Lakota students – Page 4 – St. Joseph's Indian School

Tickled and appreciative

Lots of activity on St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus today. Despite freezing rain and treacherous icy roads, Chamberlain’s Chamber of Commerce hosted fourth, fifth and sixth grade girls basketball tournaments at the three gyms throughout town. St. Joseph’s hosted the sixth grade action. All of our teams got in three games to end the season. None of them won the championship, but all hustled and played hard.

Fr. Steve and Trenton chat at St. Joseph's Indian School's Christmas store. — Trenton and Fr. Steve talking about what he wrapped up for his family.

Today’s big event was the Christmas Store. All the children had a handful of tickets which they could use to “purchase” different items that donors have sent in. They picked up sweaters for grandpa and clothes for a baby sister, necklaces for mom or a stuffed animal for a younger brother. Once they loaded up their plastic garbage bags with a dozen items or so, they came to the skate room, where Santa Claus waited to greet them, and generous volunteers helped them wrap all the presents to take home and share with their loved ones. Staff also baked lots of Christmas goodies for snacks throughout the day. Each of the nineteen homes had about 20 minutes to do their shopping before the next group came in. The kids are excited and look forward to it, and staff enter into the spirit of the season. Several high school students also helped decorate the room and wrap presents, teaching them to give back to their younger relatives.

Tonight the Chamberlain Area Churches Choir performed a lovely Christmas Cantata in our Chapel. I sat next to the Rooney Home boys (6^th-8^thgrades) but didn’t see any other Lakota students in the church. I was feeling bad that more of the kids couldn’t enjoy the lively harmonies and inspiring message. The Cantata was close to our primary students’ bedtime, so I understood. But then, I heard clapping coming from the choir loft. There was a lively group upstairs, wearing pajamas and bath robes, so they could go right from church to bedtime when all was finished!

There are advantages to having lots of connecting walk ways on our campus. And the choir seemed tickled and appreciative that our students were able to participate.

Belly slides and Christmas gifts

Native American youth sledding down a hill. — Sledding in full force at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

The past few days our Lakota students have been out sledding in force, but today the sun came out and began melting our snowfall into the dry and thirsty ground. They’ll have to wait until the next storm before the hills again allow for good sledding. But that didn’t deter kids from having fun at recess.

Today’s winter coats are warm indeed, but the plastic outer material is slick enough to make sleds optional. I watched the children belly slide head first down the gentle slopes leading to the playground, laughing all the way! I’m sure the teachers don’t mind the students burning off a little excess energy before coming back to the classroom to focus on reading, writing and arithmetic.

I had to pick up a package a friend sent for Christmas, so I wandered over to Central Receiving, where all the boxes that come to St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus wind up. Glenda and Cathy have worked as a team for many years. This time of year gets a little hectic for them, but they seemed in good cheer as they opened and sorted piles of clothes, toiletries, toys and games, books and school supplies and knick-knacks of all kinds.

Central Receiving at St. Joseph's Indian School. — Glenda and Cathy sorting piles of clothes, toiletries, toys and games, books and school supplies, and knick-knacks of all kinds.

Some of the boxes are from people who are taking part in our Holiday Wishes Christmas program. Those presents will be distributed after Christmas break when the students return in January. Items like hair conditioner, socks and basketballs are always in demand, and go onto the shelves so our houseparents have easy access to them. We have several requests for help with Christmas presents for needy children on nearby Indian reservations and are putting aside hats and gloves, stuffed animals, coloring books and crayons to brighten their holiday.

Glenda and Cathy have also put aside a lot of nice things for our Christmas store on Saturday. There, our children shop for presents to take home to their families. I saw a stack of five crock pots sent in by one generous donor who specified they go reservation families. Baby and toddler clothes are also very popular as kids think about younger brothers and sisters back home. We are blessed with many generous donations that we in turn can share so they are put to good use.

