In Our Lady of the Sioux Chapel, we have a prominent stained glass window of Kateri Tekakwitha from the Mohawk and Algonquin tribes who lived near Auriesville, New York. On October 21, Blessed Kateri will become the first member of a North American tribe to be canonized and made an official saint in the Catholic Church. Bishop Paul Swain of Sioux Falls gave this exciting news to two Native American Deacons with St. Joseph’s connections. Deacon Bud Jetty (Spirit Lake tribe) is a member of our Board of Directors. Deacon Steve McLaughlin (Standing Rock Sioux) works with the SCJs on the Crow Creek and Lower Brule Indian Reservations ministering to the pastoral needs of the people there. Bishop Swain told the two excited men the diocese would sponsor them on a pilgrimage to Rome being organized by the Rapid City Diocese and the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions so they can participate in this landmark ceremony.
I also heard that Fr. Tom Westhoven, SCJ, plans to be there as well. For many years, Fr. Tom was St. Joseph’s Director of Development. Now retired, but still very active, he has been asked to chaperone a pilgrimage for the same exciting event being organized on the East Coast. His group will leave October 19. For anyone who might be interested, information on that trip is available by emailing bettybuteratravel@yahoo.com.
As we enter the 4th quarter of the 2011-2012 school year, I reflect upon the objectives we have covered in my 6th-8th grade Science classes. My students have done an outstanding job in the classroom and the Science lab; however we still have many more topics to cover in our last nine weeks. There will be many more activities completed this quarter to conclude the school year.
My 6th graders will wrap-up their units on matter and energy and move into motion. This should be a great unit involving lots of fun activities. I am in need of stop watches for many of the lab activities as the students will be studying their own motion. Hopefully, the weather cooperates and we can do most of these assignments outdoors.
The 7th grade continues with their exploration of Life Science, delving into natural selection and adaptations. These lessons contain some exciting group work. In one of the labs we will be demonstrating the importance of the opposable thumb by having the students tape their thumbs to their index fingers and attempting to perform daily tasks such as cutting a circle and writing their name. The students will also be required to complete the tasks with their thumbs so we can have a good comparison of differences. I will try to remember to take some pictures and post them on my next blog.
Eighth graders have started to look forward to their 8th grade graduation ceremony. There are many great activities and opportunities during these last few weeks of school, not to mention we must continue our journey in the classroom. The 8th graders continue on with their study of Earth Science, delving into volcanoes and earthquakes. They are already looking forward to creating their own model volcanoes. It should be fun and messy, but more importantly interesting and informative.
Thanks once again for all you do as donors to St. Joseph’s Indian School. Your generosity is so very important to maintain the day to day status quo of this wonderful educational and residential facility. You are greatly appreciated.
The past few days have held a series of meetings. Before spring break, we collected letters of intent from our child services staff and know which employees will be moving on at the end of the school year. Now we have to begin figuring out how to replace them.
For some supervisory jobs, there are good candidates here who will want to move up and take on more responsibility. Some positions we will have to advertise for. We generally have need of qualified houseparents, and since we are opening another high school home next year that will be one definite need. Personnel requires more than just willing people, but must be about matching them to a position they can find fulfillment and success in.
We’re also in the ongoing process of budgets and planning for next year. The development office is particularly busy with the mail that comes in this time of year, and are also thinking ahead to the future. Our computer people have been incredibly busy preparing to switch over to a new software system that will allow us more personalization in meeting our donors’ requests and needs. We’re also exploring some corporate partnerships that will give us new possibilities of funding our programs.
On the student front, I met with high school students Errol and Kyran to prepare them for the presentations they will give to our donors next month at donor luncheons in Maine and New Hampshire. I’ve spent very little time in those states and am as excited about seeing the area and meeting folks as the boys are.
I resumed my culinary tour of the homes with suppers in Summerlee (4th-5th grade girls) and Stevens ( 6th – 8th grade girls). The students are excited that softball season begins next week, and the 3rd – 6th can take part in a week-long gymnastics camp if they wish – it’s not required.
