Save St. A's

WE DID IT! St. A's to remain open!

Message from Glenn Purpura, St. Alexander Principal

I was just informed from Father Tuan that Bishop Sartain has decided that St. Alexander School will remain open.  Sister Helen informed me that I will be receiving a letter tomorrow on the specifics. 
I am excited and thrilled of the Bishop's decision.  All of the hard work and prayer by everyone has made this day possible.

I will get a more formal letter out to everyone tomorrow.  Now we can say, "Catholics Come Home to St. Alexander School."  Let us rejoice in the good news.

In God's peace,

Glenn F. Purpura, Principal
 
Infant of Prague, pray for us.

Band Together for St. A's! Saturday, January 23

On Saturday, January 23, St. Alexander gym will host a day of Rock and Roll.  We will start with a pre-teen/teen mixer, entertainment will be DJ of our own alums, the Steder brothers.  This will be from 3 - 6pm. Admission is $5. Snacks and soda will be available for purchase. Download the Youth Dance Party flyer here 

On the same night, from 7pm - 12pm, we will have 21 and older to "Band Together of St. A's." Entertainment will be by our own Chris King and his band "Send in the Clones."  If you've heard Chris and band play, you already KNOW how fantastic they are, playing everything fron the 70's to today.  We also have Villa Park's own Wombat Carnival.  In addition, our own Marty Brown will play/sing accoustic between sets. Download the Band Together flyer here
 
Beer/Wine/soda/water will be available for purchase and I'm asking all St. A's families to make an appetizer to share.  We will have a few 'split the pots' too so break open the piggy bank to help save our beloved school!
 
Please mark your calendars for SATURDAY, JANUARY 23. Come rock the night away and BAND TOGETHER TO SAVE ST. A'S!

An Update from Principal Purpura

Happy New Year to all St. Alexander School families.

An update on what has transpired over the past couple of weeks.  So far we have raised and have pledged close to $125,000.  This is a good start toward our goal of $750,000.  There are still pledges and donations coming in, due to the Christmas Card Giving Tree.  There will be a fundraiser on January 23rd with a couple of bands playing.  More information will be coming as soon as the plans are complete.

I will send in our plan on January 4th, and will meet with a committee on January 7th at 1:00 pm in Reveille.  I notified the Assistant Superintendent that parents want to come and support our efforts at the meeting.  She needs to know an approximate number of people who will be coming so she can organize a room suitable for extra people beyond the presenters.  Please let me know via email if you are planning on attending.

Thank you for all you have done.  This has truly been a team effort.  There are many people praying for the school.  We need to flood heaven with our requests.  The Vigil tonight is a great way to bring our requests to the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

Have a peaceful weekend.  I look forward to seeing the children again on Monday.

In God's peace,

Glenn F. Purpura, Principal

Tom King on the great spirit and camaraderie St. A's

My name is Tom King and I graduated from St. Alexander’s school in 1988. I was asked by Principal Purpura to talk about what St. A’s has meant to me. This is the letter I read at 5 o’clock mass.

Well having been a well educated alum of St. A’s, I have known since the primary grades that anyone who gets up to talk at the end of mass is asking for your time or your money. I was often times the kid rolling his eyes at the thought of mass being longer. So I only want 2 minutes of your time, and I don’t want your money but the school that my kids currently attend could sure use some money and if you have a school-age kids we would love to have them too.

Many of you may be thinking, “Why should I?" Much the same way I sat in those pews as a child and wondered why we should be collecting money for children in Africa when there are poor people right here. St. A’s is a great school. St. A’s has been turning out outstanding young Christian men and women for 84 years. Why would we want this to come to an end? My 1st grader goes on and on about how Miss Vanco this or Miss Vanco that. Miss Vanco happens to be his 1st grade teacher. And how could anybody make learning as exciting as the greatest kindergarten teacher in the world that Tyler had last year -- Mrs. Meyer. He looks forward to getting to school every morning. My daughter who I can’t even get excited about a race down the block has become obsessed with Mrs. Kreuger’s timed tests. Math is now something she enjoys and is starting to do very well. She reads circles around me and she is a 2nd grader. They brainwash kids into reading books. I wish they had the AR curriculum when I was a student. My kids read books over 500 pages for fun. Plug your ears kids -- I never read a book that long for fun!

