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From left Auxiliary Bishop Adolph Marx, Mother Mary Benedict May, IWBS Superior of the Incarnate Word Convent and Msgr. Michael J. Adams break ground for the new  St. Pius X School.

Contributed photo

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It was the fall of 1966 when St. Pius X Catholic School first opened its doors to 209 students. Eight teachers taught in eight classrooms, one each for first through eighth grades. There were four Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament sisters and four lay teachers with Sister Aloysius Young, IWBS as school principal. Students learned the basics—reading, writing and arithmetic. 

On Friday Aug. 19, the Corpus Christi school will celebrate its 50th anniversary beginning with Mass at 5:30 p.m. at St. Pius X Church, followed by a meal and entertainment at the parish’s Youth Center. All alumni are invited and are asked to wear royal blue.
Attending St. Pius X School had a profound impact on Father Paul Hesse, current pastor of the parish and school.

“It made me a better student–intellectually and mentally. It’s one of the reasons I am a priest,” he said. 

Father Hesse attended first-sixth grades at St. Pius X School in the 1970s. He remembers attending Mass at least three times a week. Those early years followed him into public school—it helped him try to be a good person and carry on the values he learned from grade school.
 

St. Pius X School's first graduating class appears with Msgr. Adams, Sister Aloysius Young, IWBS at left and Sister Patrice Floyd, IWBS at right.  Contributed Photo

In the beginning, the older children—whose teams were known as the Fighting Blue Jays—played intramural sports with other parochial schools. In 1967, the press club created a newsletter called the St. Pius Gazette, which was renamed the St. Pius Peek-A-Boo. The newsletter reported on milestones, seasonal trivia, games, science fairs and spelling bees, first Communions, confirmations, Masses for Catholic liturgical celebrations and graduations.

In the fall of 1970, Hurricane Celia damaged the school and classes were postponed for a few days so maintenance crews could repair the damage. A kindergarten class was added that year and seventh and eighth grade classes were dropped.

Today, St. Pius X School has 173 students in grades K3-sixth grade. While many things have changed, the basics remain the same.

Sister Jude Janocek, IWBS, taught at St. Pius X in the early years and in 1974-76 became the second principal of the school. The bonds she established with families and children in those years are strong even today. Their shared memories and the knowledge that these same students and families are still practicing their faith make seeing them all the more rewarding, she said. 

Catholic schools today, Sister Jude said, have fewer religious and are staffed mostly by lay teachers and administrators. “They are very dedicated and could receive a larger salary anywhere else, but they stay in Catholic schools to help children grow in their faith. It’s a good thing,” Sister Jude said.

“Catholic schools are places of evangelization,” she said. “Sometimes parents who are not Catholic want their child to go to a Catholic elementary school, because they think their child will receive a better education and once in a while whole families come into the RCIA program, because their child wants to receive first Communion with their classmates.”

Sister Patrice Floyd, IWBS began teaching eighth grade when St. Pius X School first opened in 1966 and served as principal from 1976-82. She appreciated that the parents really respected the teachers and the teachers really admired the parents. The children knew that when they got into trouble in school, they would get in trouble at home—“the old fashioned way.”

Once, when Sister Patrice asked the children to pray for a mother who was very ill, a first grader almost beating her to class the next morning, announced that he had prayed all night and hoped she was better. She remembered teaching her students to dance—first it was all the girls who wanted to be indoors with the air conditioner, instead of playing basketball on the uncovered outside court. Then one boy came in and soon all the rest followed. 

“They were wonderful years—the best years, the best kids—that’s where I left my heart,” she said. “To this day I have great friends at St. Pius X.”

In 1988, the sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament informed the school that due to a decline in vocations they would no longer be able to staff the school.

Following Sister Patrice as principal were Sister Dorothy Salazar, IWBS from 1982-83, Dr. Frank Lucido from 1983-88, Rene Gonzalez from 1988-96, Patricia Stegall from 1996-2003, Kathy Clark from 2003-13 and Bryan Krnavek from 2013 to the present.

Although the school has all the basic elements as when he went to school, Father Hesse said there are some changes in teaching. It is more technology-based.

“One of the things Principal Bryan Krnavek will be implementing is the STEM program. It will probably involve robotics, active and hands on learning. I think a lot of it has to do with developing engineering skills. Public education is going that way. It’s a big endeavor and we need to be on the cutting edge of that too,” Father Hesse said.

As pastor, he wants the school to thrive and touch the hearts of people. 

“One of the beauties of having a school is that it adds a whole lot of life to the parish. I always considered the school as an extension of the ministry of the parish—what we try to do is proclaim the Gospel—and the school is one of the ways we do that. We touch a lot of young minds and hearts that way and help to form them and help them grow in their faith and hopefully that faith will carry on throughout their years,” Father Hesse said. 

He said the school likes to tout the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in the atrium—it is their favorite. It is more Montessori-type religious education. “The students get a lot out of it and I have been impressed with how they incorporate the faith in their life. We teach Gospel values, moral of the month and virtue of the month,” Father Hesse said.

When he has time, Father Hesse loves to go into the classrooms and talk with students. He will ask them about their faith, what they are learning and sometimes they ask him what it is like being a priest. 

“Not all of the students are Catholic, but I would say the bulk of them are. Nowadays we draw people from various parishes,” he said.

“I look at our kids and I say they’re just good kids. They really care for each other and they show a lot of heart for each other. They look out for each other and they really want to see each other succeed. They are well-behaved and reverent. The same mindset and values are there and the parents are really involved in the school,” he said.