Six new classrooms to serve as dedicated space for specials, room for religious education at K-5 St. Edward on the Lake
LAKEPORT — St. Edward on the Lake School has opened an additional wing that will provide much-needed classroom space in the present and allow it to dream of the future.
The Lakeport Catholic school in northern St. Clair County opened its new six-classroom wing at the start of the school year, with Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Robert J. Fisher blessing the new addition Sept. 6, which will primarily host St. Edward’s special courses, such as Spanish and technology.
“For the past 10 years or so, our school community has been looking at exploring the opportunities for expansion of the school building,” Fr. Lee Acervo, priest in solidum serving St. Edward on the Lake, told Detroit Catholic. “When Mr. (Denis) Metty (school principal) came here in 2020, we started to look at the possibility and again there was some momentum behind the idea.”
Ground was broken in October 2023 on the $1.4 million expansion, which came courtesy of large and small donations from St. Edward on the Lake parishioners. This expansion allows the school to have some “growing room,” Metty explained.
“We had classes that were being taught in the lunchroom; at one point, we had some intervention services and special classes being managed in the locker room; the library was in the back office. We just didn’t have room,” Metty said. “When we had people come and tour the school, we didn’t want them to see art class being taught in the cafeteria, or special tutoring being taught in the locker room or the library.”
St. Edward on the Lake's enrollment has ranged from 90 to 105 in the last five years at the K-5 school. The core curriculum is taught in each grade’s primary classroom, but finding space for special classes has been a challenge.
“Up until this year, our technology classes were being run in the primary classrooms during the time when the grade teacher was supposed to have time to plan, prepare, and catch up in that room,” Metty said. “That makes it difficult to run a classroom when you are trying to get some things done at the same time; it allows those specials to be taken out of the classroom and into a dedicated space.”
For teachers like Lindsay Young, a first-grade teacher at St. Edward, having dedicated space for specials and time for grade-level teachers to plan and prepare throughout the day when students are in a special makes all the difference in the world.
“The teachers are just as excited as the kids about the new classrooms,” Young said. “The kids get a chance to get up and walk to the next classes when they are their specials, and the teachers have the chance to prepare and get things ready for the next subject.
“In addition to the special classes and things, there are some possibilities open for after-school activities or parish activities that can take place there as well,” Young added.
The added classroom space will also come in handy for St. Edward’s religious education program and other parish activities, Fr. Acervo said, adding parishioners shouldn’t see the school as “just a school building” but as an essential part of the parish’s mission.
“We don’t always have the space for things from a parish point of view; our religious education program includes sixth, seventh and eighth grade, so oftentimes we need space for those groups as well,” Fr. Acervo said.
St. Edward will host its 65th anniversary gala Friday night, Sept. 13, which will also allow for the parish community to explore the new addition and demonstrate its dedication to the future of Catholic education in the area.
“The school is an essential part of the mission of the parish,” Fr. Acervo said. “The school brings life to the parish. When we see the school is growing, it brings a lot of excitement. Everyone in the parish, even those who don’t have children in the school, see this as something that is good. They see the school is growing, and we have a plan for the future that doesn’t involve downsizing. From that point of view, this brings a lot of excitement for the parish.”
The expansion allows St. Edward to dream of new possibilities, and that is Metty’s favorite part of the project: addressing the school’s current needs while planning for a better future.
“You can imagine people’s excitement when they see us do what we say we are going to do and see there is a vision for us to grow, not just from the space standpoint, but a grade level standpoint,” Metty said. “We are the only school in the archdiocese without a sixth, seventh and eighth grade. You can imagine our parents are looking at that and seeing perhaps an opportunity will present itself down the road.”
St. Edward’s hasn’t had grades 6-8 since the early 1990s, and there are no concrete plans to expand the school, but the new addition allows for that conversation to happen, administrators say.
“The sky is the limit in terms of what we can offer the kids,” Young said. “I think about our mission as a school; we set our standards high. We work together with the families to help the kids be successful. In the long run, we are trying to guide these souls to heaven; that’s the whole point of our Catholic education here.”
Fr. Acervo drew upon the parish’s patron, St. Edward the Confessor, an 11th century Anglo-Saxon king responsible for establishing some of the oldest Christian institutions in England, as a guide of what this classroom expansion does: advance the kingdom of God.
“St. Edward was king of England a thousand years ago. He knew for his nation and people to thrive, God had to be at the center of everything,” Fr. Acervo said. “One of the most important things he did as king was build churches, monasteries and convents, and even though there were no Catholic schools at the time, I’m sure he would have built those, too. The idea was to make the presence of God known, and this expansion is in that same spirit.”
Copy Permalink
