Hi, my name is Dianne—I am Administrative Assistant in the school— and I just thought I would catch you up on what is going on at St. Joseph’s Indian School!
We are in the fourth week of the second quarter of school—just a couple of weeks until Thanksgiving Break, and midterm is a week away. This year has gone by so fast, but time flies when you’re having fun!
And fun we have had … Halloween was so much fun for all the students and staff. A good portion of the school was dressed up in their costumes for the day and after school everyone went trick or treating here on campus. I, myself, came as a rock star! Many of the offices and all of the homes have had Halloween treats to share. At the end of trick or treating, the Rec Center has a grand march and costume judging contest. There are so many innovative costumes to see! It really is fun to watch!
We are very busy here at school with our regular schedule of classes and many extracurricular activities also. Today, we have two girls basketball games—one here at St. Joseph’s and one away.
Service Plan Meetings are being held, which are much like Teacher/Parent Conferences and are held twice per year. These include the teacher, the parent/guardian, the family service counselor, the houseparent and the student themselves.
This week we will have our Honor Roll Assemblies for first quarter. Our prizes have arrived and they will be given out to those on the A and B Honor Roll and those with Perfect/Outstanding Attendance for first quarter. I think the students will love what we ordered for them—notebooks and bookmarks with Native American designs. They are quite beautiful! I also have made their certificates on award paper with Native American designs.
We have a lot to accomplish before Thanksgiving Break, which seems to be just around the corner. It will be a good time for staff and students alike to take a little break from all the daily schoolwork and teaching to regroup and be ready to begin refreshed when we return.
Thanks for all your support to aid us in what we do for our Native American students!
Greetings friends of St. Joseph’s Indian School! I hope the Feast of All Souls Day finds you doing well!
Things here on St. Joseph’s campus are going well! It is hard to believe we have finished our first quarter of school and are already a couple of weeks into the second quarter. My, how times flies! The students are working hard to keep their grades up and do well in school.
Happy Halloween from everyone at St. Joseph’s Indian School!
Halloween was a great hit. Most of the kids dressed up in costumes and there were some great costumes! The students were able to trick-or-treat here on campus and then take part in a costume contest. Some of the homes also went into Chamberlain to trick-or-treat as well. All of the students I have talked to say they really enjoyed Halloween!
With Halloween past us now, the next big events on the campus of St. Joseph’s Indian School are girls basketball, Thanksgiving and Christmas. We haven’t seen much snow here yet, so I wonder if we will have a white Christmas this year!
Our girls’ basketball seasons kicks off on Monday, November 5. The girls are very excited to begin their season. The girls are working hard in practice and learning all they can in the short time they have before their games begin. Basketball season is always a busy time as all of the games take place between early November and Christmas Break. With as fast as this school year is going, both Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before we know it!
As we move closer to Thanksgiving, I would like to thank each and every one of you for all of the support you give to St. Joseph’s Indian School. Please know that you are remembered in our prayers!
Each classroom chose a saint to learn about and designed a banner to represent them!
We had two masses for the Lakota students today for the All Saints Holy Day. Right after school grades 1-8 gathered in church with all their teachers and houseparents. Of course our opening song had to be a lively rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
Each of the classrooms chose a saint to learn about that had some special significance to them, and designed a banner that was proudly carried in the opening procession. Saints Jochim and Anne (patron of grandparents) included the names of several of our students grandparents. I myself found out our newest saint, Kateri Tekakwitha, is the patroness of ecology. St. Maximillian Kolbe is a help and inspiration for those struggling with addictions, which is a big hurdle many of our students’ families know about all too well.
Since many of our high school students work after school or are involved in sports practice or getting ready for the school play, we had another mass for them later in the evening. It was a much smaller and more intimate crowd (56 counting staff and students). But the older students seem to enjoy the occasions when they are among peers, and the homily can focus on their reality.
Students volunteered to be readers and hospitality ministers. It takes some courage to read or speak in front of friends, but overcoming that reluctance is another step in building self-confidence and growing into maturity. Each of the homes brought petitions for our common prayers. Our kids are very concerned about all the folks who are suffering on the East Coast and beyond from super-storm Sandy, and that was the prayer most commonly voiced.
