January 26, 2007

Catholic Schools Week Supplement

Building for the future: Newest Catholic school appeals to a growing community

It’s not every school that can capture all its students and teachers in one up-close photograph. Yet that’s what happened when SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi School in Greenwood opened on Aug. 14, 2006. Shown in the top row, from left, instructional assistant Theresa Winter, first-grade teacher Angela Rykowski, kindergarten teacher Mindy Dant, Principal Sandi Patel and Father Vincent Lampert, the pastor of the parish, form the leadership of the newest school in the archdiocese. (Submitted photo)

It’s not every school that can capture all its students and teachers in one up-close photograph. Yet that’s what happened when SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi School in Greenwood opened on Aug. 14, 2006. Shown in the top row, from left, instructional assistant Theresa Winter, first-grade teacher Angela Rykowski, kindergarten teacher Mindy Dant, Principal Sandi Patel and Father Vincent Lampert, the pastor of the parish, form the leadership of the newest school in the archdiocese. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

The celebration will begin with the kindergarten and first-grade students playing drums and tambourines as they move into the newest Catholic school building in the archdiocese.

The celebration will continue inside the new school as the students sign their names on the walls where the chalkboards will be hung.

The touches will be part of the scheduled fun and joy that will mark the Feb. 1 opening of the new Assisi Center at SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi Parish in Greenwood, the latest example of how Catholic families strive to make a Catholic education a key part of their children’s lives.

“It just shows there’s that desire to integrate faith foundations into academics,” said Sandi Patel, the principal of SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi School. “I think that’s what people are looking for. I’ve never thought Catholic schools were better, just distinctly different. And that difference is the missing piece. It’s about developing a relationship with Jesus.”

The new school actually opened in August when 19 kindergarten students and 15 first-grade students entered makeshift classrooms in the parish center while the $1.6 million Assisi Center was under construction. With the dedication of the new school by Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein on Jan. 28, the students will soon have a building they can call their own.

The school meets the demands of the growing parish, which has a large group of young families who have built and bought homes in the Johnson County area.

“We have subdivisions going up everywhere around here,” said Father Vincent Lampert, the pastor. “Three years ago, we had about 600 families in the parish. Now we have 914 families. In the next five to seven years, we could double in size. There’s a potential of 1,000 new families during that time. Twenty percent of the population of Johnson County is Catholic, which is probably twice the diocesan average.”

Building the Assisi Center is part of the foundation for the future, according to Father Lampert.

“Any large parish would want to offer a school ministry option for its parishioners,” he said. “The Assisi Center will not only be a school, but it will be used for religious education and youth ministry. It’s the missing piece of the puzzle at our growing parish.”

Families in the parish share the excitement.

“It’s great,” said Linda Pirau, a parish member whose 6-year-old son, Ryan, is in the school’s first grade. “It’s a new horizon for a lot of people. I’m very pleased with the staff and all the hard work they do. The central thing they do is make the school about the presence of Christ. There’s certainly the academics, but that is the essence of the school.”

The plan is to add grades to the school each year, with the school eventually serving students from

preschool through eighth grade.

“For the next school year, we will add a pre-kindergarten class and a second grade,” Patel said. “We’ll have the potential for 90 students next year. We’ve made a commitment to these first families that their children will be able to be here through eighth grade.”

Patel paused and considered just how special the opening of the new school is.

“The families are so happy that the school is open,” she said. “There is this strong sense of community. It has just been the most unbelievable experience.” †

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