The 7th graders enjoyed their cultural field trip to the Middle Border Museum in Mitchell, South Dakota, which also houses the Oscar Howe art collection. It is on the campus of Dakota Wesleyan University, and they toured the school and started to consider if their future might include college or vocational tech training.
Joe from Milwaukee has been a longtime friend of St. Joseph’s Indian School. He told me he still has a holy card with a picture of Our Lady of the Sioux that is at least 60 years old, from when he was a boy. Joe installs and services pipe organs, and every few years comes out to spend a few days to clean up and tune up ours. He and his friend Jay arrived yesterday.
Today during mass, I had asked them to pull out the stops and let the students hear what the pipe organ can do. We don’t have many in our area who play, and relish the chance to hear some good sacred music. The prelude music as the students were coming into chapel for mass helped set a prayerful mood that carried over to the liturgy. And instead of running right home, afterwards a few of our kids stayed afterwards just to hear more.
The four Benedictine Homes (1st – 3rd grades) had an early communal Thanksgiving dinner, with turkey and all the trimmings. Each home contributed its part to provide a festive banquet for everyone. Afterward, everyone helped clean up, and I had to laugh at the efforts of first graders moving chairs that in some cases were taller than they were.
The Ambrose home did their service project today. They gathered toys and took them to the domestic violence shelter to share with the residents there. One of our students remembered when his mom sought refuge there. They knew the kids didn’t have many toys to play with, and wanted to share some from campus to bring them a little joy. Not just at Thanksgiving, but all year, we try to teach our students to be thankful and give back.
While I was in the office working on Sunday’s homily, I got a phone call from the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center. A couple from Houston, Mike and Carolyn, had brought up a truck load of clothes to share with us and wanted to meet me and say hello. I was in sweat pants and an old t-shirt, but that actually worked to my advantage as we went to the storage building and unloaded. I took Mike and Carolyn on a tour of campus.
The William Home (4th-5th grade girls) were most gracious about showing us the home and talking about their routine. They also volunteered to try on some of the sweatshirts and a coat so the good folks back in Texas who gathered it all up could see the kids who will benefit from their generosity.
A day of some sadness with a funeral and a wake to go to today.
Fr. Brian was a 46-year-old priest who pastored in Fort Pierre, South Dakota until an inoperable brain tumor was discovered about four months ago. He had been in the hospital and hospice care since then, and died earlier this week. During the homily, Fr. Michel acknowledged so many people were saddened that a young priest who touched so many people’s hearts should die so young and so quickly. But God’s ways are not our ways. What is most important not the length of our lives, but what we do with the time God gives us. Going to a priest’s funeral makes me more deeply reflect on my own priesthood and ask how I can be a better and holier servant of God.
The moment I was most moved to tears came at the beginning of mass, with about 40 priests lining the center aisle to greet the body. Fr. Brian’s niece and nephew sang a gospel song, “I will Rise”. I couldn’t help but think of my own cancer, which is still in remission. I had a sense of, this could have been me. But it led to a deepening of the psalmist’s attitude – “What return can I make to the Lord, for all the good God has done for me in seeing me through?”
One of our secretaries suffered a family tragedy when her college aged son died. This evening at the wake the church and hall were packed as tightly as possible, with a tremendous outpouring of care and support from the community.
Tonight ABC news 20/20 program with Diane Sawyer ran a special on Hidden America – Children of the Plains. South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation was the location for the reports. The images and stories were powerful and well done. The journalists were realistic about the tough living conditions on the Indian reservation. And they also showed some of the hope and promise in young people trying to break cycles of poverty and alcoholism. Those are much the critical issues we at St. Joseph’s Indian School try to address.
We had an all day Board of Directors meeting. The longest segment of discussion revolved around the new strategic plan that we have been working on. With the added input and approval of the Board we should be ready to begin in early 2012. We went through the annual audit; we were glad to hear there were no major problems or findings. We reviewed the plans for the museum expansion and alumni center, and heard reports from our outreach programs on the Indian reservations.