I spoke about preparing for the future, and having the attitudes of the beatitudes in trying to make a difference in addressing the suffering of our needy world. I drew some chuckles when I told the high school students, “Our main goal is to get rid of you!” But of course, the goal is having them graduate and move on with the firm and well-rounded foundation they need to pursue God’s hopes and dreams for them.
After mass, a few of the students hung around to chat. They’ve been trying to plan a dance that didn’t happen over Halloween, and now the other holidays are fast approaching. Chris joked that maybe their theme should be zombie turkeys carrying presents!
I noticed one of the girls gravitating to the saints banners. She quietly and contemplatively approached each one, observing how each of the classes had portrayed our heroes of faith. When I asked about her favorite, it was the Holy Innocents, with the names of children that our students knew and prayed for.
My hope is to instill that sense of prayerful wonder and reflection in all of our students, and that we can help form young people who will be known for heroic virtue.
Ahhhh, Halloween. It is a great day to flirt with the things that scare us the most, and poke a little fun at the dark side of life. In other words, it’s just another typical day in St. Joseph’s High School Program.
I kicked off my Halloween season with parent teacher conferences at Chamberlain High School last Thursday. I really did not need to be afraid. I sat at a table marked “Giles Home” with a printout of my 10 students. One by one, the CHS teachers came by to talk about students’ progress in their classes. We keep close track of missing assignments and grades, so there weren’t any surprises. I heard the usual feedback that students do well on daily work but struggle on tests. The individual remarks were very heartening though.
“He’s a great kid.”
“He seems very interested in the subject.”
“He contributes a lot to discussions.”
“He has terrific penmanship.”
The Giles Home climbing Harney Peak.
The following day, the Giles Home departed on a long weekend home trip to Rapid City. We started out by climbing Harney Peak, the highest point in the Black Hills. In the snow. Who’s afraid of a 6 hour hike in the snow, right? Who’s afraid of not keeping up with 10 guys with boundless energy and the skill of mountain goats? Who’s afraid of not making it back down before dark and having to use an iPhone for a flashlight?
Nay!
What we had to be afraid of was getting in their way at the chow line at Golden Corral afterwards.
The next day, we took them to Flags and Wheels, where they got to play go-karts, laser tag and bumper cars. This would not be scary, except that houseparents Melissa, Aaron and I are veterans of the high school summer program. We know that these guys are going to be in driver’s ed next year. They demonstrated some serious demolition skills with those bumper cars. Ruthless, I tell you!
Who thinks these boys are ready for drivers ed?!
And of course we had to go to a haunted house at the Rapid City fairgrounds. Caden (Aaron and Melissa’s 8 year old son) set the tone by hugging the big scary monster that greeted us in the parking lot.
Aww, shucks, how scary could the Terror in the Dark house be? Despite this rather benign first impression, two guys didn’t even make it past the second room before surrendering, “I’m out!!” The rest of the rooms were a blur of blood-curdling shrieks, menacing monsters and guys clinging to each other for dear life. I was NOT the only one screaming like a girl. Yes, some days it is good to be terrorized by things that can’t actually hurt you. Especially if you have good friends nearby to grab onto, and four reliable houseparents to make sure you get home safely.
Honestly, there are things that scare me a lot more than icy mountains, funhouse cars and latex monster masks. Failing at things, for example. I hate failing at things. I go to insane lengths to make sure that projects and plans go off without a hitch. So why am I so twitchy about Halloween this year? Because I have handed the reins over to the high schoolers.
This is the first year of doing a high school Student Leaders Group. As part of our mission to prepare the students for life after high school, we are turning over some tasks and responsibilities to the students themselves. We have formed a leadership group with delegates from each of the homes. I act as an advisor, but I’m not actually “in charge” of anything. Right now, they are trying to pull off a Halloween party.
Leadership Group has had a rocky start. The first activity they planned was a dodgeball game. It did not happen.
The second task they chose was to write a persuasive letter to the HS director in order to change a rule that they didn’t like. That took some coaching on my part.
“No, saying ‘the rule is stupid’ is not sufficient.”
One of the delegates turned in a thoughtful, clear and rational reason that the rule could be changed. Oh yeah!
No one else finished theirs though. Augh!
