Former students, teachers and principals of St. Peter Claver Catholic School in St. Paul are gathering this weekend for an all-school reunion to commemorate its 75th anniversary.

“People are coming from Florida, Mississippi. Yeah, it’s going to be nice just to see people you haven’t seen in years,” said Lynn Wright, family and scholar liaison at the school. “We want to have an alumni association and I think that’s going to be a good start for that.”

Second-grader Ambroisine S. identifies the syllables in the word “mistrust” in teacher Maria Osterbauer’s class at St. Peter Claver Catholic School in St. Paul on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Wright also plans to attend, having graduated from the school in 1963. She has worked for the school in various roles starting in 1983.

St. Peter Claver first opened in the 1950s and was one of only two predominantly Black Catholic schools in Minnesota until its closure in 1989. The Church of St. Peter Claver celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2017.

The event on Saturday will be held at the Anderson Student Center Alumni Hall at the University of St. Thomas at 2115 Summit Avenue. Sunday will include a 10 a.m. Mass at the Church of St. Peter Claver at 369 Oxford Street North and a tour of the St. Paul school at 1060 Central Ave W. Tickets are $30.

The last reunion the school held was in the late 80s, shortly before the school closed, said Wright, who was the school secretary at the time.

It reopened in the early 2000s through the work of Sharon Tolbert-Glover, an advocate for minority education, who passed away in 2018.

“What I’m concentrating on is opening a school of excellence,” Tolbert-Glover told the Pioneer Press shortly after taking the job of reviving the school. “A K-12 Catholic school with an African-American tradition seeking Twin Cities children of all cultures.”

The school currently has pre-kindergarten through 8th grade classes.

Saturday’s event will include a dinner and presentations, including short videos which feature alumni, such as Melvin Carter Jr. — the father of St. Paul’s mayor, said St. Peter Claver Principal Terese Shimshock.

Caleb Nchogu teaches an English lesson in his fourth-grade class at St. Peter Claver Catholic School in St. Paul on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“And then we have another video that is specifically because the Rondo neighborhood is so connected to St. Peter Claver, so we have some Rondo elders that are doing an interview also about what St. Peter Claver meant to them when they attended here,” Shimshock said.

Following Sunday’s Mass, an open house to see the school will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Being at the school is like being in a family and a it’s place where students have attended from around the Twin Cities because their friends or family did, Shimshock said.

“And they come because, ‘My aunties went here. My grandmas went here. My aunties’ grandmas went here.’ So it’s all about that, everyone’s connected to everyone somehow, some way,” Shimshock said.

A mural in one of the stairwells at St. Peter Claver Catholic School in St. Paul on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

When: 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Where: Saturday’s event is at the Anderson Student Center Alumni Hall at the University of St. Thomas at 2115 Summit Ave. Sunday’s event starts at the Church of St. Peter Claver at 369 Oxford Street North at 10 a.m. before going to St. Peter Claver Catholic School at 1060 Central Ave W. at 11 a.m.

Cost: Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at stpclaverschool.org/reunion-2024/.

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