St. Mary of the Assumption School students celebrated grandparents Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016, with a special lunch, with over 400 grandparents and their grandchildren in attendance.
After lunch, grandparents were invited to join students in their classrooms to share class activities. Several students shared the annual event with great-grandparents and grandparents.
“Sharing the day with grandparents is a very remarkable and memorable conclusion to Catholic Schools Week,” said Michelle Cox, St. Mary’s School principal. “There will be lots of laughing and joy at lunch and in the classrooms.”
The location of the lunch is recognized by the city as a Santa Maria Historical Site of Significance as the former site of the first Catholic Church in Santa Maria, founded in 1906.
Many of the participating grandparents attended St. Mary of the Assumption School when the original church was still standing.
“St. Mary’s School has played an important role in Santa Maria since 1938. We have 78 years of history,” said Cox. “In fact, several families have three generations who attended St. Mary’s School.”
At the lunch, grandparents from five families who attended St. Mary’s School in the 1940s and ’50s had lunch with their grandchildren who go to the school today.
“This was a great school when I came and it’s still a great school,” said one grandparent.
St. Mary’s grandparents’ day was the final event celebrating Catholic Schools Week, which involved a wide range of activities including an All Catholic Schools Mass attended by about 600 students from the three Santa Maria Valley Catholic Schools, community and service projects and celebration of Freedom in America.
“For many families, grandparents are one of the strongest influences in childrens’ lives,” said Cox. “It is from their strength and faith that the youth learn and understand there is more to life than just material wants and desires. At St. Mary’s School we reinforce the values the children have learned at home from their parents and grandparents.”
For additional information, contact Michelle Cox at 805.925.6713 or email principal@stmarysschoolsm.com.
— Michelle Cox is the principal of St. Mary of the Assumption School.