January 23, 2009
217 years of Catholic education in Vincennes
Bernie Niehaus has written the following about the history of Catholic education in Vincennes.
The last week of January, Rivet High School and Flaget Elementary School will celebrate Catholic Schools Week. They will also be celebrating 217 years of Christian Education. Catholic Education was established in Vincennes in 1792 by Father Benedict Joseph Flaget and was carried on by his successor Father Jean Francois Rivet. The Catholic schools in Vincennes proudly bear their names. Father Rivet was also the first headmaster of Jefferson Academy, the forerunner of Vin-cennes University, which was founded in 1806.
The Catholic school enrollment is now at about 450 students with 250 at Flaget in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and 200 at Rivet in grades six through 12. At the heart of the educational system are Christian values. Discipline, morality and religion are the school’s three cornerstones. A special effort is made to teach the students to live what they learn in school and to carry it home and into the community, when they volunteer for many activities such as Loaves and Fishes and nursing home visits.
Service hours are an integral part of the education at Rivet. Both Flaget and Rivet are fully accredited schools with 100 percent of its teaching staff licensed. A great deal of personal attention is given to each student with a 16 to one student/tea-cher ratio. Many academic ex-tracurricular activities are off-ered including Science Olym-piad, National Honor Society and Hoosier Spell Bowl. A strong student government provides a calendar of social events, community services and other activities throughout the year. A special SMART room links Rivet with Vincennes University and enables students to participate in VU classes and earn college credit.
Over 85 percent of Rivet students participate in its many athletic programs. These include volleyball, basketball, track, baseball, swimming, cross coun-try, golf, tennis, cheerleading and soccer. Last year for the first time in the school’s history, teams won three sectional championships, in girls’ basketball, boys’ tennis and boys’ baseball.
I must make a full disclosure of my prejudice concerning the principal at Flaget, Anne Pratt. She is my daughter. A year and a half ago, Anne and her four children moved back to Vin-cennes from North Carolina where she taught. Anne has a master’s degree in education from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in Library Science from Appalachian State University. I feel she has certainly added a new life and energy to our Catholic schools. For sure, Patty and I are glad to have our four grandchildren back in Vincennes.
Flaget and Rivet are certainly a tremendous asset to our community. Not only do they provide an excellent Christian education, but they also provide an alternative to public education. Many businesses and industries who are looking at our community ask about our school systems. Vincennes and Knox County are fortunate to have four great school systems — Vincennes community, Vincennes Catholic, North Knox and South Knox.