Tag: St. Joseph’s

I couldn’t help but feel like a proud parent

St. Joseph’s alumnus Leighton returns to visit with current Lakota students.
Maija, Leighton and Andy

When one has worked in residential care for a considerable amount of time, there comes an opportunity to see and hear about the growth of a child who was once in your care.

I’m Maija and I was recently blessed to experience such an opportunity here at St. Joseph’s Indian School when former student, Leighton, visited. He spoke with St. Joseph’s high school students during the Sons & Daughters of Tradition group.

Back in the 1990’s, I was a houseparent with Andy in the Speyer Home. Our home was filled with the energy and enthusiasm of twelve seventh and eighth grade Lakota (Sioux) boys! They filled our lives with joy, challenges, and sometimes angst! Leighton was one of those boys.

Leighton spoke to St. Joseph’s current students about his time here; how he learned about discipline, making good decisions, and being cared for by good people.  He shared some stories of his enlistment in the Army – exactly thirteen days before the tragedy of 9/11.

He told them about being in Iraq and serving as a guard at the funeral for Saddam Hussein’s son. He recalled the time an explosive device meant for his convoy was run over by a bus instead… a bus that had cut in front of them just minutes before. He spoke of how we take so much for granted in the United States. Things like running water, electricity, freedom.  He spoke with the students about the importance of staying in school, getting a good education, and serving their country.

The students had many questions for Leighton. They asked what sports he played while he was at St. Joseph’s, what his favorite memory was. They asked about the war and his job while he was in the Army, and about where he lives and his family.

When we wrapped up things for the evening, I couldn’t help but feel like a proud parent.  It took courage for Leighton to open himself up to a group of high school students who are just waiting for the school year to end. It was apparent they felt a connection with him and appreciated his openness, sincerity, and honesty.

Leighton has had many ups and downs since the time he attended St. Joseph’s. He lost a sibling in a car accident, served his country, struggled with the after-effects of witnessing some horrific events during wartime and is the proud father of two small children.

He is finding himself and looking for an opportunity to do meaningful work and give back.  Whatever he does, whatever direction he goes, he will always know he has the support of his family here at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

A day in Pierre, South Dakota

St. Joseph’s fourth graders took their class trip to Pierre, South Dakota.  Each year, Pierre puts on a South Dakota History Adventure with a grant from the South Dakota Humanities Council.  In the past, we have gone to the Casey Tibbs Museum and the Buffalo Interpretive Center operated by the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. This year, the trip’s focus was on water.

After leaving St. Joseph’s Indian School and making the 85 mile trip to Pierre, we began our day on the river.  We were the first boat ride on the Missouri for the day! It was a bit chilly, but fun.  Our guide talked about tributaries, the change of the river since the 2011 flood, and pointed out different landscapes along the way.  In years past, we have had it rain (and even spit snow) so sunshine was good, despite the chill.  For a few of the Lakota boys and girls, it was their first boat ride, which always makes the day more special!

St. Joseph’s fourth graders spent a day in Pierre, South Dakota.
The day began with a boat ride. For some, it was their first!

From the boat, we did outdoor activities.  Our class was split into two groups.  My group got to look in water pulled from the river for bugs!  The students used spoons and a tiny syringe.  They found worms, a snail, and many other bugs on her list.  They concluded that the water they pulled the samples from was not healthy water because the bugs that live there are the ones that can live in unhealthy water.  The other group hiked along looking for things in nature that depend on water.  They got to use magnifying glasses and then wrote about what they saw.

Our third activity was the Planetarium at the Pierre Discovery Center. Afterwards, it was Pizza Ranch pizza in the park.  Again, sitting in the sunshine was a real treat!

After lunch, our last event of the day was the Cultural Heritage Museum. After an activity about landscapes, we had free time to look around the museum. Students could milk a cow, ride a train, listen on an old operator station, or view the many displays.  It was hard to round them up to leave!

St. Joseph’s students learned about water and everything that depends on it during their trip to Pierre, South Dakota.
Students hiked along the Missouri River, using magnifying glasses to spy bugs that rely on water.

Most slept all the way home.  It was a great day, with lots of activities and fun!

