Looking great girls! Juliana, Paite and Grace in their beautiful powwow regalia.
In honor of my Dad’s 70th birthday (Sunday), I am dedicating three sets of regalia I have sewn for St. Joseph’s powwow. I think this is a fitting tribute. My Dad’s grandfather was born on the Yankton Indian reservation here in South Dakota, before moving to Michigan in the early 1900’s.
Grandpa kept his heritage a secret, probably because of the prejudices of that period. So many of the great things about my dad are things he learned from his grandpa, and these are things he passed on to my brothers—skills in carpentry, camping, fixing things and telling stories. Sadly, Dad didn’t learn about his Nakota traditions growing up, so this wasn’t something he was able to share with us kids. This makes me sad when I think about it.
Later in life, Dad started getting curious about his grandfather’s history, and started learning about Native American traditions and culture. I think this influenced my decision to work at St. Joseph’s Indian School and to participate in the seventh grade Cultural Trip for the past two years. I want today’s kids to know and be proud of their culture.
My family history is important to me. My mother’s family has a proud tradition of sewing. Busha (my great grandma) used to sew vestments for the parish priest, and I learned to sew on her treadle machine. I feel closest to my mom and Grammy when I am sewing. When I make regalia, I feel like I am honoring both of my great-grandmas — my Polish one and my Nakota one.
I am grateful to the donors and supporters of St. Joseph’s Indian School, who make things like powwow, our cultural trip and ceremony possible. In this season of giving, sometimes the gift of memories and pride are the most lasting of all. Thanks again, Claire!
Each year, we host an open house and invite our teachers, mentors and other staff that work with our kids to come over and have some Christmas goodies. This is a great chance for the girls to show off their home and use their social skills and manners in a larger setting.
Great hustle Kira!
We just completed our fourth and fifth grade basketball season and the girls went out with a victory in their last game at a tournament in town. This was such a fun bunch to spend time with! It was great to be able to watch the different skills we try to coach begin to appear in the games. At this age, we spend a majority of our time in practice working on basic skills and how to play the game properly from dribbling the basketball, to sportsmanship on and off the court.
The girls also had the opportunity today to go through the Christmas store and pick out gifts for their families. After that, they went to see Santa, wrap their presents and enjoy some treats.
We have also continued our walking program with the girls. We are happy to announce that we are currently at a total of 10,789 laps in the gym, which is a little over 500 miles!
From the William Home, may you all have a very Merry Christmas and all your travels be safe!
We heard today from a woman who came across St. Joseph’s Christmas cards in an unusual way. Her friends get together regularly to play cards – a women’s poker night. They don’t gamble for money, but this month everyone brought extra Christmas cards to share. She had a hot hand and her winnings included several Christmas cards from St. Joseph’s. She liked them so much that called in to find out more about our school, and decided to become a donor.
Any unique stories about how you came in contact with St. Joseph’s Indian School?
Today we held our staff open house at Akta Lakota Museum. We had discounts up to 40% to encourage staff to do some Christmas shopping on campus. They are proud when they wear St. Joseph’s Indian School shirts. Folks also appreciate the intricate and traditional hand crafted items, or enjoy picking up the latest books on Plains Indian Culture.
Our Tokéya uŋkí nájiŋpi Historical Center is making great strides this week. Workers are installing the displays and hanging artifacts on the walls. Every day I make it a point to visit to see the latest progress. One of the rooms shows the transition from dormitory life, when we had 70 children sleeping in one big room, to our Family Living Units, with 10-12 children in a home setting.
Sandi, who has taught at St. Joseph’s for 35 years walked through the open house with Matt, one of our new teachers. When she saw the pictures and artifacts, it brought back so many memories, and she told Matt about some of the history and changes she’s seen. One of my hopes is that the displays tell a story, evoke memories and help us pass traditions on to future generations. We also know the history of Indian Boarding Schools has a negative side, and we hope for alumni whose experience of school include painful memories, this can be a place of healing.
We have been waiting to allow our Native American students to take part in what used to be a very common, easily created ceremony. With a burn ban in effect since the summer here in South Dakota, and without a staff person to be able to pour water for the sacred ceremony, Inipi – the Lakota rite of purification – was a rare occurrence at St. Joseph’s Indian School.
