St. Joseph’s students decorate campus during Red Ribbon Week.

May 31 is #WorldNoTobaccoDay! This annual awareness day is celebrated around the globe and:

• Draws worldwide attention to the tobacco epidemic
• Highlights the need for effective policies to reduce tobacco use.

World No Tobacco Day is sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Despite reductions in smoking prevalence achieved since the first Surgeon General’s report on the consequences of smoking in 1964, smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.

American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), as a whole, have an especially high risk of suffering from tobacco-related death and disease as they are more likely than any other racial/ethnic subgroup to be current smokers. — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Our students are proud to be drug free!

Each year, St. Joseph’s Indian School holds sobriety celebrations, a sobriety walk and teaches our Lakota (Sioux) students to say NO to drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Every day, we help them find healthy alternatives to substance abuse.

Nearly 100% of the students at St. Joseph’s are affected by alcohol, cigarette or drug use. If addiction isn’t present in their immediate family, it is in their communities.

St. Joseph’s annual sobriety celebrations — Red Ribbon Week, the Sobriety Carnival and the Sobriety Walk — special activities and guest speakers show students how others have put these lessons into action. Students are inspired to create a better future for themselves and their families.

Wopila tanka — many thanks — for providing the Lakota (Sioux) children at St. Joseph’s a safe environment and the skills they need to build a bright future!

St. Joseph’s students participate in our Annual Sobriety Walk.