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FR. PETER KLINK, SJ
President

Born in 1950, Fr. Peter Klink, SJ, the son of a dentist and a nurse, grew up in the Wisconsin community of Hartford. In 1969, he entered the Society of Jesus (the "Jesuits") in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota to be part of the Wisconsin Province. Having graduated with majors in Philosophy and Political Science from St. Louis University and while completing a post-graduate Fulbright Scholarship at the University in Frankfurt, Germany, he was asked to teach at Red Cloud High School in 1975. This assignment was a life-changing experience for him. "I always imagined myself finishing a doctoral degree in Political Philosophy and Ethics and teaching at a Jesuit University. However, my experience of Lakota culture, the challenges facing Native Americans in this country, and the strength and courage of the elders of the Reservation touched me deeply. It really was a great gift!" he remarks.

While taking other assignments since then, Fr. Klink has seems to make his way back to the Pine Ridge Reservation and Red Cloud Indian School. He did theological studies in California and returned as the Principal at Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary in Porcupine in 1973. He taught at the Wisconsin Province Novitiate in St. Paul and returned to be President at Red Cloud between 1985 and 1991. He was asked to serve as the Director of the National Office of Jesuit Social Ministries at the Jesuit Conference USA in Washington, DC from 1991 until 1995 and returned in 1995 as Superintendent of Schools, Director of Development, and now as President of Red Cloud Indian School.