Testimonials
This page provides written testimonials from parents of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School.
Parent Testimonial: Ken and Becky Nimmer
“Before our oldest child started pre-school, we were open to exploring both public and Catholic education for our children. Due to convenience more than anything else, we enrolled our son in a Catholic pre-school program in a neighboring community because I worked there and our child care provider was there. A decision made almost completely for the sake of convenience ended up to be a huge factor in our family’s decision to pursue a Catholic education for our children.
At my son’s Catholic pre-school, we experienced first hand the small, caring Christian environment and the influence it would have on shaping our son not just academically, but also spiritually. We knew after several months that when the time came to choose a school for Kindergarten, that we would be choosing to send our son to our parish school, Our Lady of Lourdes. We couldn’t be happier about our choice.
The dedication of the staff is amazing. Many of the teachers, even teachers who have never had our son in class, know who he is and greet him. The cafeteria workers and support staff know him by name. The personal attention is wonderful and helps to make our son feel like part of the Our Lady of Lourdes School family.
The academics are strong, and our son is making leaps and bounds in reading and math. His confidence builds as he does presentations in class and reads in church. He wakes up every day, excited to go to school.
When he started he did not know any other students, and now has friends that I am sure will be friends for a lifetime. As parents, we feel safe knowing that he is surrounded by children whose families share our values. We really appreciate that the size of the school allows us to know and build relationships with many of the other school families.
As a public school teacher myself, I know that one of the most important things we teach students does not come from an academic textbook. We help to develop a student’s character. What I am not able to do at my school that the teachers are able to do at Our Lady of Lourdes is to frame this character education with Jesus. As parents, we like that our son’s character is being developed on a daily basis with Jesus as an example. We are thankful to our church for supporting our school.
We are thankful to God for leading us to the Catholic School at Our Lady of Lourdes. We are thankful for all the relationships we have built through the school that have helped to ignite our passion for our church and our faith.”
Student Testimonial: Emily Stangel
“A Catholic education to me means having good friends, nice teachers and staff. Our Lady of Lourdes has all of these things plus much more. The teachers at Lourdes not only care about helping you with your classes but also care about you as a person. The teacher at OLOL show that they care about us by not letting people bully us. The lunch ladies are nice and the R.E. staff is wonderful and the special teachers are also amazing.
What really matters is the education that we get. it is not just all of the extra stuff that we get, like guest speakers, special treats, and parties; those are just bonuses. The staff at OLOL teaches us about history, our faith, and many more things that we will use later on in our life. I like that the classes aren’t just work, work, work; but that the teachers incorporate fun into a lot of the lessons. In Science instead of reading out of the book all of the time, we take a day or two off to do a fun lab that helps us to learn. I also like OLOL because you don’t necessarily have to stay with the same group of people you can go and make new friends but still keep the old.
I particularly like middle school because there are groups so that you don’t have the same people in every class. Even if you don’t have someone in your class you have three minutes in between classes so you can stop by their locker and say hi. There are also smaller classes so you can get special attention if you need it. In Religion and all of our classes we have been taught how to help others and our community. This is important because our community is like our family and we should help each other. I like that I have the opportunity to attend Mass every Wednesday, not just on the weekends.
In addition to a good education there are many more bonuses. Our Lady of Lourdes Athletic Program is amazing and very well organized. 5th graders can play basketball and soccer. Grades 6th through 8th girls can play volleyball, basketball, track and field or tennis. Grades 6 through 8th boys can play soccer, basketball, track and field. There are also extra curricular activities that you can do like Solo and Ensemble festival, forensics, yearbook, student council and cribbage. The coaches and teachers help us to learn new skills so that we can do well. Being in these extra curricular activities helps me have more bonding time with my family, my friends and my friend’s family.”
Parent Testimonial: Scott and Carrie Baeten
“My husband and I were both raised Catholic and both had the privilege of parochial education, Saint Joseph’s and Saint Boniface School. We both knew when we had children that we wanted this for them as well.
We feel this way for many reasons. First most, we want our children to really grasp that God is first and because of God, everything else exists. We want them to know that God loves them no matter what. That God gave us his only son and that we need to live accordingly. We want them to grow up with good solid morals and the confidence and courage to make the right decisions even if it isn’t cool.
We feel that by sending our children to a Catholic School that this is all in partnership with what we are teaching at home. The families that are going to school with our kids all have similar beliefs and goals. We are more like family. Everyone knows each other and wants to be involved and help out. The class sizes are perfect and the teachers are awesome.
Deacon Mike and Father Tim are wonderful as well. They are great role models for the children and the kids love when they come to the classrooms and share with them, The kids love that they can leave pictures and notes in Deacon Mike’s mailbox at school. The children’s Masses on Wednesdays are beautiful and the kids get alot out of them.
So, in conclusion, what does a Catholic Education mean to our family? It means that our kids are getting a truly wonderful gift everyday that will help guide their future always and give them a good solid base. Our goal is that this will help our children to always have a loving and close relationship with God and Jesus and be active and involved in their Catholic faith. We are very thankful to all at Our Lady of Lourdes.”
Parent Testimonial: Doug and Anne Stangel
“Catholic Education has been a very important part of our family’s life. Doug is a graduate of Roncalli High School and Anne a graduate of St. John High School. Both of us have received our Masters in Education from Marion College. Our eldest daughter, graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes. We want to pass on the values that we learned growing up and attending these schools to our children.
Attending a Catholic School provides our children a safe, Catholic-based education. The children are nurtured academically, morally and emotionally. The staff at Our Lady of Lourdes has made a commitment to educate students about bullying and do not tolerate bullying. They make our children feel part of a family, looking out and caring for each other. When children are in a safe and nurturing environment, they will succeed. Our Lady of Lourdes students have gone on to be leaders and honor students at the area high schools.