Dancing and Advent; practice and preparation

The first significant snow of the winter blanketed our campus in white. It began with a couple of inches on Friday, another couple Saturday morning and about 5 more inches overnight. While the kids were riding bikes just a few days ago, this weekend they dug out the sleds and snowboards and saw who could make the longest slide down the hill to the football field. With strong winds and cold temperatures today’s powdery snow drifted thigh high in some places around campus. But with the morning light our crew was out in force clearing a path for students and staff, in vehicles or on foot.

The Native American girls did great dancing! — The girls did great!

We gathered in church more often than our usual weekend. Saturday morning is usually a bit of a sleep in day, but the Immaculate Conception Holy Day found a sleepier than normal group of Lakota students in the pews. St. Joseph’s regular Sunday mass is at 10:00. This morning we also added an 8:30 mass so the girls participating in the Dancing Dolls recital would enough time to get ready for their show without rushing. I rather enjoyed the more intimate, homogenous group to pray with and preach to. It’s hard to find messages that resonate well week after week with both first graders and high school seniors. Today I had a group of about 30 girls in 1^st – 5^th grades. In a dialogue homily style, I got them to tell me about their dance practice and preparation, and make the connection between getting ready for a big event like that and getting ready for the Lord as we enter more deeply into Advent.

Snow and ice closed the Interstate between Sioux Falls and Chamberlain and kept some of the crowd down, but the Dancing Dolls and Dudes performance was lively and fun anyway. The preschoolers are always the most heartwarming, doing simple steps and movements. The older kids have a little more razzle dazzle. And every grandparent in town vied for the front row and a good picture taking vantage.

As my own pride swelled seeing our St. Joseph students performing, I had a good idea of how grandparents might feel. The fruits of the kids dedicated practices showed. We’re grateful for the people in town who volunteer to organize the program every year, and give our students the exposure to fine arts and a fun opportunity.

77 year old Fr. Gary is a retired SCJ, part of our Chamberlain community. For his birthday we treated him to lunch downtown at the Anchor Grill. Santa Claus was making the rounds of local businesses and stopped by our table to pose for a mug shot and wish him the best. (He knows if we’ve been naughty or nice, but isn’t telling). Happy Birthday Fr. Gary!

Guest Blogger: Clare

Entering into the hopeful spirit of the Advent season.

In Religious Studies, as we prepare the students for the coming season of Advent, we have invited them to enter into the hopeful spirit of the season. We talked about the hope that surrounded the first coming of the Christ child in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago; how we still long for the presence of Christ coming into our everyday lives; and how we wait in joyful hope for the coming of Christ in the fullness of time.

The topic provided a valuable opportunity for our Lakota students to gain perspective on the much-needed hope in their lives. We talked about patience, courage and persistence as essential for enduring hope.

That is when one precious first-grade girl helped to define patience as,

“Being able to wait for your turn to use the basketball without getting unhappy.”

The same wise little one explained that courage is,

“When you are learning to write in Kindergarten, and you aren’t sure you’ll be able to do it, but you keep trying.”

Ah, keep trying! That explained the value of persistence, as well.

This led into viewing the video “Keep Going” by Joseph Marshall III, writer, speaker, actor and technical advisor for films, who was born and raised on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. His short but valuable message encourages viewers to use the storms and difficulties of life to grow stronger. He advises that even the smallest, weakest step made in hope is stronger than any trial we encounter.

To round out the lesson, our students were invited to write down three things for which they hoped. These hopes were recorded on “leaves,” which my partner and I are assembling into an Advent wreath made up of all of the hopes and dreams of the students at St. Joseph Indian School.

Sure, there is more than one hope about what will be found under the tree on Christmas morning. But reading hope around this precious circle, one finds messages of healing brokenness in families and the world.

For me, the most tender hope was expressed by one little boy who recently lost his mother.

“I hope my mom can hear my prayers in heaven,” he said.

“She can,” I dared to promise him.

