THE INSIDER PATTY UNLEASHED

THE INSIDER

O

THE ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY

ORCHESTRA is kicking off its 2022-23 season with a free performance in Forest Park on Sept. 14. The concert will feature music from Edvard Grieg, Scott Joplin, Astor Piazzolla, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and John Williams. For more information, visit slso.org.

one year!

Happy birthday to the Food Hall at City Foundry STL! It opened its doors a year ago on Aug 11, 2021, with 11 kitchens. Over the past year, it’s expanded with six more offerings.

PATTY

by patty hannum

Celebrate the Missouri Botanical Garden’s

new Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center! The garden will hold a grand opening ceremony at 10 a.m. Aug. 27. To mark the occasion, admission is free Aug. 27 and 28.

man’s best

friend It’s not too late to take advantage of the Humane Society of Missouri’s special pit bull promotion. Through the end of the month, all adult pit terriers can be adopted for a reduced fee of $25.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

The USO Missouri is looking for people willing to help. For more information, visit missouri.uso.org.

ST. LOUIS IS KNOWN for a lot

of things—toasted ravioli, St. Louis Cardinals fandom, calling Highway 64 Highway 40—but what’s up with asking people where they went to high school? As a 62-year-old woman I am still asked that question! Nerinx Hall is my answer. The reaction of the person who asked me always tells me a lot, and if they happen to be an alum or have a daughter who’s one, the stories will start. Other people may use the high school question to judge wealth, location or taste in colors, but for me, I just like finding other Hall Markers in the wild.

Nerinx has been on my mind lately as my great niece Charlotte will be starting there this fall—she is the third generation of Fitzgeralds to attend Nerinx! Every year, four all-girl high schools compete in a fundraising competition to see who can get the largest percentage of alumni to donate, and this year, Nerinx won for the second time. (I would add ‘of course they did,’ but the truth is everyone did a great job.) In fundraising, you certainly need big donors to build and expand the campus, but you really need the engagement of small donors who show their love for the school because they are the ones who will, for decades, give it a five-star review.

I’m sure there are some girls who went to Nerinx and thought, “I have got to get out of here.” To be honest, I had a few days like that. But for most girls who enter as freshmen, they stick around for four years, go on to college and eventually start their career, which is when it’s time to start writing checks to the old alma mater! And this is where I become befuddled. We have so many amazing all-girl schools in St. Louis, and the number of alumni who give back is low compared to the all-boy and co-ed schools. And I don’t know why. I am confident they know how to write a check, hand over a credit card, Venmo or deliver rolls of quarters.

I graduated from Washington University, and though I can’t complain about the education, it did nothing to form me as a person. Nerinx did that—along with my parents! My sense of who I was and who I could become was formed during those teenage years, like they are for most people. So, the next time you are asked for a donation, if you went to an all-girls school, get your checkbook out. For those of you who haven’t been asked for money, now is a perfect time to tell your favorite teacher exactly what they meant to you. They don’t hear it enough.

Oh wait, I hear something about college debt being an issue. Did you miss the part where I said I went to Washington University? Oh, and I married someone who also went there so we could consolidate even more debt! Love is debt-blind, as they say. Anyway, all schools are happy with even a $25 donation. .

Go Markers! Peace my peeps! &