Small students make big impact

While fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders were outside walking around St. Francis de Sales School in Herkimer during the "Race for Education," their second-floor classrooms were abandoned but for piles of books, pencils and crayons on desks.

The only sound was a mechanical hum from a heating vent. Essays and artwork covered the walls of the hallway.

Lisa Wind loves those halls. She has been involved with the school for 10 years, ever since the day she enrolled her son in the four-year-old preschool program.

"The Christian values they teach our children, the education; there's no better school to teach our children," she said. "I couldn't have picked a better place."

Kristin Pawlusik is not Catholic. She lives in Ilion, a few miles from Herkimer, and her house is three doors away from a public school. Still, she chose to send her children to St. Francis de Sales.

"In a world that's so disconnected, you are connected to your child's school and the atmosphere here," she said. "There's a difference here."

The school used to enroll children from three-year-old pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade, but dropped its seventh and eighth grades in 2007. However, with the extra rooms, the school added a two-year-old pre-K program, which is growing.

In 2009, that program added a teacher, two aides - including Mrs. Pawlusik, who is also the Parent-Student Association treasurer - and has seen an increase in enrollment.

For principal Sister Rosalie Kelly, CSJ, the goal is to keep these students through the rest of elementary school.

"Our hope is that the parents will realize the gem that we have here and will continue on to Kindergarten," she said.

Sister Rosalie has been principal at St. Francis de Sales since 1974. Though she is approaching her 72nd birthday, she says that Catholic education has been a fountain of youth.

"I love the children, the teachers and the parents," she said. "I think it has kept me young in spirit. It's been just wonderful working with everybody."

In all her time at St. Francis de Sales, Sister Rosalie has been delivering the same message: "Every day I remind the children how much God loves them. God sent Jesus to show them the way, and we want to treat one another with kindness and respect. We are all God's children." (AR)

(11/05/09)