Wildfire disrupts St. Michael’s School 50th anniversary party plans

St. Michael’s School students, parents and alumni will gather this weekend to celebrate the Poway Catholic school’s golden anniversary.

The two-day celebration will begin with a Sock Hop for those 21 and older on Saturday, May 17 followed by a Mass and family barbecue on Sunday, May 18. All events will be held at the school, 15542 Pomerado Road in Poway. Attendees are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance at

www.smspoway.org

since a limited quantity will be available at the door, said Carol D’Agnese, one of the event’s planners. For questions, call 858-485-1303.

The Sock Hop costs $50 per person, which includes admission to the barbecue on Sunday. The Sock Hop will take place in the Holy Family Center from 6:30 to 11 p.m. Saturday, May 17.

The anniversary Mass will be celebrated in the Holy Family Center at noon on Sunday, May 18 followed by the family barbecue on the school’s south field. From 1 to 5 p.m. there will be food, drinks, games, music and additional opportunities for family, friends and alumni to visit. Barbecue tickets are $10 per adult and $5 per child under age 12.

The school opened with two classroom buildings (current north campus) with first through sixth grade in September 1964. The Sisters of St. Clare staffed the school with four nuns. A few years later, the Sisters of Mercy took over and they added a seventh grade in 1973 and eighth grade in 1974. During the tenure of Sister Celestine Callaghan — the school’s longest-serving principal (1977-1992) — a kindergarten and School Advisory Council were added.

Callaghan, who had been teaching in San Diego since immigrating from Ireland in the mid-1950s, said when she announced she was going to teach at St. Michael’s in Poway, people asked her why she was “going out to the boondocks, where there is nothing but horses and snakes.”

The area surrounding the school in 1977 was nothing like it is now. It was mostly open space with the church, school, Pomerado Hospital and few other buildings dotting its landscape.

“It was a challenge,” she said.

Despite the remote location, Callaghan said there was a long waiting list of potential students from Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Ramona, Rancho Penasquitos and other communities wanting to enroll. At the time there was only one class per grade level, with about 40 students each.

“The waiting list was out the door,” Callaghan said. “Parents were putting their children on the waiting list as soon as they were born.”

She said the school was in such demand because of “its values, religion, teaching and discipline,” traits St. Michael’s continues to excel in today. It focused on “the three R’s” plus religion and the teaching staff was about 50/50 in terms of religious versus lay teachers.

“Back in the early days, parents were not in the class at school and teachers had full control,” she said. The Diocese of San Diego and State of California had little input in the curriculum and to help offset costs there were fundraisers — often bingo.

She called St. Michael’s first school board, which formed in 1985, “really a blessing” because parents focused on fundraising, established a five-year plan and set tuition increases so parents could plan expenses for several years. Parents also started helping in the classroom and volunteering for other needs, such as yard duty.

Kathleen Mock, principal since 2006, said while much has changed in terms of incorporating technology and exceeding state educational standards — what she called “Common Core Plus” — much remains the same. Despite societal changes, parents still expect their children to get an excellent, Catholic-based education and for some grades waiting lists still exist even though the school added a second class to each grade level per year starting with kindergarten in 1997.

The campus physically expanded in 2003 when its fourth through eighth grades moved to a new facility (south campus) and in 2008 St. Michael’s added a preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds. Now there are about 30 students per class, 60 per grade level and about 600 from preschool through eighth grade.

“We still stand on all the traditions the school was established on — faith formation and strong academics; the same reasons parent sent them here 50 years ago, 25 years ago and today,” Mock said. “They want their children to have a good education, grow in their faith and be strong in character.”

She added, “There is something to be said about traditional Catholic school education for children. For 400 years they’ve done a good job.”

Mock said the “Crusaders” as students are dubbed — reflecting their school’s namesake, St. Michael the Archangel — graduate well-prepared for high school, with 75 percent going to a Catholic high school and are well-rounded by focusing on academics and extracurricular activities, ranging from sports to the arts.

The staff — now all lay persons with the exception of Callaghan who still reviews the Sunday readings with each class — continue to teach the importance of service to others through charitable endeavors.

In 2006, Mock formed the Mercy Corps, a leadership program for seventh and eighth graders to organize six to eight service projects for the entire campus each year. Projects included collecting $10,000 through a penny drive so they could build a home in Tijuana, Mexico; running Toys for Tots drives; helping Wounded Warriors and Father Joe’s Village; and interacting with seniors at Sunshine Care.

“I love that we started the Mercy Corps at St. Michael’s in honor of our Sisters of Mercy so that the students of St. Michael’s can continue to carry out works of mercy for years to come,” Callaghan said.