Two girls partner log roll
Two young Lakota girls practice partner log rolling.

After about 20 minutes or so, I asked the young boy if he would like to go back inside and be on his best behavior.

He replied yes, gave me a huge hug, began to cry, and thanked me for spending time with him because “no one ever spends time with me.”

This little boy was my best friend the remainder of the Rising Eagle Day Camp. He was usually one of the first ones on the bus bright and early and one of the last to walk back to his house. He was my right-hand man and was often given certain ‘duties’ to help me with.

The young boy who had multiple disciplinary problems on his first day never had an issue again.

Thank you for allowing me to pick up trash and spend quality time with young Lakota Sioux children. Although picking up trash is a messy and sometimes stinky job, I am so grateful for this young boy and the opportunity I had to make a little friend that changed my life forever.

Christmas is still coming!

I heard tell of a Lakota tribal official visiting the Apache Tribe in Arizona. They teased him “in the mountains we’re much closer to the Great Spirit.”

He replied, “Yes, I understand, but on the vast South Dakota prairie we can see God coming for three days, and have time to get ready!”

Renovation of the William home is moving along.
Sheetrock is up in the William Home! The facilities crew is now working on outlets and ventilation.

While other folks are taking down their Christmas decorations, we’re still getting ready to celebrate when all our students return. Last weekend two school groups, one from Barrington, Illinois and one from Watertown, South Dakota brought out some wonderful clothes and toys they’ve been collecting. As the houseparents return, we’ll check sizes and wish lists to find good matches for our students’ needs.

While many of our child services staff have had vacation time, staff in the development office have been faithfully answering mail and phone requests. The facilities crew has used this quieter time for projects like touch-up paint jobs and preventative spraying for bed bugs, which are jobs best done when the homes are empty.

They’ve been moving full speed ahead on several projects. The Summerlee Home renovation is almost complete, and those fourth and fifth grade girls should be moving back in a couple of weeks. The William Home will take a few more months, but the dry wall is up and the crew is working on the behind the scenes (and walls) items like electrical outlets and ventilation.

Fewer students means fewer vehicle trips over break. The school bus was in the garage getting a check up to make sure it’s fit for ball games and school trips once the semester gets going next week.

St. Joseph’s bus is in the shop for a tune up.
St. Joseph’s bus gets a tune up before second semester begins.

We have had a half dozen high school students on campus this past week taking part in basketball practices. Today, the rest of the crew of 42 filtered in. Cars pulled up to one of our five high school homes and kids carried suitcases or slung plastic bags full of clothes over their shoulder and started getting ready for second semester.

I spent a little time at each of the homes, welcoming students back. I always hope for happy news. Many of the students had good memories of their time with family, but a few had family struggles and drama over the break. Our houseparents and counselors will help them talk it out and process the disappointments and hurts, and hopefully get them off to a good start here.

Guest Blogger: Joe

Last week in Religion class, the third graders watched a five minute video titled “A great day.” They are a great group of kids because they always come in with smiles on their faces and ready to learn.  At this age, the Lakota boys and girls are full of many questions which can be a good thing and sometimes very challenging.

On this particular day, I told the class that we were going to watch the video two times. The first time we would watch it straight through and see what stuck in their minds.  After this, we planned to watch the video again but we would stop it a couple of times to discuss what was happening.

I pushed play and the students’ eyes stared at the screen. I looked around and could see the wheels turning in their heads. These students were getting something out of this simple five minute video.  Once the video concluded, I asked the students what they thought was going on in the film.  One young boy raised his hand and simply said,

“Today is a gift!”

In my mind, this was the best answer that you could expect from watching the video.

As we watched the video a second time, I paused at the beginning to talk about “the gift.” (If you are not familiar with the video, the gift is that you get to live another day.) I told the students that God has a plan for us. God knows what we did five minutes ago and God knows what we are going to do five minutes from now.

“So God knows that I am going to pick my nose in a few minutes?” one boy asked.

After controlling my laughter I told him simply “yes.”

