Newly Remodeled Kindergarten Classrooms at St. Joseph School

We’re very pleased to announce that our summer project giving an extensive “makeover” to what had been last school year’s art and music classrooms is now complete. These rooms, located in the oldest part of the school building, have been beautifully remodeled and are now the permanent home of St. Joseph School’s all-day every day Kindergarten.

This remodeling project was conducted in much the same manner as the recent construction of our new playground.  Several members of the parish volunteered their time, energy, and expertise in all phases of the work. When all is added up, the cost of this project will be a small fraction of what it would have been if all of the labor had been hired and materials purchased at full retail price. We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to our volunteers for sacrificing many precious summertime hours toward this effort.


Before the remodeling project, the two rooms showed their age.

 

 

The new acoustic ceiling grid is the first to go in, earlier this year.

 

 

 

 

Dave Feldpausch checks the alignment of the ceiling. Dave planned and installed the acoustic ceiling system with the help of Tom Wiersma and Kevin Irrer to install grid and Dan Snyder to lay ceiling panels. We appreciate Dave’s pickup and delivery of materials from his professional supplier. The rooms are now much quieter with the new acoustic tiled ceilings than they were before with old plasterboard ceilings.

 

 

 

 

 

Dale George and Jim Lawless make repairs and improvements to the rooms' electrical circuits. Dale also wired the new fluorescent lighting with dual switching and installed the ceiling fans.

 

 

 

 

The ceiling is complete, and the cabinetry awaits installation.

 

 

 

 

Alan Olsen designed and built the custom cabinetry and countertops to suit the kindergarten teachers’ needs, assisted by Paul Murray. As you can see, the cabinetry and countertops are very stylish, spacious, and practical. In the second photograph you can see the built-in listening center.

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Murray also built a pigeon-holed storage unit for the students’ art projects and parent letters.

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Wenzlick built and installed bookshelf units of varying shapes and sizes for our classrooms. They match the cabinetry perfectly, and will give us plenty of storage for books, toys, and games.

 

 

 

 

 

Kevin Ladisky planned and installed the vinyl tile and carpet flooring, assisted by Dan Dorn. Kevin and Dan resurfaced the concrete sub-floor and Kevin carefully tested several available adhesives to make sure the flooring was installed securely and will give the school many years of trouble-free use. We want to thank Barber’s Floors and More for generously donating the carpet and for giving us a discounted price on the vinyl tile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dorian, Travis, and Mallory Cormier, John and Cheryl Wieber, Lori Pung, Bill Glowacki, Dan Snyder, Bill Rozen, and Rod Hileman helped us paint the classroom walls, miscellaneous trim, and hallway lockers. The largest locker unit has 16 lockers and is 13 feet long!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hallway lockers were built by Brent Voisinet assisted by his daughter Emily carrying tools, his daughter Abbey cleaning the workshop, his son Owen drawing the designs, and his wife Bridgette helping move the lockers when they were complete.

 

 

 

 

We’d like to thank custodians Tom Karek and Dick Masseau for facilitating our construction schedule by adjusting their summer maintenance routine to clean up and wax the floors of the rooms and hallway during the past couple of weeks. They also hung several dry-erase boards, wired computer and audio circuits, and did several other tasks like securing the lockers to the hallway walls as shown in these pictures. Their all-purpose assistance was, as always, greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, a big “thank you” goes to you, the families of St. Joseph Parish. With your loyal commitment to Catholic education at St. Joseph School, the seeds of Christ’s love continue to be sown in our children’s lives while guiding them toward academic excellence.
 

Thanks also to school principal Tomi Ann Schultheiss, our pastor Fr. Eoin Murphy, and parish finance coordinator Susan Mahoney for their encouragement and assistance, and the Parent-School Council for their support of this project.

 

Darryl Schmitz, Project Coordinator
Diane Glowacki, Kindergarten Teacher
Rose Schmitz, Kindergarten Teacher