This year’s St.

Saturday, September 02, 2000

This year’s St. Joseph High School seniors will walk the same halls the parish school’s first graduating class did 75 years ago.

To commemorate St. Joe’s anniversary, the school system will hold a rededication service Sept. 16.

"It’s really appropriate that we are entering the new century on our 75th year," school board president Ralph Kline said. "We thought that a rededication would be a great way to kick things off."

The rededication coincides with St. Joseph’s annual open house, which Kline said is held to allow the community, alumni, parishioners and parents see the work that volunteers do on the school each summer.

This summer, volunteers refinished the floors and sandblasted the brickwork in the gymnasium.

The Sept. 16 formal rededication will be held at 2 p.m. by Bishop Sheldon of the Steubenville Diocese. Following the rededication ceremony, individuals and groups may tour the school. An open reception will be held at St. Joseph Catholic Church in the undercroft afterwards.

At 5:15 p.m., the bishop will conduct a rededication mass.

Kline said that St. Joseph is unique in that it has continued to operate when so many parochial high schools have faced struggles.

"With all the regulations that there are in education, it’s tough to operate a high school," he said. "Many parishes choose not to. In our diocese, there is only St. Joseph and a school in Steubenville."

Because of this, the parochial school system of St. Joseph and St. Lawrence has expanded to serve four parishes: St. Joseph, St. Lawrence, St. Mary’s of Pine Grove and St. Ann’s of Chesapeake. Kline said that he hopes to see many school alumni at the rededication.

"It’s neat to hear the stories of alumni and their experiences," Kline said. "This is an old school. It has a lot of traditions. We have third and fourth generations of the same families that have all attended here. I think that the kids enjoy that."