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September 14, 2008

Change is constant in archdiocese’s schools

By Michelle Martin

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Students and faculty at St. James School in Arlington Heights were among the last of the more than 100,000 Catholic school students and teachers to return to classes this school year, opening Sept. 2.

But they had a good reason. Parish and school leaders scheduled the September opening to give workers enough time to finish creating new facilities that will eventually bring all the students together on the west side of busy Arlington Heights Road.

St. James is one of 258 Catholic elementary and high school schools that got off to a strong start, with the opening of the new Christ the King Jesuit High School on the West Side and lots of new programs and initiatives at other schools.

At St. James, the youngest students started the school year by crossing over Arlington Heights Road.

The school has been divided for years, with middle school students on the west side of the street thoroughfare and younger students on the east side.

Renovation and additions to the former parish convent — used in recent years as a ministry center — mill make it possible to unite the student body on the west side of the campus by the middle of this school year. For now, pre-kindergarten through second-grade students will join their middle- school peers in the new facilities. Third-grade through fifth-grade students will make the move across the street midyear, after renovations to the former junior high classrooms are complete.

Principal Judy Pappas said she and her staff were a bit harried in the days leading up to the beginning of school Sept. 2, especially since teachers did not have access to their new classrooms until a week before school started.

But with the opening delayed until after Labor Day, everyone was eager to go back to classes.

“It’s time,” she said. “We’re ready to get back to what we are all here for – teaching kids.”

The new facilities are light years ahead of the 80-year-old building the students are moving out of technologically, Pappas said, and set up for modern teaching methods. Also, the early childhood classrooms — prekindergarten and kindergarten — meet the criteria for the National Association for the Education of the Young Child — so that the school will be able to get NAEYC certification.

Two Catholic high schools celebrate 50 years

Two Catholic high schools are celebrating their 50th anniversaries this year, Regina Dominican in Wilmette and Marian Catholic in Chicago Heights.

Regina Dominican, a girls’ school sponsored by the Adrian Dominican congregation, hosted several special events, including a Mass celebrated by Cardinal George Sept. 12 and a family picnic Sept. 13.

Marian Catholic, founded as a coeducational school sponsored by the Springfield Dominican congregation, hosted an anniversary Mass celebrated by Cardinal George Sept. 6. The Mass followed an afternoon “Family Fun Fest” and preceded an adults-only reception for alumni and families.

After the Mass, the Marian community presented a check for more than $100,000 for an endowment fund to Catholic schools Superintendent Mary Paul McCaughey, who led Marian Catholic for 16 years. Mc- Caughey can oversee the use of proceeds from the endowment for the students, faculty, families and programs at the school.

School leaders also announced the conclusion of the three-year “The Courage to Lead” capital campaign, with donations and pledges topping $6 million.

Remodeled gym at St. Ferdinand

St. Ferdinand students are enjoying a newly completed remodeled gymnasium. The school started talking about refurbishing the gym in 2006, when the possibility of using the gym floor from Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary was raised, said the principal, Lucine Mastalerz.

When school and parish administrators found out that wouldn’t be cost effective, they began working with a flooring company, which said the school could sand down and refinish its existing floor one more time before having to replace it in 10-20 years.

But rains in 2007 showed that before they tackled the floor, the school and parish would have to fix the roof and the drains. The pastor, Father Zdzislaw Torba, handled the repairs with the school and parish splitting the cost.

St. Rene, powered by the sun

St. Rene Goupil School, 6430 S. New England Avenue, has a new solar panel on its roof.

The kilowatt photovoltaic cell panel was paid for with a $10,000 grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community foundation.

The panel will produce about 120 kilowatt hours of electricity each month, enough to power one classroom.

But the benefits will go beyond saving on energy costs, Students at the school can log in to www.solarschools.org to see data streaming from the panels, and teachers will incorporate clean energy lessons into their classes. Students can see how much energy can be captured from the sun on cloudy days vs. sunny days, for example, and learn how much energy it takes to power common appliances.

St. Rene Goupil’s pastor, Father Tom Kasputis, is looking for funding to help pay for more solar panels for the parish and school buildings, to help limit the use of fossil fuels, to cut energy costs and to provide greater learning opportunities for the students.

