By Cathy Blankenau Bender
Editor-in-chief
An elementary school principal can easily log more than 10,000 steps in an average school day: attending meetings and walk-throughs, performing various duties and providing coverage, remaining visible and present to students and staff.
For Curt Feilmeier, principal at St. Peter School in Lincoln, each trip to and from his desk during Catholic Schools Week added 40 more steps than usual, thanks to the ingenuity and generosity of the school community – and a brightly colored cardboard maze.
The school collected more than 1,100 boxes of cereal for the Food Market at Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska (CSS) in Lincoln, and to store the boxes in the school during the drive, they built a maze Feilmeier had to traverse to get to or from his desk.
While the Catholic Schools Week committee is credited with the idea of “boxing in” Feilmeier’s desk, sixth-grade teacher Beth McElroy said her students came up with making it a maze – complete with one path ending in a dead end – “so Mr. Feilmeier did have to work in those steps.”
Feilmeier took the challenge ‘in stride,’ so to speak.
“It was fun,” he admitted. “It provided me a little more physical activity on a given day, which I know is good for me.”
For many years, the Catholic Schools Week festivities at St. Peter School have included a drive to collect boxes of cereal for the Food Market at CSS. Last year, the school donated 869 boxes and assistant principal Janna Walkowiak said CSS asked if the school would hold the drive again. The donations from St. Peter – and another school’s donations – were enough to keep the Food Market shelves filled with cereal for a year, allowing families using the service to select their favorite boxed cereals with their groceries.
The school enthusiastically agreed to conduct the drive again. The sixth grade sponsored the challenge by making promotional posters and visiting classrooms to collect donations. The class’s annual mission carnival during Catholic Schools Week served as a celebration of the school’s efforts toward the donation drive.
The mission carnival – held on Wednesday of Catholic Schools Week – is an event held in the school gym. This year it included 10 stations with activities like soccer and basketball, a football toss, an obstacle course and axe throwing. Students could participate in games like toy pig races and a guessing jar, and receive temporary tattoos. There was also a small petting zoo with chickens, dogs, a rabbit, hermit crab and hamster.
Katie Patrick, executive director of CSS, visited St. Peter School earlier in the year to accept a different donation, and to speak about the work of the organization. She was pleased to know the school has kept the mission of CSS on students’ minds.
“When I had the opportunity earlier this year to thank the students at St. Peter’s for their past support of our CSS Food Market, I emphasized the importance of our client-choice model,” she said. “It is designed to invite parents and children alike to come and shop with dignity. The kids we serve are so excited to see some of their favorite cereals on the shelves. This is a direct result of the generous and intentional charity of the St. Peter’s students. Their excitement in giving brings real hope to the families we serve at Catholic Social Services.”
St. Peter Catholic School has a long history of putting into practice the Corporal Works of Mercy, Feilmeier said, “as part of our overall faith program.”
“Our partnership with Catholic Social Services, particularly in their mission, allows our students to see real-world opportunities,” he said, “and as shared by the USCCB (United States Council of Catholic Bishops), conduct charitable actions by which we help our neighbors in their bodily needs and respond to the basic needs of humanity as we journey together through this life. Such efforts at St. Peter Catholic School help our students be prepared for a Catholic life.”
Photos courtesy St. Peter School
