Holy Family: Building lasting bonds within school’s walls

Sara Hooley, who obtained her early education at Hannibal’s Holy Family School, now serves as the school’s principal. “I do feel this is where I’m called to be,” she said. Contributed photo.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

A family environment. That’s how Sara Hooley describes Hannibal’s Holy Family School. As the school’s principal, she said that the 121 students currently enrolled in grades preschool through eight are following a century-long tradition of Catholic education.

“Eighth graders feel like siblings when they get out,” she said, “we can pray for each other, work together.”

And the bonds built at this school continue for a lifetime.

“The tradition. That’s what it is, having different generations come back. We had an open house. To see the older generation come through, telling their memories. ‘You know what that was when I came here?’ they say. I love hearing that tradition.”

Located in a building constructed 100 years ago on Broadway, there are plenty of cherished memories.

“One of the things that is so funny,” she said, is that in the past, “the third floor was where the nuns lived.” This floor was strictly off limits to the students.

“We renovated (the floor) into classrooms.” When grandparents visit the school, they might ask, “Can we go to the third floor? Really, can we?” 

“It is so funny,” Hooley said. 

Hooley knows first-hand the intricacies of the school’s cherished traditions.

She gained her early education in the same school she now leads. “Holy Family only went through sixth grade when I went here; they brought back 7-8 around 1998,” she said.

After graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia, she did her student teaching for the Hannibal Public School District.

“I knew I wanted to be a teacher, but I was not sure I was going to end up in Hannibal. I came back to do my student teaching, and my husband was finishing up in Rolla. We loved it here and have never left.”

Her first job out of college was at Holy Family school, where she subsequently taught for 18 years. The last six years she has served as the school’s principal.

For 12 years, “I got to help second graders prepare for their First Reconciliation and First Communion.

“I have spent my whole career here,” she said, expressing contentment with her chosen path.

“Holy Family been a part of my life,” she said. ”I had all my sacraments here and was married (to Chris Hooley) here. It is a part of who I am.”

“I do feel this is where I’m called to be.

“We get to educate the whole child, spiritual, emotional, intellectual; teaching them how to be productive Christian citizens.” The school offers “all those components to make sure every child gets what they need.

“It is a family environment; it is not just a name, it is who we are. Holy Family was the right place for me because, I had grown up here.

“Both my parents (Lee J. Viorel Jr., and Mary Ann Hammock Viorel) went to McCooey (the school’s previous name); even my grandmother (Mary Virginia Howarth Hammock) went here when it was one of the town’s grade schools.”

Renovations

The building has undergone some major renovations in the past few years.

“Two summers ago we replaced the flooring on the first floor,” after a water leak in the bathroom.

“The old red and black tile on first floor had to come up,” she said. 

Also, “We had to replace the elevator,” she said, which had been in place for many years.

They made security updates, adding a camera system on the inside and outside of the building.

“We just put new mini splits in each classroom for heating and cooling,” she said. They replace window air conditioners and the building’s old boiler “which finally gave out.”

Curriculum

The school is one of the elementary schools administered by the Diocese of Jefferson City.

“We are accredited just like the public schools; we have non-public school accreditation in Missouri.

“We have curriculum written through the diocese, and we work on writing and revamping that curriculum.”

Hannibal’s Holy Family collaborates with Holy Rosary in Monroe City and St. Clement in Bowling Green. “We get to work together with other Catholic schools in our area, bouncing  ideas off of each other so we can all grow.”

Teachers participate in professional development, “and our families are engaged in the learning. It takes us all working together.

“We have the same standard for all our schools; we are helping teachers grow professionally.

“We have very high expectations for our kiddos,” she said, with one-on-one teacher attention.  “When they go to high school they are more than ready. Most go to Hannibal High School; some go to Quincy Notre Dame” in Quincy, Ill.

“Our kids score very well on standardized testing; they score higher than the national average,” she said.

Holy Family School offers one teacher for each grade, she said, and the school offers art, music and physical education instruction. Eighth graders can take algebra.