Construction began on the new Holy Trinity Catholic Church last August, and it is set to be completed in early 2020.

Mary Gibb, St. Edmond president, said the project has many people excited.

“You can actually see construction on the new church,” she said. “It has brought excitement to the Catholic community.”

The new church will help connect St. Edmond students and staff with the rest of the Catholic community in Fort Dodge.

-Messenger photo by Peter Kaspari
Michelle Rogers, a first grade teacher at St. Edmond Catholic School, works with her students on a project recently.

“The whole goal is to get us all on one campus,” Gibb said. “It’ll be really nice when we have our weekly Masses to take students in a real church other than the auditorium. That will be very nice.”

The ongoing church construction contributed to a new traffic pattern around the school, in addition to a new schedule St. Edmond adopted when the semester began in the fall.

Linda Mitchell, St. Edmond principal, said the Fort Dodge Community School District approached St. Edmond about the possibility of creating a matching schedule, making both the public and private schools on the same schedule.

Mitchell said this new schedule eliminated the early outs on every other Wednesday, which were used for professional development.

Gibb said professional development is now done after school.

-Messenger photo by Peter Kaspari
St. Edmond Catholic School fourth-grader Ty Mericle, 9, quietly reads to himself in his classroom.

“Really, the teachers have the same contractual hours here,” she said. “It’s just rearranged.”

The new schedule, according to Mitchell, has been a success.

“I think the new schedule for both schools has been productive,” she said. “And I like kids being in school every day. I think that’s been a big plus.”

Gibb agreed.

“I think that’s good for families and students,” she said. “The consistency of coming every day at the same time.”

-Messenger photo by Peter Kaspari
Manuela Rodriguez, 10, left, and Drew Temple, 11, fifth-graders at St. Edmond Catholic School, conduct a science experiment involving salt and water.

St. Edmond has also added some new classes this year, and is looking to add more for the spring semester.

Gibb said there’s one coming up that she’s particularly looking forward to.

“The one I think I’m excited about is the officiating class,” she said. “They will be able to get their officiating license so they can referee starting this summer.”

St. Edmond staff have also been teaching more college-level classes, which Gibb said means students can stay inside the building and take those classes without having to physically go to the Iowa Central Community College campus.

Another class St. Edmond will be offering in the spring is certified nursing assistant training. If students pass that class, Mitchell said they are guaranteed to get a job at the Marian Home.

This past semester, the school offered, for the first time, a work-based learning program class, which helps students get real-world experiences.

Only one student signed up for the fall semester, which Mitchell attributed to students not knowing what the class was about. But in the spring semester, eight or nine students are expected in the class.

“The one student that was in it this semester absolutely loved it,” Mitchell said.

Offering new classes is beneficial to the St. Edmond students.

“With the addition of all the new classes, it’s giving kids different opportunities to try different things,” she said, adding St. Edmond has great working relationships with both the public school and Iowa Central.

The school is also planning on building a makerspace room. Mitchell said the school already has makerspace, but they don’t have a dedicated room for it. She has tasked the elementary school teachers to be in charge of that project.

Additionally, Mitchell said the school wants to have students be more involved in decisions that staff makes.

“For example, we ran a finals week this week (mid-January),” she said. “And the teacher have expressed maybe some ideas how to make it better and the kids have, too. We’re going to solicit some ideas from them so maybe the spring finals week flows a little smoother.”

Gibb said the school also recently made some upgrades to the St. Edmond Arena, located at 1001 Fourth Ave. N., just north of downtown Fort Dodge.

“Football had to move there,” Gibb said. “We lost our football field and track here (because of the church construction). All our games were held there and that went very well. The track has been resurfaced and in the spring it will be lined.”

New fencing has been put up and the school is looking at replacing the lighting not only in the arena, but across all buildings owned by St. Edmond.

The school is also looking forward to the play, which will be “The Wizard of Oz” this year. It will mark the 80th anniversary of the movie, which came out in 1939.

Mitchell said 78 students are participating, and they come from all grade levels.

“The little kids will be in it, too, as the Munchkins,” she said.