Historical February 1981 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
The first semester at St. Roch’s was busy and productive.
We have three new teachers: Mrs. Patti Klees for 8th Grade, Ms. Ruth Orr for 7th, and Mrs. Joan Bruen (of McPherson fame) for 5th.
We hope they are as happy with us as we are with them.
We also have a new music teacher, Mr. Steve Radeke, for the older children. Steve is a professor at Washington University and is in charge of music at Edison Theater.
He is an accomplished pianist and an avid fan and performer of the ragtime music.
His music program at St. Roch’s includes teaching the children to play the Orff Instruments.
These are percussion instruments which experts praise as excellent tools in teaching music; they are used in classes at CASA.
Some children played the Orff Instruments during the music program preceding Midnight Mass and very favorably impressed their audience.
We hope Steve is with us for a long time.
In October the students in the 2nd through 8th grades took the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. St. Roch’s scored in the 96 percentile.
We congratulate all the teachers and students for their hard work.
A wonderful way to get into the Christmas spirit is by attending the pageant put on by the Primary Grades.
The 1st graders act out the story of Christmas, while the 3rd graders narrate and the 2nd graders sing carols.
This year’s production was as delightful as ever.
Eighth grade girls are busy piling up honors for St. Roch’s. Sandy Guzman won an Art Scholarship to Rosati-Kain.
The 8th Grade girls basketball team, coached by Crissy Grady, won 3rd place in the Epiphany basketball tournament.
The date of the annual St. Roch’s Carnival has been changed to February 13 because a team of five evaluators will be in the school in March.
This evaluation is required by the Archdiocese and will give us an objective view of the strengths and weaknesses of St. Roch’s Parish.
There will be a Book Fair in the gym in April, and a Parish Open House is being planned in conjunction with that. More details of these two events will be in a later issue of The Paper.
The second half of the school years is shaping up to be as exciting and eventful as the first.
Original photograph caption
Original drawing of St. Roch’s church and school. The Paper, February 1981, page 6. Artist not credited.
Originally published in The Paper, February 1981.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1981_02.pdf, printed page(s) 6; PDF page(s) 6.
