East Greenbush school entices with lunch and prayer

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Kevin Condon enjoyed lunch with his son, Joshua.

The two didn't dine in a restaurant. Rather, they enjoyed each other's company in the gym at Holy Spirit School in East Greenbush. The gym serves as the cafeteria for the school; parents are told they should feel free to come for lunch any time.

Mr. Condon told The Evangelist that his lunch with Joshua was actually his third of the day: He had also enjoyed lunch with his children in second grade and Kindergarten. He said he tries to come as often as his work schedule allows.

A father of six, Mr. Condon remarked that he and his wife realized they will have children in school for 90 academic years. But paying for those 90 years of Catholic education is a sacrifice the Condons are willing to make.

"It's a small investment considering what you get in the end," Mr. Condon stated. "I'm very happy."

Holy Spirit School enrolls 300 children from preschool through eighth grade, according to principal Roger Rooney. The students come from a variety of school districts, including East and North Greenbush, Hudson, Averill Park, Schodack, New Lebanon, Ichabod Crane, Troy and Chatham.

Being from different areas doesn't discourage the families and teachers from forming a community. In fact, students, parents and faculty all say the sense of community is one of the best things about the school.

Eighth-grader Cullen Utter-mark came to Holy Spirit in fifth grade. "I like that everyone is friends," he said of his school. "It's my second family."

Elizabeth Kennedy, middle school literature teacher, also enjoys the sense of community.

"I enjoy the community aspect of the school," she said. "The families and students are caring. Our students are caring and compassionate when it comes to charity work."

Mrs. Kennedy is equally impressed with her students' eagerness: "The students have a love of learning. They want to know more. They want to know why. They're very inquisitive."

One highlight for Holy Spirit is its students' accomplishments in the annual "Future Cities" competition, a national event sponsored by the National Engineers Week Foundation. The contest fosters interest in science, math and engineering in seventh- and eighth-graders.

City of hope
Mary Lou Ritz, computer teacher at Holy Spirit, said the school has placed in the top five in the regional competition for five years. For the last three years, the students have placed second.

Many schools in the competition use the "Future Cities" project as part of their curriculum, Mrs. Ritz said, but Holy Spirit students take on this project in addition to their regular homework. For them, it involves many hours of after-school work.

The project involves designing a city as it would look 150 years in the future, using recycled materials and incorporating certain specified features in the model they build.

The students must also write an essay about their city and do an eight-minute presentation, then field questions from engineers about their work.

All students at Holy Spirit School have access to technology, explained Mrs. Ritz. Each class has computer instruction once a week. This time is used to teach skills like using Windows and other software, as well as for research related to the core curriculum.

Each teacher at the school has a laptop computer and all of the middle school classrooms have interactive whiteboards connected to the teacher's computer and a projector to allow for dynamic lesson presentation.

Values-based
While the sense of community and the use of technology at the school are important, the reason for Holy Spirit School's existence is passing on Catholic values.

Each school day begins with prayer, noted Mr. Rooney. There are also weekly prayer services as well as first Friday Masses and an annual family Mass.

Rev. Joseph O'Brien, pastor of Holy Spirit parish, said the school is an important part of the parish.

"I'm very pleased to be in a parish that has a very strong Catholic school and a strong faith formation program," he said.

When he visits the classrooms, Father O'Brien said he is pleased to see the teachers incorporating faith in everything they do: "The teachers look for opportunities to discuss how we live our Catholic faith in the midst of lessons and in the headlines of the day."

(12/17/09)