Unified schools alum supports consolidation

I am probably one of the more sentimental people you could meet. I don't get teary-eyed at weddings, or gushy over newborn babies, but when it comes to nostalgic mementos, I'm like a packrat, constantly collecting memories and the emotions that go with them. I've always been this way, probably more so when I was younger, a nerdy fourth-grader at St. Vincent de Paul Elementary School, Oshkosh, in 1990.

I lived four blocks away from the South Park Street school, an easy walk to the place my cousins, uncles and father attended before me. I was proud of my roots, and St. Vinnie's was always a part of that.

So with such a heritage, such a love for tradition, you can only imagine my initial reaction to talks of parochial school consolidation. OACES: Three K-8 schools completely eliminated, and one 6-8 middle school and two K-5 elementary schools to take their place. St. Mary's and St. Peter's would join St. Vincent's in the venture, while the other parochial grade school, Sacred Heart, remained unchanged, unconsolidated. That school went belly-up about five years later.

By the time my young mind comprehended what was going on, that I would not graduate from the same grade school as my relatives, the consolidation was already in the works. We were voting on school colors and new mascots. I was to be part of the first sixth-grade class at the new middle school, St. John Neumann.

I didn't want to go. For a time, I think I was actually considering the alternative, the archrival school of Sacred Heart. My parents gave me the option, sort of. But really I just wanted my class of 10 to remain together forever, so sentimental was I.

Yes, our last year there were only 10 of us. Of those only three stuck with the system and moved to Neumann.

Not that it mattered; in grade school I had no friends. I was the girl that everyone avoided, the smelly girl, the messy girl, the annoying one everyone hated. I had a rough time my six years at St. Vincent's, but despite it all, I still didn't want to move.

I was lucky; had the rest of my class joined us at Neumann, there may have been no hope for me ever rising up from the depressing state I had somehow dug myself into. But one of the best things about consolidation was the homerooms: There was actually more than one class for each grade level. So many people, it really didn't matter if two or twenty people hated me, because from a pool of 36, our eighth-grade graduating class, there was sure to be at least one who'd like me, and we could simply ignore the others.

So what was different about Neumann? Well, obviously I changed buildings. Now instead of four blocks it was 14. I still could walk, and did sometimes, but I began car pooling with one of the other St. Vinnie's crossovers. For a time, I decided it would be fun to take the city bus home; all the cool, St. Mary's people were doing it, after all.

You may think that would be the case, the former schools becoming cliquey. But no, we were equally split into the two homerooms, and by the time we graduated in 1995, we were one class, still small enough for all the benefits of one-on-one teaching, but large enough for me to become an individual.

One of my favorite parts of the move was meeting the new people. It was so different to have a sleep over on the north side of town. I'd never even known such a place existed, in my sheltered, southside lifestyle.

And then there were sports. I remember I didn't join any until softball in sixth grade. I was still getting my bearings those first few months, learning what it was to like and be liked by friends.

Of course, in a small school, everyone gets a chance to play. This is as it should be at this grade level, and by the time I was in seventh grade I was a three-sport athlete. No one was cut from any sport; if we had too many players, we just made another team. That ended up giving us more teams to play, but there were always plenty. We would travel to St. Joe's in Appleton and Holy Name in Kimberly, all over northeastern Wisconsin. The competition of these teams, with more students involved, was only a good thing for me. It made me want to improve, to try my hardest. I would go on to break records in high school because of that, come home from Milwaukee with a first place trophy from State.

My experience at Neumann, in retrospect, was only positive, although I'm sure I had my little melodramas at the time. I don't feel I could have had a better experience anywhere else. I was expanding, growing, learning more about the outside world than I ever would at St. Vincent's, yet I was happily sheltered in a parochial, non-public school.

I did go on after Neumann to the Catholic high school in Oshkosh, Lourdes. Moving on was easy; I still had many of my friends from middle school, but our class did grow to 55. The real reason I excelled at Lourdes, however, was not the friends I brought with me from middle school, but the self-esteem and increased sense of competition, of going somewhere in life that I feel Neumann provided.

An increased awareness of the world around me, and the opportunities that could be mine are what I took from a consolidated system.

Many times I've wondered, what if? What if I had never gotten out of St. Vincent's? I know I would not have had the confidence to try sports in high school, another experience that shaped my life. I would not have cared enough about my studies to try, so I would never have been valedictorian. I've always been a shy girl, with not much self-esteem. Self-esteem is something I work on every day, but compared to the me of 10 years ago, when consolidation forced me to change schools for the first time, I am one conceited little princess.

I will be graduating from college in a year with a bachelor of arts degree in mass communications and English writing and a minor in music. I currently have a 4.0, and I plan to someday seek more education in some writing-related field. I have a job at the local newspaper, and have interned at a number of publications (including The Compass). I was managing editor of my senior practicum publication, and yes, I say senior because by credit, I could be graduated now; it's only due to my double major that I am still in school. I'm not trying to brag, I honestly don't feel this is all that spectacular, but I do feel I have at least a somewhat promising future, and I believe that the consolidation of the Catholic schools in Oshkosh 10 years ago started me on that path and changed my life for the better.