The last activity they planned, the Red Ribbon Relay Race (say that 10x fast!) was beset with commitment issues. The leaders who came through worked very hard but ran into unforeseeable difficulties. Can anyone really divide a bunch of half-frozen kids into small groups and convince them to run around in a circle? Note to self: get a bigger megaphone.
It is the day of Halloween and we are still working on a plan for the party. This is where that fear of failure raises its ugly head. I have to resist the urge to take over and tell people what to do, or worse, do it myself. Because the point of all of this is not to have an event go perfectly. The purpose is for the students to make a plan, make adjustments, make concessions, make mistakes, make corrections and make the best of it. My purpose is not to decide for them what is possible. The purpose is for them to figure out what they are capable of doing.
We ended our planning session on a positive note. Each delegate has a list of things s/he is responsible for. They have a best-case plan and a back up plan in case that doesn’t work out. A lot of this means them asking for what they want, and deciding what to do if they can’t have it. They have done an impressive job foreseeing obstacles and brainstorming solutions.
This means that they are moving away from accepting “No, that can’t be done,” and moving towards finding ways that it can be done. Anyone who works with teens knows that this can be scary and exhilarating.
What if the kids start thinking for themselves and *gasp* start asking questions? What kind of a monster have we awakened?! Hopefully, some sort of quasi-adult, thoughtful monster. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Hello friends! I hope today finds you all doing well! My name is Julie H. and I am a Family Service Counselor at St. Joseph’s Indian School. Things here are St. Joseph’s are going well!
This week we celebrated Red Ribbon Week and the kids were able to take part in lots of fun activities! There were activities such as inflatables, ice cream sundaes, relays and theme days. The kids always enjoy celebrating Red Ribbon Week!
The next celebration we are looking forward to is Halloween. The kids are all gearing up for the fun and planning their costumes. The students are able to trick-or-treat on St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus and then we have a Halloween costume contest. The students always enjoy this time of year!
Our 6-8 grade boys just finished up their football season and the 6-8 grade girls just finished up volleyball. Now, the girls are gearing up for basketball and have started their practices. Their first game is November 5 and they are very excited. The 4th and 5th grade girls have also started basketball practice. Basketball season is a favorite time of the year for both our boys and girls. They enjoy the sport immensely, work hard, and show great sportsmanship. It will be fun to watch them play!
As the weather grows cooler, we are also starting to get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. What a wonderful time of year for our Lakota students! It is always a joy to be able to celebrate these holidays with the students! The students get a nice break for both holidays so they can return home and spend time with their families.
Another great thing happening today is FAST (Families and Schools Together) graduation. This program brings families to campus to spend quality time with their children. The program consists of a meal, family oriented activities, a time for parents to meet together and talk, and time for parents to just have fun with their children. We have graduated over 100 families from this program. Tonight we graduate seven more families! This is a great time for the families to come and spend time with their kids and for the staff who work with the students to get a chance to know families a little better as well.
As always, I thank you all for your generous donations of prayer and financial assistance! Without your help, we could not do the great work we do! May God’s blessings be poured out on each and every one of you!
Our new Cultural Specialists brings Hand Games to St. Joseph’s Indian School.
David Z. is bringing knowledge, fun and more culture to St. Joseph’s Indian School! Dave is an elder who carries knowledge from a variety of areas. One of the areas is in the songs of the Lakota (Sioux). He sings at the drum for ceremonies, wacipis – powwows – and also knows hand games.
We plan on taking a team of students to the Lakota Nation Invitational in December for hand games; the students are very excited about this opportunity! On Monday, October 8, we celebrated Native American Day in South Dakota. At St. Joseph’s, we played hand games during our Native American Studies classes. This day also served as a try out for the traveling hand game team. Students are asked to learn a hand game song and the rules that apply to the game.
On a broader scale, Dave will be helping spread culture, knowledge and curriculum to the organization as a whole. We look forward to the opportunity for Dave, the students, our organization and communities near and far.
I have the chance to share what’s happening here at St. Joseph’s Indian School since Fr. Steve is away for a donor luncheon in the Denver area.
This past Thursday saw the sign up for the girls’ basketball teams. Each grade from 4th to 8th have their own team and will play local schools in the area. They are now practicing in preparation for the opening of the season in early November.
