Native American – Page 21 – St. Joseph's Indian School

A weekend update

Dear Friends of St. Joseph’s,

I have the privilege of sharing what’s been going on at St. Joseph’s Indian School over the last few days since Fr. Steve is away on a donor luncheon to Dover, Delaware and the northwest side of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, near King of Prussia and Valley Forge.

Last Wednesday, a severe weather drill was held for the whole State of South Dakota.

We work hard to keep the Lakota boys and girls safe. It’s important to be aware of what sounds would be used should an actual tornado be in the area. We also practice fire and lockdown drills with our Native American students to keep everyone prepared for any situation.

Friday was our 18^th Annual Sobriety Walk and the weather was perfect. The program started with a presentation by Sheltered Reality, a group founded in 1996 to help young people. After their fine presentation, the students and staff made their walk through downtown Chamberlain urging everyone to say NO to drug and alcohol abuse.

Saturday was also busy as Chamberlain High School’s Native American Club sponsored their 6^th Annual Powwow in the Chamberlain Armory. They had a good turnout with royalty and drum groups. The event began with 55 dancers and kept growing! Several St. Joseph’s students and staff took part. CONGRATULATIONS to St. Joseph’s high school students who are officers in the club and did a great job in organizing and running the event.

Sunday was also a beautiful day and gave everyone the chance to get outdoors after a long winter that did not seem to want to end. We had over 10 inches of snow in the last two and a half weeks, so warm, sunny days were a welcome change.

Fishermen were out in force on the Missouri River. There were so many boats in the water that it looked like airplanes in a holding pattern as they came off the water to load their boats.

Chamberlain was hosting a baseball game downtown and some of our older students were active in a softball game here on campus. The younger students had gotten their bikes out and were pedaling all over the campus. I think everyone is ready for warmer weather.

Over at the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center, the new displays are in place. Thanks to the effort of Split Rock Studios, the overhaul of the displays in the museum and the addition of our historical and alumni center are now complete. We hope you’ll have the chance to visit and see all the changes!

Hope your weekend went well too. We keep you in our prayers and are very grateful for the generosity you show the Lakota children attending St. Joseph’s Indian School. May the Great Spirit bless you and yours this week and always. Pilamaya!

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

St. Joseph’s Indian School

Snow in April

The Lakota children enjoyed mild temperatures while playing in the April snow! — An unpredictable South Dakota spring brought lots of snow, but mild temperatures.

As St. Joseph’s Indian School starts to wind down for the year, several factors have come in to play this spring. It is unbelievable the amount of snow we have received in South Dakota for the month of April!! St. Joseph’s even missed a day of school due to the weather – that rarely happens since our Lakota students live on campus. The students truly enjoyed being outside to play in the snow as the temperature was in the low 30’s, which is relatively warm.

St. Joseph’s track team has been diligently practicing, either in the Recreation Center because of snow or outside when the weather is clear. Needless to say, with all the snow, our track meets have been canceled so far. We are hoping that the next one on Monday will take place as the temperatures are suppose to be in the 70s. Hurrah for the Glorious South Dakota Sunshine!!

Last week, I was involved with the Mr. Relay For Life Pageant that St. Joseph’s Relay For Life hosted at the Oacoma Community Center. The pageant was a spin-off of the Miss American Pageant, but with gentlemen of the community participating as contestants.

It was awesome to see the wonderful turnout from the community to support us in our endeavor to raise money for the fight against cancer! Of course, it really helped that our gentleman were such great sports with their choice of evening wear, talent and interview questions for the night’s competition. It was an evening enjoyed by many family and community members.

I would like to thank all of St. Joseph’s donors for your support and donations throughout the school year. You are a blessing to our school and the Native American students.

“Wealth and honor come from you O’Lord; you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.

–Chronicles 29:12–

The Lakota students enjoyed playing in the snow in April! — A mild April day is perfect for making a snow dinosaur!

A week in review

Last week, I was talking to one of St. Joseph’s newer employees who is also quite young. What impressed me most was his expressed desire to make a difference. Sometimes, my generation complains about the younger generation. Too often, we underestimate youth who very much want to be part of a group that has high ideals and wants to address the problems of the world in a meaningful way. That fresh attitude and enthusiasm helps light the fire under me and spurs me on.

That evening, hot dogs for supper at Giles Home (high school boys) wasn’t a gourmet feast, but the satisfying conversation and connection with the guys there was good food for the soul. The whole house is made up of freshmen. As they sprint toward the school year’s finish line, they’re finding their way together. They all have their days where they are moody and flighty teenagers, but I notice a maturing and growth – satisfying to see.

