FORT SMITH — Christ the King School, which celebrated its 60th anniversary Jan. 31, unveiled its new 7,000-square-foot expansion to parishioners, parents and students at a dedication ceremony to kick off Catholic Schools Week.
The festivities began with a PTO pancake breakfast, children’s Mass and a tour of the school. Students had set up an history fair with photographs and essays covering the school’s history.
 Sister Gervase Goellner, RSM, honored for 16 years of service to schoolClick here |
The $895,717 extension, which was funded by a capital campaign, will benefit the current students as well as prepare for future growth in its preschool program.
“Our preschool rooms are housed in the extension,” principal Marna Boltuc said. “We are adding a preschool playground with direct access from each classroom and will be adding an additional 4-year-old class.”
Because the school now has two classes for each grade from kindergarten through sixth grade, offering a second 4-year-old class will allow all interested families to enroll their students at Christ the King Preschool. Parents will be able to choose between a five-days-a-week program with the option for after-school care and two- and three-days-a-week programs. Christ the King also has one 3-year-old class.
The extension also features a fine arts wing, with rooms for art and music, and a library. Moving art classes, formerly housed in the old church, into the school will allow the church to be used for weekday Masses, small funerals and weddings. Because the new extension is adjacent to the gymnasium, all special subjects will be clustered in one main area.
A new fourth-grade classroom in the extension will place it adjacent to other upper school classrooms. The current fourth-grade classroom has been divided into two smaller rooms, one for Spanish and one for special education.
“The library, which is dedicated to Sister Gervase (Goellner, RSM), who was principal here for 16 years, is more of a media center, with oak furniture, computers and projectors,” Boltuc said.
Huge pyramids of beanbag chairs for younger readers add color to the library.
The school hopes that its outdoor garden, situated north of the extension, will be ready by spring. The garden, which will be used for hands-on science activities, will include butterfly, herb and vegetable gardens, birdhouses and a squirrel sanctuary. Construction workers were able to save the pine trees at the side of the property to preserve the natural habitat of the local birds and squirrels for the students.
Sister Gervase Goellner, RSM, honored for 16 years of service to school
When Sister Mary Gervase Goellner, RSM, was assigned to be principal of Christ the King School in 1970, she was shocked.
“I had just boarded a train for a new assignment in New Orleans, La., and when I arrived I received a call to go back to Fort Smith,” she said Jan. 31 during the dedication ceremony.
Sister Gervase, 93, was the principal at Christ the King School until 1985, serving at a time when there were fewer sisters in education.
“There was only one other sister there while I was principal,” she said.
God’s plan worked well for Christ the King School and for Sister Gervase, and, 40 years later, a grateful school gathered to name its new library, part of a 7,000-square-foot building extension, in her honor.
When Sister Gervase retired from Christ the King School, she ended a 44-year career in teaching and school administration, but continued her ministry by working in pastoral care and adult education in Springfield, Mo., and teaching religion to high school students and adults. In 1996, she retired to McAuley Convent in Barling, helping care for her sister, the late Sister Mary Elreda Goellner, RSM, serving as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion and lector and bringing Communion to the sick.
Sister Gervase, whose former students at Christ the King still visit and keep in touch with her, was happy to see how the school has expanded to serve its current and future students more effectively and delighted to lend her name to a library that will foster children’s love of reading for many years to come.