St. Monica Academy, at 5115 N. Mont Clare Ave., installed six photovoltaic cells on its roof with grant funding last year; they are enough to save about $20 a day on electricity. St. Monica is the archdiocese’s first “environmental academy,” with an emphasis on conservation and ecology at all grade levels. This year, students and teachers are trying to cut down on waste, in part by giving each student a reusable “lunch kit” (paid for with a grant from Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn’s office) to help cut down on trash generated at lunchtime.

Students at St. Rene Goupil also work to recycle paper and other materials. St. Rene Parish will kick off its 50th anniversary year in Advent by supplying parishioners with reusable shopping bags as well, said Kathy Borski-Tutt, marketing director.

Seton, St. Sabina partner for technology

Seton Academy of South Holland is partnering with St. Sabina Academy on Chicago’s South Side to provide each classroom teacher with a laptop computer and technology professional development training, and the school will also receive an LCD projector.

The program will help St. Sabina integrate technology into the curriculum. St. Sabina students will receive increased knowledge and experience working with computers, while teachers will now be able to maintain electronic grade books, connect wirelessly to the Internet and greatly increase the supplemental materials they bring to their classrooms.

NDHS for Girls names new president

Kelly Jones, former vice president of operations and development, has been named the school’s president. The president emeritus, Sister Bridget Murphy of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, will remain at the school for the first semester of the 2008-2009 school year to “wrap up unfinished projects” and orient a new alumnae director to the job.

St. Martin de Porres opens computer center

St. Martin De Porres High School in Waukegan, a Cristo Rey-model school, will use a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to open a Community Technology Center to the public. The technology center will allow St. Martin de Porres students, their parents and members from the wider community to access the Internet and provide the opportunity to learn from computer literacy classes and other programs.

For example, the school will partner with the College of Lake County to offer Web-based English as Second Language instruction. The center will be open three evenings a week from 4-8 p.m. A grand opening is slated for early October.

Additionally, SMdP will be expanding its primary technology program through a gift of more than $150,000 from an individual donor. The gift will allow for major upgrades to the technological infrastructure of the educational campus and additional hardware, including 80 laptops for classroom use and classroom projectors in every classroom.

Holy Family opens new facility

Holy Family Catholic Academy students, parents and staff joined in the Sept. 7 grand opening of the Inverness parish’s new Brennan Center for Youth, Children and Families. The center, named for Father Pat Brennan, whose tenure as pastor is coming to a close, will be used by students at the school as well as for children in parish religious education programs and for other parish ministries.

Holy Trinity HS renovates counseling center

Students at Holy Trinity High School, 1443 W. Division St., can enjoy a renovated counseling center. The center includes new conference rooms and offices for the counseling staff, as well as campus ministry and the PEAK Scholarship director. It also features a computer area that students can use to research colleges.

Early childhood center dedicates wing to Bishop Conway

The Cardinal Bernardin Early Childhood Center, 1651 W. Diversey Parkway, was to dedicate a newly renovated wing in memory of Bishop Edwin Conway, whose dream and foresight inspired the beginning of the school 11 years ago.

Sister Mary Paul McCaughey, archdiocesan superintendent, and Auxiliary Bishop Francis Kane were to cut the ribbon with the children, and teachers.

Sister of St. Joseph Barbara Jean Ciszek, the principal, said, “the Cardinal Bernardin Early Childhood Center was established in 1998 to provide Catholic early childhood education programs for children and families from birth through third grade.

The school was founded to carry out the vision of Cardinal Bernardin to provide inclusive environments where all children would be welcomed. This vision continues to provide an inspiration for the children and families who are a part of the school.”

The new wing includes a new Montessori classroom for children ages 3 to 6, a children’s resource library, a conference room and office and highlights a prayer center designed especially for children.

Bishop Conway died in 2004.

St. Robert Bellarmine offers program for 2-year-olds

St. Robert Bellarmine School, 6036 W. Eastwood Ave., has added a Tiny Tots program for 2-year-olds accompanied by their parents or caregivers. The school now provides education from toddlerhood through eighth grade, said the principal, Carrie Mijal.