With blue markers in hand, St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church parishioners, staff and guests signed their names and left words of encouragement Wednesday on metal columns in the church’s new school.
Still under construction, the school is targeted to open sometime mid-summer 2026 serving kindergarten through sixth grade students. The eight-acre, $28.5 million campus will have a capacity of 600 students when finished, before eventually taking on middle and high school grades for a full K-12 campus.
Included in the seated crowd on the school’s concrete foundation, surrounded by a tangle of support columns, overhead wires and red safety tape, were current St. Peter’s students who attend classes in the church’s Family Living Center. They will move into the new building next summer.
A half-dozen of the support columns were painted yellow, where School Principal Melanie Brintnall encouraged people to write scripture as well as sign their names.
“As exciting as it is to sign these columns, in a few days, they will be covered up with drywall and our names will no longer be visible,” Brintnall said. “What will be visible is how well we live out what we have pledged here today, what we pledge every day, in the months and years to come.”
In August 2023, the Benedictine Sisters made land available for sale for the St. Peter’s Elementary School. The 8.1-acre property was purchased for $1.6 million by the Clarence Kahlig family, who in turn gifted the church with the land and $5 million in seed money to start the fund-raising process.
“It is not often that we are able to be a part of a building, a part of a school, from its very foundation,” Brintnall said. “So, let us sign our names today. Let us claim ownership and pledge commitment to building this school, not only with brick and mortar, but with our daily actions as we strive for virtue, for excellence, for holiness with one another.
In a statement on the church’s website, the Rev. Norm Ermis said the school “is part of the vision that we have, and we want this school to be a happy joyous place of learning in the classical model of education that has proven methods of learning.”
He talked about seeing the future for the parish and “the great possibilities of opening this school and of helping children to learn in a very wonderful environment.”
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