Sherry Cook, Class of 1986

One thing old graduates are always good for are stories of “how things used to be.” They tell tales of the fields where buildings are now, of times before central air and heat, of faculties mainly composed of religious persons. They tell of good memories (that soccer championship won in overtime at Toy Bowl) and of bad memories (that sprained wrist from a slip on the monkey bars – yes skipping three at a time was too much ) and of unique moments in time (that airplane that crashed on a luckily empty playground), but through all the telling, there is always a note of pride and affection. That continued pride and affection is the true value of Catholic Schools because past students are mirroring the pride and affection given to them by their alma maters. Love travels in a circle, and graduates love their schools because the schools, especially the teachers, love them.

All good teachers always view their students with pride and affection as those students make their way into the world. I truly can experience that for myself, now that I have joined the ranks of the faculty. I sit in the teachers’ lounge and listen to the faculty update each other on how students are doing. Students, your teachers truly watch over you forever with pride and affection, for once they have taught you, you really do become “their kids.” They listen to news of you as you pass through the grades at school, question your parents and relatives about what subjects you are taking in high school, what colleges have you been accepted at, what are you majoring in, did you make the dean’s list or honor roll, etc. Teachers know when an old student’s name was in the paper, if a student joined the band, or the chess team, or is playing basketball. Teachers follow with pride and affection all the steps former pupils make on the road to becoming adults: college, careers, marriage, children. And when former students come to enroll their little ones in kindergarten, teachers tell “remember when stories” with a tear in their eye and joy in their hearts.

All students grow up and away from their elementary schools. Catholic schools provide the soil and the roots for the budding students to grow, and grow strong; helping them bloom and stretch their branches. It is this excellent rooting full of strength that provides the basis students need to blossom into the adults they are capable of becoming. Strong roots are not tied to how many computers a school has, or how many academic teams it offers, but on those core principles of love and pride and sense of family that a good school provides to its students. A school can only provide strong roots for a child if the school has strong roots itself. All the most advanced tools to improve academic achievements will fail if they are not based in love and in a true commitment to student growth and achievement.

The feeling of home, of familiarity, of acceptance, of pride in past students and how they have grown up; these things are what my school offers me as a past pupil. I know I look out at my school with love and pride because that is how my school looks at me - and at every student that passes through its doors.