About a month ago I was able to participate in a Saturday morning forest preserve project with my 5th grader Casey and his teacher Mrs. Roycroft. She gave up her Saturday to release a bucket of bass that the class spent 3 months raising.

I was late to church today because I have the privilege of coaching my 7th grade son. Tommy may not realize how special this is but I do. I have been unable to attend a couple of practices and some 8th grade boys stepped up. The 8th grade class is well equipped with the leadership skills that are often lacking in high school graduates. These kids are ready to step up and help out, ready to make a difference. When I go to a game in the St. A’s gym I see kids of all grades cheering their classmates on, not because they are related or even in the same class. The amount of support they get from each other is outstanding. The involvement of the parents is amazing. My kid’s are surrounded by a group of faculty that truly cares for their development academically, but more importantly as future Christian leaders. My 1st grade son not only has his 3 older siblings keeping an eye on him at school, he has a whole class of 8th graders who love him like a little brother. There is a great spirit among the students, a sense of family that transcends grade levels.

I only know k-8 at St. A’s. I can’t stand here and say this is the only place doing a good job of educating future leaders of America, but I can say I wouldn’t trade my experience of 1st-8th and would not trade the experience my kids are getting. If you have a child, consider giving them an unbelievable experience. Why would a community not want an institution that churns out outstanding individuals? St. Alexander School provided me with a great education. I arrived at Willowbrook with all the tools I needed to succeed. Ask any parent of a St. A’s grad and almost all will tell you how well their kid is doing in high school.

Then again we as parents tend to brag about our kids, and I am sorry to have stood up here bragging about St. A’s school and how great my experience has been. But consider it as an invitation to become a part of something wonderful if you have children. If you do not have kids consider helping support the school, consider it a sound investment in the future of our community.

Jim Ryan, Former Illinois Attorney General and 2010 Candidate for Governor

Jim Ryan, Class of 1960

I can honestly say that the eight years I spent at St. A's were some of the best years of my life.  When I think back I realize that the education I received was sound and provided a solid base to build on through high school, college and law school.  I graduated in 1960 and three of the kids I met in first grade are still among my closest friends.  We played football, basketball and even boxed in the gym.  You cannot replace memories like those.  Most importantly, it was there that my faith was nurtured.  We were instilled with the importance of mass, the sacraments and encouraged to develop a devotion to the Blessed Mother.  This spiritual foundation is what has sustained me more than anything during some very difficult times in my life.  I encourage all of you to do what you can to keep St. A’s a vital part of our community for another 84 years - St. Alexander is irreplaceable.

Jim Ryan

7th Grader Crystal Jones: "I love our school and I don't want to leave"

Crystal Jones, Class of 2011

I’m a 7th grade student attending St. Alexander School. When I heard the news that our school might be closing after the school year I was very astonished. Next year is to be my 8th and final year at St. A’s. I’ve only been at this school since 5th grade. I love our school and I don’t want to leave. I live with my grandparents who give up a lot just to put me through this school. They even sold some favorite things to help the school. My grandfather is so dedicated to this school and I can’t help but want to be too.

Graduating from this wonderful school has been a dream of mine since I was little and came to church with my grandparents. Keeping our school open would be the best thing for everyone. I always look forward to coming back from the summer, and I want the best education I can get. Saint Alexander School has helped me to become better with my life. I have been getting better grades then I ever have. The teachers are great. They have helped me learn and give me the hope to become better throughout my whole life. Going to a Catholic school like St. A’s, I believe I will have a bright future. I hope St. Alexander’s stays open forever. This school is not just a decision. It’s a great and life changing experience for all kids. It is for me.

Thank You,

Crystal Jones, Class of (God Willing) 2011

St. Alexander is a school you don’t find everywhere. I’ve looked.

