By JANET FELDSTEIN MCKILLOP Special to the Palisadian-Post More than 350 students, teachers and parents from St. Matthew’s Parish School participated in the first Founders’ Day Walk to School on May 2. The school opened 59 years ago on the southeast corner of Swarthmore and La Cruz with 24 students and two teachers. The mile-and-a-half walk, which started at that location and went to the school’s current site on Bienveneda Avenue, was done to honor the founders of the school and the generations of students it has served. Fourth grader Emily Kolsky was excited to have the chance to participate in this inaugural event. ‘It was so great walking with my friends, teachers and my mom, who also went to St. Matthew’s,’ she said. Before the walk, Head of School Les Frost spoke to the group about the history of the school’s location. In addition, the walk gave current students an experience that was a traditional aspect of school life in past generations but is increasingly rare today. Frost wrote in a letter to parents, ‘When I was a young child, the carpool had not been invented. While I cannot quantify it or succinctly describe why, I do believe there is something intrinsically good about walking to and from school: something healthy, enjoyable and useful that children miss out on today.’ After the walk, Frost narrated a slide show that featured photos from the school’s earliest days, including the first all-blacktop playground as well as the ‘turkey coops’ that served as the original classrooms. Following his presentation, two current teachers who had attended the school in the ’60s sang an a capella version of the school’s first song.
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