Hello everyone from Scott, Family Services Counselor at St. Joseph’s Indian School for 18 years and first-time blogger. I provide counseling services and am a primary family contact during the school year for 6th-12th grade boys. Once the school year ends however, I change hats and become part of the admissions department and get to travel the state to visit with families I work with during the school year.
I enjoy the change of pace during this time of year. It keeps the job interesting. After 18 years, the relationships with kids and their families make me look forward to each year here.
Last week, I traveled to Yankton, South Dakota to interview a family of four kids between grades second and seventh. They are being raised by their grandmother. I always enjoy meeting new kids and families at interviews. It doesn’t take long to become attached and have hope for the kids to come to school here. This family will wait for our mid-July admissions meetings to find out if the kids have been accepted.
Tomorrow I will travel to the Rosebud Indian Reservation to visit five young men and their families. I’ll get to visit most of the towns on the reservation and will take the boys to the Buffalo Jump in downtown Mission. It’s a classy little restaurant/coffee shop and most of the proceeds go back to education on Rosebud’s Indian Reservation.
The next day, a colleague and I will make our annual trip to Lower Brule/Crow Creek reservations to visit our kids and families there. In all, we usually visit about 10-12 kids on this trip. One other nice thing about these trips is that we always run into former students and families on these trips, so it’s always fun to re-connect with friends on the summer trips.
I work with the high school boys and several of them are still on campus, either in driver’s education classes, the high school preparatory program, or working in different jobs on or off campus, so it’s nice to run into them from time to time when I happen to be on campus in the summer.
Hi Scott, sounds like you have a great job and you are the perfect person to do it! I can “hear” your enthusiasm and love for the kids and their families! Thank you for your contribution to St. Joe’s.
Hi Scott; I enjoyed your blog very much. Reading it raised a question I had never thought about before: Do students have to pay to attend St. Joe’s? If so, is there financial aid available such as scholarships? I probably should already know this, but I had just never thought about it.
Deaar Scott and St. Joseph’s staff,
How blessed the children are to have such dedicated people like you to educate and assist them to abetter life. I pray for every child at St. Joe’s and also every saff member every day in my rosary and Eucharistic Holy hours (2-3) each week, tonight, in fact.
My husband and I were able to attend the Pow Wow a few yeaars ago and still have the fondest memories! Will have to bring our children and their families some time, too!
I am changing my email address. please send mail to pauletten@charter.net after this. Thank you.
God bless, guide and protect you always,
Paulette Northcutt
Missouri
Good morning Paulette,
Your email address has been updated within our system. Thank you so much for letting us know!
We hope you have a great week; God bless!