Skip to main content
WoLakota Project & Teachings of Our Elders

Boarding School with Edna Cavanaugh

Explore Boarding School with Edna Cavanaugh with available transcripts, learning questions and source alignments in the South Dakota and North Dakota Elder archive.

Interview · North Dakota · Edna Cavanaugh · NDNAEU 5

Themes: Kinship & family, Education & learning, Boarding schools & assimilation, Children & young people

View the original resource

Learn About questions

Where is St. Michael’s Boarding School? Where is Stephan Boarding School? Why were boarding schools created? Was there a downside for families if they didn’t send their children to boarding school?

Learn From questions

What was my school experience like?  Did I enjoy it?  Did I struggle? Who was involved in helping me with my education through the years or did I not have support?

Transcripts

03 Edna Cavanaugh: Boarding School

Watch this interview on YouTube
It’s the family well I went to st.Michael’s it was a boarding school from kindergarten to fourth grade it was a boarding school then and then about I think the fifth grade they started the bus route worried we don’t have to stay at the boarding school we can you know just walk up to the road and catch the bus so that’s what happened about the fifth grade then we were of course I was coming a lot because I don’t think the kids would wanted to go to boarding school there and that when they were small you know wondering what they started kindergarten maybe fifth well I didn’t start kindergarten we had to be at least seven years old before we even started kindergarten at st.Michael’s so see I was about probably nineteen years old before I graduated from high school you know so but now kids can graduate with you start at a fifth grade now go to kindergarten and you’re a few years ahead there oh well for one reason I didn’t mind a boarding school because we lived way out in the country and that was the only school that was around it we can go to so we didn’t have no choice but to go to the boarding school if you want to go to school and then you’re required to go to school too so you know otherwise if we didn’t go to school he probably would have taken a away from our parents I was thinking you know at that time I don’t know that would have happened or what but so and so I didn’t mind it at least we didn’t have to walk in a coal then in during the boarding school years you know then when then I from there I wanted to go to stuff and my last two years because st.Michael’s went up to the tenth grade in so the last two years I had a choice of going to Fort Totten a government school or two wanting this the fam well there was also another Marty South Dakota but I prefer Corliss the fan it seems like that’s where my sister Rosalie had gone so that’s why I said it must be pretty good she stayed in schooler so that’s where I wanted to go and graduated from

Source materials

Supplied transcript documents. Text and transcription uncertainties are preserved as supplied.