…

Mike, one of our Family Service Counselors shared he was having a difficult time getting information to the family of a Lakota student who has been accepted into our high school program. The family struggles with the basics, and last month didn’t have the money to pay the deposit on the Post Office box rent. The same happens with dropped phone coverage or even loss of home utilities when times get hard.

Wednesday

I joined 24 students who had achieved perfect attendance for a trip downtown to see the movie “The Croods.”

This cave family didn’t live up to my favorite, the Flintstones, but the kids enjoyed the movie and the outing.

– As an adult, do you still enjoy animated movies from time to time?

The Summerlee Home (fourth and fifth grade girls) was my supper stop. My table got talking about cooking – dishes they can prepare (mostly involving noodles or eggs) and favorites from home, like fry bread and smothered burritos.

These girls just moved back into the newly remodeled home a few weeks ago, and showed me how they’d decorated to give the rooms a homey feel. They like dinosaurs, and a model T-Rex was perched on an end table. The T-Rex was wearing an improvised Easter bonnet, complete with homemade rabbit ears to be in the spirit of the season!

Kids can be fun and creative that way, and so can our houseparents. Cante wanted me to check out the guest bathroom, since that was her weekly responsibility and she worked hard to clean it. With the home so new, they take extra pride in keeping it looking good.

Thursday

The priests, sisters, and permanent deacon who live on nearby Indian Reservations and serve on the Lower Brule and Crow Creek Pastoral team make up an important part of our outreach ministry.

I attended their team meeting and we discussed some long range strategic planning to address the pressing social needs they meet every day. I enjoyed being a part of the opening round of sharing again.

Recent snows and ice kept attendance down in some of the missions. Fr. Hendrik actually slid off the road and had to be towed out by parishioners behind him who happened to have chains in their pickup truck.

Fr. Vincent took Fr. Jose for his first experience of a Native American funeral yesterday. They left at 8 a.m. and didn’t get home until 4 p.m., which is not unusual. Native Americans observe much more cultural ritual surrounding death and burial.

Next up: Poetry

The end of the school year is quickly approaching at St. Joseph’s!

As always, there are many extra activities occurring before we dismiss for the summer, which keep the Lakota children (and their teachers!) very busy. In reading, we have finished up our first unit on poetry.

This was a big change from our previous units on nonfiction informational texts. Everyone seem to enjoy the change. In the next couple of weeks, students will be putting their knowledge to the test and engage in the art of writing a few short poems. I always enjoy seeing their imaginations come alive!

Last week, we had some visitors from the Mission Education Conference come into our classroom. We decided it would be fun to see what they knew about the elements of poetry, so we made up a bingo game using poetry terms.

Our Native American students and visitors helped each other out; everyone had a good time and it proved to be a good learning tool for the students and visitors as well!

~ Linea – 6^th – 8^th grade reading teacher

Mission Education visitors spent time with the Lakota children in their classrooms at St. Joseph’s. — The Lakota students and Mission Education visitors helped each other play bingo with poetry terms.

A visit from Fr. Jose

Fr. José, an SCJ from our Portuguese province, recently arrived at St. Joseph’s Indian School to begin a four-month stay with us. He is finishing a Masters degree in the area of Economy and International Action at Catholic University in Paris. He is studying human rights as it relates to minority communities and we will be very interested to hear his observations about life in South Dakota.

A significant part of his time here will be devoted to research and study. But, he also wants to improve his conversational English. Children are wonderful language teachers because they have a limited and simpler vocabulary. Where adults are often too polite, kids will laugh when you use the wrong word and correct you. We ate supper in the Dennis Home (1^st-3^rd grade girls) and the Lakota girls helped Fr. Jose make sure he knew the names of all the foods, plates, utensils and condiments on the table.

We had some fun moments on the playground with the kids. We didn’t quite know how to translate “Red Rover” into Portuguese! The girls had fun trying to break through clasped arms. Fr. Jose also had his first attempt at tetherball. To me, it is a monotonous game, but our younger kids love to play it for long stretches at a time.

When the kids asked Fr. José to say something in his language, they sat spellbound as they heard the Lord’s prayer for them in Portuguese, and the Hail Mary in French. Then they in turn began teaching him some of their bedtime prayers.

Friday, our Native American drum group had a practice scheduled in the church, and I took Fr. Jose for his first experience of a Lakota drum song. I could see him tapping his foot in time to the drum beat. Drum music truly is contagious, and you can almost feel your heart beating along.

Finally back on campus!

