Kindergartners are wrapped up in a story read by teacher Mary Liles at St. Thomas More.
Sentinel photo by Ed Langlois
At Portland’s St. Thomas More School, learning does happen in time-tested ways — experienced teachers transmit ideas. But just as often, students at this intimate academy high in the city’s West Hills are guided to explore where their passions and talents lead.
In first grade, for example, Jordan Kwiecinski has read a book about a brother and sister duo who have landed in a world of pirates. In addition to writing a book report, Noah gets the chance to fashion a small pirate ship out of paper, just the way he wants it.
Seventh graders, in a writing workshop, are urged to move past simply reporting on a book to analyzing it.
In the art studio, eighth grader Anna Murphy turns a lump of clay into a bowl embossed with intricate designs. Before long, teacher Janet Tansy has encouraged Anna to create more of the bowls for an all-school project.
“We love the school,” says Karl Glaser, an architect and stay-at-home dad who has children in first, fourth and eighth grades. “I feel like our children, and they are very different, have been challenged academically, but more importantly they’ve been allowed to become themselves slowly in a nurturing environment that has a religious basis.”
Trusting the interior wisdom of individuals starts at the top here. Frank Murray, the principal since 2000, has been meeting parents from each grade at informal coffee sessions to hear concerns, affirmations and suggestions alike. Parents like Glaser say collegiality is a hallmark of the school’s success.
Subjects like art, Spanish and technology belong at a school where the mission statement includes the idea “develop the whole child,” says Murray, a 58-year-old former teacher on whose walls hang a photo of the pope and portraits of his own bearded face drawn by first grade art students. Prominent on his shelf is a book titled Schools Where Everyone Belongs.
Enrollment is close to full at 220, but there is still room. Students are children of professionals who live in this part of town, but the school does not have an elitist atmosphere.
Maddie Regan and Aidan McLeod, two of the 23 eighth graders, often give tours and are friendly, open and unassuming about it. The two don’t flaunt the facts that they are top scholars, accomplished athletes, student government leaders, actors, altar servers and teen philanthropists all at once.
“It’s a great place; it’s a family place,” says sixth grade teacher Katy Smith, still enthused after 21 years here. She came fresh out of college and has stayed. She’s now vice-principal.
Smith dreams of advancing technology in the classroom, but not at the expense of keeping the human, familial atmosphere.
On this day, kindergartners listen to an amusing tale about a near-sighted armadillo. Mary Liles, their teacher, smoothly takes up the voices of the Texan characters and keeps asking questions to keep her students thinking.
In first grade, Noreen Regan helps students learn to manage themselves. Those who finish assigned tasks can sit back in an inviting lounge to read. One student, the bespectacled Megan McVeigh, is known as the class construction specialist. She takes initiative and helps other students craft dioramas and paper vehicles.
Second graders have prepared for first Communion, a time they’ll remember long afterward, say older students. Increased independence is the goal in Anne-Marie Reynolds’ classroom, where a Mozart symphony plays quietly while students write in their journals. They show their entries to Reynolds, who gently corrects errors and takes delight in the compositions.
“If I were a doctor, I’d want to be a nurse,” writes Ryan Webb. “They do most of the work.”
“I love teaching in a Catholic school,” Reynolds says. “We not only have general studies, but we can bring in the teachings of Jesus. You get a fuller education.”
Third graders have read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and used that book to explore other areas of knowledge. In the continued move to independent thought, they have designed their own candy wrapper, made chocolate and visited a real candy factory.
In biology, teacher Maria Bekar has helped third graders study the progress of tadpoles, crayfish and butterflies.
In addition to brisk preparation in academics, fourth graders get help with making good moral decisions. In religion, they study the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ teachings about forgiveness.
Fifth graders study early American history. A popular section involves a debate, with one team acting as loyalists to the British crown and the other side playing rebellious colonists. Fifth graders also are called on to write up plans for a frontier fort located somewhere in Oregon.
