St. Joseph’s Indian School Launches Hóčhoka Podcast Season 3

On Monday, January 23, St. Joseph’s Indian School launched Season 3 of the school’s video podcast. The podcast, named Hóčhoka, aims to showcase the people and ideas that make the school a leader in Native American education and to discuss issues central to Native American education today. The season runs with weekly releases through May 8.

 The season begins with a three-part series on residential education. In the first episode, school President Mike Tyrell introduces his newly published book “Detour Home.” The novel is a series of fictional stories sewn together to tell a more significant tale. It is loosely based on his experience as a young man who moved with his wife to St. Joseph’s Indian School to become a houseparent. Like the other two parts in this series, it explores the true meaning of the residential setting as a crucible for growth and relationship. Anyone with a connection to the school will listen and enjoy.

Basil Eagle Star, a St. Joseph’s High School Program senior, takes two turns as podcast host. Both times he interviews experts on residential life: Sean Milner of Baptist Children’s Village and Mark Freado, author of “Kid Whispering – Reaching the Inside Kid.”

The podcast showcases the school’s innovative “Circle of Care.” The model is based on indigenous knowledge systems and the wraparound care the school provides to meet each student with holistic care, education and support. To illustrate the model, the podcast explores the services the Counseling Services Department provides, highlighting various therapies, including brainspotting and equine therapy.

During the season, host Scott Woster “talks thiyóšpaye” (extended family) with a former staff person and former student to learn what St. Joseph’s was like nearly a half decade ago. Woster also interviews two donors to hear why they give to St. Joe’s thiyóšpaye.

Dr. Paul Monson, associate professor of Church History and academic dean at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology,  gives a fresh perspective on Catholicism through an indigenous lens as he tells us about the conversations between Bishop Martin Marty and Sitting Bull. The seminary is at the home base of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, who lead St. Joseph’s Indian School.

President Mike Tyrell said, “We are excited to begin a third season of the podcast. It has become a positive vehicle for reaching out and sharing what we have with others and an opportunity to learn from the best of what our talented and unique guests share with us.

The Lakota word Hóčhoka (emphasis on the first syllable) means the center of the camp circle. The name speaks to the actual location of the recording studio at the heart of campus, the centrality of the mission of St. Joseph’s Indian School to all that it does, and the role of the podcast to be at the center of the Native American educational conversation and gather others around that conversation.

 Why tune in to a podcast from St. Joseph’s Indian School? Learn more about what the school has to offer. Listen to the wisdom of thought-leaders on Native American education today. Laugh, hope, warm your heart and sharpen your mind at the center of the school’s camp circle.

Find Hóčhoka Podcast at https://hochokapodcast.com