Families visit St. Vincent schools at open house

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To kick off Catholic Schools Week, St. Vincent Preschool and Elementary School held its annual pen house on Sunday, Jan. 31. The event was set up to provide any students entering Pre-K-6th grades to walk the halls and visit with teachers and take tours of their classrooms.
St. Vincent Elementary School Principal Diane Unterreiner said that the event went well. She estimated that more than 35 families took tours of the elementary school alone, with more touring the preschool. Unterreiner is optimistic that many of those families will choose to send their kids to St. Vincent.
“It was a joy to see the upcoming kindergarten students and their families.  They were welcomed with smiles from our amazing teachers, school board members and our National Honor Society high school students.  We had a nice turn out on such a cold windy day with how many families came to see what we have to offer at St. Vincent Elementary,” Unterreiner said.
The open house had more volunteers this year to coincide with COVID-19 protocols.
“We didn’t want the families bunched together to keep them safe,” Unterreiner said. “So we gave more one-on-one tours with our faculty, staff and students.”
The open house had a different look this year, as it used to be a two-day event to kick off Catholic Schools Week. The event only excluded the junior and high school students. For junior and high school students, the school is promoting individual tours and shadow days at the junior and senior high schools. Families can schedule a visit to come to the school through the counselor, Louise Wibbenmeyer.

For the prospective preschool and elementary school students they didn’t go away empty handed either.
“It was amazing to see their happy faces as each kiddo left with an SV cinch bag that held a book and a new SV mask.  Our Elementary Open House provided the confidence to our future students for their transition into St. Vincent Elementary School,” Unterreiner said.
The open houses are not finished as they are currently being scheduled for the older students. They will also have a “shadow day,” where they will follow a student in their own grade and become familiar with what a day at St. Vincent is like.
“We are scheduling personal tours for families because we want to meet them one-on-one and give them time to ask questions and see what they want to see,” St. Vincent Head of Schools Jennifer Streiler said. “We hope the shadow days shows them what our schedule is like and gets them acquainted with students at their grade level.
Unterreiner is also open to scheduling tours for those families who were not able to attend on Sunday.
“We always have the open house in the winter months and it can be awfully cold,” she said. “So if people want to call and set up a time, they can certainly do that.”