Lookin' good in the neighborhood.
St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School received a 2010 Outstanding Board Award from the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) during its Annual Convention in Minneapolis on April 6-8. St. Anthony’s is one of five schools nationwide to receive the award this year.
“St. Anthony’s board should feel very proud. This national recognition is based on success criteria and researched benchmarks,” says Dr. Regina Haney, Executive Director, Department of Boards and Councils, NCEA. “St. Anthony’s board and committees have demonstrated that what they’re doing works: making a difference and keeping the school viable to ensure its future. It takes a team effort and hard work to produce such great results, so that one day, their students can also give back to school and society.”
St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School Advisory Board Chair Erena Allen says, “Members of this board have toiled long and hard in pursuit of nothing less than the ultimate best for St. Anthony’s students and staff. We’re not a school of significant means, but we possess an abundance of faith, love and dedication that nurtures our students and encourages their success and willingness to give back to the community. Witnessing this is in and of itself the greatest award of all.”
Erena Allen, Sister Catherine and Father Patrick
Allen also insists that the work and efforts began years before she became the chair of the board. Principal Sister Catherine Noecker, OSF, says that board members Alan Cooper and Mary Corner have done so much over the past several years to get the board “organized.”
“When the word came from Sister Julia Hutchison, SND, our Diocese of Charleston Catholic Schools Superintendent, that they were nominating us for the award, I was super delighted,” says Sr. Noecker, principal of St. Anthony’s School since 1988. “It’s been obvious over the past five years that ours is a group that ‘shows up’ and does the work! Not only at the local school level either. Any time there’s been a regional or diocesan gathering, meeting or workshop, our board has been the most represented—and, with usually Father Patrick the only pastor present! We definitely are a ‘work in progress’ and the fruits of hard labor can be witnessed in the committee reports at each meeting.”
Father Patrick Tuttle, OSM, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church and School, adds, “I believe St. Anthony’s has been recognized for the new and total commitment to the Diocesan process of proper board formation. We listened and implemented everything we could. I think it’s a reward for growth and development and not that we are the best.”
“I admit proudly that the best boards are the ones who grow and develop. We’re hugely grateful to God for our graduation rates, our selfless teachers, our long-time principal, and the trust of our parents,” says Fr. Tuttle. “In the future we’ll need to address the relationship our school has to the new A.J. Whittenberg School, the Kroc Center and the City of Greenville’s needs for education. We’re a partnering people.”
