Written by Jane Scupham, Principal
For the past 15 years during Catholic Schools Week, Saint Paul Catholic School has honored one of its many graduates by presenting the National Catholic Educational Association’s Distinguished Graduate Award as part of the CSW Mass. These Distinguished Graduate awardees have come from varied backgrounds and have achieved notable success outside of the walls of Saint Paul Catholic School and have been nominated to receive the award.
Part of the nomination process requires that I have pertinent information from the graduate’s permanent file kept in the SPCS’s records room. Although it would be amusing to envision this intrepid school principal descending an ancient cobweb-shrouded staircase in order to enter the gloomy vaults of creaky file cabinets filled with tomes of reports on long ago SPCS students, but alas, we don’t have a basement. Instead, I enter the brightly lit records room and search through the chronologically organized banker boxes to find the correct file.
Just a few weeks ago, I was once again in the records room reading of the academic history of this year’s Distinguished Graduate awardee, Mr. Mark Phillips. Mark was baptized in 1949, received his First Communion in 1957 and was confirmed in 1958--all at Saint Paul Church. He began his academic career at SPCS in 1955 and graduated in 1963. Mark went on to Valparaiso High School and graduated from Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer with a major in mathematics and a minor in accounting. Mr. Phillips spent 38 years as an accountant in the steel industry before his retirement. Mark and his wife, Cathy, are active members of Saint Paul Church. Mark’s contributions to his Catholic faith are evident in his membership in various church committees—he is an usher, a greeter, a St. Agnes volunteer, a St. Vincent de Paul volunteer, and a past member of the Parish Finance committee.
Mr. Phillips stated that he believes that Catholic education is important because it enables young people to “catch the faith” when they observe the traditions on a daily basis. He also said that Catholic education, through Catholic schools, helps to continue and sustain the life of the Catholic Church.
Congratulations to Mr. Mark Phillips (SPCS ’63), our Distinguished Graduate honoree!
