Trips, Graduation & the last week of school for the Lakota students

Good day from St. Joseph’s Indian School!

Let me blow on my fingers first so I can type the blog today… brrr!  It has been damp, cold and windy in Chamberlain. Despite the unseasonable weather, everyone seems up-beat since this is the last week of the school year.

While St. Joseph’s students in grades 1-8 have a week to go, our high school students have begun summer break. Last week, Chamberlain High School (where our students attend), held their athletic awards banquet.  Eleven St. Joseph’s students won varsity letters!

• Irene was Rookie of the Year for the girls’ golf team
• Danny was the Most Dedicated in boys’ golf
• Jacob was the Most Inspirational in track
• Adrian was honored as being Captain, MVP and winner of the Hustler award in boys’ basketball.

The last day of school was Friday. Sunday brought the graduation of the Chamberlain High School Class of 2015 with six St. Joseph’s students among the proud graduates. The armory was jammed with family and friends to wish the class well as they stepped into their futures. Congratulations!

Meanwhile, the Explorers group traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota to take in some baseball. They attended a Friday night game, spent the night and attended an afternoon game the next day before heading home.  It seems the Twins need them as good luck charms – the team won both games the boys attended but lost when the Explorers went home, dropping the Sunday game 11-3.

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Today, St. Joseph’s students are having Field Day activities. Grades 4-6 did their events in the morning and grades 1-3 are doing theirs in the afternoon. When they are not participating in field activities, they will be at the local theater for a movie. All this is sandwiched around a picnic lunch at American Creek Park for everyone. Pray that the rain holds off!

This evening St. Joseph’s seventh graders will return from their annual cultural trip, which took them out to the Badlands, the Wounded Knee Massacre site and Wind Cave. They hiked Bear Butte and then visited the Crazy Horse monument being carved into a mountain in South Dakota’s Black Hills.

From there, it was on to Fort Laramie in Wyoming where a treaty was signed in 1868 between the United States and various bands of Lakota people along with Yanktonai Dakota and Arapaho Nation which guaranteed Lakota ownership of the Black Hills.  The discovery of gold led to incursions by miners and defense of their lands by the Native Americans which led to war and the seizing of the Black Hills by the government in 1877.

Next on the list were Greasy Grass, the Native American name for the Little Big Horn battle between the Native Americans and Custer’s 7^th Calvary and Mato Tipila, more commonly known as Devil’s Tower and finally the Vore Buffalo Jump. Tomorrow, when students are back, they’ll put together presentations on what the journey meant to them which they’ll present them to the students and staff on Thursday morning.

This week will end with our eighth grade graduation. We ask you to keep our graduates in your prayers, that they may use the knowledge and skills they have developed here at St. Joseph’s to have a positive impact in the lives of those they’ll cross paths with in the future.

Have a great week! I hope everyone have a safe, relaxing and enjoyable Memorial Day next Monday as we honor and remember those who gave their tomorrows that we might have freedom today.

God bless,

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

Author: St. Joseph's Indian School

At St. Joseph's Indian School, our privately-funded programs for Lakota (Sioux) children in need have evolved over 90 years of family partnership, experience and education. Because of generous friends who share tax-deductible donations, Native American youth receive a safe, stable home life; individual counseling and guidance; carefully planned curriculum based on Lakota culture and individual student needs and tools to help build confidence, boost self-esteem and improve cultural awareness. All of this helps children to live a bright, productive, possibility-filled future. View all posts by St. Joseph's Indian School