Join Waukesha resident Brien Lee and his blog, Sir Fido, as they explore the city and report on the interesting things they find.
There was no graduation ceremony for eigth graders when I attended Butler Middle School. There was special recognition for kids who did well in a particular subject, but no graduation ceremony.
Our youngest graduated eigth grade last week; cap, gown and diploma, from St. Joe's Middle School and from Waukesha Catholic. After an eleven year involvement with Waukesha Catholic education, my sons now both attend public high school. Waukesha North is a great school, my wife and I both attended, and I'm sure our boys will do fine.
North seems to have everything; great facilities and teachers, an outstanding band and athletic teams that do well. And from what I've seen of the graduates coming from North, they are doing something right. I just wish there was more communication between us and the school.
At Waukesha Catholic, a weekly envelope came home full of news and volunteer opportunities, things to fill out and return. Parents were strongly encouraged to help as often as they could and, once I got over my fear of volunteering, I came to like it and actually looked forward to it. Some of my best memories of their school years come from volunteering; I was an "Art Mom", where I'd research and teach each grade about a different artist each month. I chaperoned at Camp Whitcomb-Mason and tried to teach the kids about archery. I would describe Waukesha Catholic as "close-knit" and I think it earned that by everyone pitching in.
I have to admit "News Notes", the weekly envelope from St. Joe's, did get old after a while - the volume of paper was sometimes overwhelming, but when we think back on it, I'm sure we'll appreciate too much information rather than too little. North doesn't have a student newspaper, and School Times Magazine every month or two just doesn't cut it.
I admire the dedication of teachers everywhere, especially parochial teachers who typically earn less, and am continually amazed by the example they set. One of my son's teachers at North likes teaching so much that she can also be found volunteer teaching religious ed at church. Another teacher likes his classes to do good things for the community and yesterday, on the last day of the school year, they put up a shed for the Waukesha County Food Pantry. The phy ed teacher at St. Joe's moonlights as Bernie Brewer, which is cool for the kids but I don't know what that fact alone teaches the kids; that you can have fun while staying active, I suppose.
So, from waiting in line in the cold at 6:00 a.m. twelve years ago to guarantee our family a spot at St. William School, to eighth grade graduation at St. Joe's last week, it was a good run. We may be done with Waukesha Catholic, but I could still be talked into volunteering.