Feathering ceremony honors Native American seniors

Chamberlain High School hosted a feathering ceremony for Native American graduates at St. Joseph’s Indian school.
Thirteen Native American graduates were honored in a feathering ceremony at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

Friday
Chamberlain High School used St. Joseph’s Rec Center for a feathering ceremony honoring 13 Native American students enrolled in area tribes who will graduate this weekend. Five were our own St. Joseph’s students. Wayne Two Hawks, a Crow Creek elder, gave some instructions to the graduates about what an honor it is to receive an eagle feather, and now it was up to them to wear it proudly by choosing a good path through life.
After a ceremonial blessing song, everyone in attendance filed past our young graduates and shook their hands or gave hugs to wish them well. St. Joseph’s drum group, the Chalk Hills Singers, sang an honor song as well. The students presented Allan, the principle, with a lovely Lakota star quilt to thank him for the support he’s been during their years at the high school.
Our five high school homes have emptied out, and all the students are gone for summer vacation. For most, it will be a short one, as many of our students will return after Memorial Day for driver’s ed, summer camps, or independent living where they stay on campus and take care of their own cooking and meals and work a job to put away some savings for the future.
Saturday
The Cyr Home (4th-5th grade boys) invited me to tag along with them on their last outing of the year. We loaded up one of our white St. Joseph’s mini buses in the morning and headed east to Mitchell, South Dakota. Instead of a video to pass the time, houseparent Odis pulled out his I-Pad, which had some games loaded on it. Six of us passed it around and played the computerized version of Risk, a game I would often play with my brothers and cousin into the wee hours of the morning, trying to conquer the world. It was fun to relive those times and not have to worry about wooden pieces falling off the board in a moving vehicle.
We ate at a Chinese buffet. Paula, one of the houseparents, encouraged the boys to try some new things. She recommended just taking small amounts, and if they liked it, go back for more. Two students were brave and followed Odis’ lead by slurping down an oyster, but the faces they made while

The Lakota boys enjoyed a trip to Mitchell, South Dakota.
Boys in the Cyr Home enjoyed trying new things at the Chinese buffet.

swallowing them showed they were not interested in seconds at all. They boys had fun trying to get their fingers to work the chopsticks. I’ve never seen anyone eat orange jello or ice cream with chopsticks before!
We watched the new Star Trek movie (I’ve long been a fan of all the Enterprise and crew), then enjoyed a nice afternoon at the park. Mitchell has a Frisbee golf course, which I’d never tried, but we had lots of fun. The first couple of holes took forever, but then we decided to play best ball rules – everyone getting a chance from wherever the best throw landed. That moved things along better. No one worried about keeping score and everyone had some best throws.

St. Joseph’s boys finished their trip to Mitchell with a round of Frisbee golf.
After lunch, the boys played Frisbee golf.

A few days before graduation…

Wednesday

When I come out of morning mass in the winter and walk past Wisdom Circle, the playground is empty. With the warmer weather, however, it has been filled with the laughter of the Lakota children squeezing in some play time before the school day starts.

Spring has finally arrived on the South Dakota Prairie! The flowers and bushes on campus are filled with fragrant and colorful blossoms. We seemingly went from winter to summer, skipping spring altogether, though we know our temperature swings will still be wild for some time to come.

Our Native American students from fifth through eighth grades have a chance to learn to play musical instruments. Yesterday, we gathered in Our Lady of the Sioux chapel to hear the fruits of their practice as they held a recital. Their skills are still pretty basic, but I admired their courage to get in front of their peers and risk hitting the wrong chord or note. We heard six piano solos, four guitars, two flutes, and clarinet and a drum. Some of the songs were very short. I was disappointed one of my old folk favorites, Oh Suzanna, finished before the rousing chorus. But you’ve got to love the kids for trying!

The Lakota children at St. Joseph’s have the opportunity to take music lessons.
Caden and Richie worked hard on their guitar pieces for the music recital.

After that, we held a farewell gathering in the Rec Center for St. Joseph’s Child Services staff who are retiring or moving on to new things. Huge cardboard greeting cards were laid out for everyone to sign, while looking over pictures and remembering. After everyone grabbed some refreshments, each of those staff were called forward, given a gift, and the opportunity to say a few words.

Steve started as a houseparent, but since I’ve been at St. Joseph’s Indian School, has been the lead tutor at our High School Learning Center. With a concerted effort from students and staff, the collective grade point average of St. Joseph’s high school students has gone up almost a full point over the last four years!

Gary and Marty guided high school girls for the past two years, and Anita has mentored our young men for the past four.

Frank and Wanda have been houseparents for 26 years!!! They are retiring to spend more time with their own children and grandchildren. Over the years they’ve parented so many St. Joseph’s kids who consider them family. They were each wrapped in a Lakota star quilt as a sign of honor and appreciation. Many tears and tons of hugs followed. We pray for all those moving on to new adventures.

St. Joseph’s high school students finish classes at the end of this week. Elijah, one of our seniors, had high enough grades to be exempted from his finals and is completely done. This evening, our houseparents organized a back yard end-of-the-year cook out. Hot dogs and hamburgers taste mighty good when shared in the beautiful outdoors with good friends, conversation, and a few games thrown in to boot.