As the video went on, I paused it again to talk about things that the students could do to help make a difference in their lives and the lives of others. Things like using their eyes, their smile, a touch or their presence can be very powerful. I told the students that these four things, under their control, can change another person’s day.

After finishing the video, I asked the students what they thought of the video after watching it for the second time. A young girl then said,

“We are blessed!”

I asked her what that meant and she went on to tell the class that we are blessed to receive another day of life. I added that each student was blessed to have many things and that we should always be grateful.

In the last fifteen minutes of class I asked the students to write down what they are thankful for.  They were asked to write down as many blessing as they could.  As soon as I handed out the paper there wasn’t a single noise in the classroom. By the end of the class every student had filled out at least the whole front side of a piece of paper.

When the class period ended, I sat and thought about how everyone at St. Joseph’s is blessed and thankful for everything that happens here on campus.

So, I ask you to join us. Take out a page of paper and write down what you are thankful for.  Remember to write down as many things as you can think of.  Whenever you are having a bad day, look back at what you wrote down.  Then you can be as thankful as our third graders here at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Guest Blogger: Vickie

My name is Vickie and I am the gift shop supervisor for the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center.

I have worked for St. Joseph’s Indian School since 1997. My responsibilities include purchasing items for the gift shop, managing the summer staff and giving guided tours of the museum. I have learned much more about the Lakota (Sioux) culture while working here and it is very interesting work. Plus I am able to share the knowledge with our visitors.

We have a beautiful museum with outstanding displays of Native American art and artifacts, so it is always enjoyable to work in the museum.

We have remodeling going on in the museum at this time. When it is finished, our museum will be an even better presentation of the Lakota culture.

I have been working on getting some new items for our online shopping site. Several items we carry are one-of-a-kind, so the selection is constantly changing.

We have some very nice items that would make great Christmas gifts. I invite you to browse our online shopping site. You can place your order online or call us toll-free at 1-800-798-3452; we are available Monday – Friday to answer your questions or take your order over the phone.

Vickie

 

Guest Bloggers: Rec Center Staff

Two St. Joseph's Indian School girls wait for their soccer game to start.
Tashia and Hialle wait patiently for the soccer game to start!

Every Wednesday, St. Joseph’s has Enrichment Night.

Last week, the Afra & Ambrose Homes were involved in our own little soccer camp!

First, we noticed the kids had a lot of extra energy, so we had them run some laps around the football field. That worked for a few moments. Soccer drills were taught by Mark S. and then we had a little soccer game. Thanks to Mike L. & Dave A. for their support.

With our older students, the Mathias and Rooney Homes participate in Camping 101 class. The Mathias Home had very little trouble in getting their tent together as they all worked as a team. The Rooney Home had some problems though. One of their poles got broken which made it tough to get up quickly. Thanks Mark for getting a new pole. Jan was the tent holder for most of the class. Thanks Jan.

Next week, we have the Cyr and Summerlee Homes at 6:00pm for our last Camping 101 class. The Fisher and Speyer Homes will fill the 7:15pm time slot with flag football.

Mark and Andy

Guest Blogger: Fr. Anthony

Dear Benefactors:

Greetings once again from the banks of the Missouri River at St. Joseph’s Indian School in Chamberlain, SD.  Fr. Steve is in transit coming back from a donor luncheon in the Boston area.  He stated there was good attendance and when they were finished the team had a chance to do some whale watching.

Since he is away, I was asked to ghost write his blog.  My name is Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ and I am the chaplain here at St. Joseph’s. I had the chance last year to help out when Fr. Steve was away and am happy to be in contact with you again.

The students and staff are starting to settle in as we begin the third week of school for grades 1-8 and second full week for our high school students who started on August 15th.

Several of our high school students are part of the Chamberlain High School Cub’s football team.  They had their first game this past Friday night out in Hot Springs, in the Black Hills, and brought home a 7-0 victory.  This Labor Day weekend, they will have their first home game against Valentine, Nebraska.

