St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School

Madison Kyaer Frost. Madison attended St. Anthony School from K3 to Grade 6. Her favorite thing about St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School was the many field trips the students were able to have. One of her favorite field trips was to a Ball in the House performance.

Madison thinks the best thing she learned at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School was manners and respect for others. She doesn’t especially like math, but feels confident that she has learned what she needs to do well in middle school. She enjoyed the special time set aside for just plain READING and the time spent as an older student helping K5 children to read and spell.

On the down side, Madison said that leaks in the ceiling by the office looked awful and were sort of embarrassing. When asked what she would tell a family thinking about sending a child to St. Anthony’s, she would say that good reasons would be that the students treat each other like family and the small class size allows students to get help from the teacher more quickly.

Madison is looking forward to attending middle school.

Orlando Saavedra Ferguson. Orlando has been at St. Anthony’s just 2 years. His Uncle Mark, with whom he was living when he was 10, brought Orlando and his little brother to the school. They’d been attending Hollis Academy. Orlando found that at St. Anthony’s  because there were fewer kids, he got to know everyone better. And Father Pat was kind, funny, and gave good advice.

Orlando enjoyed chess club, altar serving, and most of all, robotix club, where the students built a golf-bot, a ball hunter and a pitcher and batter. The things he did not like about this school were that the classroom was tiny and they couldn’t open the windows for air or get the room dark enough to use the projector properly.

His favorite things about St. Anthony’s were that the students get more attention when struggling with a particular subject, and that the school encourages students to become closer to God.

Orlando will study at Bryson Middle.

Q. Synclair Tucker. Synclair started at St. Anthony’s in K4, when her cousins were here. Her mom volunteered here was eventually hired as the School Secretary. Synclair’s favorite event was the visit from the Liverpool Soccer Team. Her favorite subject was Spanish, taught by Ms. Cannon.

She liked it that the students and the teachers got to know each other well over the years. She also loved being an altar server and helping other students learn the responsibilities of this privilege. Synclair hopes to become a cartoon designer or a dance instructor.

When asked ”why should parents consider sending their children to St. Anthony’s?” she said that because there is a small number of kids, people help each other as if they were family. She also feels that the children at the school are very welcoming to new students.

When asked what she would change about the school she said that a gym, a library and an art room would make it much nicer. She said that walking down the road to the community gym was not especially fun. Overall, she said, St. Anthony’s is a great school that has teachers who care about the students and children who try very hard to follow the Golden Rule.

Synclair will attend Legacy Charter School.

A special thank you to Suzanne Newton for interviewing our graduates and writing their stories!