St. Catholic School Piotra Klawera located in the former Rondo św. Paul’s 75th Anniversary – Twin Cities

Former students, teachers and directors of the Catholic School of St. Piotr Klawer in St. Paul are gathering this weekend for a school-wide reunion to celebrate its 75th anniversary.

“People come from Florida, Mississippi. Yes, it will be nice to just meet up with people you haven’t seen in years,” said Lynn Wright, family and academic advisor at the school. “We want to start an alumni association and I think this will be a good start.”

Wright also plans to attend the school, graduating in 1963. She has worked at the school in various capacities since 1983.

Saint’s School Peter Clawer first opened in the 1950s and until its closure in 1989 was one of only two predominantly Black Catholic schools in Minnesota. Church of St. Piotr Klawera celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2017.

Saturday’s event will be held in the Anderson Student Center Alumni Hall at the University of St. Thomas at 2115 Summit Avenue. There will be Holy Mass on Sunday. at 10:00 in the church of St. Piotr Klawera at 369 Oxford Street North and visiting the school of St. Paul at 1060 Central Ave W. Tickets are $30.

The school’s last reunion was in the late 1980s, shortly before the school closed, said Wright, who was the school’s secretary at the time.

It reopened in the early 21st century thanks to work Sharon Tolbert-Glover, supporter of minority education, who died in 2018.

“I’m focused on opening a school of excellence,” Tolbert-Glover told the Pioneer Press shortly after taking on the task of revitalizing the school. “A K-12 Catholic school with an African-American tradition, seeking Twin Cities children of all cultures.”

The school currently has classes from kindergarten to grade 8.

Saturday’s event will include dinner and presentations, including short films featuring alumni such as Melvin Carter Jr. — father of the mayor of St. Paul’s, said Teresa Shimshock, principal of St. Peter Claver.

“And then we have another film that was created specifically because the Rondo district is so closely associated with St. Peter Clawer, so we have some Rondo elders being interviewed about what St. Peter meant to them. Piotr Klawer when they attended here,” Shimshock said.

After Sunday Mass The school open day will be held from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m

Being at the school is like being in a family, and it’s a place that students from all over the Twin Cities attend because their friends or family have benefited from it, Shimshock said.

“They come because: ‘My aunts went here.’ My grandmothers used to go here. My aunts’ grandmothers went here. So the idea is that everyone is connected to everyone else in some way,” Shimshock said.

When: Saturday from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: Saturday’s event takes place in the Anderson Student Center Alumni Hall at the University of St. Thomas at 2115 Summit Ave. Sunday’s event begins at the church of St. Piotr Klawera at 369 Oxford Street North at 10:00 before going to St. Peter Claver Catholic School at 1060 Central Ave W. at 11 a.m

Cost: Tickets cost PLN 30 and can be purchased, among others, from: stpclaverschool.org/reunion-2024/.