Chamberlain’s High School football team had their last game prior to the state play-offs Thursday evening and it was an adventure as the weather made it difficult to do anything. The wind was blowing 35 to 40 miles per hour with some wind gusts as high as 60-79 mph. Though the Cubs came up a bit short, they qualified for play-offs and will journey northwest to play Cheyenne-Eagle Butte on Tuesday.
Friday saw the kick-off of Red Ribbon Week as inflatables were brought into the rec center for the students to have some fun. Lots of shouts of glee the students climbed up, slid down and bounced on various inflatables. Each home also provided a delicious snack to be shared. During this upcoming week the students will celebrate such days as wearing their pjs on Monday with the theme ‘follow your dreams … don’t do drugs!’; on Wednesday they’ll wear their Red Ribbon Week T-shirt which states ‘Be the change you want to see in the World’ and paint their faces blue to stress ‘I will say NO to drugs until I’m blue in the face’; and on Friday they’ll be asked to wear the colors of red, white and blue so as to make the statement ‘I elect to be drug free!’ There will also be a trivia contest held over the school intercom to remind the students of the danger of drugs and give them some insights as to how they can stay strong and say NO.
Saturday brought lovely weather which gave everyone the opportunity to get outside and work off some energy. It was also the opening of the pheasant hunting season which brings a lot of hunters to the area. I heard some shots from across the Missouri River on Sunday afternoon.
Just as the NBA is in their pre-season, so those taking part in the inter-city basketball league had a practice game on Sunday. We have four teams made up of 6th, 7th and 8th grade boys from St. Joseph’s and the Chamberlain area. In January, when the boys’ basketball season begins the girls’ will then have their inter-city basketball league. The program gives the young people in the area the chance to get to know and interact with each other so when entering high school they will already know each other.
Sunday was also very special since the first Native American Saint, Kateri Tekakwitha, was canonized in Rome, Italy. The homes were alerted that EWTN was showing the ceremonies live at 2:30 AM Sunday morning with a repeat at 10:00 AM.
Deacon Bud Jetty and Deacon Steve McLaughlin, who help the Priests of the Sacred Heart minister in Chamberlain and on the Lower Brule and Crow Creek Indian Reservations were designated by the Sioux Falls Diocese to represent the diocese at the canonization. We look forward to their return to hear how everything went.
Hope each of you will have a wonderful week ahead! May our Loving God continue to bless and reward you for your generosity towards and interest in the Lakota children we serve at St. Joseph’s Indian School. You are remembered in our prayers.
The icon honoring Saint Kateri Tekakwitha was beautiful.
Two of our seventh grade students, Kaitlyn and Danielle, traveled to speak at donor appreciation luncheons in Denver, Colorado. We got in early on Friday, and decided to see the Denver Museum of Science and Nature. It’s the kind of place that tricks you into learning by making everything so interesting and fun.
We explored Egyptian mummies, amazing gems and minerals from the Rocky mountains and learned about a variety of Native American cultures. The girls’ favorite was called “Prehistoric Journey.” As we walked past dinosaur skeletons, they were in awe at the size and ancient nature of the beasts.
One of our school nurses, Ronda, chaperoned, and led us through a display like a health fair. After taking part in a variety of activities to measure heart rate, evaluate our walking style for calories burned, see our cells under a microscope, we got a personalized computer print out to take home as a souvenir. The planetarium show gave us a perspective on the massive size of our solar system. My favorite was the 3D movie about life under the sea. I even ducked one time when it looked like a jelly fish was floating past my head!
Our luncheons went well. Danielle and Kaitlyn were a bit nervous speaking at first, but with such a friendly crowd loaded with questions and interest in St. Joseph’s and our Lakota students, they were able to share lots of information and experiences.
We received wonderful hospitality! Donors Bob and Carylyn graciously treated us to supper at a nice Italian restaurant the first night. On Saturday, Alex, Chasson and Lauren invited us for a home cooked meal. We were even treated to a few pre-dinner flamenco style songs on guitar. The students and I make a game of rating all the new foods they tried, and the girls set a new “record” with 27 new taste treats over the 4 days.
