St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School
Catholic Pope Leo XIII declared Vincent de Paul a patron saint in 1885 for his charitable works, principally his tireless service to the poor. The legacy of service still carries on at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School, 1385 Spring Lane. The school is quietly tucked away behind the parish and rectory on 22 acres.
The school opened in 1964 to endow pre-kindergarten to 8th grade students with a quality spiritual and academic experience. Students are provided with a sound academic program with a variety of instructional approaches to engage students. One approach is by using ongoing field trips throughout the year. Principal Mark Longe says activities and field trips to museums and canyon lands foster both academic and spiritual growth in students.
"Learning is reinforced by action," Mark says. "Field trips reinforce what they are learning in school and when you give students these experiences, they tend to remember it."
The school also takes the example of St. Vincent de Paul seriously. Service is integrated into the middle school curriculum and is part of the student's religion grade. Mark says one of the most popular service activities is visiting retirement living centers.
"A lot of kids today don't always get time to sit down with an older person without distraction and have a conversation," Mark says. "They learn from the wisdom of the seniors and the seniors really enjoy the companionship of the kids."
Every year, the entire school participates in a collection to raise money for foundations. Mark says money isn't just placed in a basket. The school brings in speakers from the foundation and students get to personally take the money raised to the foundation. One student from each class is chosen to take the collection and get a tour. The students then return and report the experience to the rest of the class.
"We pick charities not to just give money but to design it so they reach out to the community," Mark says.
The school has also reached out to the community by adding a child care to the school. Nano Nagle Children's Center was opened a year ago providing year-round daycare for infants to children 3-years-old. St. Vincent is one of just two Catholic schools in the valley to have an infant daycare.
"It's a great service to the community by adding the day care," Mark says. "Parents enjoy having one drop off when they have multiple children with different ages."
Jeramie Green is the director of both the daycare and the summer fun camp. She's already gearing up for this year's summer camp scheduled for May 31 to Aug. 13. Jeramie says she picks themes for the camp such as ocean week, outdoor week and science week.
"Children really enjoy the thematics of the camp," Jeramie says. "All summer long we use different art projects and activities to pull the themes together."
For more information about the summer camp or to enroll a child in Nano Nagle Children's Center call 801-272-9670. Registration for St. Vincent de Paul begins March 9. Parents can visit www.stvincents-school.org or call 801-277-6702 to get tuition and registration information.
