St. Peter Claver Catholic School, located in the former Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul, to celebrate its 75th anniversary – Twin Cities

Former students, teachers and principals of St. Peter Claver Catholic School in St. Paul will gather this weekend for a school-wide reunion to commemorate its 75th anniversary.

“People come from Florida, Mississippi. Yes, it will be nice to see people you haven’t seen in years,” said Lynn Wright, family and science liaison at the school. “We want an alumni association and I think that is a good start for that.”

Wright also plans to attend, having graduated from the school in 1963. She has worked for the school in various roles since 1983.

St. Peter Claver first opened in the 1950s and was one of only two predominantly black Catholic schools in Minnesota until its closure in 1989. The Church of St. Peter Claver celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2017.

Saturday’s event will be held at the Anderson Student Center Alumni Hall at the University of St. Thomas at 2115 Summit Avenue. There will be a 10 a.m. Mass Sunday at St. Peter Claver Church at 369 Oxford Street North and a tour of St. Paul School at 1060 Central Ave W. Tickets are $30.

The last reunion the school held was in the late 1980s, shortly before the school closed, said Wright, who was the school secretary at the time.

It was reopened in the early 2000s thanks to the work of Sharon Tolbert-Glover, an advocate for minority education, who passed away in 2018.

“What I’m focused on is opening a school of excellence,” Tolbert-Glover told the Pioneer Press shortly after taking on the job of reviving the school. “A Catholic K-12 school with an African-American tradition that seeks Twin Cities children of all cultures.”

The school currently has kindergarten through grade 8 classes.

Saturday’s event will include dinner and presentations, including short videos with alumni such as Melvin Carter Jr. – the father of St. Paul’s mayor, said St. Peter Claver Principal Terese Shimshock.

“And then we have a video that is specific because the Rondo neighborhood is so connected to St. Peter Claver, so we have some Rondo elders also doing an interview about what St. Peter Claver meant to them when they came here were present,” Shimshock said.

After Sunday Mass there will be an open house to tour the school from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Being at the school is like being with a family and it is a place that students from the Twin Cities went because their friends or family did, Shimshock said.

“And they come because, ‘My aunts went here. My grandmothers went here. My aunts’ grandmothers came here.’ So that’s what it’s all about: everyone is connected to everyone in some way,” Shimshock said.

When: Saturday from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

Where: Saturday’s event will take place at the Anderson Student Center Alumni Hall at the University of St. Thomas at 2115 Summit Ave. Sunday’s event starts at 10 a.m. at St. Peter Claver Church at 369 Oxford Street North before heading to St. Peter Claver Catholic School at 1060 Central Ave W. at 11 a.m.

Costs: Tickets cost €30 and can be purchased at stpclaverschool.org/reunion-2024/.