Nora Connelly O'Hara, Class of 1985

 St. Alexander is a school you don’t find everywhere.  I’ve looked.  I’ve searched in Rhode Island, Virginia, Maryland, Florida, and California—everywhere the Navy has sent me.  It is rare to find such a wonderful, tightly knit, local parish like St. A’s.  Nowhere else have I found a Catholic school or parish of such quality and so dedicated to the words and works of Christ.  But why should this matter now to a community with other, apparently favorable, Catholic school options?  Why do I think St. Alexander School is worth keeping open?

St. A’s families are a community.  Every morning for the past year, I have longed for a sense of community like St. A’s.  In Virginia Beach, a bustling community of 500,000, there were only four Catholic school options.  I had to drive 10 miles to bring my first grader to the closest Catholic school.  Sure, I knew some of the other parents in the school, and the teachers were friendly, but I never—except for an occasional play date—saw them outside the school environment.  There was no one within walking distance.  School was simply school. 

St. A’s families share the same neighborhood.  We all know that location matters.  Consider your points of reference from your childhood:  your street, your friends, your parish, and your school.  Ask your kids where they’re from, you’ll likely hear, “St. A’s.”  These points of reference situate all of us in a busy, changing world, and they help us understand who we are and where we come from.  To be from St. A’s tells us:  we are Catholic; we are from Villa Park; we are of a special community; and we represent a commitment to excellence.  St. A’s families recognize that grade school is the building block not only of an education, but it is the foundation of faith.

St. A’s families value the whole person.  St. A’s kids are not one-dimensional: not just students and not just athletes.  With a St. A’s education, they are developed morally, mentally, and physically.  As such, St. A’s students are the lifeblood of the parish.  They are the altar servers, the youth group, the track team, and the kids who shovel your snow.  Their activity and their energy enriches our lives, bring us together, and fill us with hope.  In our students, we see the future of the Catholic Church.

St. A’s families make a difference.  Graduates go back, and they give back.  Parishioners invest themselves—they really do give their time, talent, and treasure--and it develops the very best kind of wealth for their children and generations to come.  Our graduates have gone on to succeed in many pursuits of life, but more importantly, many have returned to St. A’s to pass on the torch of service, citizenship, and faith. 

All St. A’s families need the school to survive.  Every family in St. Alexander’s Parish should work to keep their school open.  For this we know:  once a parish loses its school, the vibrancy of a great parish fades.  That lifeblood is lost.  Without its school, St. A’s may remain a good church, but we all will have lost a bit of ourselves, and our parish’s future will have been compromised.  As the single greatest investment in the future of the parish, St. Alexander Catholic School is absolutely necessary to keep our parish a living, thriving Catholic community.

Nora Connelly O’Hara is a 1985 graduate of St. Alexander School.  After graduating from St. Ignatius College Prep and the United States Naval Academy, she served as an officer in the United States Navy for ten years.  As a Naval Flight Officer, she flew jets from aircraft carriers and served as an Admiral’s Aide.  She is married to Michael O’Hara of St. Margaret Mary parish (Chicago) and is now the proud mother of four children whom she longs to send to a Catholic school like St. A’s.

The Chandler Challenge

Each of the four Chandler children - Bill (‘95), Tim (‘97), Michelle (‘98) and Cathleen (‘01) have pledged to match up to $1,000 each for donations from their classes.  Tim already sent a check for $500 and is waiting to match his class’ donations.  Being as young as they are, this is a significant sacrifice and testament to the family’s loyalty to St. Alexander.  Both the father Bob (‘68) and uncle John (‘68) have already contributed significantly to the fund.

Remember, all donations are to be held in escrow, and then returned if the school does not stay open.

To pledge or donate, use the buttons on the top right side of this page.

The Light from a Small Parish in a Humble Town

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”  And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.
    Matthew 19:14-15

To put this as clearly as possible:  St. Alexander will close its school at the end of this year if we cannot come up with a plan supported by enough money to cause the bishop to ignore the recommendation of the Diocese’s School Consolidation Committee.

St. A’s would close - likely forever.  84 years of forming our youth in the Faith, 84 years of excellence, 84 years as a bedrock for Villa Park, all becomes a memory.

