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Jesuit Journeys
Winter 2000
Nativity school gets a facelift
 Jesuit Nativity Middle School students returned to a lot of changes when they arrived at school following a summer-long renovation of classrooms and administrative offices.
The $250,000 facelift literally and figuratively cast the old school building on Milwaukee's near South Side in a brighter light. |
Sandy Siewert takes time in the remodeled eighth-grade homeroom to encourage her students to read more. The importance of strong language skills is emphasized at Nativity Jesuit Middle School. |
"The kids were impressed and parents couldn't believe what they saw. They said it looked like a whole new building," says Rosario C. Sanchez, teacher and assistant to School President Fr. Bill Johnson, SJ.
Classrooms are larger, brighter, or both. Reconfigured halls improve access to homerooms and offices. There's a new library and a new curriculum aimed at improving performance in key areas including expressive writing, reading comprehension, math, and science. It is almost as if the changes in the building are a metaphor for the school itself.
When it first opened in 1994, Nativity was designed to help transform the lives of young Hispanic boys - to educate them and develop their potential to be successful leaders in their community. |
Principal Mike Frontier (above left) and Rosario Sanchez, teacher and assistant to the president, review direct instruction video materials for the earth science program. Direct instruction is a scripted teaching methodology designed to rapidly bring students up to grade level in a given subject area. |
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Larry Siewert (above center) teaches religion to a small group in the new Gordon Henke Library. Formerly the school principal, Siewert is currently director of graduates, a job in which he tracks Nativity students beyond the eighth grade, working closely with their mentors to ensure success in high school and beyond. |
It began with a group of sixth-graders and added a grade in each of the following years. By the time the renovation was done, students from the original class were entering their final year of high school, poised to apply to the colleges of their choice.
Like their old middle school, the students have changed quite a bit. But for both school and students, the work is just beginning
For more information or to help Nativity educate Hispanic youth for Christian leadership call 414-645-1060. Mailing address: 1115 South 7th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53204. |
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