I’m always trying to make sure St. Joseph is headed in the right direction, and asking the right questions. It helps to have others who care about the mission of the school to ask the big questions too, and provide direction and recommendations.
While I finish these meetings feeling a bit worn out, I also value the wisdom shared, which makes the load of administrative leadership easier to carry.
Today, 15 Northern Plains artists submitted their latest creations to our Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center acquisition committee, and the museum picked up several nice new pieces. The things I usually like are not the same ones our more knowledgeable artists recommend, and in the long run, they have done a great job of making our museum into a small treasure in town.
Two fellow SCJs Fr. Jack and Deacon Dave arrived for tomorrow’s Board of Directors meeting. Deacon Dave was my predecessor as director of St. Joseph’s Indian School. When I saw the school secretary at 11:30 mass, I asked her if anything special was happening at school today. “Deacon Dave dropped by to see us, so that made the day pretty special.” People still appreciate all he did to build up St. Joseph’s into the place it is today.
Adrian and Merrill are two 8th grade boys chosen to represent St. Joseph’s at our next donor luncheon, which will be in Pittsburgh in early December. I practiced with them after school, asking typical questions our donors want to know. They’re excited and a little bit nervous, but that gives them incentive to practice harder. It will be a great chance for them to experience a big city and see what life is like there.
I’m back from a Donor Luncheon trip to Palm Desert/ Palm Springs California. Thirty years ago, I entered religious life with a year of Novitiate in the High Desert, about an hour away in Victorville. I remember at first being intimidated by the desert. Once I slowed down to explore and observe the myriad of life in what I thought was a wasteland, I was astounded by the beauty.
There is a lot to learn by going to the quiet.
This part of the Desert though, is well-developed and filled with hustle and bustle. Two high school girls, Erin and Danisha, represented St. Joseph’s Indian School at the luncheons. Both work part-time jobs after school and have been saving up their money to check out the clothing stores hoping to find different and unique items compared to what is available locally in Chamberlain, South Dakota. Shopping, especially clothes shopping (it seldom takes me long to find my basic black !) requires lots of patience on my part, but I know it brings joy to them. I walked around and got my exercise, and had time to visit with Cheryl, the girls’ houseparent and trip chaperone. She told of her interaction with the students’ families. As she’s built up a trusting relationship the girls have shared with her many of the difficult circumstances that brought them to St. Joseph’s Indian School in the first place.
We were joined by about 70 donors on Saturday and 45 on Sunday. With some students, I worry they will get stage fright and be afraid to speak up. Erin and Danisha are both seniors and over the years have developed the self-confidence that made it easy for them to talk to our gathered friends and answer their questions. That bodes well for their future as they prepare to move on from St. Joseph’s in a few months. Both are applying for college.
Danisha’s family sew beautiful Star Quilts, and wanted to honor those folks whose generosity has made her education possible. Danisha brought along a beautiful quilt and at the end of the Saturday luncheon, she drew a name from those in attendance. Lucille was the lucky winner, and we couldn’t have picked someone for whom it meant so much.
Lucille herself taught for 50 years, and felt so honored that her excitement moved me to tears.
We drove by two of the huge Indian Casinos of the area. One of our donors is a member of the Morongo Tribe. They have shared their resources by taking materials to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation here in South Dakota to help those in need. While many of the Sioux tribes in South Dakota have tried casinos, the low population to draw from on the prairie has most of them struggling and not the massive operations like we saw in California.
Today I spent catching up on mail and messages. The bulldozers moved in and started the groundwork for our Akta Lakota Museum expansion. It will block off traffic flow for a while, but we look forward to the end results.
Two girls who have been here for 3 ½ years are transferring to another school. Their mom has moved and is in a better position to have them come back to live with her. Our goal isn’t to keep students here as long as possible, but prepare them for life when they and their families are ready to move on. We easily get attached to students and miss anyone when they leave. When students transfer like this in the middle of the year, we look to our waiting list and offer the spot to another child.
