Old Convent Refurbished As Media Lab At St. Mary’s Years Of Savings Helps Fund New Computers And Library Space

Five years of saving has paid off for St. Mary’s School.

During the summer, an old convent in the Catholic school at 14601 E. Fourth was replaced with a bright, sunny library and new media lab, with 16 computers.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Sister Wanda Marie, the school’s vice principal.

The convent originally housed nuns who taught at the school and has not been used for years. It included a dining room, living room and several bedrooms.

During the summer, school board members and parents helped gut the old convent, knocking down walls and paving the way for a construction firm to build the library and media center.

The school board saved money from its budget each year, until there was enough for the renovation, Sister Wanda Marie said.

The labor donated by board members and parents saved the school about $12,000, she said, and an anonymous donor gave $10,000 toward the $50,000 project.

On Tuesday, a class of second graders tried out the new computers. Exclamations of “cool,” “awesome,” and “alright” echoed through the room as the 7- and 8-year-olds sampled a program.

“…S, t, u, v…” said Jeff Bowles, bowing his head over his keyboard as he typed his ABCs in green.

“Look at this. I bet you don’t know how to do that,” Robbie Saty bragged to his friends, displaying a screen with splashes of different colors. “I’m the artist in the class,” he said.

Greg Truthan wrote a sentence with all the O’s in one color and all the other letters in another.

“Alright, Greg, you can be the teacher,” said Ann Weisbeck, the school librarian and computer instructor. “Do you know how you did that?”

“Uh, no,” Greg said.

The goal of the first few sessions with second-graders is just to make them feel comfortable on the computers, Weisbeck said.

Any software she purchases will compliment what the children are learning in class, she said.

The old library, down a narrow staircase in a bright, but windowless room, has become a meeting room and classroom.

“Every day, I say, ‘Oh, thank you, I have windows,”’ Weisbeck said of her new library.

Fall carnival at St. Paschal’s

St. Paschal’s School’s will hold a fall carnival, featuring a cake walk, face painting, bingo, food booths and other activities.

The carnival will be held at the the school, 2521 N. Park, on Oct. 14 from 3 to 8 p.m.

Lunch program celebrates anniversary

West Valley School District’s senior citizen lunch program celebrated its one-year anniversary Wednesday with a luncheon at Centennial Middle School.

Low cost lunches are offered to senior citizens at Centennial five days per week, said WV spokesperson Polly Smith. Thanks to the lunch program, Smith said, many more senior citizens have volunteered in the schools.

The lunch program is funded by Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington.

“It’s kind of a way to give back to the community,” Smith said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: Education Notebook is a regular feature of the Valley Voice. If you have news about an interesting program or activity at a Valley school or about the achievements of Valley students, teachers or school staff, please let us know. Write: Education Notebook, Valley Voice, E13208 Sprague, Spokane, WA 99216. Call: 927-2166. Fax: 927-2175.