Lots of Excitement at St. Felix School, Wabasha

Submitted by Eric Sonnek, principal of St. Felix School in Wabasha

The 2021-22 school year is off to a great start. St. Felix Catholic School has finished up our second week of school. The students, staff, and parents are excited for the school year. This year we welcomed 102 students through our door. Our preschool and pre-k classes are full with 14 students each. We have 13 kindergarteners, 14 first-graders, 8 second-graders, 13 third-graders, 8 fourth-graders, 8 fifth-graders, and 10 sixth-graders. It is exciting to see this many students walk through our doors.

We have a wonderful staff made of Robin Moret (preschool), Sharon Stiner (para), Sue Wills (para), Susie Baab (para), Nicole Solberg (para), Sharon Busch (kindergarten), Michelle Schumacher (first grade), Laura Cooper (second grade), Carrie Williams (third grade), Maria Senkyr (fifth grade), Christine Flak (cook), LeAnn Tebay (administrative assistant), Willard Schuth (custodian), Father Glenn Frerichs (pastor) and Eric Sonnek (principal). We welcome two new teachers to our St. Felix staff: Kelley Steiner (fourth grade) and Debra Buchal (music). We also welcome an old friend back to our staff this year: Ann Wobbe. She will be teaching sixth grade this year until we are able to fill our sixth-grade position with someone permanent.

As the new year begins, we have made some great updates to our school thanks to the many donors in the community. We updated the flooring in the pre-k, kindergarten, first-grade, fourth-grade, fifthgrade, and sixth-grade classrooms. The kitchen got a new warming oven thanks to the VFW donation. The school has all new LED lighting. The landscaping around the school got a makeover as well, with new plants and mulch and a new fence between the school and gym. We will be installing new blinds for all the windows in the school soon as well. Thank you to all who have supported our school as we continue to make improvements. If you want to see what is happening at St. Felix, please don't hesitate to stop by and check out the school.

We had a wonderful Fall Festival Fundraiser for the school this year! We were able to raise over $100,000 for the students. We had a great day filled with kids’ games, attic treasures, bingo, chicken dinner, raffles, and a specialty auction. We had a great community event and great support from everyone! We had great donations, especially from Gunderson- St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Wabasha. They donated an item (from their postponed fundraiser) to our specialty auction. St. Felix Catholic School split the amount raised from this item. The item brought in $14,000. We were able to have $7,000 go towards our school and $7,000 go towards our local hospital. We end our specialty auction with a fun activity. If we pooled enough money someone with a connection with the school eats a minnow. Marsha Stenzel (superintendent of Catholic schools for the DOW-R and former St. Felix principal), Maggie Sonnek (wife of the principal), the sixth-grade class, and Mr. Sonnek (principal) were the lucky participants this year. The goal was $10,000 but we brought in $11,000, which meant everyone ate a minnow. Our school would like to thank everyone who donated and helped out with our Fall Festival.

Marsha Stenzel prepares to fulfill her end of the fundraising agreement.