St. Joseph’s Indian School – Page 7 – St. Joseph's Indian School

Mathias Home 8th Grade Mother-Daughter Trip

Hello! My name is Kathryn. I am a houseparent in the Mathias Home at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

On May 14, the Mathias home took their first ever mother-daughter trip in preparation for 8^th grade graduation. The girls, their mothers and I enjoyed a day filled with shopping, eating, shopping, pampering, and shopping! We have three eighth graders this year and shopping for graduation attire was so much fun!

When we were done, we took a few pictures of the girls in their graduation dresses and one with all of the moms and daughters together. More than just preparing for graduation, this trip offered the moms and their daughters some much-needed time together.

Since the students are here on campus the majority of the year, opportunities like this are few and far between for our students and their parents. Many 14 year olds try to avoid their parents in public places, but our students relished in their time together.

It was a blessing to see how much love and joy everyone shared. As house parents, we receive those small blessings every day. Sharing a few moments with our students and some very incredible moms was amazing!

Alyssa, Justina, Haesel — Alyssa, Justina and Haesel, 8th Grade Class of 2016

We laughed, we cried and we loved on this very special day.

It was a small way to say ‘thank you’ to our moms for all they do for their daughters and the other students in the home and a farewell to our beautiful 8^th graders as they begin the next chapter in their journey.

We are so proud of these young ladies! They have worked hard throughout their middle school years and they finished this year with a cumulative GPA of 3.81 between the three of them.

All three students are excellent role models, are generous with their time by sharing it with younger students and helping peers, and have goals and aspirations that will carry them far in life.

We thank our students’ moms for doing such great jobs raising their daughters and supporting us as house parents. We also thank our students for being such wonderful role models. It has been an honor to have the privilege of being a part of their journey!

Kathryn

St. Joseph’s Houseparent

It’s never a slow time at St. Joseph’s Indian School!

Fr. Anthony, St. Joseph's Chaplain — Fr. Anthony, St. Joseph’s Chaplain

Greetings from an active St. Joseph’s Indian School!

It seems the campus has been invaded by all sorts of groups. The 8th grade graduates who are moving into the high school program are back and taking part in an orientation program to prepare them for next year. They are busy meeting their teachers at Chamberlain High, figuring the layout of the school and taking a peek into the Homes they’ll be joining this coming August when school starts up again. They’ll be on campus until June 10^th.

Four of our High School Homes are open to accommodate the 36 students who are staying at St. Joseph’s for the summer. Nine of these students are signed up for Driver’s Education, which lasts for two weeks. Some students are working on campus at our Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center and as counselors for our Rising Eagle Day Camp. Others are busy tutoring students in the summer break home and helping with summer custodial work. A few are even working at local stores and car dealerships!

It’s been so nice to see many familiar faces around campus.

Four of our students—Liliana, Melvina, Ashley and Hope—and two advisors recently returned from Germany as part of our student exchange program! Continue reading “It’s never a slow time at St. Joseph’s Indian School!”

What a busy last week of school at St. Joseph’s Indian School!

Good day from St. Joseph’s Indian School.
What a difference a few days makes! Last week, we were caught up in the excitement of graduation from Chamberlain High School and St. Joseph’s Indian School as the graduates of 2016 took their first steps into their futures.
With most of the students and staff now on summer vacation, the campus is rather quiet. In complete contrast, the tipi is up at the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center and the parking lot is filled with cars from all over the United States! Our Museum & Cultural center continues to receive great reviews from visitors.

As the school year wound down, the 8th graders took part in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Camp. Through the camp, they participated in a variety of projects that put into action the skills they have learned over this past year.
The 7th and 8th grade students also had a yearbook signing party during which they could relax, share some goodies and sign each other’s yearbooks. Many teachers, Family Service Counselors and houseparents joined in the fun.

Continue reading “What a busy last week of school at St. Joseph’s Indian School!”

We are meeting ourselves coming and going at St. Joseph’s Indian School!

Good day from St. Joseph’s Indian School.

Things are ‘normal’ here on campus, meaning we are meeting ourselves coming and going.

The 7^th graders returned from their cultural trip a few days ago and shared where they went and what they learned with the younger grades yesterday.

The 6^th-8^th graders in the Explorers Club have been down in Kansas City watching the Royals play. They washed over 80 cars and brought in $5,000 in donations and pledges! The money was donated to the City of Chamberlain to help with the construction of a Frisbee golf course.

St. Joseph’s Health and Family Services Center groundbreakers.

On Monday afternoon, we had the blessing and ground breaking for the new Health and Family Services Center. This building will have our healthcare and counseling services all under one roof, better enabling us to care for the whole child—mind, body, heart and spirit. The current health center is located in the old nun convent that was built in 1963 and converted to the Freimann Health Center in 1982. With both students and staff families taking advantage of the nurses and local healthcare providers in attendance, new space was needed.

Continue reading “We are meeting ourselves coming and going at St. Joseph’s Indian School!”

A time of transition and new beginnings at St. Joseph’s

Good day from St. Joseph’s Indian School.

The number of school days is dwindling down quickly. Most of the classes have already enjoyed their home trips to the Badlands, Pierre, Mitchell, Sioux Falls and other sites around the state.