The hopes and dreams of the Lakota students at St. Joseph Indian School.

Growing to their potential

Placing the finished box of staff Christmas cards on Carma’s desk in payroll gave me a feeling of freedom. I could just sign my name and be done quickly, but I try to write a personal note to each because everyone here has an important role to play in making a difference in the lives of our Lakota students. I feel blessed and grateful to be surrounded by so many passionate, creative, hard working folks with lots of ideas and the knack for following through to make things happen. My next task will have to be attending to the incoming pile of Christmas cards growing on my desk . We hear from lots of donors this time of year, and I’m humbled by their generosity.

Last night the five high school homes had their community meeting and announced who gets possession of the traveling academic trophies. The boys of Carola Home not only retained the trophy for the least missing assignment, but passed the Hogebach girls for the highest GPA. Hogebach had the trophy on a shelf near their dining room table. When I walked by the boys home this morning, I saw both trophies sitting in the window, out there for everyone to notice. That kind of pride and competition is OK in my book, and hope that our Native American students continue to push each other to learn and grow to their potential.

Guest Blogger: Cindy

Hello and welcome back! I’m Cindy and I blogged in October about the many things that take place at the beginning of the school year. I like to think that it is the busiest time of the year but it has not slowed down at all!

We are just returning from Thanksgiving Break (where did the time go?) and the students are starting to look forward to Christmas (and break: hooray!) that will be coming up in a few weeks.

Most of our students were able to go home for the Thanksgiving Break. The day before Thanksgiving is a chaotic, but fun-filled day. The student’s guardians all come and pick them up at the school. The Dining Hall puts on a delicious lunch for them to enjoy. Many of them have been coming to St Joseph’s for many years and it is fun to catch up on their lives.

We do have a few students that stay on campus during this time. They are housed in what we refer to as the “break home.” Their time is filled with fun activities such as shopping, movies and games.

This year, the students and staff who stayed on campus were able to participate in the Thanksgiving dinner at St. James Catholic Church. This is a wonderful experience to have fellowship and visit with people from the surrounding areas. It is wonderful that the local people put this on in order to alleviate the loneliness that can be associated with this time of year.

I enjoy this time of year. As my family is grown, I still enjoy going to sports activities. The connection to my St. Joseph’s family is great as I now watch the St. Joseph’s girls play basketball. They are a lot of fun and I love to watch them play. This allows me to interact with the students outside of the school setting. I really enjoy visiting with the students the next day at school on their accomplishments during the game.

As we are preparing for the Christmas Season, two of our 6/7/8^th grade girls homes will be featured in the local Parade of Homes this year. This is a local event when people decorate their homes and allow the community members to tour them. This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to connect with the town of Chamberlain. The girls are giddy as they are enjoying decorating and getting ready for the tours. It is the first time that the homes have participated in the “Parade of Homes” showing off their home, their Christmas decorations, and spirit of the season.

We are also busy educating the students about Christmas during religion and Native American Studies classes. We celebrate the advent season in the school by having a ceremony every Monday morning. We try to get the students to realize that there is more to Christmas than just the presents under the tree.

I want to extend Christmas wishes to all our benefactors this Holiday Season. May your days be very joyful, fun-filled and blessed. Thank you for all the support you have given to St. Joseph’s throughout the years.

“Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day, even every moment in the interior temple of your spirit, remaining like a baby in the boson of the heavenly Father, where you will be reborn each moment in the Divine Word, Jesus Christ”—St. Paul of the Cross

Advent is upon us

As I walked up the aisle to set up for church this morning, 3^rd grader Rudy motioned to me.

“Why is everything purple?”

The prayerful season of Advent is upon us, and he noticed the change in the externals. Of course Advent is more about interior decorating – of our hearts – getting spiritually ready for the wonderful Christmas season. Our children’s choir learned two new songs, Emmanuel, familiar lyrics but in a new setting, and Candles of Advent, to emphasize the hope we hold out in the Light of the World. While in church we can burn real candles, fire regulations won’t let us get away with that in the homes. All of the homes have Advent wreaths, but with electric candles. Each home has age appropriate prayer books and resource materials to help each child enter into the spirit of the season.

