Greetings once again from St. Joseph’s Indian School in Chamberlain, South Dakota. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
Fr. Steve Huffstetter, SCJ was on the road again having the chance to visit family in Florida to take part in a Baptism. While he was able to enjoy some personal time, it gives me the opportunity once again to share with you what happened over this past weekend.
We saw a lot of red on campus as St. Joseph’s Indian School’s annual Fall Sobriety “Red Ribbon Week” kicked off. It is a program to help our American Indian students realize there are a variety of ways to get high on life that do not require turning toward drugs or drinking. The students wore shirts carrying the saying, ‘My extreme commitment is living drug free’. On Friday night, the rec center rang with oh’s, ah’s and shouts of laughter as several large inflatables were erected for the students to jump on, climb over and slide down. There will be several special theme days this week: on ‘Drugs turn you inside out’ day the students are urged to wear their clothes inside out; on ‘Being drug free is no sweat’ they can wear sweat clothes to class; and on ‘Team up against drugs’ they are urged to wear a sport’s jersey.
Friday also was the end of the First Quarter at Chamberlain High School. The mid-term grades hinted there might be a new name on the trophy our high school homes contend for. The Hogebach Home has been the defending champion, but it looks like Sheehy Home might beat them out by a narrow percentage. We’ll have to see if the grades hold up. Several students were working hard to achieve 4.0 grade points. It seems to highlight a renewed interest in academics.
The members of the football team received some exciting news that they qualified for the South Dakota state play-offs. Though they had a tough season, they played tough teams which enabled them to have enough power points to qualify. We have four young men on the team, one of our young ladies is a member of the cheerleader squad and another student is the Cub mascot. They will be playing Little Wound on Tuesday.
The high school also qualified several for the cross-country championships which were held this past weekend in Sioux Falls. The girls’ team came in 5th out of sixteen teams. Two of the teams have St. Joseph ties. Talia, who moved up from JV to Varsity, and the daughter of one of our staff were part of the team. They have a strong tradition of cross-country at CHS which ought to continue since several key members of the team return again next year.
On Sunday, the inter-city boys’ basketball season kicked off. This program is geared to offer an activity for the 6th, 7th and 8th grade young men of St. Joseph’s and the Chamberlain area to play basketball and get to know each other while the girls’ season is underway. Then when the boys have their season, after Christmas, the girls will have the chance to take part in the inter-city program for them. This is the first year that 6th graders are able to take part and, as they may not get a lot of playing time, the rec center staff decided that at half time sixth graders will have a five-minute quarter just to themselves.
With Halloween on the horizon, our youth are looking forward to the activities for that. There will be trick-or-treating here on campus and the high school students have a dance, movies and games at the high school. The students here on campus will have a grand march in the rec center with prizes given for best costumes.
Have a great week. May the Great Spirit continue to bless you and yours. We are always grateful for your generosity and keep you and your intentions in our prayers. Until next time.
Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ
Chaplain
St. Joseph’s Indian School