With the help of the local ministerial association, Chamberlain High

School organized their Baccalaureate Ceremony this evening. We hosted the service in our Lady of the Sioux Chapel. Area pastors offered some words of prayer, but all of the readings and music were organized by the students. The evening was uplifting as we prayed for God’s help for all the youth of our community who are transitioning on to the next stages of their education and careers.

Cleaning, packing, preparing for the move

Hello again from the William Home’s fourth and fifth grade Lakota girls!

It has been an exciting time recently as we have been packing, cleaning, and preparing for our move back in to the newly renovated William Home.  We are in and the girls are so excited!

It is bittersweet for the fifth graders, since they will only get to be in for a short time before summer break begins. Next year, they will move to the older community of sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students on St. Joseph’s campus.

We recently took our annual home trip to Rapid City, South Dakota and visited and indoor water park.  These girls can go up and down those stairs on the slides for hours!  Oh, the joy of youth…

As we wind down the year at St. Joseph’s Indian School, we would like to thank all of our benefactors who make the work we do with Native American children possible.  God bless and have a great summer.

St. Joseph’s Indian School recently completed renovations on the William Home.
The girls in the newly renovated William Home do their homework at the kitchen counter.

Native American Career Day

I always grow concerned when I hear the wail of an ambulance siren. One day last week, it cried loudly outside St. Joseph’s Indian School. But no cause for alarm – the ambulance was on campus to present to our students for Native American Career Day.

Paramedics showed our Lakota students the equipment they use to save lives, and talked about what the job as a first responder entails.

Chamberlain paramedics visited St. Joseph’s Indian School for Native American Career Day.
St. Joseph’s first graders wait to see the inside of the ambulance.

Another group from Catholic Social Services runs the Lakota Circles of Hope program. They work to prevent elementary students from abusing drugs and alcohol. From the medical field, St. Joseph’s students heard from a physical therapist and a woman overseeing medical records for Indian Health Services. The state Director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes talked to the students about showing the values of sportsmanship and care while pursuing the games we all love.

The presentation which fascinated me the most, was hearing from an alumnae who went into law enforcement. I knew Fancy when she was a tiny baby and I worked in Red Scaffold, South Dakota on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. Now, she stands 6’2” and with her police vest and equipment on, she is an imposing figure!

But, she has learned good people skills. While she can be strong and tough when needed, she shared with the students that she gets more done not by the use of force, but by kindness and checking in with people. She asks about what is going on, and builds relationships in the communities she works in. She listens to the hurts and suffering.

I asked Fancy how she deals with the ugly side of life, where she sees things no one wants to see. She said, “I pray. I pray for the people who are hurting. I pray I can take care of my kids. I pray for strength and compassion. And St. Joseph’s helped teach me the importance of that.”

The Lakota children learned about numerous careers during Native American Career Day.
The Lakota children check out the stretcher inside the ambulance.

St. Joseph’s 2013 Distinguished Almnus

During mass last Sunday, we had a whole host of events. For Mother’s Day, we invited all St. Joseph’s moms and house-moms up to the front of Our Lady of the Sioux Chapel, where they were serenaded by our children’s choir and given a carnation in appreciation of everything they do.

We prayed for all of our eighth grade and high school graduates. The seniors will walk up the aisle Sunday, May 19 and our eighth grade class a few days later on Friday, May 24.

Artist Del Iron Cloud was welcomed as our distinguished alumnus for the year. He attended St. Joseph’s Indian School in the late 50’s and thanked Brother Bonaventure for helping nurture his love for beauty. Since retiring from the United States Air Force, Del has dedicated himself to painting, and we carry many of his works in the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center. In a touching gesture, he painted beautiful watercolor feathers, each unique and original, and presented them to each graduate as his way of honoring them.

St. Joseph’s 2013 Distinguished Alumnus, Del Iron Cloud, presents a gift to the Lakota graduates.
Iron Cloud painted beautiful watercolor feathers and presented them to each graduate as his way of honoring them.

After church, we held a reception for our five seniors in the dining hall. For each Lakota senior, the time they had spent on campus ranged between 5 and 10 years – so many memories to share! During dinner, a slide show of each looked back over their years at St. Joseph’s.

Instead of giving a speech, each made a short video to share about the activities they were involved in, future plans and, of course, advice to leave behind for those up and coming high school students. The video brought lots of laughter and recognition. Then, their teachers and houseparents came to the microphone and spoke from their hearts about the struggles, growth and accomplishments we’ve seen in these young people over that time.

There were a few tears shed as we think about parting. But, that’s what they’re meant to do – learn enough to start venturing off on their own, with our support and care in tow, to pursue their dreams. Four plan on college, and one the Armed Services.