After some travel during spring break, I’m back on St. Joseph’s campus! Here are a few recent highlights:

Easter Sunday

I completed my week long stay with our retired SCJ elders by celebrating with them the great feast of the Resurrection. I was with them to present some days of recollection about the religious life we share. While they said they appreciated my input, I probably benefitted more from being with them.

I was inspired by their dedication and faithfulness to the daily routine of prayer. None of us quits learning, and these men keep up an active intellectual life. The living room tables were filled with magazines and journals to keep abreast of the issues of the day. In addition to recounting interesting stories from the past, they talked politics and current events, religion and business, with a little sports mixed in for good measure.

One day while I was out walking, I came across 91-year-old Brother Gabriel, far from home with rosary beads in his hand and a steady, determined step. He walks 3-5 miles each day. Instead of complaining about what he can no longer do, he does what he can, which is a good help to good health. Should I live to such a ripe old age, I hope I’m like that too.

Tuesday

I spent a morning at St. Joseph’s new donor care center to see how staff there is doing. I try to be a resource in our office to answer questions about school and programs, but even those in the business office are very aware and engaged about what’s going on for the Lakota boys and girls.

I didn’t “accomplish” many practical things, but walked around the office and heard about donors whose stories touched the hearts of those who answer our phones. Sometimes I describe my role as Director of St. Joseph’s as being the head cheerleader! I am grateful for all that our staff does in all areas of campus that contributes to our goals and mission.

Our Parent Advisory committee had their spring meeting.

Looking at our high school data, we were impressed to see that, in the past three years, the number of Honor Roll students has more than doubled, while the number under a 2.0 GPA has been cut in half. We make an effort for each student to succeed, but ultimately, they have to be the ones making the determined effort.

With 40 Native American students this year, our St. Joseph’s students make up a significant portion of the total Chamberlain enrollment of 300 students. As we prepare our eighth graders to transition to high school, next year we may have closer to 50. The Chamberlain High School principal told us that, with the vast rural nature of our part of the world, 50 students is larger than the entire population of 25 High Schools in the state of South Dakota!

Our parents are very concerned about our bullying policies and efforts at prevention, so we reviewed those at the meeting. Later in the month, we are training a group of 20 staff in a new prevention program. We plan to expand the training to all our Child Services workers at orientation before the new school year.

We showed the parents our new historical center. One alumnus looked at the display case with items our development office has sent out over the years and saw one of the glow-in-the-dark rosaries that used to earn him a penny allowance for stuffing into envelopes to be sent all over the country. Other displays triggered many memories.

Thursday

The hallways at school were unusually quiet as state-required academic testing was underway. Bathroom breaks were staggered for one class at a time, and silence even reigned there. Our teachers are experimenting with an incentive package. The students get to pick a reward or activity they enjoy, and if they pay attention, participate and complete their tests in a timely way, they can earn extra of their favorite time. We’ll see how it goes.

We have a lot of phones on campus, but also lots of activity, so when people call they may get a recording instead of someone live. I spent this afternoon recording new messages for our list of options. It’s strange when I call the school and hear my own voice! But we are trying to do a better job of getting to calls as quickly as possible.

Friday

We practiced today for this weekend’s first communion and baptisms. When I practice for a church event, one of my goals is that the practice shouldn’t take longer than the actual ceremony, but I don’t think that worked today. With 18 students ranging from grades 2 through 8, it takes some time to organize and get everyone in the right places with the right idea of what they need to say or do.

Learning Life Skills in PLS

Things have been heating up in Personal Living Skills (PLS) class this last month! St. Joseph’s sixth, seventh and eighth grade Lakota students have been busy in the kitchen, planning menus, and preparing foods.

We put lots of emphasis on how to plan nutritious meals, making wise food choices when shopping, and how to store foods properly.

Our Native American students also learn how to follow recipes, which includes reading food preparation directions and measuring ingredients. Then, of course, we give it a try! Some of their favorite labs have been pizza Stromboli, fry bread, donuts, pumpkin French toast, Butterfinger cake, and fruit smoothies.

A great meal also includes proper table etiquette. Setting the table is an important part of meal preparation, especially in a formal setting. When our students are faced with the dilemma of three forks, they will know which one to use!

The Lakota students learn to cook in Personal Living Skills class. — Learning to read a recipe and measure ingredients are important first steps.

The Native American children learned that measuring flour can be difficult! — The flour can get away from you if you’re not careful!

It’s always busy at the REC Center

St. Joseph’s REC Center is always a busy place during the school year and especially during the winter months. Andy, Mark, Bev, Shelly and I have our hands full during that time. It is, however, a different look during spring break.

REC Center is home to the St. Joseph’s Braves sports teams. — St. Joseph’s boys’ basketball teams play in January and February.

