Upstate schools make the most of Catholic Schools Week
By Paul A. Barra
ANDERSON — Catholic Schools Week is an annual opportunity for St.
Joseph Catholic School to showcase its campus, its K5 to fifth-grade
curricula and the quality of its education. Principal Mary Ann Groves
and her faculty plan an ambitious week.
“We start our open enrollment at that time,” Groves said. “We take
advantage of Catholic Schools Week to let people know we’re having a
good year.”
The administrator said that interest in Anderson County’s only Catholic
school grows every year, and enrollment continues to inch up as people
learn to appreciate the value of a Catholic education. St. Joseph kicks
off CSW with a cross-curriculum fair that involves every class in
making projects on the continents and displaying them for school
parents and prospective parents.
“On Tuesday, we celebrate an all-school Mass and then hold a teacher
appreciation luncheon,” Groves said. “Wednesday is the actual open
house and Thursday all the classes will be making rosaries for the
missions.”
Friday is Student Appreciation Day, the day that is the culmination of
the celebratory week and a fun day — for the kids, at least. Everyone
goes on a field trip that includes bowling and a movie.
At Our Lady of the Rosary School in Greenville, festivities started
before the snow and ice came to town with a daughter-mom basketball
game Jan. 28. That game was followed by the eighth-grade boys playing
against their fathers. The lower grades played each other before the
big games.
“We’re making a big deal of (Catholic Schools Week),” said
eighth-grader Belle Host, who has been at OLR since first grade. “We
have assemblies planned all week and have special speakers coming in.
And we’re having a ’50s Day on Friday. My friends and I are dressing up
as the Pink Ladies.”
Host, who is a non-Catholic, appreciates the education she has received
at Our Lady of the Rosary. She said the prayers said by everyone in the
morning, before and after lunch and at the end of the day make the
school different than public schools.
“I’ve gotten a good education, but it’s been a challenge,” she said.
At St. Anthony School in Greenville, CSW celebrations included a public
prayer service on Jan. 31, a big basketball game, poster contest and
the mother of all field trips to end the week.
“The K3, K4 and K5 kids are going to the circus Friday,” said Demitrius
Morris, school secretary. “It’s the first field trip of the year for
our 3-year-olds.”
The circus is the famed Barnum and Bailey at the Bi-Lo Center.
Published Feb. 3, 2005
The Catholic Miscellany