Families celebrate together, laugh and cry together, and care for one another. For many of us, the CHS Family is an extension of our own. Here are a few pages from our own CHS Scrapbook...

 

Congratulations!

Anne McGovern (Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Adoption Specialist in the Black Hills) is engaged! Her fiance’s name is Matt Peterson, a Program Director at United Families Visitation Center in Rapid City. (Yes, they met through their work!) Matt is from San Diego and Anne is from Minneapolis. They both moved to the Black Hills the summer of 2014. Their wedding date is TBD because of COVID. They hope to be married in the Fall of 2021 in Minnesota, with another celebration in Korea to follow! 

Kara Knoll (a part-time Brave Beginnings Youth Care Assistant at Children’s Inn) is expecting a baby that is due on December 24. Now that’s a Christmas gift! 

Sequoia Crosswhite (Diversity and Outreach Advisor) married Alicia Ann Love on July 11, 2020, at a little camp called Otho Lode located just outside of Keystone, SD. (Just a side note: A camp designed for campers with disabilities, former CHS employees Vern and Ella Shafer worked at Otho Lodo for a time.)

Sequoia shares: “Alicia and I met when we were 18-ish but our lives took us different directions for some years. Our paths crossed again when I attended a Yoga class she was teaching. As I was a new student, Alicia texted me from her work to ask about my experience with this class. I thought that was so nice, and I still had such fond memories of her when we were younger. Long story short, I wanted to ask her out. I noticed on Facebook that her birthday was coming up, so I sent her a plant at her yoga studio. She sent me a thank you from her personal phone number. I texted her back to thank her for her phone number—and the rest is history! Alicia is an awesome Mom, Cosmologist, and a yoga teacher who is on her way to becoming a Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist, which is one of the highest levels of Yoga Therapy.”

Jody Bockorny (Therapist at Children’s Inn) recently completed her LPC-MH license. Congratulations, Jody, on this career accomplishment!

Shawn Frewaldt (Physical Therapist at SFCH Loving School) has a new grandson! Levi was born on April 1.

Kayla Siemonsma (3rd grade teacher at SFCH Loving School) gave birth to a daughter, Vivian Rae, on Friday, July 31.

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Welcome Back!

After a long hiatus, Children’s Inn is happy to see these employees return to work!

Donna Traut
Sam Porter
Lisa Isaacson
Roxie Schmitz
Kishwar Shaikh

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Oh! The Places We Will Go!

From Jen Crisp-Griebel (SFCH Occupational Therapist)… “From July 15-28, we took a family vacation and traveled to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Our son, Gage, was invited to attend the Kohl’s 2020 National Scholarship Camp for kicking. (Kohl’s is an organization that provides camps, and ranks high school football kickers, punters, and long snappers.) We also did some white-water rafting, fly-fishing, and hiking. This was a great road trip with three teenagers and a 10-year-old. The Great Smoky Mountains was a wonderful place to social distance and take in the beauty of that area.”

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Going Above and Beyond!

Recently, Children’s Inn cared for a 16-year-old girl who was an A&N admission. This girl has been in some kind of care for most of her life, but she has never been told about where she came from and has never learned about any of the traditions that are Native American. CI staff Marci Frazier and Carmen Cleveland took it upon themselves to talk with her about those things specific to her tribe, and the customs and traditions that are unique to her Native American ancestry. CI staff Marci Frazier and Gwen Betz took this girl shopping for supplies to make a shawl and ribbon skirt, and then guided her in this sewing project.

COVID-19 has kept CHS kids from experiencing the kinds of off-campus outings and opportunities they would normally enjoy. And that would include going to theme parks! So for the past four months, and with the creativity and guidance of SFCH Loving School art teacher Lisa Compton, the middle school students have been studying, researching, and working on 3-D theme park designs.

Middle school day students who were working from home during those shelter-in-place months due to Covid-19 also participated in this project, using the same lesson plan as the kids in school. As day students returned to CHS, they stepped right into the same projects. Students studied Disney and Pixar through videos and lessons and then drew maps, made plans to engage all the senses, and constructed their 3-D models. The designs were on display at the school during the last part of July.