We now have a Cultural Specialist on staff to help our students, families and staff learn more about the culture of our Oceti Sakowin people.
Dave came to us in September. In the classroom, he has taught us to play the old hand games and has also worked with the boys and girls on the drum. He shares as much as he can to help staff learn too.
In addition to spending time in classrooms, Dave pours water for the Inipi ceremony. He was able to do this for our older boys (sixth grade through high school) just days after the burn ban was lifted. It is a ceremony of prayer. All areas of living beings are a part: rocks, people, four legged and winged. It is a gateway to learning more language and culture for our students.
We will take Dave’s expertise to the Lakota Nation Invitational in the hand games competition on December 21. A group of students who have grasped the hand game songs and way of playing will travel to Rapid City, South Dakota for the day and then off for a long Christmas break. We’ll let you know how they fair at the games!
This past mid-term, five of our boys were on the honor roll and two were very close, which is awesome for freshman. We call that success!!
Hey everyone, this is Mike and April from the Carola Home.
This time of year our boys are balancing school and athletics as well as preparing to go home for the holidays. This can be an overwhelming time for all the boys, but especially the freshman.
Freshmen have already been adjusting to new houseparents, new school, new curriculum and new friends. Our four Juniors have had a couple of years to learn what works for them to succeed in all areas. However, our three Freshmen still have a lot to learn and this is usually the hardest time of their high school years.
Thankfully, our Juniors have taken our Freshmen under their wings and given them advice on how to deal with homework – number one being do not get behind with missing assignments – classes and teachers, where to go and who you may have to be extra nice to. 🙂 And of course advice on their houseparents – don’t try that, they won’t let you get away with this, handle your business and they won’t make it theirs.
Each student has their own ways to succeed and all seven of our boys are doing just that, succeeding. With all that high school life brings to offer our boys, they are doing an amazing job keeping up with it all.
In our eyes my boys are all number one!!!!
St. Joseph’s gives the boys a lot of support with the learning center, which is run by our High School Academic Advisor, Steve. Steve works with Chamberlain High School to help them with their homework. Our Transitional Specialist, Pam, helps our Juniors with upcoming college trips and helps them plan for the future after St. Joseph’s.
Basketball season has started with Errol, Cody, William and Kyle playing for the Chamberlain Cubs. Our home will be attending many games in the next couple of months to support their fellow classmates.
Shawn is involved in CHS’s Wrestling Team. We also have one student Dean, who has been actively preparing for the past several weeks to attend LNI (the Lakota Nation Invitational), to participate in the Knowledge Bowl Competition. Trey, one of our Freshmen, is not in any sports. He thought it would be best to give all his focus on his schoolwork, so he can continue his streak of no missing assignments and A honor roll.
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.
Merry Christmas!
As we are preparing for the Christmas Season, two of our 6/7/8th 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
As I walked up the aisle to set up for church this morning, 3rd 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 6th – 8th 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, 6th 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 8th 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!
Hi! I am Linea and I teach sixth, seventh and eighth grade reading at St. Joseph’s Indian School. For the past nine weeks, we have been reading nonfiction stories, including biographies, autobiographies memoirs and historical nonfiction.
We are working on understanding the elements of tone, setting, characters and conflicts, and how they affect nonfiction. We are also learning how to determine fact from opinion. It is enlightening to see how nonfiction can grab their interest as well as fiction, and encouraging to see them relate different stories to their own experiences.
Our goal is to help the students comprehend information and make it a little bit fun at the same time!
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!!!!
Early last Friday, November 16, two of our middle school boys, Elliot (8th Grade) and Jay (7th Grade), along with Fr. Steve, Adria (Social Strategist), and myself, Brock (5th Grade teacher and chaperone for the boys) boarded a plane for Minneapolis/St. Paul where we would then board our connecting flight to New York City.
This was the start of many “firsts” for the boys, as they had never flown before. Thankfully, we had smooth sailing, giving the boys a positive flying experience.
We landed as scheduled in New York City and the adventures began! We were not able to get a taxi for all five of us so we split up and took separate taxis to the hotel. This was also the boy’s first taxi ride. The boys and I were in one and Fr. Steve and Adria were in the other.
We grabbed a hot dog from a street vendor (another first) outside our hotel!
