St. Patrick School in Kent was established in the late 1880s, during the pastorate of Father Francis O’Neill, the parish’s first resident pastor. The parish and school continued to grow over the next four decades, and eventually the four-room wooden schoolhouse was replaced with an eight-room brick school building in the 1920s.
The Catholic community of Kent continued to grow in the first half of the 20th century, and soon both the parish church and school needed to be expanded. Ground was broken on a new church in 1952, on the feast of the Assumption, with a parish rectory and fellowship center included in the new project. Once the new church was completed in 1953, the parish planned an addition to the school to double its capacity. The first four additional classrooms were completed in 1959, with the next four finished two years later in 1961.
At the same time, a convent was built for the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, who staffed the school.
The parish celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2014, and today, St. Patrick School is staffed by lay educators, with 209 students fromgrades K-8 enrolled.
The school’s current principal, Howard Mancini, has spent most of his career in Catholic classrooms, and he has used his decades of experience in Catholic education to revitalize St. Patrick School.
Fourteen years ago, Mancini was working in the computer lab at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren when he was asked to interview for the principal position at St. Patrick. Before returning to the classroom, he had had extensive experience as an administrator at various Catholic schools across the diocese. It was his talent for both teaching and administrative work that made him an ideal candidate for the role—the diocese knew Mancini could “walk in and do the job,” he said.
When he stepped in to his role at St. Patrick, the school was in a good position, Mancini said. One of his biggest areas of focus was computer literacy, but before implementing his own vision, he wanted to get a sense of how the school was functioning.
“Usually when you walk in, you don’t want to make these sweeping changes because that’s a little upsetting,” he said. “There’s an old saying: ‘Change is a six-letter word that leads to a five-letter word, which is ‘chaos,’ which leads to a lot of four-letter words that we don’t want to repeat.’ So, you come in that first year, you look to see what’s out there, how you want to move forward.” He started by acquiring tablets for the students, and then went on to build up the computer lab and technology in the classrooms, including 3D printers and touchscreen TVs.
St. Patrick School has seen steady enrollment during Mancini’s tenure, which Mancini says has been largely due to the advent of EdChoice, which is a state-funded scholarship program providing private tuition to many. Mancini says that now, all but a “small handful” of St. Patrick families are taking advantage of the program, which enables them to give their kids the religious education they want without having to make big financial sacrifices elsewhere.
And while the school has focused recently on modernizing its technology program, it still puts Catholicism at the forefront of its mission.
“Our mission is to teach as Jesus did, and we want to have these kids grow up to be responsible Catholic adults,” Mancini said.
To that end, the school engages in school-wide programs and events to help bring to students awareness of the local and global Catholic community. For example, leading up to Thanksgiving, the students participate in an annual canned-food drive for Catholic Charities. They also collect donations for local animal shelters, which the school calls “Cash for Critters.”
All grade levels have daily religious classes as well, to prepare them to receive their Sacraments. The school utilizes Sadlier Religion’s “Christ in Us” K-8 catechetical program, which emphasizes “integrative family support”—having parents engaged in their child’s catechism.
“It gets the families involved,” Mancini said. “It helps everybody remember what we’re all about and why we’re doing this.”
Jennifer Wohlwend, a third-grade teacher at St. Patrick, can affirm Mancini’s assessment of the school’s family atmosphere—her son and daughter both attended the school while she worked there.
“[People] want their kids here, so it’s a sacrifice and a blessing at the same time when you’re looking at having to pay a tuition,” she said. “They have that commitment to the education and to the Scriptures, and it’s what holds us all together—that bond of our faith.”
As someone who has experienced the school as both a teacher and as a parent of students, Wohlwend pointed to St. Patrick’s commitment to fostering connections between all grade levels as something that really makes the school unique. For example, students have class “buddies”—kindergarteners are paired with fifth-graders, first-graders with sixth-graders, etc. On Mass days, the older kids make sure that their buddies are involved in the liturgy and are staying focused.
“They do take their responsibility really seriously,” she said. “I love that aspect of trying to connect both sides of our building.”
Another way that the school fosters a more Christian mindset in its students is through its “Character Ed” program. Based on the Beatitudes, the school holds an awards ceremony every quarter to recognize students who have excelled not only in academics or athletics, but in living out the Gospel.
“We get to see the kids that are exemplifying the Beatitudes,” Mancini said. “I know these kids are beaming when they come up and get these certificates in [Mass]. And it’s good—it’s good for them, it’s good for everybody else, because somebody’s going, ‘Hey, I want that certificate. What do I have to do to get that?’”
In Mancini’s experience, what parents seem to really appreciate about St. Patrick School is the “family atmosphere,” at the root of which is an intergenerational heritage.
“When I started here … people would say to me, ‘I graduated from St. Pat’s!’ They’re all very proud to talk about this, and we’ve always been a really important part of the community up here,” Mancini said.
Smaller class sizes at St. Patrick are also a draw. Wohlwend has 10 third-graders this year, which she says gives her the opportunity to really understand “what makes each kid tick” and realize when extra, one-on-one instruction is needed.
“We don’t have as many kids falling through the cracks,” she said. “We really try really hard to make sure that everybody is achieving what we know they can achieve … We’re giving them the best of ourselves.”
Wohlwend said that many of the school’s teachers are also parents themselves, which impacts how they approach teaching—something that would be unachievable with larger class sizes.
Aiden Fox, a former student from St. Patrick who now attends a public high school, agreed that the smaller class sizes have a positive impact.
“I had 18 kids in my graduating class,” he said. “I still know quite a few of them today—they’re some of my best friends. It’s nice to build all those personal relationships, and not only with the students, but the teachers. They actually cared.”
Fox described how teachers at St. Patrick approached students if they seemed to be struggling with a subject, while at other schools, the teachers “aren’t going to hunt you down for it.”
Going hand-in-hand with the smaller class sizes, Fox explained that praying multiple times a day with his classmates was very formative to his faith and something he wishes he still had today.
“It just helps you get stronger and closer to God,” he said.
Looking to the future, Mancini said one of the school’s priorities—other than increasing enrollment—is to bring back some popular programs. For example, the school used to organize an ice-skating program at Kent State University, host school-wide bowling alley events and more. They even used to get tickets to Cedar Point for any students that earned straight A’s for the entire year.
But most of all, Mancini’s goal is to ensure that Catholic education thrives in Kent for generations to come.
