29-05-2025
St. Casimir's Catholic School graduating its last class on Sunday
May 28—WELLS — St. Casimir's Catholic School in Wells will leave behind a proud legacy for many in the Wells community after closing its doors last week at the end of 110 years of operation.
The school opened in 1915 about 30 years after the start of the parish in Wells and was built by the members for the children of the families there.
From 1919 — the year of the first graduation — through 2025, it will have graduated 1,629 students, said Teresa Chirpich, longtime office manager at the school.
On Sunday, St. Casimir will have its final graduation Mass with the students from the school, before the students will go on next year to United South Central School, Alden-Conger School or St. Theodore Catholic School. A few will be homeschooled.
"It's an ending, but on another hand, we know that we've prepared these kids to go out as best as we can, and that's a good feeling. ..." said Jinger Woodring, school administrator, who has worked at the school for 2 1/2 years. "We've had the last four months to say, 'All right, what are the most important things we want to leave with these kids and what do we want them to know about their faith,' and we could focus on that."
While math and reading have been important, Woodring said they wanted to make sure that the students remembered their Catholic faith.
She said they always emphasized a teaching from St. John Paul II that everyone is made in the likeness and image of God and encouraged the children to always try to see that in themselves and other people.
The students attended Mass twice a week and every day had morning prayer and a morning meeting together.
This year, there were 30 students at the school, though there have been as many as 120 at the height of the school, she said.
When the school initially opened, nuns taught the students — first the Franciscan Sisters from Sylvania, Ohio, who lived in the upper floor and instructed students up through eighth grade. When high school grades were added in 1927, the nuns moved from the upper floor where they were living into a convent purchased by the church.
Later, the School Sisters of Notre Dame from Mankato taught at the school, and in more recent years, teaching has been done by lay people.
While the school has always been a mission of the church, she said in recent years it had become a lot financially.
While she is sad to see the school close, she said she tries to look at it with a positive mindset.
"We've been here 110 years," she said. "Not even some public schools can claim that. So many of them have closed down for larger numbers — they've closed down to have more kids."
Chirpich, who started working at the school when her youngest son started kindergarten, said she is also choosing to look at it with a similar mindset.
"One hundred ten years is pretty much a miracle," she said. "When all of the local public schools have had to consolidate to remain viable, and our church has supported us singly as one parish, one school for 110 years — that's pretty good. ... That's a long run."
She said she will remember seeing how excited the students were to get off the bus on the first day of school each year and the excitement they carried with them throughout the rest of the school year.
They have also been impressed with the bond the students have had with each other.
"These kids are like brothers and sisters to each other," Woodring said. "They really have formed a solid bond that is really evident."
While the students were not all in one classroom for their learning, they did many things together, including lunch, recess, studies and morning prayer.
Woodring said there are a handful of multi-generational families who have attended the school, as well, including one that was in its fifth generation, that will be recognized on Sunday.
While it's still to be seen what will happen to the school space, Chirpich said she is sure there will be parish activities there.
"There will still be life here," Chirpich said.