After arriving at the hotel, we unloaded our luggage into one of our rooms on the 26th floor and headed out to see the city. This was also the first time the boys had been so high up in a building. We grabbed a hot dog from a street vendor (another first) outside our hotel and headed for the subway to Times Square.
From this point forward, the boys were able to experience numerous other “firsts” ranging from tasting new foods to seeing all of the sights of New York City throughout the remainder of the three days in New York.
After the subway ride to Times Square, Fr. Steve led us to the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, where we purchased our City Sights New York City bus tour tickets.
We proceeded with the Uptown Tour, seeing a variety of sights for much of the afternoon, including Time Square South, the Theatre District North, Columbus Circle/Time Warner Center, Lincoln Center, Central Park, the American Museum of Natural History/New York Historical Society, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Grant’s Tomb and Riverside Church, the Apollo Theatre, Harlem, the Museum of the City of New York, the Guggenheim & Jewish Museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Central Park Zoo to name a few.
Elliot and Jay’s first subway ride!
We exited our bus to walk around Central Park for a few minutes and took several pictures. We also were on parts of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade route throughout the tour, and saw preparations for the parade. This made us more interested in watching the parade this year, having just recently been on part of it.
We then returned to the bus tour and started part of the Downtown Tour of New York. We were able to see many more magnificent sights!
Some of them were The Empire State Building, Macy’s, the Flatiron District, Union Square, SoHo, China Town and the World Trade Center.
Quick stop in Central Park for several pictures!
We exited the tour again at the World Trade Center stop and went to meet up with the rest of our group who had arrived a day earlier. We settled into our rooms and met up for a wonderful Oriental supper not far from our hotel.
After supper, we went back to Times Square to take in more of the New York City experience. We walked through St. Patrick Cathedral and walked by Rockefeller Center, taking a group shot in front of the still-being-decorated Christmas tree.
We continued our foot tour walking by Radio City Music Hall, eventually returning to Times Square. We then boarded our City Sights tour bus for more as we drove by Madison Square Garden and saw the lit up Empire State Building on our way back to our hotel. We exited the tour to return to our hotel rooms for some much-needed rest.
On Saturday morning, we embarked on a short tour of Battery Park seeing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from a distance. After pictures with Lady Liberty in the background, we continued to tour the Financial District, seeing the “Bull” on Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange.
A quick group shot in front of the still-being-decorated Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center!
We returned to the hotel to freshen up for one of the main reasons for the trip: to meet with our donors and thank them for their generous contributions to St. Joseph’s Indian School! The boys graciously took pictures with all the donors attending and, although admittedly nervous, gave their individual accounts of life at St. Joseph’s Indian School. They both did a fine job and represented St. Joseph’s Indian School well.
After the donor appreciation luncheon, we ventured out again to see more of the city, getting the most out of our City Sights Tour tickets. We boarded a bus in Battery Park and continued with the Downtown Tour seeing the skyline of Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Bridge, South Street Seaport and Pier 17 before heading by China Town, the Ladies Mile, the United Nations and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, to name a few.
We again departed the bus tour at Times Square and attended Mass at St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church before going to eat supper at Ellen’s Stardust Diner, home of the world-famous singing wait staff. After supper, we continued to walk around Times Square taking numerous pictures to show friends back home. A “short” subway ride back toward our hotel ended the day, retiring for the night to rest up for another day.
Elliot and Jay with Lady Liberty.
On Sunday, the second of our main reasons for being in New York took place. We had another donor appreciation luncheon in Melville Long Island. The boys again graciously took pictures with all the donors attending and were still admittedly nervous speaking in front of the group; but were able to represent St. Joseph’s Indian School in a positive manner as they answered questions from the audience about their experiences here at St. Joseph’s Indian School.
With both donor appreciation lunches completed, we had one more night to explore the Big Apple. We did some shopping in the SoHo area before heading one last time to Times Square where we ate at John’s Pizzeria. After supper, we took in more of the sights and sounds Times Square had to offer before entering the subway to venture back toward our hotel. After a couple “extra” subway rides, we were back to our hotel to pack for our return flight to South Dakota to see our family and friends waiting for us back at home.
Everyone loved John’s Pizzeria!
Although it was an awesome experience of many “firsts” for several involved, no one hesitated to state that they would be interested in making many other “firsts” and a few “seconds” experiences in the future.