This coming weekend, the 7th graders will take off on their cultural trip to visit multiple sacred Native American sites in South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. Once they are back next week, they will make a presentation of what the experience was like and how it strengthened their pride in their culture and heritage.

On April 30, St. Joseph’s hosted our First Annual Hand Games Tournament. Teams from Little Wound, Porcupine, Crow Creek, Todd County and Wolf Creek joined St. Joseph’s in the tournament. LaRayne and Allen, our Native American Studies teachers, organized the event and did a great job! It is interesting to watch as players hide two ‘bones’—one of which is marked—in their hands and try to prevent the other team from guessing which hand held the ‘marked’ one. It was a double elimination tournament. Each team had 8 sticks—or markers—that they try to protect. If a correct guess is made by the opposing team, the stick must be surrendered. The game came be short or lengthy, depending on how well a team can bluff and guess. Continue reading “A time of transition and new beginnings at St. Joseph’s”

You are making a difference at St. Joseph’s Indian School!

Good day from St. Joseph’s Indian School.

Mary Jane, our Director of Alumni, recently sent a notice about how your generosity is helping former St. Joseph’s students and other Native Americans continue to further their education, aided with St. Joseph’s Scholarships.
As you read a little about each of these students, take pride in knowing you helped make their higher education goals possible!

Continue reading “You are making a difference at St. Joseph’s Indian School!”

April showers (will hopefully) bring May flowers to St. Joseph’s Indian School!

Greetings from a water-logged South Dakota.

If it is true that April showers bring May flowers, we’ll soon have flowers all over the place—it has been very wet and rainy the last few days.

Our annual Sobriety Walk took place last Friday. The Sobriety Walk has our students break up into four groups who then leave campus following a flag of one of the directional colors—yellow, red, white and black. As they cross the bridge at American Creek, each group goes a different route that encircles downtown. They return to campus together, walking down Main Street. Upon their return, they went for a special meal in the Dining Hall.

During the march, our students and staff all wore blue t-shirts with the phrase “St. Joseph’s Indian School Stomps Out Drugs”.

This past Wednesday, our students participated in the annual St. Joseph’s Spring Concert/Talent Show. There were 28 acts including vocal groups, piano, guitar, flute, snare, trumpet and clarinet. St. Joseph’s music teacher, Tanya, and art teacher, Dave, were the masterminds behind the show. Most performance selections were from Wizard of Oz, Walt Disney, Fiddler on the Roof and well-known tunes such at The Rose, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Yankee Doodle and Mary Had a Little Lamb. Continue reading “April showers (will hopefully) bring May flowers to St. Joseph’s Indian School!”

Lions and tigers and bears (and dresses), oh my!

Greetings from St. Joseph’s Indian School!

This past weekend, the National Honor Society and the Explorers Club hosted a dance for 6th, 7th and 8th graders in the Rec Center. Robin, St. Joseph’s National Honor Society advisor, stated it was an “awesome” event.

There were about 80 young people split between St. Joseph’s students and students from the Chamberlain-Oacoma area. The price of admission was either three cans of food or $3.00. Both were donated to the Food Pantry at St. James’ Catholic Church here in Chamberlain. The festivities lasted for two and a half hours. Everyone had a great time dancing, socializing and supporting a good cause by gathering supplies for the food pantry.

Continue reading “Lions and tigers and bears (and dresses), oh my!”

Staying busy and having fun at St. Joseph’s Indian School!

Good day from St. Joseph’s Indian School.

The weather has been great recently. The temperature has been moving up, but blowing winds have also added a touch of coolness. St. Joseph’s students are appreciative of the nice weather—it gives them a chance to get outside and participate in fun activities.

The Rec Center staff has been hard at work scheduling and organizing different programs for the students to get involved in.

There are softball games for fourth and fifth graders in the afternoon and games for the 6th, 7th and 8th graders in the early evening. It sure is a fun experience being able to play under the lights! The younger Homes also have T-ball right after school lets out for the day.

Youth football is active two days a week, which enables our students to interact with youngsters from the Chamberlain area.

Recently there was also a gymnastics camp held at Chamberlain High School that gave our young ladies the chance to work with the gymnastics team and coaches that came in second in the Class “A” State competition this year. Continue reading “Staying busy and having fun at St. Joseph’s Indian School!”

St. Joseph’s students participate in clubs and camps!

Good day from St. Joseph’s Indian School!

This has been an interesting few days weather-wise. You’ve heard the statement ‘March comes in like a lion or a lamb and goes out the opposite.’ The addition of a leap year day kept that truth in place here at St. Joseph’s, since that was the day (not the 1st of March) that got the bad snow storm. The month ended on a wet and windy day which set the tone for more snow on April 1st, and that’s not a joke. One benefit is that the grass is turning green nicely.

The big event of this past weekend was the reception of Sacraments for 24 of our students at Our Lady of the Sioux Chapel – four made their 1st Communion, 16 were Baptized and two made a Profession of Faith. 18 of these students also received the Sacrament of Confirmation.

We were honored to have family and friends join the St. Joseph’s community in witnessing the reception of the Sacraments. As always, several of St. Joseph’s Houseparents, teachers and Family Service Counselors served as godparents or sponsors for the students.

Continue reading “St. Joseph’s students participate in clubs and camps!”