Education

The St. Margaret Mary Alacoque first-graders burst out the doors when they saw that their pen pals from Trinity Catholic High School had arrived at their south St. Louis County school.

Despite that initial energy, many of the freshmen from the north St. Louis County archdiocesan high school and their young acquaintances were a little hesitant initially when greeting each other for the first time. But it didn't take long before they paired up, sitting on a classroom floor talking, smiling and laughing.

Rose Wieschhaus, director of religious education at Sts. Joachim and Ann Parish in St. Charles, stresses the need to involve parents so they have the resources they can use at home in educating their children in the faith.

Nadia Epps pressed her fingers to her lips and made clear that it was time for the students to be quiet: "Shhhhh!"

The fourth-graders at St. Gabriel School looked up to her and ceased their conversations.

When Tommy Barlow talks soccer, he could easily bring up his personal accomplishments. He netted the ball 27 times last season and assisted his teammates with 17 goals. He was a leader of the Chaminade soccer team that advanced to the Class 3 state championship game. He was named Gatorade Missouri Boys Soccer Player of the Year, was an All-American selection by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and chosen as the Missouri Soccer Coaches Association Class 3 Player of the Year.

Jean Grant brings a creative approach to teaching that has served her students for 25 years at St. Charles Borromeo School and now reaches many others.

Grant writes a column about religious activities and prayer services for Today's Catholic Teacher magazine, which reaches 50,000 educators across the nation. "I enjoy the fact that I create prayer services and activity pages, including some of the artwork they put in the magazine. ... I do get some good feedback. I've heard from the PSR at our own school, how much they enjoy using those with their classes.

The class started with a conversation about America's landfills, but by the end of the period, students were discussing the finer points of migratory patterns across the world.

It's just one example of how ninth-graders at Notre Dame High School are being encouraged to think outside of the box in a new history course offered there this year.