Football is in the air at St. Joesph’s just as many of the pro-teams are in the midst of their training camps.  Practice is underway for the Chamberlain/St. Joseph’s youth tackle football fundamental league open to students in the 5th and 6th grades.  The young people have some fun while learning the basics and it is a good way for all involved to make new friends.  In early September flag football will get underway for those in grades 1-4.  There will be footballs being thrown, kicked, fumbled and caught four nights out of the week.

This past Saturday morning, we saw 60+ young people from the local area around Chamberlain come to St. Joseph’s campus to take part in a youth triathlon.  Those under six took part in a bike ride and run.  The 7-15 age group  swam, biked and ran around the campus.  Many of our younger students took part in this event.  St. Joseph’s is always honored to take part in events that strive to offer fun and safe activities for local young people and their families.

Progress on renovations at St. Joseph's Indian School.
Progress on the Akta Lakota Museum!

The new addition to the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center is making a lot of progress since the groundbreaking at last year’s powwow. (Reminder that this year’s powwow will be September 13-16.  Hope you can come.)  Most of the new structure’s exterior is done and the remainder of time needed to get it ready will take part inside as the new display area is worked on along with the section on the history of St. Joseph’s Indian School.

One benefactor came through this past weekend on her way to view the Powwow at Pine Ridge.  She is coming back to visit St. Joseph’s and make a tour of our campus and facilities.  She came all the way from New York state.  The students welcomed her at our Sunday liturgy and then many of them and our staff thanked her for the items she brought.  We are always grateful for your generosity and keep you in our prayers asking that God will continue to bless and strengthen you.

Hope all of you have a safe, relaxing and enjoyable Labor Day weekend.

God’s blessing on our school year

We had our first weekend mass with the students.  Some of the students who attend St. Joseph’s aren’t all that familiar with church and it takes a while for them to learn the songs, find their places in the book and get used to the routine. But there was a good and lively spirit in the pews as we gathered to pray and ask for God’s blessing on the new school year.

While the grade school students have completed a full week, our high school students didn’t have to be back until today. The students staying in the two homes open early for those participating in sports moved from their temporary quarters into the rooms they will have for the year. In the Giles Home (freshman boys) everyone was back early. The supper table was full as they wolfed down Aaron’s homemade vegetable beef soup. Melissa remarked that they worked with 1st-3rd graders last year, and they are going to have to adjust the quantity of food they cook considerably!

The upperclassman straggled in a little later, and one or two called in because of transportation difficulties. But it’s good to have the campus mostly full again and coming back to life.

Guest Blogger: Claire

Hi again!  My name is Claire, and I am a houseparent in the high school program. I’m excited to be back, starting my fifth year here at St. Joseph’s Indian School. This week is all-staff orientation.  Those of us that have been gone part of the summer rejoin our hard-working year-round colleagues for a week of training, refreshers and refocusing.  This can be pretty exciting, especially when we all arrive in chapel on Monday morning and someone holds up a “free hugs” sign.  Woo hoo!

We usually start off with smudging—the Lakota tradition of burning sage—which is a symbolic cleansing of our minds, hearts and bodies with the smoke.  This sets a prayerful space and atmosphere for our work together in the upcoming year.

Our orientation theme this year was “Nourishing Mind, Body, Heart and Spirit.”

How cool is that?

After all, we are not just about teaching reading, writing and arithmetic.  Our goal is to prepare kids for life outside of St. Joseph’s, so they can be strengthened by relationships, faith, a sense of culture and history, and skills for living.  In order to do that, we have to bring our whole selves into the equation—which is why we start the year with prayer, sage, free hugs and even some darn good bread which the Pastoral Care staff handed out.

A lot of this week is about remembering our mission, and focusing on what we hope to accomplish in the upcoming year.  For us houseparents, one challenge is to bring the oyate values outlined in our Circle of Courage into our daily routines.  Those values are: Belonging, Independence, Mastery and Generosity.

