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catholic high schools ready to sign up students for next freshmen classes

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

While Catholic Schools Week just ended, the three Catholic high schools in the diocese are in the process of freshman registrations.

Being a freshman at a high school, on the lowest rung of the school “food chain,” could be difficult whether the student goes to a Catholic or public school.

To get an idea of what it has been like to be a freshman, a student at Althoff in Belleville, Gibault in Waterloo and Mater Dei in Breese was interviewed.

While not all students are given the opportunity to choose their high school, these students did.

At Althoff, Austin Von Alst attended a public school in Belleville. While he said it had been a tradition in his family to go to Althoff, he wanted to go to the public high school.

However, in the end, he decided to stick with tradition, and he chose Althoff.
“I like it here,” he said. “I wonder what it would have been like (to go to the public school), but I can’t really see myself there anymore.”

He stays in touch with his friends at the other school, “but this is the right place for me.”

Gibault: Kristin Kreher attended St. John the Baptist grade school in Smithton, and said she had a choice of where she wanted to go to high school.

Her sister, two years older, asked her where she wanted to go. She chose Gibault along with half of her eighth-grade class, she said.

“I liked the idea of a Catholic school, a small school. I liked knowing everybody, and I thought it would be like that here,” she said.

Kristen also liked the idea of the modular scheduling at Gibault. “This is more like college, and I can take more classes,” she said.

While she admitted to being “a little nervous starting with all the older students,” she decided “there wouldn’t be so much drama like in other places.”

Talking to her friends at the public high school, she knew she was right. They described a different feeling from the one she received at Gibault.

“The people were very welcoming, and I was surprised at how easy to transition to high school,” Kristin said.
And, since Gibault is a Catholic high school, Kristen said she “doesn’t have to be embarrassed by my faith. I’m not afraid to express it.”


At Mater Dei, Casey Huegen said he wanted to continue his faith formation, and most of his friends opted for the Catholic high school.

“We pray in every class before the lesson,” he said, and in religion classes, “we learn specific stories from the Bible.”
For Casey, the beginning was “a little scary; it was so much bigger than the public school” in Germantown.
But, again, Mater Dei made Casey feel welcome.

“I’m glad I decided to come here.”

For information about freshman registration at Althoff, please call 235-1100; for Gibault, 939-3883 and Mater Dei, 526-7216.