This would be a true loss - for Villa Park, for future generations of young Catholics, for the Parish, for our past and for our future.

In the mid 20’s, the parish church was located where the parking lot next to the Library is now.  It has been described as “the tar paper shack,” in the shape of a quonset hut.  Founding pastor Father Kennedy was certain of the priorities of the Church - a school was more important than the building at which we offered the holy sacrifice of the Mass.  Educating the next generation of Catholics couldn’t wait, and this sacred task was of utmost importance.  The permanent church was not built until 1954, when the parish finally had the funds to complete it, NEARLY 30 YEARS AFTER THE SCHOOL WAS BUILT.

Father Kennedy was described as “a tough old Irishman.”  If only our Church was filled with the likes of him today.  The 20’s were a period of a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in America, driven by the release of the blockbuster movie “Birth of A Nation.”  This resurgence was suprisingly strong in the cities and to a great portion directed against Catholics and Jews as much as its traditional target of Blacks.  In Villa Park, someone burned a cross right next to the new church, approximately where the long jump pit is today.  Father Kennedy doused the fire, and soon built the Mary Grotto in that very spot to not only make the ground hallow, but to defiantly show that the Catholic presence in Villa Park would remain and grow.

A few years ago, a young family moved into the north side of Villa Park.  Like so many in Villa Park, the father was a contractor with a small construction company.  The parents were soon blessed with a blond haired boy and a petite, smiley girl, who was three years older.  Both had been baptized, as had the parents.  The parents had not attended Catholic school, and their religious formation ended in 2nd grade with First Communion.  For all four, their faith did not extend much farther than Christmas Mass.

Across the street lived the Gorskis and the Prentices next door to each other.  The father of the new family told me how impressed he had been with the children of both families, and how decent and helpful (Christian?) their families were.  He decided to send his own children to St. Alexander School, because it had to be doing something right to help produce such children.

Years later, the family moved out of town into a new house the father had built. They still commuted back to Villa Park for school.  When the younger boy was about to enter 5th grade this year, the parents had to make a decision.  A recommendation would be made by the Diocese whether the school should remain open, and it seemed like the right time to move him with less disruption just as he entered middle school.  They settled on St. John’s, a Lutheran school.  The Lutheran pastor is a strong evangelist, and the parents began to attend services at St. John’s.  The older daughter was aghast, and asked if she could remain at St. Alexander as a Catholic.  Both answers were easy, as she was in 8th grade and her faith was her responsibility.  She asked my older daughter Mary to be her confirmation sponsor, and wants to attend Catholic high school.

Another recent similar situation concerned a boy who lived down the block from my parents.  That two block-long street - Astor Court - is known as a St. A’s block because virtually everyone there is in the parish, and most of the children attended the school.  The boy was exceptionally bright.  He was an only child of parents who were not religious at all, but they too were influenced by their neighbors and sent their son to St. Alexander, more for its academic excellence than its character formation.  The parents eventually divorced and the son stayed to live with his father on Astor Court.

In 8th grade, the boy was intellectually honest enough to decline the sacrament of Confirmation, as he wasn’t sure he could fully accept the teachings of the Faith.  He had also been disgusted with the previous pastor and those in the church who defended him.  John Furdek, in a highly publicized case, ended up in a Wisconsin prison for attempting to molest someone he had met online and thought was a young boy.

By sophomore year at Willowbrook high school,  he still mostly had the same friends he had at St. A’s.  My son Jimmy and my brother James were two of them, and they spent a good deal of time together playing video games and arguing religion.  James was, and is, a great defender of the Church and her teachings at Willowbrook.  At some point during one of their endless discussions, the Holy Spirit spoke, and the boy joined RCIA and entered the Church as an adult Catholic.  James was his sponsor, helping bring another soul into unity with His Church.

This is how our Church has always evangelized - neighbors and families bringing one person to the altar, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

I suspect that many people feel that parents will just send their children to other parish schools that are nearby, and that will make those schools stronger.  That is true to a degree.  Those left at St. A’s are staunch believers in Catholic education and will see that their children complete their primary education in a Catholic school.  But Villa Park will quickly lose its Catholic character, as new parents avoid a community with no Catholic school, and as our great evangelical tool is no longer in use.  The illustrations above are just two of many, and it will sadly become much less likely that they will be repeated.