Our principal Kathleen is in the midst of teacher evaluations, and this year is trying a new technique – actually videotaping lessons. This allows her to show the teachers how they present themselves and the materials in an even more concrete way. Because she also videotapes the class and how the students are responding, the teacher can observe student attentiveness and notice anyone who is having difficulty keeping to task.
I think it is a gift to see ourselves from others’ perspectives, and we can learn a lot from that.
At day’s end, I watched the our 7th and 8th grade girls’ volleyball teams defeat our upstream neighbors the Crow Creek Chieftains. Many of our students are from the Crow Creek Reservation. Instead of an intense rivalry, play on the court was friendly. In the 8th grade game, Martina started the second game with the serve. Before she relinquished it back to Crow Creek, the score was already 18 – 0! Awesome job Braves!
Greetings once again from St. Joseph’s Indian School in Chamberlain, South Dakota. As Fr. Steve Huffstetter, SCJ is away for a donor lunch in southern California, I have the opportunity to share with you what has been happening over this past weekend. One piece of good news is that we had some much-needed rain which helped keep the dust down that has been blowing around recently.
I just returned from a prayer service that kicked off our celebration of Native American Day here in South Dakota. While the rest of the country celebrates Columbus Day, South Dakota, as part of a process of reconciliation, started by the late Governor George S. Mickelson, honors the heritage and culture of the Native Americans here in the state. Several of our students will be traveling to Kimball, South Dakota to do some powwow dancing for them and explaining various aspects of the Lakota (Sioux) culture and tradition.
Our Lakota (Sioux) youth love volleyball!
This past Thursday, we saw our 7th & 8th grade volleyball teams have their first home game against Kimball. The 7th grade swept the Kiotes and the 8th grade won their match 2 games to 1. There were several rallies and good service streaks. Most of the teams games have been away, so as the month progresses we’ll be having more home matches.
On Friday, Peggy Thomas’ 4th graders had a ‘book share’ in which they read stories they had written based off of a basic three paragraph start which they then could take in any direction. They invited staff and other classes to come and listen to the stories and then discuss the stories and look at the pictures they had made to illustrate their story.
Two German exchange students and an advisor made it to St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus late Friday night. They were suppose to be here on Thursday but a delayed flight caused them to miss a key connection which resulted in their coming a day late. Father Steve and the group going to California had hoped to meet them as they arrived, to have supper prior to the departure of those going West, but the delay negated that. They did not get much chance to rest up since they went out to the Black Hills with the students of Hogebach Home to see the sights. They will be with us for about a week and a half and will attend Chamberlain High School with our students for a few days and get to know our program and then make a presentation of their school and the activities they are involved in Germany. St. Joseph’s sends over some of our students in late May and early June.
The youth at St. Joseph's Indian School had a blast learning about science and space!
Our 5th graders took part in a program call Starbase which is a program to encourage interest in science and space. They had daily activities here on campus and then went to Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, South Dakota for a tour and some additional activities on base.
Several of our students are involved in the Explorers Club which meets weekly. One of our students, Isaiah, was elected sergeant-at-arms for the club. They have only been meeting for a few weeks with other students from the Chamberlain area and will begin to focus on what activities they can be involved with to help the local community.
On Sunday the SCJs who serve here in Chamberlain, at St. James Parish and St. Joseph’s, joined with those SCJs who serve the Indian reservations of Crow Creek and Lower Brule for a community meeting. It is our chance to get together each month and share what’s been happening and how each of us is doing. It is an important aspect of community to be present to each other as a sign of support and encouragement. We also have a chance to share a meal together and share some social time.
The rec department just sent out the schedule for the up-coming basketball season and the Inter-City league, which is a program to offer the opportunity for our students to get to know local Chamberlain students by playing together so that when they reach high school they will already know each other a bit. I help out with officiating and the schedules reminds me I have to get in shape to run up and down the court. The spirit is willing, but the knees can be weak.
Hope all of you have a wonderful week ahead. Know that we continue to keep you in our prayers thanking the Great Spirit for your generosity. May God continue to bless you all.