We all agree that we do a great job at building a sense of belonging.  We are very good at building relationships with our kids, their families and with each other.  We are turning our attention to other areas where we are not so strong.  Sometimes, in our efforts to build relationships, we end up doing too much for our kids, to the detriment of their sense of mastery, independence and generosity.  We had some serious and thoughtful discussions on how and where we can work on these areas.

Not all of orientation is fun, I will admit.  Our newly hired staff have already completed a full week of training, and their heads are about to explode with facts, figures, rules and guidelines.

Veteran staff members groan a bit when we get to the part that we have heard every year.  Over and over and over.  For those of you who are uninitiated in the joys of orientation, let me sum up Day Two as briefly as possible:

  Rule #1:  Treat your co-workers with respect.  Play Nice.

Rule #2:  If you make a mess, please clean it up.

Rule #3:  If the mess involves blood or other body fluids, use gloves.

Rule #4:  If the mess is on fire, call 911.

Rule #5:  If you can’t seem to follow Rule #1, make SURE you follow Rules #2-5.

I think I can manage that!

Thank you for continuing to hold the kids and staff at St.  Joseph’s in your prayers as we kick off the 2012-2013 school year.  So far, we’re off to a good start.

 

 

 

Powwow preparation

Though our Lakota students have only been back a few days, powwow preparation has begun in earnest. Both the boys (grass, traditional and fancy) and girls (fancy shawl, jingle dress and traditional) have been busy learning to dance. Once they decide on the style they will focus on, LaRayne (our Native American Studies teacher) and a few helpers will match the many children who don’t have their own regalia with dance attire.

Besides the dancers, Mark, our Rec Center Specialist called an organizational meeting to gather all the drummers and singers. A strong group of eighth grade singers graduated last year and moved up to high school. But, there has been good interest in the next grades of boys who want to step up and sing out and learn the traditional songs.  As Mark reviewed their commitment and responsibilities, he reminded them that in learning how to respect the drum, they will also learn to respect and care for one another. Eleven singers signed up, as well as five girls who will learn the songs and circle around the drummers to support them.

Guest Blogger: Julie H

Hello!  Can you believe that summer is in full swing?  Things here at St. Joseph’s Indian School, although it is summer, continue to move along swiftly!

My name is Julie and I have been here at St. Joseph’s Indian School for over 10 years.  I currently work as a Family Service Counselor.  During the school year, I stay busy seeing students for individual counseling, group counseling, and enrichment activities.  But what does a counselor do in the summer when most of the kids are gone?  Well, that is a good question!

As a Family Service Counselor at St. Joseph’s Indian School, part of my duties in the summer include traveling to see the students and families with whom I work during the school year.  We visit with the students and families to make sure their summer is going well and to see if there is anything we can help with while the students are at home.  Most of the time, this is just a check in and a great time to visit with students and families.

So far this summer, I have been to Eagle Butte to visit with one of my students.  This week will take me to on two or three more trips and the rest of the summer is filling up with travel as well!  Though many of our students are from the nearby Indian reservations of Fort Thompson and Lower Brule, we also travel as far away as Pine Ridge and Nebraska to visit Native American students.

Another thing the Family Services Counselors do during the summer is work on student admissions. Of course, we need to fill the first grade class with new students and other grades may have openings as well.  Part of the admissions process includes going to the prospective student’s home to meet them and their family.  A short interview is conducted to gain some background information on the student, and this is a great time to start building a strong relationship with the student and their family.

Interspersed with all of the travel, the Family Service Counselors work on getting consent forms signed for the next school year, finish up paperwork and start preparing for the kids to return.  Summer is also a good time to attend workshops to keep us up to date on the current trends and best practices in counseling.

The best part of the summer is getting to go out and see our students and their families, as well as meeting new families.  Although most of the kids were ready for summer to get here, they sure seem happy to see us when we visit! 🙂  And many times the first question they ask is,

“When do I get to come back to St. Joe’s for school?”

I hope you all have a blessed and safe summer! – Julie H