While holiday decorations are going up all around us, we ask our homes to hold off on decorating for Christmas until later in December, so our community can experience the Advent season of patient waiting with great expectation. This year, we made an exception for two of the homes. The Stevens and Mathias Homes where our 6^th – 8^th grade girls live just finished up a major remodeling this year, and were asked to participate in Chamberlain’s annual Holiday Parade of Homes. People buy a $10 ticket and are able to tour several area homes to get ideas for decorating and enjoy the Christmas spirit. Proceeds benefited our public library, so it was for a good cause. Our girls baked holiday treats and took great pride in giving visitors tours and showcasing their home. It gave people from town, who might not normally come onto St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus or into the homes, an opportunity to see how our Lakota students live and also learn more about our approach to residential education.

The Stevens Home was named after a long time St. Joseph’s employee, Virginia Stevens, who has since passed away. We did have two special visitors – two of her daughters back for a visit, which made the day doubly special. While one of the daughters was gazing at the dedication portrait of her mother, 6^th grader Jacquelyn remarked, “You look just like her!” That evoked a misty eye, a spreading smile and a big hug. We gathered around the Christmas tree for some photos.

Lots of activity over the weekend. Our high school wrestlers left Saturday at 4:30 a.m. for a tournament, and didn’t return until after midnight. In South Dakota, distances between towns and schools are great and some events have to be played 3 or even 4 hours away. The HS basketball teams had their first scrimmage of the season, and the crowd got a preview of things to come, with our St. Joseph’s students getting lots of playing time. Our own 8^th grade girls hosted a four-team tournament and kept the trophy for the second year in a row. The junior high students not on the team cooked Sloppy Joes and hot dogs, along with cookies and bars to sell at the concession stand.

Our archery team was busy practicing their aim in the school gym, vying for a spot on the team that will compete against other schools at the Lakota Nations Invitational Tournament in a few weeks.

We enjoyed sunny and warm weather, unusual for December. Lots of kids were outside playing games and enjoying time on the playground.

The unusual December weather was enjoyed by everyone!

Guest Blogger: Robin

This month has been very busy here at St. Joseph’s!

With Thanksgiving just past, we have much to be thankful for. Our Lakota students are continually progressing in their studies and the weather (even the chilly parts) is not bad for this time of year. We are grateful for those friends who have come and gone from our lives, and for the multitude of blessings that our Creator has given us.

In the Special Education Department, we are assisting in the classrooms with those students who require our services and others who are working on the same concepts. This is going well, as the students get the individual or small group help they so need to be successful.

Another highlight is that the students are beginning to ask for help and taking on the responsibility of their own learning. As a teacher, this is what we hope for!

It is so fun to see the light spark and shine in their eyes! We have many people who are willing to take the extra time with our students.

The students now see this as a positive! It takes a while to earn trust, but when it happens, it is truly a blessing.

So count your blessings each and every day – no matter how small. They all add up to something great.

The students here at St. Joseph’s Indian School are a blessing to all of us working with them!

Did I remember to say how much I LOVE it here?!?!

Have a very blessed Christmas Season and a Merry and Happy New Year!!!!

The value of giving back

Holiday breaks give me a good excuse to go to church on the nearby Indian Reservations. On Thanksgiving Day, I drove north to Fort Thompson, where a crowd of about 70 gathered to give thanks at mass. Afterwards Sr. Charles, who has worked in the parish and among the Dakota parishioners for over 30 years, cooked three turkeys so anyone in the community who might otherwise be alone, or have a hard time putting together a festive meal, could celebrate the holiday.

