Mary’s Home school is a faith-filled community

This school is like a big community. Everyone is willing to help whenever you need it. It’s a big happy community.”

Madelyn, an eighth-grader at Our Lady of the Snows School, Mary’s Home

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Bursts of laughter erupted from Mrs. Belshe’s kindergarten classroom in Our Lady of the Snows School in Mary’s Home.

She was reading from David Shannon’s imaginatively illustrated No, David! — a book showing children how not to behave.

“It’s about a boy who does silly things that he should not do, and he gets in trouble,” Mrs. Belshe explained. “But in the end, he also needs a hug and to hear, ‘Yes, David. I love you.’”

The students in pre-school through eighth grade went to Mass together and were back to acclimating themselves to a new year of school.

It was the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holyday of obligation.

“I want to welcome in very a special way our students, this being the very first Mass at the beginning of the school year,” Father Simon Jude Kanyike, pastor of Our Lady of Snows Parish in Mary’s Home and Sacred Heart Parish in Eldon, said in his homily.

He preached passionately about Jesus’s chosen mother being lifted up, body and soul, into heaven through God’s grace at the end of her earthly life, to a place of honor that had been prepared for her, where she now lovingly intercedes for all of God’s children until the end of the age.

“She loves each one of us with a mother’s perfect love,” the priest stated. “Her prayers and mediation of grace are certain. We should seek her intercession today. And in doing so, we should know that a mother so loving would never deny her children all those things granted in accord with God’s will.”

Good things

Before school, the students and teachers had gathered around a crucifix at the end of the classroom hallway and begun their day with prayer.

Mrs. Belshe’s kindergartners led off their classroom instruction time by singing together: “Oh, my Jesus. O, my Jesus! Be with us, to-oo-day! Guide and gua-ard us with your lo-ove a-and show us you-our way!”

With an enrollment of 59, Our Lady of the Snows is one of 37 Catholic grade schools and three Catholic high schools in the diocese, each committed to providing quality Catholic education in a Christ-like environment — guiding, enlightening, educating and nurturing the children in their care.

“This school is like a big community,” said Madelyn, an eighth-grader at Our Lady of the Snows. “Everyone is willing to help whenever you need it. It’s a big happy community.”

She said it’s good to know that the people around her “have your back, and you have the whole school behind you.”

“The teachers help me when I need it the most,” said Nicholas, an eighth-grader. “They help me understand the words, help me grow.”

Ally, a fifth-grader, is brand-new to the school.

“It like it. It’s fun,” she said.

Anything new or surprising?

“A lot of things!” she fired back. “Good things.”

Third-grader Liam likes that his school is Catholic.

“We get to learn about Jesus and prayer, and we get to go to church,” he said.

Third-grader Colton concurred: “I can learn more about my Catholic faith, like prayers and going to church.”

Jax, also a third-grader, said he likes the school for the same reasons, as well as the great teachers.

Vivian, a fifth-grader, pointed out that lunch in the cafeteria is excellent. Her favorite offering is grilled cheese, which was served the previous day.

“It’s really good,” she said.

Fifth-grader Brooklin agreed that the lunches are good, adding: “I also like my principal.”

Maddie, a fifth-grader, likes the teachers and school staff.

“They’re nice,” she said. “They help us with things when we ask them to.”

That makes her feel good and want to be helpful to other people, there in school and out beyond it.

“I like that it’s Catholic,” said Henry, a fifth-grader.

Why does that matter to him?

“So you can learn about Jesus and God,” he said.

Why does that matter?

“Because I want to.”

Leading by example

Ally, whose favorite subjects are math and PE, said her goal is to be smarter by the end of this school year.

Vivian wants to get better at math and reading.

Her classmate Henry plans to improve in spelling and other subjects.

During class, Mr. Vandike’s seventh- and eighth-graders caught sight of the preschoolers in the schoolyard and briefly dwelled on what they miss most about their own preschool days.

“Naps!” said Jacob.

“Snack time!” a few others called out at once.

Mr. Vandike reminded them that “as long as you have part of yourself as an inner-kid and act like a kid every now and then, you’ll stay young.”

Each year, the school assigns a pre-school “buddy” to each seventh- and eighth-grader. They sit next to each other at Mass and occasionally take part in other school activities together.

“We get to be leaders,” said Gus, an eighth-grader.

“It lets us be good role-models,” eighth-grader Jessi added.

“To show them what they need to do,” said Ellie, a seventh-grader.

“To help show them right from wrong,” Jessi added.

