Small school with a big history
OAKLAND TWP — In 1845, German immigrants moved into the Summit and Oakland township areas. They hired teacher George Mueller, built a one-room log cabin and made a commitment to give their children a faith-based education. The commitment continues 166 years later.
According to “St. Wendelin School History,” written in 1995 by Sister M. Zita Green, St. Wendelin is the oldest operating school in the Pittsburgh Diocese.
The school has seen a great growth and decline in enrollment since its beginning. Green said the school had 24 students in 1876, 53 students in 1918 and 140 students in 1950. It now has 62 students enrolled for the 2011-12 school year.
The church and school buildings have been expanded and rebuilt since the humble log cabin. The preschool building was originally built as a convent on Aug. 27, 1927. Sisters taught at the school until Green's retiring in 1995.
St. Wendelin offers preschool through eighth grade, though at one point the seventh and eighth grade classes were not available. These grades were added in 2000 and 2001.
With new principal JoLynn Clouse, enrollment has increased slightly for the 2011-12 school year, a trend she hopes will continue.
Many of the current students' siblings, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and older relatives have attended the small school.
While the generations of families are different, many traditions remain the same.
Mary (Green) Miller of Oakland Township knew she would go to St. Wendelin because her father and siblings went there.There were two rooms when Miller was at the school between 1941 and 1947, with four grades in each room.Girls would have to sweep the room and clean the chalkboards.“We had a coal stove and the boys had to carry the coal from the shed where they kept it to the potbelly stove in the middle of the room,” Miller said.While students today don't have to carry coal for the now 11-room building, the traditions of cleaning remain.According to Miller's daughter, Brenda Wolfe of Oakland Township, the Spanish and music teacher at St. Wendelin, the students don't see cleaning as a chore. They love to help lunch lady Cheri Weiland serve lunch.“One of the worst punishments we can give for misbehaving is not allowing them to be one of Cheri's helpers,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe's sister, Carol Mitch, attended St. Wendelin between 1967 and 1973.“Sister Grace taught us to square dance,” Mitch said. “Every Friday we would move all the desks and dance all afternoon. It was just so much fun.”Wolfe continues this tradition with her students during music class.St. Wendelin also gives the children three opportunities to go outdoors daily.Miller's class would play softball every day.“We would start during first recess, then continue it at lunch and finish it at last recess,” Miller said.The softball tradition has been updated to a continuous game of kickball.Mitch and her son Jeff Mitch, students between 1993 and 2004, loved to play kickball.“The big event of the day was the massive totally of who won the most kickball games,” said Jeff Mitch.Clouse said students still play kickball daily with the occasional faculty vs. students game.“We play kickball like it's a real sport,” Clouse said.
Linda Young of Oakland Township attended St. Wendelin from 1956 to 1964. Her father, George Rodgers, and her five siblings went to St. Wendelin. While Young's own children did not, she is excited her two grandsons are restarting the tradition.Students when Young was at school were required to wear hats and ties to daily Mass.“If you didn't have (a hat), the nuns would pin a handkerchief or a Kleenex on top of your head,” said Young.Young's daughter-in-law, Amy Young of Oakland Township, said Mass, which is now only on Fridays, is still formal, but less strict.“They have their normal school uniforms, but they are not allowed to wear shorts on Fridays or any holy day,” Amy Young said.
Students of St. Wendelin have always had a faith-based education. While in the past only alter boys participated in performing Mass, now every student gets a chance.Amy Young said even her third grade son, Tyler, is speaking.“He is already doing it in front of Mass,” Young said. I wouldn't even do that now.”Wolfe, who attended the school between 1964 and 1967, remembers practicing Mass with younger students, teaching them all of the different parts of the service.Clouse continues this tradition today, having older students help younger students in daily activities.“They practice being the priest, so it's a language arts lesson as well as a religious lesson,” Clouse said. “The kids love that kind of stuff.”
The bond formed between the school, the church, its parish and the parents is timeless.“They may be small in size, but they are large in heart,” said Stacy Slater of Oakland Township.Slater went to St. Wendelin from 1984 to 1991. Her father, five brothers, husband and children all attended or are attending St. Wendelin.“It's that tight-knit community that's pretty irreplaceable,” Slater said.The school has many fundraisers throughout the school year for the school and families struggling to pay tuition.“We work together to get the job done,” Slater said.Community dinners, walk-a-thons, picnics and even family kickball games allow teachers, parents and the community to feel connected.“When you become part of that program, you belong with the school, you belong with those families and they will help you out no matter what,” Slater said.</B>
St. Wendelin is looking for the contact information of alumni for its database and community events.Those who have not received the school's alumni contact letter can contact the school at 724-285-4986, stwend@zoominternet.net or 211 Saint Wendelin Road, Butler, PA 16002.The school also has open enrollment and the Butler, South Butler, Armstrong, Karns City, and Moniteau school districts have busing.For more information visit www.stwendelinbutler.org.
