ALTON - In December of 2015, Alton, Illinois had a major storm. The rain from the storm made the Mississippi River reach the surface of Alton. The rain made the structure of the SSPP school collapse. The collapse caused cracks in the wall. The cracks and the structure of the school made the building unsafe for people. An architectural worker looked at the school and said that it was unsafe for school to be held here. Our principal had to make a very important decision. The decision was to either leave the school or stay. He chose to leave because of the safety for the children.

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I found out about the school when Mr. Phillips told me after a mass that I served. I told my dad about the school, but he did not believe me. Mr. Phillips told him that it was true, and he showed the backside of the school to us. I was in complete shock that we would not be going to school on the date we were supposed to. There was Eucharistic Adoration for the school, and after that there was a meeting for the school. That is when we found out that we would not be going to the same school.

We had two choices: the Catholic Children’s Home or the Mark Twain School, which is an old school. The Alton School District gave us the option of moving to Mark Twain. We decided to go to Mark Twain because the Catholic Children’s Home was not completely safe. Mark Twain was extremely gloomy and dirty. It took a while to clean the place up. To change schools we would have to get all the stuff that the teachers needed for school. Luckily, a parishioner paid a moving company to help us move the stuff we needed. A lot of people volunteered for the moving to a different school. The moving from one school to another took about a week.

It took us a week to get back to the school. I was nervous about what it would be like going to a new school. My family always volunteered to help clean or help the teachers get ready for school to start again. Cleaning took a while because the school had been empty for a long time. It also was a long school. Since there were a lot of rooms left we just used them as storage rooms. The recess area has a huge grass field and had two swing sets. Another cool thing about the school is that it has lockers for the kids. The school started looking new again.

The first day back was pretty nice. St. Ambrose provided lunch for the kids. I thought it was really kind of them to do that. On the second day the teachers were still trying to get things completely sorted out. The next few days were about getting everything ready for the rest of the year. In the first week we barely had any homework, but in the second week the amount of homework was back to normal. School started to feel normal again.

The third week is Catholic Schools Week. This week is always one of my favorite weeks. During the week we always do fun activities. The good thing about this week is that it’s lifting the hearts of all those who are upset about what had happened to SSPP. The thing that happened to SSPP is tough to swallow, but when you have great people around you great things can happen. In spite of all of that, we still strive to be better people in the name of God.    

Owen Williams is a 6th grade student at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic Grade School. Owen wrote the story as an English class project.  Ss. Peter & Paul students will finish their 2015/2016 school year at the temporary Mark Twain School location while repair of Ss. Peter & Paul School is completed; pre-K through 8th grade classes will resume at the 801 State Street location in Alton in the fall of 2016.

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Registration for 2016/2017 school year classes will be held on Saturday February 27th at the temporary Mark Twain School located at 907 Milton Road, Alton from 9:00am to 12:00pm and Sunday February 28th in the Sloan room of Ss. Peter & Paul Church at 717 State Street in Alton from 11:00am to 12:30pm.

Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic School, a Service Oriented faith-based School located in Alton, Illinois, offers classes for Pre-K through 8th grade students.  The school’s curriculum is centered on educational excellence - not Common Core.  The student experience at Ss. Peter and Paul is rich in constructive offerings such as art classes, field trips and competitive inter-area sports.

 

Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School

801 State Street

Alton, IL 62002

618-465-8711

www.ssppsch.com

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