|
Upper Sandusky celebrates 150 years of Catholic education |
|
|
|
Written by LAURIE STEVENS, Chronicle Writer
|
|
Friday, 04 January 2008 |
UPPER SANDUSKY—Mary Alice Harbour has only been principal at Upper Sandusky St. Peter for seven years, but her time in the classroom at the elementary school actually started 54 years ago.
Born in Wyandot County, she became a student at St. Peter when she was six years old. She left to attend high school and college, but returned to her alma mater to teach fifth grade immediately after her college graduation in 1969.
With the exception of intermittent periods she took off to raise her three children, who also attended St. Peter, Mrs. Harbour has been at the school ever since.
 |
From left, kindergarteners Keaton Cunningham, Justine Messmer, Amy Frey and Maya Collins of Upper Sandusky St. Peter crowd around a new fish tank in teacher Becky Droll’s classroom. (Chronicle photo by Laurie Stevens) |
“The school community is family. It’s home,” says Mrs. Harbour. “I can’t imagine being anyplace else.”
Her enthusiasm and dedication to the school is shared by the generations of former and current students who are celebrating 150 years of Catholic education in Upper Sandusky this year.
According to Mrs. Harbour, St. Peter School was founded in 1857 after about 30 families in the area expressed the desire for a school where they could pass on their Catholic faith. Today, 136 students in kindergarten through sixth grade attend St. Peter in a building that was constructed in 1926 and expanded in 1956.
The principal attributes the school’s long history to strong community support.
“I think the community supports many of the values that we teach, and that we’re built on,” she explains.
Every morning after the Pledge of Allegiance, students recite the school motto of “courtesy, kindness and respect,” which Mrs. Harbour says is built into all aspects of life at St. Peter.
The school also has a reputation for academic excellence, as evidenced by the string of graduates who have gone on to become valedictorians and salutatorians at the local high school.
“And of course, Jesus is the whole reason the school exists,” says Mrs. Harbour. “Our mission, to teach as Jesus did, has been able to continue for 150 years.”
Dan Thiel, a 1974 graduate, is one of the hundreds of students who passed through Mrs. Harbour’s classroom. His six sons are also alumni, and he and his wife now have two adopted daughters and a grandchild enrolled at St. Peter.
He appreciates the positive atmosphere he experienced at the school and the good moral values and faith his teachers instilled in him as a child. Mr. Thiel recalls one of the religious sisters teaching her students they could become anything they wanted to be.
“I always remembered that in life,” he says. “Hopefully I’ve been able to instill that into my kids.”
Mr. Thiel believes many area residents support the Catholic school because of the close ties it has to their hearts.
“A lot of the people that went to St. Peter’s have stayed in this community,” he explains. “You try to give back to something that was good to you.”
Mr. Thiel says many blessings have come out of St. Peter School, and he hopes to see many more in the future. “I really believe the school is truly fulfilling a need for the community.”
|