In the afternoon, the scene shifted to the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center for our ribbon cutting and open house celebrating the completion of our new addition. Mark Shields, who worked on our maintenance staff for over 40 years, did the honors after we blessed the facility and offered words of thanks to all who helped make it possible. I enjoyed visiting with the alumni, townsfolk, students and donors who filtered in throughout the day.

Giving back to the community

Earlier this year, St. Joseph’s Daughters of Tradition group was given the task of coming up with ideas for a service learning project as a way to give back to the community.  The Native American youth in the group decided they wanted to raise money for the Humane Society in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Recently, they headed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to complete the project!

Our Lakota (Sioux) girls decided to donate to the Humane Society. To raise money, the girls planned a walking taco and bake sale.  The girls did all of the baking for the bake sale and group leaders assisted in getting the taco meat ready for the walking tacos.  The girls had two different sales and raised over $200.00 to donate to the Humane Society.  They were very proud of themselves!

While at the Humane Society, the girls were able to tour the facility, walk dogs and spend some time with the cats.  The girls really enjoyed themselves and if they had been able to, I think a few of them would have come home with new pets!  They did a great job and represented St. Joseph’s Indian School very well.  The Human Society was very pleased with their generous donation.

St. Joseph’s Daughters of Tradition group meets two times per month. This is a great place for the girls to talk about any issues they are having.  The group begins with a “Talking Circle,” which gives every girl a chance to talk about how they are doing and voice any issues or concerns they have.  The girls are very engaged in the group and enjoy the time they get to spend together and the opportunity to share concerns with their peers.

As one of the leaders of the group, I am so very pleased with the girls and their effort in the service learning project!

Julie

Family Service Counselor

Field Trip!

On Friday, May 10, St. Joseph’s third grade students went to the Buffalo Interpretive Center on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation, near

St. Joseph’s students visited the Buffalo Interpretive Center on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation.
Using a telescope, the Lakota boys and girls watched the buffalo herd grazing in the pasture.

Pierre, South Dakota, for our field trip!

At the center, students had the opportunity to sit on real buffalo skins, examine real artifacts made from the buffalo, and learn how each of the different parts of the buffalo were used traditionally by the Lakota (Sioux) people.

They loved the hands-on experience of looking at the different artifacts and tools!

At the end of our tour, we watched a movie about the buffalo.  As part of the exhibit,

The Lakota children enjoy cultural field trips as part of their education at St. Joseph’s Indian School.
St. Joseph’s students learned about a traditional Lakota campsite on their trip to the Buffalo Interpretive Center on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation.

students could look through a telescope and find the buffalo grazing near the Interpretive Center.  In all the times St. Joseph’s third graders have traveled to the Interpretive Center, the buffalo have been next to the exhibit only one time. Every other time, students have needed to look through the telescope.

It’s always fun to see the excitement the students have to learn about the traditional culture of the Lakota and the way of life their ancestors practiced.

Heather, third grade teacher

St. Joseph’s students learn about traditional uses of the buffalo.
The Lakota children got to handle tools and artifacts made from different parts of the buffalo.

Mom, but not in a conventional way

Mother’s Day is just around the corner.

I am not exactly sure what it means to be “mom.”

It is true that as a high school houseparent at St. Joseph’s Indian School, I do a lot of mom-like things.  I see the kids first thing when they get up, and I hear their prayers before they go to bed at night.  I know who won’t eat onions and who shouldn’t eat beans.  I cajole, correct, encourage, exhort, commend and sometimes nag.  I say stupid things like, “If your friends all jumped off a cliff…”  I sing the birthday song off key and with enthusiasm.  But I’m certainly not mom.  Not in a conventional way, anyway.

These precious Lakota children are entrusted to me by their families, and that is a big responsibility.

I find it impossible not to claim these kids, though.  When I’m sitting in the stands watching a basketball game, or the Fall play, or the Spring concert, I turn to the parent next to me and say, “Oh, which one is yours?  That one is mine!”   And if the kids at St. Joseph’s ever pulled shenanigans in public (which they never do of course) then I’d be there, saying, “Um, yeah.  That one is mine.”

And when it comes time to sit up all night with a child who has the flu and is crying for her real mom, well, she’s still mine.    Or when real mom dies and he doesn’t wear a jacket to the funeral, and I see he’s dancing around in the cold, then I worry and fuss.  Because he’s mine.   Or if she becomes a mom herself and wonders if I’m going to be there, well yes.  Still mine.

Come graduation day, I’m going to cry tears of joy, pride and sadness when “my kids” finish their time at St. Joseph’s and move on.  I will probably have to call my mom, who has been through all of this before.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there: real, step, honorary or otherwise.  Many thanks to the moms behind the moms, too—uncis, grandmas, aunties, sisters, and donors who support the children and staff at St. Joseph’s Indian School.  And a big thanks to my mom too.

Peace

Claire—high school houseparent