I have many poignant memories of St. Mary's in the 1990s. My class of 25 graduated on a bright sunny day in May 1993. The newest members of my class had joined us in seventh grade. Most of us, however, shared memories of Sr. Bernadette, Mrs. Shoemaker, Mrs. Berigan, Sr. Angela, Mrs. Conway, and all of our grade school teachers.

As I recall, St. Mary's seniors got lots of local publicity and attention from caring adults. One or more of us was in the Holt County Independent every week. We reveled in the attention even as we took it for granted. It would be hard to be a truly disenfranchised youth at St. Mary's, youth like those I teach in urban public schools. I remember two different times when my teachers held tutorials rather than deny me a class I wanted! Some of our teachers had taught many of our older siblings; these experienced teachers were the pillars of St. Mary's tradition. Those straight out of the universities were novelties to us. All went out of their way, and were the same people we saw at church, in the grocery store, in our community.

Just two weeks ago, visiting St. Patrick's with my parents over Christmas, I saw the school van we always took to scholastic contests, speech meets, drama conventions, and sports competitions. "They still have the Green Bean!" I laughed, remembering my Protestant speech teacher driving on the ice and demanding we pray the rosary. My mother informed me St. Mary's also has a newer van now. That's nice, but I hope those young kids coming up now still appreciate the Green Bean. It's tradition.