"Why St. Thomas
School -
I wasn’t Catholic when I first got introduced to St. Thomas School. At the time academic performance was the driving factor. I lived in a neighborhood where the government school was highly regarded, so there was that choice, Oroville Christian School was just getting started and had no reputation one way or the other, so it wasn’t a choice. St. Thomas was chosen at the time for its stellar education reputation, that was forty years ago. The school lived up to its reputation.
What I found there really surprised me. My entire schooling had been at government schools where little is asked, let alone demanded of parents as part of their child’s education. It was and, in my mind, still is that parental involvement that sets Catholic education in general and St. Thomas in particular apart from other choices. It is a team of teacher, principal, parent and child that work together to develop the whole child, not just the ABCs but a person who will be able to be a contributing member of society someday. St. Thomas student performance in the local high schools is just one measure of this.
You will be part of your child’s school life
As a result of my association with St. Thomas School and the Catholic parents I met there I decided to join the church. I was initiated into the Catholic faith. One of the reasons the Church invests so much into Catholic education is that it is an important component of the church’s evangelization efforts. Not so much to evangelize adults who happen to be parents of students but to ensure that the students who come from Catholic families have an opportunity to learn of their faith. The adult evangelization is an unintended side effect. Our children learned about the church and its sacramental life. They did this through school Masses; Sunday Mass, especially the “family Masses” when St. Thomas students wear their uniforms to church; and formal religion classes as part of the curriculum. All this strengthens and reinforces the concept of the home being the domestic church.
You will experience faith life for your family
Some years back I was talking with one of the principals, no longer at St. Thomas, and he said to me, “We don’t have a discipline problem at St. Thomas.” I was taken aback by this comment. Then I went to a school program at one of the local government schools and behavior of the children and adults in contrast to St. Thomas was both astonishing and disturbing. At a St. Thomas school program, the children are well behaved and consequently happy. The school establishes standards and lives by them. The staff cares about and loves each child and the other parents reinforce the standards and love for the children. One day I was down at the school and a young student (kindergarten or first grade) was having a serious melt-down and this teacher picked the child up and hugged him for about five minutes until he settled down. The teacher then put the child back down and he ran off to play.
Your children will be safe and loved
Finally, you will meet and become friends with people who have the same basic values in life. Some of our richest friendships were borne out of our association with St. Thomas School. Although we are now grandparents and our youngest grandchild graduated two years ago we still have good lifelong friends we developed forty years ago. There is nothing like working together on a school activity like a fund raiser to solidify an acquaintanceship into a friendship.
You can develop lifelong adult friendships"
Bill Sager