Since the nearest mall to Chamberlain is 135 miles away, what is a routine for most teens is a special treat for our students, and we had to let the girls wander around the stores for a while.
Sunday night we went to Denver’s Cathedral Basilica for a special mass to honor Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, who was canonized earlier in the day. Kateri was a Mohawk and Algonquin woman and serves as a special inspiration for holiness for Native American Christians. Members of the local Kateri community wore regalia from their tribes. Bishop James Conley, who led the celebration, has Wea ancestry and blessed the altar by using an eagle feather to smudge the smoke with sage. The cathedral also dedicated a beautiful icon of Kateri that will help pass on her legacy to future generations.
The Carola Home won the high school trophy for with least missing assignments!!
Working hard and having fun!
Hello again from the Carola Home! A new year has begun and our boys are doing a wonderful job with all they have to do. This year we have four Juniors and three Freshman boys in our home. They have worked hard with school work, homework, tutoring, football, other activities and home responsibilities.
First quarter we had five boys make the honor roll and two who were just short of the honor roll, giving our home a GPA of 3.32. Besides studying hard, part of their success is not getting behind in their school work and not having many missing assignments.
The boys had a great time at Wild Water West!
With all the hard work they put in so far, they really enjoy having some downtime. With donors helping provided for St. Joseph’s Indian School, each home has a budget that they go by. Part of this budget goes to home trips. Home trips are a great time to relax and have fun and build relationships. At the beginning of the year, our home went to LifeLight Music Festival and Wild Water West. They had a great time camping and enjoying some wonderful music, go carts, going down the water slides and swimming in the wave pool.
With funds for a trip already spent, the boys had to come up with a way to make money. Our boys decided to do a car wash to raise funds for another home trip.
The car wash was a great success.
The boys used a no school day for the car wash. They asked for a freewill donation to support their home trip. They washed many cars and they spent all day with such a positive attitude and worked very hard. They made enough money for the trip – hiking at Harney Peak, shopping at the Rushmore Mall, and dinner and movies in Rapid City.
The boys are always saying “thanks for dinner” and while we were out at the restaurant they said, “Thanks for dinner.” We reminded them that they earned this themselves and thanked them for dinner.
They were very proud and so were we. They also realized how working hard can pay off.
Saturday morning we headed west, stopping at the Vore Buffalo Jump near the state line and then into Wyoming. Of course, we had to stop and take pictures and walk across the border so that everyone now can say they “walked from South Dakota to Wyoming!”
It’s a scenic drive to Devil’s Tower National Monument. Before starting our hikes we enjoyed the introduction to the area from the ranger. The group divided and had a choice of either a 1 ½ or a 3 ½ mile hike around the base of the Tower. The hikes and the views were both invigorating. Besides the prairie dog towns, the other wildlife we saw was a rattlesnake! Even though it was a baby one – and we viewed it from a distance – it added excitement to the day.
We attended mass that evening at St. Joseph’s in Spearfish, South Dakota. The group was given a warm welcome during announcements, and we were surprised to discover that the priest there is an uncle to one of our staff members. Then it was all-you-can-eat at the Pizza Ranch, a stop at the local mall, and enjoying the hotel pool before bedtime.
We began our Sunday with a visit to the impressive Crazy Horse Memorial, hearing the story of its origination, touring the museum, and gawking at the massiveness of the memorial. Afterwards we traveled back into the town of Custer for a brunch that included plate-sized pancakes! However, one of the German exchange students inadvertently ordered from the kiddy menu – the biggest member of our group had the smallest meal, which made for some good laughs!
After filling our stomachs we were ready to head back into Custer State Park to begin our wildlife quest. We had driven several miles on the Wildlife Loop and had only seen one pronghorn. The leaders were beginning to get worried that all the animals were in hiding, but then we came around a curve to be greeted by a herd of approximately 250 head of buffalo spread out across the hills! Some were even close to the road which made for some great photos. Before leaving the park we saw several groups of pronghorn antelope and two deer! It was a great way to wrap our visit to the Black Hills.
Of course, no visit to western South Dakota would be complete without a stop at Wall Drug! We had a chance to shop for souvenirs, have dinner and buy some of their famous homemade donuts before heading back to Chamberlain. We had an incredible 770 mile adventure—one that made great memories for each of the students.
