THE SHAMROCK St. Patrick’s Alumni Association Newsletter Fall/Winter, 2021
It’s a Great Time to be Irish! This fall, the North Platte Catholic Schools welcomed 412 students back to campus… The largest group, preschool through 12th grade, since 2015! This represents an enrollment increase of 15.9% over the previous school year… With new students in almost every single grade level. Our Little Leprechaun Preschool has 63 students enrolled this year (across 4 sections), which serves as a great launching pad into McDaid. It is obvious more families are now discovering what our alumni have known all along — There is definitely something special happening at the North Platte Catholic Schools! During a time when private school enrollment was declining nationwide, NPCS took a proactive approach by launching a “Keep the Faith” enrollment campaign in 2019. We are grateful to those who sent us ‘leads’ and allowed us to reach out to potential interested families. Over the past two years, our Enrollment Director Gwen Covey made countless phone calls, publicized an offer for one tuition-free semester, and continually tried to increase our visibility to outside families. The results are evident in the tuition increase for the 2021/2022 school year. Another blessing to enrollment has been the increase in tuition assistance available through the NPCS Endowment. Thanks to the generosity of alumni donors and planned gifts from school supporters, there are now more resources available for families than ever before. Three funds in particular have provided noteworthy blessings for families attending NPCS. The “Gift of Faith” Fund, established by Pat (’75) and Kathleen Keenan, provides tuition assistance awards for families that are new to the North Platte Catholic Schools. Since it was created in 2017, the Gift of Faith Fund has provided over $34,000 in tuition assistance to 15 different families. Thank you Pat and Kathleen! A planned estate gift led to the creation of the Joe and Mary Sedlacek Memorial Fund in 2021. Under the guidance of Dr. Mike (’77) Sedlacek and his sister
Little Leprechaun Preschool students — Fall, 2021
Jeanie (Sedlacek ’81) Iberlin, this fund serves a dual purpose… To provide tuition assistance and to also support the St. Patrick Activities Association. In its inaugural year, the Sedlacek fund gifted over $18,000 in assistance to 6 families, and is providing support for coaching salaries and other needs of the Activities Department. Thank you Sedlacek family! Another new fund, the “St. Pat’s Growth Fund,” was established this fall to provide tuition assistance for families in need at NPCS. Created by an anonymous alumni donor, the goal of this fund is to eliminate any obstacles to enrolling, or staying enrolled at McDaid and/or St. Patrick’s. Established with gifts totaling $150,000, this fund will be a tremendous blessing to our families for many years to come. We hope that our alumni family will help us continue down this great track of growth! Enrollment is already going strong for school year 2022/2023… With registration open (and filling) for Kindergarten and Preschool. Please contact Gwen Covey if you’re interested in enrolling, or if you’d like to share NPCS with any families that you know: g.covey@npcschools.org, 308-532-1874. Contact the Endowment Office, 308-534-5939, if you’re interested in learning about ways to support tuition assistance for school families.