There are not very many schools that hit their 100th anniversary, but Sacred Heart High School is one of those institutions, celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding by the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate.
Principal Rachel Sterzuk has been part of the staff for 24 years, and says that she is proud to be principal for the 100th year of the school. She says it has been a wonderful teaching environment.
The school’s motto is “Faith, Knowledge, Unity,” and Sterzuk believes that focusing on each part of that school motto is what defines the school in the past, present and future.
“We are certainly committed to faith, we think that it gives our students a wonderful spiritual base to steer the rest of their lives, so that is number one. Then knowledge, our teachers and our students strive to maintain rigorous academic standards and that is certainly very important to us. Then unity... We strive to have great unity amongst our students through our religious celebrations, through our classroom interactions, as well as our many sports clubs, teams and activities like drama and fine art. All of those things bring great unity and belonging, and I think teenagers, that’s one thing they really strive for, that sense of belonging.”
Leo Misko was the first male teacher at Sacred Heart and taught in the school for 29 years, and Sister Suzanne Kokuruds was both an alumni and a teacher at the school. Both say that the school is the same as the one they taught in, as the students and staff
“Even today at the church, it was such a Sacred Heart occasion, with the way they sang and all the cheerfulness,” Kokuruds said.
“Sacred Heart always had that family feel. It was very close knit amongst all the students and staff. You still get that feeling,” Misko adds.
Both are happy to see that the school is, at its core, the same, and they credit the staff of the modern Sacred Heart for keeping the school consistent and giving students a good base to build on.
“The teachers are respectful of traditions, the good traditions that have developed. I think they try to keep them up and teach them,” said Kokuruds.
“It’s a time where we have gone through a lot of change, with religion and Christian ethics and so on, they’ve been doing a good job helping students with their religion,” Misko said.
“I think even before, there was an effort to keep it up, to keep it relevant for the kids, keep religion relevant and apply it to their lives,” Kokuruds adds.
Going from a student to a teacher was a unique experience, but Kokoruds enjoyed her time on both sides of the desk, whether learning or teaching. She says that it was a good place to work, and as a French teacher, she was able to work with a language lab and have the tools needed to properly teach students.
“I was here for one year [as a student], everything was new and I loved it, because there was company and it was professional. I was a boarder and I was used to being away from home, so there was no homesickness.”
One of the big changes in the school’s history happened in 1973, with the amalgamation of St. Joseph’s and Sacred Heart and the integration of the two student bodies. Moves towards integrating the classrooms were already underway, and both teachers taught both male and female students, but Misko admits there were worries about how well the amalgamation would work.
“Of course, we tried to accommodate the boys as well as we could, because we felt that maybe they wouldn’t feel comfortable coming to our school, losing their school after it was closed,” said Misko.
“And it was a girls’ school, they thought,” added Kokuruds.
“Exactly right. At that time, Brother Nicholas was the vice principal and he was really good with the boys, helping them to integrate with the girls and so on. They had a few things they were used to doing at their school that were a little different from our way of doing things, but it worked out very, very well,” Misko said.
Sacred Heart’s drama pro gram is a point of pride for Misko, because he believes that it’s one of the things that brings the school together and helps build unity, something he saw happening when the two schools amalgamated.
“That’s another thing that kept the boys and girls together, because for all the musicals there were males and females participating, and they just loved it.”
Kokuruds also believes in musicals and drama as something that brings a school together.
“That forms a real bond when they work together on something like that which isn’t school work. But also, you find some incredible talent in these kids. Where did it come from? It’s really very good talent.”
A new building was important for the school and Misko points to sports as an example of where the modern Sacred Heart has a leg up on the old one. The former school didn’t have a full-sized gym, and while he says they managed to compete with teams around the area, it took better facilities to really let the school flourish, an example being the basketball tournament held in conjunction with the anniversary celebrations. As a retired chemistry teacher, he also wishes he had the equipment and space that are available to students today. Kokuruds adds that technology is a big change from when she was teaching, and even having dedicated computer labs is something they could not have dreamed of when she was on staff.
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