Just as Father Kennedy did, we have to act as though there is no greater bulwark than a parish school against a non-Catholic society and no better instrument for assisting parents in passing along the Catholic Church to the next generation.

But if such men no longer fill the Church, then it’s left to us to carry on that message.  We have to pass the true Faith to our children as our first priority like Father Kennedy.  We have to answer the burning cross with a defiant work of charity that shows that miracles still happen, and a small easily overlooked parish in a humble town can still do the work of our Savior.

Letter from Mary VanDeVelde Unseth

Mary Van de Velde Unseth, Class of 1975

To many of you who know me, the possible closing of St. A's is a very emotional issue because the school has been a part of my life for almost my entire 48 years. I could write a book, but there's no time for that!  We have to act now!

We need EVERY PARENT, EVERY ALUMNI, AND EVERY PARISHIONER to do something to help save the school...whether it's giving a donation or pledge, helping with the mailings, sending e-mails to anyone you know that could help, or preaching positive things about the school.

 After listening to people's reaction to the recommendation from the Diocesan Committee, many people have already made up their minds that the school will close, despite what we do.  WE CAN'T THINK THAT WAY!  We can't keep using Driscoll as an example. They were in debt...we are not. I truly believe in my heart that if a few things had been different in the last 5 years, we’d easily have 200 students and there would have been no recommendation concerning St. A’s.

We can't sit back and wait for the money to come - we all know there is not a Bill Gates in Villa Park. We have to ask for it. I know it's a very hard thing to do, but you won't know until you ask. My daughter, Kelsey was very upset at college one day about St. A's and shot an e-mail to some coaches and professors, and all of a sudden, she was getting a few checks. Why not? Sometimes people just need to hear about a tough situation and their hearts open up, just like the Grinch!

This school is so different from any other...we have spirit, academic excellence and character. I recently spoke with the Superintendent of School District 88, Steve Humphrey, and he is such a supporter of St. A's that he is writing a letter to the Bishop. We are also getting testimonials from school officials at Montini, St. Ignatius, IC, and Willowbrook. If public school officials believe in St. A's...we better too!

We've come a long way in 84 years - from a huge school with nuns in charge, to a smaller school with loyal lay teachers and added curriculum, such as music and computers. Girls can now play all sports and sweatshirts are part of the uniform. Our sports program has become top-notch, especially our track team. Pete Connelly has led us to 12 straight championships and there were many more before that!  Every former athlete at St. A's has a memory of a moment that has made them a better person. With me, it was when I was let-on as an alternate to the cheerleading squad (yes, we did have cheerleaders) because the coach felt I deserved a chance anyway. It's always been that way with sports....everyone gets to play because everyone has a unique talent. 

We've excelled in many subjects, such as English, Science and Math. Even though everyone dislikes working on the science fair, our projects have won many honors and have perked the kid’s interest in the science field, pushing them into AP and honors classes.  We are one of the only schools where science projects are a requirement, not an option. I think the science fair is one of the reasons there are 5 doctors in my class alone!

After recently going through awards and honorary listings at Willowbrook, I can tell you that about 1/4 to 1/3 of each graduating St. A's class ends up as a highest ranking senior at Willowbrook or on the National Honors Society. This is in a school of over 2,000 in which less than 100 are our graduates. This year, senior and St. A's alum, Martha Fahlgren is in the 99th percentile of the class and may possibly become the valedictorian. We've had quite a few of these, including the year of 1986, when the valedictorians of WB, Montini, and IC were all St. A's kids!

This is the kind of stuff we have to preach about....excellence and accomplishments!  There are many other examples, but you get the picture!  Don't give up...we can do this....get out there and preach the good word about our school and pray that the kids and the money will come.  I guess the cheerleader in me is still there!

Thanks for listening,

Mary VanDeVelde Unseth - proud member of the Class of 1975