Sixth graders are exploring ancient civilizations. Integrating the study into English and art classes, they write their own fables and make deep red clay vases and pots in the Grecian style, complete with etched Homeric tales.
Seventh graders, in religion, explore developments in Christian history. They divide up at one point for a set of Catholic-Protestant debates. They also study the Catholic sacraments deeply. For social studies, they trek to the county courthouse to watch trials.
Eighth graders, finishing their careers at the school, have been studying the origins and parts of the Mass, as well as the social justice teachings of the church. They’ve written papers on health care and the death penalty as well as on the gospel of Matthew.
In history, they are studying World War II, including the Holocaust.
In Spanish, they took a field trip this spring to a migrant labor camp where they played soccer with children and attended Mass. In English, they have read Tom Sawyer and learned about stereotyping as well as Twain’s turns of phrase and imagery.
All of the eighth graders will attend Catholic high schools. The majority have chosen Jesuit .
Throughout their years here, they explain, they have gotten ample opportunity to think, not just memorize. Faith formation has added a fullness to the education, they say. “I think the education I got in academics and religion got me ready for high school,” Maddie Regan says.
In a school where creativity gets so much focus, the art teacher is a kind of matriarch. Janet Tansy has taught the subject here for a decade, having worked and studied in Asia previously.
Tansy is convinced that everybody is good at something. She helps students discover their inner mission.
She recalls one eighth grader who was unenthusiastic about art. After her encouragement — “Come on! Just try it!” — he attempted carving stone and has turned out to be a natural.
Tansy has students do things like paint a self portrait in the form of a Chinese landscape.
Art, she insists, is just as important to kids as science, social studies and math. The school has designated several small rooms for art, including an etching press and a kiln. The kiln has turned out to be a revenue stream, since it gets used for all kinds of items that get sold at auctions.
Other kinds of arts are thriving here. The older students put on a spring musical, Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance.”
By the time students graduate from St. Thomas More, computer teacher Becky Cooper has taught them not only to type proficiently but to give a multi-media presentation and make a documentary film.
Science does not get short shrift. The old gymnasium balcony is now a lab that includes computers, microscopes and several posters of Albert Einstein. There, students can dissect small creatures, construct electric circuits and conduct thermodynamics experiments.
“My goal is scientific literacy,” says Kristin Tufo, the upper-level science teacher. “Then we find ways to apply it in the world.”
Teachers will soon have laptops and online grading and assignment capability. A school webpage is in process. Students get training on both Macs and PCs.
Once each week at lunch, students play chess. The club, in which a quarter of the students are involved, is the creation of Rudy Munzel and Greg Bell. For seven years, the two dads have skipped some work each Thursday to set out hundreds of boards and pieces. There is a tournament each spring and a life-size chess game in which teachers, parents and students stand on a huge board wearing white or black hats.
“Chess teaches you a lot about life later on,” says Munzel, a real estate developer with three children at the school. “It teaches you strategy, it teaches you patience, it teaches you to go in with a plan.”
In addition to training the mind, the body and spirit get a workout.
In physical education, Ben Harris teaches the mainline sports like basketball, volleyball, football and baseball. But he also teaches golf, square dancing and healthy eating. Parents recently raised money for a rock-climbing wall to be placed in the gym. CYO sports are strong and venerable, with football, basketball, volleyball and track.
There is constant charity here. Students this spring have gathered clothing for foster kids, one in a long line of collections. Everyone attends a weekly school Mass.
Parents cherish the close community the school creates.
Mary Murphy is a mother of six, all St. Thomas More students or alumni. “The education is good and we have enjoyed the community that goes along with it,” says Murphy, a member of the parish for 20 years. She notes that long lines form for the annual volunteer signup, a sight that does her heart good.
She lauds the advances of the Spanish, drama, music and computer programs. She is a fan of the way teachers allow students to help each other, playing to their strengths.