It is important to our family that our children learn about their faith, both in words and actions in order to become good, faith-filled adults. We feel that this is very much a part of the curriculum at Our Lady of Lourdes. In the classroom, the children learn about God and His teachings. The children then practice these teachings through service projects such as the food collections and visits to the residents at Rennes Health Center. We like that the older children work with the younger children and serve as role models for good Catholic citizens. It is also important to us that prayer is a part of our child’s every day activities and we value the opportunity to attend Mass on a weekly basis. All of these things will help our children to become good and caring Christians.”
Student Testimonials: Cal Konshak, Lukas Ricker and Trey Konshak
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Parent Testimonial: Pete and Jane Hein
Jane and I have been members of our parish family for almost 20 years. Our two oldest daughters are graduates of Our Lady of Lourdes and attend Notre Dame Academy. Our youngest daughter currently attends middle school at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School.
I am a past School Board President of Our Lady of Lourdes and currently a member of the Board of Education for Notre Dame Academy.
When Jane & I began discussions regarding the education of our daughters, it was a very big decision. I am a graduate of St. Boniface Elementary and Abbot Pennings High School. Jane is a graduate of the Manitowoc Public School System. Jane also has a degree in education, striving for academic excellence is very important in our family.
In West De Pere we are fortunate to have a good public school system. We are equally fortunate to have a good catholic school system, GRACE, which includes Our Lady of Lourdes and its affiliation with Notre Dame Academy. This made the educational decision process more challenging. Many of you may be facing the same decision. For our family, the decision became much easier when we put God first in our lives. Simply put, the deciding factor was God. As parents, we understand that our children have the freedom to bring God to the public school; however the public school doesn’t have the freedom to bring God to our children.
Our GRACE Catholic schools are more than an educational system. Their primary mission is to nurture our children’s Catholic faith. Some of the ways are children are nurtured are thru:
- school mass
- daily prayer
- sacramental preparation
- daily religion class
- active participation in the liturgical year (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Triduum, and Easter)
- and classroom interaction with Fr. Tim & Deacon Mike
God is alive, welcome, and involved in our children’s school day.This daily relationship with God is an important Catholic foundation our children will build upon throughout the rest of their lives.
Because of Catholic education, our daughters are growing to be faith filled, confident, well educated young women. They have expressed to us their appreciation for the opportunity to receive a Catholic education. Sending our children to Catholic school has been one of the best investments, we as parents, have made.
Parent Testimonial: Chris and Carol Gibson
My husband Chris and I have two children, Nick, who graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes last June, and is now a freshman at West De Pere High School, and Chloe, who is in sixth grade at Lourdes. I’m a past member of the Our Lady of Lourdes School Board and a current member of the school’s Public Relations Committee. Chris and I always welcome the opportunity to share with other families our positive experiences at Our Lady of Lourdes and why we feel that a Catholic education is so valuable for our kids.
The mission of Our Lady of Lourdes School is to “Promote the development of lifelong learners and leaders within a strong tradition of faith, service and academic excellence.” As parents, Chris and I make it our personal mission to instill strong morals and values in our kids. While grades are certainly very important, our number one priority is that we raise Nick and Chloe to be good, kind, faith-filled people. At our Lady of Lourdes, we know they are surrounded by these same values every day. Students pray together, participate in weekly school masses, and gain an understanding of the importance of Christianity through their religion classes. They learn to deal with life issues and to treat others with respect. Fr. Tim and Deacon Mike make regular visits to the classrooms to interact with students and prepare them to receive the sacraments.
Our Lady of Lourdes students not only learn about their faith, they live it through acts of stewardship. Last year, OLOL students performed more than 2,500 hours of service to the parish and the community. Their projects included collecting and packing items for local food pantries and homeless shelters, distributing clothing and school supplies to children in need, putting together Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for children in third world countries, participating in monthly visits to the seniors at Rennes, serving lunch in the OLOL cafeteria, and acting as “buddies” to the younger children at school.
Service is not only encouraged for students but for entire families. For many of us, our required 15 volunteer hours are not an obligation, but a chance to really get to know other families and to contribute to the success of our school. The parents Chris and I have met during our time at Lourdes are incredibly generous with their time, talents, and their financial resources. They set an awesome example of lifelong stewardship for their children.
We feel very fortunate to have a principal and teachers at Our Lady of Lourdes who are excellent role models dedicated to providing our kids with a high quality Catholic education. Our teachers truly have a passion for what they do, and it shows. Small class sizes allow our students to receive individualized attention. In addition to the core classes, Our Lady of Lourdes offers Spanish, music, art and a top-notch technology program. Our wonderful Supportive Consultant program offers reading assistance and a variety of other special services to our families. Nick and Chloe have benefited from participation in a many activities at Lourdes including band, sports, Student Council, Forensics, plays, Scouts, and Junior Achievement.
Our public relations committee continually monitors how well our graduates perform in high school, and the results are impressive. This fall, of the 116 OLOL graduates attending West De Pere High School, 85% were on the honor roll and 62% are either straight A students or on high honors. Of the 20 OLOL graduates at Notre Dame Academy, 80% made the honor roll and 50% were on high honors. Among NDA seniors who attended Our Lady of Lourdes, the average ACT composite score is 27.3—the WI state average is 22.3.
Many Our Lady of Lourdes graduates have gone on to become successful members of our community. We can speak to this personally as two former OLOL students now work for Chris in management roles. Their problem solving skills, strong work ethics and upbeat personalities have made them valuable assets to his organization.
When our kids leave Our Lady of Lourdes, we are truly confident they will be prepared academically, spiritually, and emotionally not only for their high school experiences, but also for whatever life has in store for them.