Alumni invited to preview new school, remember old at open house

St. Anthony Grade School will hold an open house on the afternoon of Saturday, April 11, for alumni and others to tour the existing building, which will be razed this summer, and the new building, which will be open for the 2009-2010 school year. Shown here are the front of the existing building, which faces North Third Street and a portion of the new building, which faces North Second Street.

EFFINGHAM — St. Anthony Grade School in Effingham will offer alumni and others a chance to remember the old and welcome the new by holding an open house on Saturday, April 11 from 1 to 4 p.m. Both the existing school building, located at 412 N. Third St., and the adjacent new school building will be open the afternoon before Easter Sunday, says St. Anthony principal Mary Lynn Byers.

The classrooms and offices of the current St. Anthony building will be razed this summer, while the new school will be open this fall for the 2009-2010 school year. The current gymnasium and cafeteria will be connected to the new school, which is being built thanks to a large donation from an anonymous donor.

Byers says she and a team of St. Anthony teachers, who like herself also graduated from the school, have been on a committee to celebrate the existing school’s last year. Those teachers are Ashley Bierman, Marty Brumleve, Marie Burton, Patti Devall, Gina Gardewine, Roberta Meyer, Jill Schumacher and Lindsey Storm. “Our goal is for the alumni to be to able to go through it before it is torn down,” Byers says.

Ground was broken on the new building June 1, 2008 and the construction has been progressing on schedule, Byers says. The area where the current building now stands will serve as a playground and a parking lot. The school’s playground equipment has been disassembled and is in storage until it can be used again. 

“Parts of this existing school building are very old. I know the newest part was built in 1958. This was also the high school until 1967, so people have memories of this as both a grade school and a high school,” says Byers. “I remember when the current high school was built because I was a senior then.”

Byers, who has been principal of St. Anthony for 22 years, says she never imagined having a brand new school building and she is “extremely excited” about moving into the up-to-date facilities. As an educator, Byers says she is naturally looking forward to a more modern teaching and learning environment for the teachers and students. 

“We’ve never had kindergarten before but we will next year,” she says. Every classroom will have a SMART Board and the two kindergarten rooms will each have a SMART Board and a SMART Table.

Having major construction going on so nearby has been a bit of a challenge, Byers admits. “This has been an interesting year with a few frustrations,” she says with a good-natured chuckle. “The public school about a block away has been kind enough to let our children play in their grassy area and the children have had recess in the parking lot and in the gym. But it will all be worth it when we are able to use the new building.”

For more information on the new building or to view and share memories of the current St. Anthony School, log on to St. Anthony’s Web page at www.stanthony.com and click on “View the Memory Blog of St. Anthony Grade School” or “Submit Your Own Memory.”