When Columbus St. Anthony School closed in 2023, most of its students transferred to Columbus Our Lady of Peace (OLP) and many of them are now graduating from eighth grade at the school this year.
Despite the unexpected transition into a new student body for their last year before high school, the students found a welcoming home among the OLP community.
“When I heard that St. Anthony was closing … my heart immediately went out to the students, the staff, the teachers and the community,” OLP principal Jim Silcott said. “I knew that many of (them) had been there for many years.
“Father Dooley, our pastor, and I knew … that if we could offer assistance in relocating the students or assisting staff in finding new employment, we were going to find a way to do it. The distance between our schools is only three miles”.
At an event organized by the diocese to connect St. Anthony parents with other schools, Silcott said he was impressed by the parents’ determination to find a new school with a welcoming community for their children.
“Additionally,” he said, “their passionate desire to keep their children in a Catholic school was a powerful testimony to the Catholic values they had learned at St. Anthony.”
When Silcott found out the St. Anthony seventh graders were open to moving to OLP for their eighth-grade year, he went to the seventh-grade class at OLP to gauge their openness to the St. Anthony students joining them.
“I was overjoyed at their support in making (it) happen,” he said. Of the 17 seventh graders from St. Anthony, 13 transferred to OLP for eighth grade. Additionally, Silcott said, “We took in another 30 students in the lower grades.”
In order to get the rising eighth-graders from both schools acquainted with one another, The Catholic Foundation provided a grant for them to attend a field trip in May 2023 to ZipZone, a zipline adventure park in Columbus.
Fourteen-year-old Julien McElroy, who had attended St. Anthony since kindergarten, said he appreciated the opportunity to connect with the OLP students before starting the school year. “I felt like that really helped us build bonds with each other,” he said.
The following day, the students gathered again, this time at OLP, for what was dubbed a Constitutional Convention.
“We elected student council leadership and representatives for the new school year,” Silcott said. They also discussed hopes and plans for the annual eighth-grade trip they would take and gave the St. Anthony students an opportunity to share any traditions they’d like to bring over from their former school.
“On both days, the students got along well and I knew that they would all be good classmates together,” Silcott said.
Over the course of their eighth-grade year, many friendships developed among the students that would influence their plans for high school.
Chloe McNally, who started at OLP in the fourth grade, said her St. Anthony friends helped her make the decision to attend Columbus St. Francis DeSales High School.
“I was going to go to (Columbus) Watterson (High School),” she said, “but I thought, ‘I think I’ll have it better (if I stay) with these friends.’” Among other things, McNally noted the good moral influence of the former St. Anthony students who are now her closest friends.
Despite the difficulty in saying goodbye to St. Anthony, the eighth graders have found contentment among their new community.
Orianna Strickland, who attended St. Anthony from kindergarten through seventh grade, said that one of the things that made leaving so hard was saying goodbye to the principal, Christina Iaconis. But Strickland said she truly enjoys her new principal as well. “(We) love Mr. Silcott,” she said. “(and) the OLP community.”
Silcott said the highlight of the 2023-24 school year was the preparation and production of OLP’s spring musical, “Crooked Tree,” which the seventh and eighth graders performed May 22 at the Bishop Watterson High School theater. “Here is where I have seen true teamwork in action,” Silcott said.
OLP’s graduating eighth-grade class includes 43 students, and 42 of them will attend Bishop Watterson, St. Francis DeSales or St. Charles Preparatory School in the fall.
“Thirty percent of our graduates have received some sort of merit scholarship to high school,” Silcott said. The scholarships are from OLP, the high schools and organizations such as the Serra Club, which supports vocations, and the Christ Child Society, which serves children in need.
The eighth graders said they look forward to carrying on the friendships they’ve established into high school and beyond.
“This class will truly be remembered as a remarkable class,” Silcott said. “I pray for their success and fulfillment in advancing the Kingdom of God in the years ahead.”
Elizabeth Pardi is a contributor to The Catholic Times who lives in Columbus.