Friday was a very quiet day around campus and the office. I got a good start on a lot of the upcoming Christmas correspondence, and tied up loose ends from last week’s travels.

I checked on the break home to see if they needed anything, but everything was going well. A few more high school students came back on Friday so they can take part in basketball practices, but otherwise things have been quiet. The small group went to St. James parish in downtown Chamberlain for their community Thanksgiving dinner, and stayed afterward to help clean up.

Our homes try to involved the students in service projects like that throughout the year, and teach them the value of giving back generously.

A school bus that will house a video educating visitors about the history of Indian Boarding Schools.

Today, I visited Split Rock Studios in St. Paul Minnesota. They are constructing the displays for our Historical Center. Many are nearing completion and hopefully installation will begin in January. I saw the construction of a school bus that will house a video educating visitors about the history of Indian Boarding Schools. A table made from one of our oldest cottonwood trees that was felled in the building project sat next to a replica tree whose leaves will be filled with alumni memories from their days at St. Joseph. Artifacts like old desks, wheel barrows and dance regalia will help tell the story as well.

What jumped out the most for me was to see photo cut outs of some of our Lakota students, and a few larger than life murals created from images I see around me each day. We hope to have a grand opening in late spring or early summer.

Guest Blogger: Fr. Anthony

Greetings from the banks of the Missouri River! The weather is still mild, which is great for the hunters, but not so nice for the farmers and ranchers.

Fr. Steve and a group of students and staff headed for the Big Apple this weekend for a donor luncheon. Last year when they tried, Hurricane Irene brought everything to a standstill. This year they are coming in right behind Superstorm Sandy. The group took letters of support and encouragement from all the students at St. Joseph’s to those impacted by Hurricane Sandy. They were passed out at the lunches so that our guests and others would know that they have not been forgotten as they face the challenge of putting their lives back together.

A variety of things happened here at St. Joseph’s that highlight the activities and events our Lakota students can get involved in. Our student council leaders went to the state capitol in Pierre, South Dakota to be part of more than 90 schools, churches, veterans groups, social clubs and others designated to decorate the Christmas trees that are being set up around the capitol building.

Our inter-city basketball league is going great guns and we have been able to see some good results. There was a young lady last year from Chamberlain who got involved but did not seem to get a lot of playing time. This year when the Chamberlain Cubs came to play the St. Joseph’s Braves, she was part of the team! She seemed to be the first or second one off the bench. It shows the impact the program can have because it gave her the opportunity to improve herself and make new friends. The boys from the area are taking part in the program now and the games have been interesting.

This past Sunday, the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota held a Mass of Thanksgiving in honor of our first Native American Saint, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the Lily of the Mohawks. Several of our students went to the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Sioux Falls to take part. Besides the Mass, a statue was erected in her memory and honor. As Kateri is a patron saint for ecology, the group then visited butterfly complex to see beauty in flight. They ended the day by driving by the water falls that give Sioux Falls its name. The falls are lit, making for a very picturesque scene.

Recently one of our high school students, Erika, had the privilege of casting her first vote in a national election. What really made it special, however,was that she was interviewed as she came out of the polling area and was asked which issue meant the most to her. Her response was the bond issue the local high school was trying to get approved that would help fund a new cultural and activity center at Chamberlain High. Erika saw it as a valuable addition to the school, but sadly it went down to defeat since it needed 60% plus one of all those voting. It only got in the mid-50% range.

Things are getting interesting for our high school students as the winter sports of wrestling and boys’ and girls’ basketball get under way. Wrestling started last week and some of our young men are going out. Girls’ basketball got underway today, which means several girls will be staying over the Thanksgiving Break so they can attend practice. The boys hit the court next Monday and a good number are planning on going out for that.

As we approach Thanksgiving, it is a reminder of our gratitude for your generosity. The students and staff keep you in their prayers. May the Great Spirit bless you with good health, much happiness and safe travel if you are heading ‘over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go!’

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

St. Joseph’s Indian School