Spring break for the Lakota boys and girls gives us time to catch up on many things that we don’t have time for in January and February. A lot of “little things” take place such as deep cleaning and organizing equipment. This spring break was no exception. With the addition of a handicap bathroom stall, we had extensive cleaning in both the REC Center office area and bathroom area. The additional bathroom is a great addition to the building and will be greatly utilized by St. Joseph’s staff, students, families visitors.

We did have one spring break home on campus, so there was still some normal activity. Each day, they scheduled time in the gym, pool, weight room or game room. They also borrowed DVD’s and games to enjoy during break.

Another nice part of break is planning upcoming activities for the Lakota students. The REC Center provides lots of programs and activities for the children from now through the end of the school year. The time it all gets put together is during spring break!

Now that the Native American students have returned to St. Joseph’s, we will start track for the sixth, seventh and eighth grade students, T-Ball for the first through third graders, and softball for all the homes in grades 4-8! All these activities will wrap up in the middle of May.

In addition to activities for everyone, we have several staff and students we will be working with individually for wellness/health workouts.

All in all, spring break is nice and welcomed by everyone. It is bitter sweet, however – we get a little break from the daily grind, but we also know it means the end of the school year is near.

Thanks for your support and have a happy Spring!

The Lakota children stay healthy and fit at St. Joseph’s Indian School. — The REC Center offers activities like wrestling and tumbling for the younger Lakota students.

All St. Joseph’s homes participate in field day, houseparents included! — Each spring, the REC Center plans field day for all the Lakota children.

Bryan

A peaceful, happy Easter

Greetings once again from the banks of the Missouri River!

We hope that you and yours had a very blessed, peaceful and happy Easter.

Things were a bit quiet this past weekend since the Lakota (Sioux) students were away for the Spring/Easter break. They’ll be returning today and we’ll have an Easter egg hunt later this afternoon.

Fr. Steve is on his way back from Florida, so I have the chance to bring you up-to-date on what’s been going on.

I was able to help with Holy Thursday services at St. Michael’s in Kennebec, South Dakota, which is about 30 miles west of us here in Chamberlain. It is one of the mission parishes covered by our pastoral team at the Lower Brule Indian Reservation. I enjoyed having the chance to celebrate with the community there.

I concelebrated Easter Vigil at St. James in Chamberlain, helping Fr. Guy Blair, SCJ. One of our houseparents had been part of their RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) program this past year and joined the church at the Vigil.

It was an honor to take part in the service and helped get me excited since our RCIC (Rite of Christian Initiation for Children) will have its celebration this coming Sunday, when 18 of our Native American students receive the Sacraments of Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation.

Easter Day was quiet and relaxing. I had Mass for St. Joseph’s students staying in the break Home (those who stayed on campus instead of going home for the Spring/Easter break) prior to their outing to Mitchell, South Dakota.

It was also quiet since it appears the snow geese, which are on their migration back to the Arctic, have finally headed north. Their normal route home was feeling the effect of mid-Western snow storms and frozen waters, thus their path was pushed further to the west, which brought them into our area. They were all over the place – the local paper estimated that there were about 50,000 in Brule County!

Again, best wishes for a very happy Easter Season. Be assured of our prayers for you and your intentions, as we are truly grateful for your support of St. Joseph’s Indian School. May the Great Spirit continue to bless and reward you.

Sincerely,

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

St. Joseph’s Indian School

Chamberlain, SD

My way of giving back

Hi, my name is Jennifer and I am the Web Producer at St. Joseph’s Indian School. I work in the business office, updating our website and sending out emails. I help keep benefactors informed of the happenings around St. Joseph’s campus.

I am an enrolled member of the Lower Brule Sioux tribe and was fortunate to be a St. Joseph’s Indian School scholarship recipient. Looking for employment after college, I decided St. Joseph’s was the right move for me.

My father is a Commander in the U. S. Public Health Service and has worked for Indian Health Service for almost 30 years. His job took my family and me from state to state, and from one Indian Reservation to the next, throughout my childhood.

He was once given an eagle feather – the greatest honor a Native American can receive – by a Lakota medicine man from the Black Hills for his work with the elderly. His passion for helping Native Americans and giving back has been my inspiration to do the same.

Working for St. Joseph’s Indian School is my way of giving back to my people. I am fortunate to help our people; even though I do not work directly with the students, this is my way of giving something better for the next generation.

An enrolled member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Jennifer’s inspiration to give back to the Lakota people is her father. — Jennifer, St. Joseph’s Web Producer and her father, a Commander in the U. S. Public Health Service.