Humboldt Park’s only Catholic school doesn’t have a gym, so its 200 students use the lunchroom for physical education when it’s too cold for the playground. The outdoor clock on the brick building has been stuck at 3:30 for years, and cracked windows throughout the school’s buildings are covered with tape.
But when students, alumni and parishioners at Maternity BVM Catholic Church and School come together to celebrate the school’s 100-year anniversary with a Mass and visit from Cardinal Francis George, the archbishop of Chicago, there will be reason to celebrate, said Principal Dan Fleming.
“Very positive things are happening here,” he said.
Visitors who come to the church for the service Saturday will get a glimpse of what he’s talking about. The school’s walls have been brightened by dozens of portraits of Maternity BVM students, past and present, and a mural co-created by current students and an advanced painting class from College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. Visitors will also see the beginnings of a school library, thanks to the same suburban art class.
The movement to assist the school began in early 2011 when Fleming, then still new to the principal job, invited alumni to the school for dinner. Among the 50 attendees was Glen Ellyn resident Ken Marz, who graduated from the school in 1953 and was so troubled by the lack of a library and other financial challenges that he brought the story to his advanced painting class at College of DuPage, where he gained several enthusiastic partners for a book donation drive.
Marz’s art class, led by instructor Jennifer Hereth, also collaborated on a project in honor of the school’s 100th anniversary to fill the school’s gray hallways with bright and creative portraits of students, chosen by the painters from the school’s limited archives. Two current sixth-graders also are represented. Some of the portraits are of children who never attended the school but are meant to reflect the institution’s history of diversity, Hereth said.
Aaron Funes, who will graduate from eighth grade this year and play guitar during the 100th anniversary celebration, said watching the school’s new art go up has been exciting.
“It gave a more vibrant feel,” Aaron said. “It added like our own style to it. It sets us apart.”
When Marz attended the Catholic grade school, students were from blue-collar backgrounds and European by birth, he said. But as neighborhood demographics changed, so did the school’s population. Today, the school population is almost 100 percent Hispanic, Fleming said.
He estimates only 10 percent of families are able to pay the full $4,000-per-year tuition, so many receive a break, Fleming said. The school’s enrollment has grown since 2009, but tuition revenue doesn’t meet operating expenses.
Ryan Blackburn, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools, said Maternity BVM requires significant financial assistance from the archdiocese and from outside fundraising groups like the Big Shoulders Fund.
Fleming said private donations have ramped up since he started alumni development efforts, using Facebook and other ways to connect with former students.
The school’s library could be in full swing as soon as next school year, Fleming said, because of donations collected by Marz, COD students and others. One donor wrote a check so Fleming could buy bookshelves at Ikea.
“We’re moving forward, but it just takes time,” he said.
The school’s 100th anniversary Mass is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday at the church, 3647 W. North Ave.
