Volume 4, Issue 10

Oct 2007

Educating Mind, Body & Soul: St. Patrick Catholic School by Dorothy B. Gallagher, Principal St. Patrick Catholic School 5021 N. Nelson Street Spokane, WA 99217 509-701-5759

On September 14, 1914, with two Sisters of the Holy Names as teachers, St. Patrick’s Parish opened its doors to begin a school.  Their mission was to educate the children of Hillyard.  Within seven years the school had grown from fifty students to 190, and the current building had to be built to house them all in 1921.  Much has changed over the years – over 6,000 students have graduated, new structures have been built and remodeled, and the teachers have changed-but the passion of St. Patrick’s School remains the same even in this our 95^th year:  helping parents educate their children.

At the heart of what we do is the profound respect for the dignity of every human person whoever they are and whatever their color, race, creed, or nationality, because they have been created in the image and likeness of God, they have a fundamental right of education.

We believe that parents are the primary educators of their children-but we also know that they need to help.  St. Patrick’s provides a solid academic program, and our graduates have proven themselves to be among the best students in the city academically.  But that’s only part of what we do – there is so much more! At St. Patrick’s School we integrate faith with knowledge and life.  We know that life is not only about learning math or science.  It’s also about learning respect, self-discipline, and virtue.  It’s about developing a love for knowledge and a sense moral responsibility. It’s about learning to love God, ourselves, and others, because our life begins in this world, but it doesn’t end here.  These are the things that St. Patrick’s provides and which other schools cannot.

And so this remains our mission:  “In partnership with parents and the parish community, St. Patrick Catholic School prepares virtuous graduates instilled with a thirst for knowledge enlightened by faith.”  By educating the whole child we are not only helping children; we are helping their families and society as well. 

How do we do this?  The easiest way to describe it is that we provide a synthesis of culture with faith, and a synthesis of faith with life.  Culture includes all that is true and good about human knowledge and experience, but not just intellectual knowledge, but ethnic and civic culture as well. We teach students that knowledge is a truth to be discovered- and that discovery of truth leads them to the Highest Truth, Jesus Christ.  This is the synthesis between culture and faith.

We teach our students Christian virtues-especially self-discipline, charity, and respect for God, others and themselves.  By doing this we are actually helping them incorporate what they know into how they live.  We teach them that this world is entrusted to them in stewardship, and that they have responsibilities to themselves, others, and God. 

We do all of this on a shoestring budget.  We just plain couldn’t do it without the commitment and dedication of our teachers, staff, and parishioners.  Our mission is to provide a Catholic education for anyone who really wants it, not just those who can pay for it.  We have great programs and great teachers, but we want to provide more programs and resources, and a better and a more beautiful environment for more teachers, students and their families. 

This is our vision:  To bring St. Patrick Catholic School into the 21^st century technologically and in how we do business. Five years from now, we want to have full classrooms for each grade, Pre-Kindergarten through 8^th grade.  We want to expand our performing arts program to expose our children to music, drama, and dance. We will have an updated science and technology lab to teach the basics of physics, biology, and astronomy.  We want to add modern and classical languages to the curriculum to prepare students to live and work in the worldwide economy.  And we want to build a gymnasium to house an expanded year-round sports program and activity center for boys and girls.

How are we going to get there? We’re going to need a lot help from many people willing to join our committed corps of volunteers. But mostly, we will accomplish our goal by doing what we’ve been doing for almost 100 years:  helping parents educate virtuous children. We do what we do because we believe the children are worth it, the families are worth it, and the neighborhood is worth it! 

St. Patrick Catholic School is currently looking for sponsors for their October 26th Run-a-thon to raise funds to support their Fair Share Tuition Program.  You can also join them for lunch on the 25th.  Download this form for more information.

FACTS ABOUT OUR SCHOOL:

-Our school is located in the heart of Hillyard. 

-97% of our students graduate from high school and most will go on to college

-Our teacher/student ratio is 20:1

-40% of our students are non-catholic.

-80% of our families receive Fair Share Tuition Assistance

-50% of our families receive free and/or reduced lunch

-The Missionaries of Charity, the order of sisters founded by Blessed Mother Teresa, live in our convent.

© Historic-Hillyard.com

Oct 2007