Alumni reflect on St. Agnes Cathedral School’s 100-year history

Staff, students, alumni and other community members gathered on May 19 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of St. Agnes Cathedral School, as the year-long centennial commemoration came to a head.

The event, originally scheduled to take place the school’s Field of Dreams, was moved to the Parish Center due to bad weather, but the clouds could not damper the mood as alumni reminisced about the school they attended decades ago.

Attendees looked through a time capsule, sealed in 1993 at the school’s 75th anniversary celebration, which included photographs, state tests from that year and a VHS video documenting a day in the life of the school’s teachers and students. Two of the video’s narrators, in eighth grade at the time, were at the dinner.

“It was sad a little bit because several of the teachers there are no longer with us,” said former co-principal Helen Newman, “but it really fun to watch.”

The dinner event, which followed a morning Family Fun Run and 5K and a 3 p.m. mass, culminated a year-long celebration of the institution’s 100 years. Newman, along with fellow co-principal, Sister Kathleen Carlin, co-chaired the committee dedicated to commemorating the anniversary. Their efforts included organizing the fundraising and construction of a Centennial Prayer Walk, which was unveiled last December and has nearly 200 bricks inscribed with names.

“Some of the kids that were there were students and now they’re parents of kids that are at the school,” Newman said of the celebration. “…It was a nice party.”