In setting that example and preparing to be leaven in a larger community when they move on to high school, the seventh- and eighth-graders also give up some of their free time on Fridays to do projects such as setting up tables for weddings, funeral luncheons or other parish functions.

“They know it’s service, but they also enjoy doing it and have fun with it,” said Mr. Vandike, now in his 22nd year teaching at the school.

He said he enjoys his time with the students.

“They’re very open-minded to learning, they’re great role models and they want to set a good example for everyone who’s younger than they are,” he said.

“They take this role very seriously,” he stated, “and they are all striving to be the best they can be and growing into the young adults that they are, so they can have the knowledge and most importantly the spiritual aspect to help guide them through high school and life as they get older.”

He asked his students whether any of their parents, grandparents or siblings also went to Our Lady of the Snows School.

Over half said yes. At least two said their great-grandparents also went there.

Mindful that God is likely calling most of them to the vocation of Marriage and family life, several said they hope to send their own children to Our Lady of the Snows School someday.

“Because it’s a great school,” said Madelyn.

“Because it’s a Catholic school,” said Ellie.

“The environment is so much better,” said Jessi.

Intercession

A prayer is posted on the wall outside Mrs. Belshe’s kindergarten classroom: “Dear God, help us be the best we can be, kind to one another, and to have you in our hearts. Fill our minds with learning, our lessons with fun, and our school with love. Amen.”

“My prayer for my students this year is that they make great spiritual and academic gains,” Mrs. Belshe stated.

This is Miss Grellner’s seventh year teaching at Our Lady of the Snows.

“It’s great to be back!” she said. “It’s really nice to be with my students again. I want them to have a happy year and to learn everything they need to know about God and to grow closer to him.”

“My prayer,” said Mr. Vandike, “is that they continue to grow in their faith spiritually and academically as they become the future of the Church, and continue being good role models for the younger students.”

Students shared their own requests for prayers.

“For us to have a great year,” said Jax.

“That we all grow stronger,” said Nolan, a fifth-grader.

“That we can pass our classes and become what we want to be,” said Liam.

“I want you to pray for anyone in the world to have a safe school year,” said Colton.

“That we don’t get hurt,” said Oliver, a sixth-grader.

“And to not get sick,” Hatti added.

Home

On great days, not-so-great days and every day in between, Mrs. Varner accentuates the positive.

“We try to lift it up in prayer and truly find ways to praise God and look around us and find something to be thankful for,” she said.

“Because there most certainly is a moment in every day that we have to be thankful for.”

She believes helping the students understand that is part of everyone’s job at the school: “Yes, to help guide them academically, but also to help them grow in and deepen their faith.”

One of Mrs. Varner’s most influential mentors worked in education for more than 45 years.

It was her mother, Lucille Limbach.

“My mom taught me to encourage, love and support those around me,” Mrs. Varner stated.

A former student at the A former student at the school, she became its principal three years ago after 32 years in public school teaching and administration.

She said watching her colleagues in and out of the classroom is a master class in evangelization and Catholic discipleship.

“It’s amazing here,” she said. “I tell my husband on a daily basis how much I grow in my faith, being around faithful people and a faithful community.”

Fellow educators, parents, students — “all of them,” she said.

“Within these walls, there’s not a single, solitary person who doesn’t teach me something,” she stated.

She marvels at how students look out for one another, weaving a safety net under each other and making it clear that “it’s okay to reach out to anybody in that net.”

She said the Our Lady of Snows parish and school are a single community, with parishioners willingly accepting their role as stewards of the school’s mission, whether they have children enrolled or not.

“I could stand up in church and say, ‘If I could have five ladies come over after Mass, we’ve got some kids who need to be read with,’ I’ve got 20 showing up at my door,” she stated.

The school’s reputation for scholarship and development of the whole child continues to grow, as does the student population.

“Our enrollment in preschool is up 27 percent from three years ago,” Mrs. Varner noted.

She’s fully confident that the grandchildren of current students will be able to receive a quality, faith-based education at the school, in the footsteps of their forbears.

Having once been a student there herself, she noted that the Church remains the center of the community, with Catholic discipline, character and spirituality enriching the entire experience.

“What we can do here has grown with knowledge and accumulated experience,” she said. “We now know so much more about kids, about learning, about passing on our faith, that we didn’t know back then.”

The main objective is still to help every child get to heaven, while preparing and learning how to live and function well up until then.

Mrs. Varner noted that hospitality is one of the pillars of the Stewardship Way of Life, and one that Our Lady of the Snows School thrives on.

“If you come here, you’re going to fit in,” she said. “We will bring you in. You will feel at home here.”