Zip Codes

St. Teresa’s is committed to diversity; students live near and far from STA and this can impact many aspects of their lives.

Story by Sarah Schwaller | Staff Writer Photos by Olivia Cooper | Staff Writer

Each and every student at St. Teresa’s Academy comes from a different background, including geographically. This aligns with STA’s diversity statement: “Diversity has been a key component of the STA philosophy since our founding in 1866. STA values and embraces a racially, culturally, ethnically, geographically and economically diverse student body and school community.” However, a student’s physical distance from school can greatly impact their routines and relationships.

Junior Jane Pointer lives between Brookside and The Plaza and communtes only three minutes to school each way. Before she could drive to school, she would walk alone. She feels that living near school has greatly contributed to her independence. Living in such close proximity to school also can make establishing routines and cultivating friendships much easier for her.

Pointer’s daily routine isn’t drastically affected by her distance from school.

“I wake up at 7:20, I get ready and then I leave at 7:50,” Pointer said.

Pointer enjoys living close to school for social purposes as well and understands that for some classmates, it may be harder to attend school events such as sports games. For her, living closer makes these types of experiences so much more accessible. In addition, she is able to visit with her friends more often. According to a study conducted by the National Library of Medicine, residential proximity is one of the greatest factors in creating close relationships. This is true for Pointer, as she believes living close to STA has made her friendships stronger.

“I think [living close] positively impacts my friendships because all of my friends live around the STA area and we take turns going to each other’s houses,” Pointer said. “It’s not too much of a hassle to go out far.”

On the contrary, freshman Odelia Colvin lives much further away from STA, in Lawrence, Kansas. Her commute each day is between 45 minutes and an hour. This greatly affects her routine; Colvin wakes up at 6:15 a.m. and she leaves her house for school by 7 a.m. every day. This new regimen was a large adjustment from her previous school routine.

“It’s crazy! I used to wake up at 8:00 to go to school because it was so close and now I wake up at 6 a.m.; a two-hour difference,” Colvin said.

Colvin’s dad works in Kansas City, so he drives her to school and back with him every day. Colvin often gets ready at STA in order to arrive on time at her dance practice, which occurs directly after school. Colvin frequently takes advantage of the long commute to complete her homework.

Her relationships with her STA friends are considerably impacted due to this commute. She says that the distance from school is isolating for her in certain ways.

“If I want to do anything here [STA campus] with people I know here, I have to drive a whole hour and it’s not really worth it,” Colvin said. “I don’t really want to force them to come all the way to Lawrence. But, I do know a load of people in Lawrence that I’m friends with so that’s nice.”

In addition to the friendships component, there are aspects of the new city and urban life that were an adjustment. For example, Colvin was unfamiliar with Crumbl Cookies prior to regularly coming to Kansas City for school. She mentioned that she is also working on getting the lay of the land.

“When I got here I had to figure some things out, and I don’t really know where anything is [in Kansas City], so I have to pull up Google Maps anytime I want to walk anywhere,” Colvin said.

Colvin is thankful to STA for bringing a geographically diverse group of students together and hopes to be able to navigate herself to the nearest Kansas City Crumbl Cookies without the use of Google Maps as soon as possible.

With students coming from 77 zip codes, our school’s community truly reflects all parts of the Kansas City metropolitan area, and does so while creating a fun and loving sisterhood.

Regardless of how far away you live, you will always find a home at St. Teresa’s. B