Sacred Heart gets set for Catholic Schools Week

Sacred Heart School has an important week coming up starting Sunday, Jan. 25 in celebration of Catholic Schools Week. With different themes for every day of the week, there’s bound to be something for everyone. The mission of Sacred Heart School is: “To promote life-long learning and Christ centered values in a Catholic setting.”

 

The sound of children was echoing down the halls as Tammy Seys came forward with her hand out to shake. She’s the new principal for Sacred Heart school, having been there since November of last year, she was a professor at St. Mary’s University for a year and a half and before that she was at JWP. She said, “This week is for celebrating Catholic life. We’re trying to encourage other families to join, and this is a statewide effort.” She understands that a lot of Wasecans get used to driving past Sacred Heart school and it can be easy to take for granted, “A lot of people have no idea what we have in here, we have so much to offer.” She said last year Catholic Schools Week didn’t get as many visitors as they wanted, and that they hope to make up for it in 2026.

 

Tara Steffel, third grade teacher and parent to one student in Sacred Heart’s kindergarten class and another in the on-site Montessori pre-school, told of having been a teacher at the school for the past 9 years. “I participate throughout the week to implement our mission and philosophy through the students so they can continue to strive and work towards it. Not just me as a teacher, but we as a staff collaborate together here to support all kinds of learning and tutoring and finding those students who need more help.” She described the experiences she’s had with her own children. “As a parent when my children come home and I hear their excitement in what they’re doing in school, that is comforting. What’s cool about a school like this is every student knows each other, the older students know the younger students and they get along.”   

 

Steffel also made reference to the school resource officers, “They come and introduce themselves and read books to keep children’s attitudes positive towards the police. One of the officers even brought in her little dog for the kids to play with. Not the police K-9 dog, but her own personal pet.” One of the officers, Officer Brent even told the children he visited, “I drive past your school a bunch of times during the day, so you kids know I’m keeping you safe!” Steffel added, “The kids really liked that.” Not all of the teachers are Catholic, Steffel said, but they all have the same mission in mind.

 

Jinger Woodring, who is in her first year as a fourth-grade teacher, but taught at St. Casimir in Wells until the school closed said, “When St. Casimir closed, I knew people here and that gave me a place to go. During our open house we’ll have many volunteers available to answer questions and give tours, we’ll also have teachers here in their classrooms and students will be here also.” She was asked her favorite part about Sacred Heart School and getting to teach there and she said, “We get to practice our faith and teach the whole child, which is their mind, body and spirit. Our focus is faith and community. How do they go out into the community and serve? We need these kids to be strong in their faith in this culture, and we need them to be positive!”

 

For anyone interested, after the ten o’clock mass on Sunday, Jan. 25 there will be an open house at Sacred Heart school. There will be registration information for the 2026-2027 school year, donuts and coffee, a scavenger hunt and door prizes. This event is open to the public. Later on in the week will be the Penny Wars, Pajama Day, Celebrating Your Community Day, Celebrating Vocations Day and much more.