Chehalis has undergone many infrastructure changes in the last century, but not at the corner of Southwest Sixth Street and Southwest McFadden Avenue, where St. Joseph School still stands.
Formerly called Holy Rosary Academy, the private Catholic school was founded in 1885 about a mile away from its current spot, where it moved to in 1923 under the new name.
This year marks St. Joseph School’s 100th anniversary.
“The longevity of our school speaks volumes,” principal Carissa Talley said in an interview with a Chronicle reporter last week.
St. Joseph’s first class in 1923 had just 40 students enrolled in K-8, but jumped up to 100 students the next year, Talley said.
As of early August, St. Joseph had about 145 students enrolled for the 2023-24 school year. That number includes students enrolled in St. Joseph’s preschool program, which is slightly newer than the school as a whole but still a long-established program, Talley said.
“Our preschool teachers are awesome. They have built a very strong preschool program, getting our students ready for kindergarten,” Talley said.
Preschool runs from 8:15 to 11:15 a.m. on school days, with after-preschool daycare offered until 3 p.m. and after-school care for all students from 3 to 6 p.m.
“We’re working with families to educate their child, so we recognize that families are busy and sometimes school hours aren’t conducive to work hours,” Talley said.
While St. Joseph is a Catholic school, students do not have to be Catholic, or any Christian denomination, to attend.
“We offer a full curriculum, we have certified teachers, (and) our students are well-prepared to transition to their next step, whatever that might be,” Talley said. “I think it’s a unique situation where we get to educate the whole student, body, mind and soul, academically and faithfully and spiritually.”
This year’s centennial celebration has been bittersweet, Talley said, as the school celebrated alongside an alumni and longtime supporter who had his 100th birthday this year and died shortly after.
“He said, ‘I feel like that school was just built for me,’” Talley recalled, adding, “We’re losing some of our longtime supporters, and that's hard because even though I don’t necessarily know them all personally, I just have a special place in my heart for them.”
Many of St. Joseph’s current students have long connections with the school through either relatives or friends who had good experiences with the school, Talley said.
Talley, who didn’t attend St. Joseph herself but sent her own kids to the school, recalled going to the store after school with her kids and people instantly recognizing the kids’ school uniforms.
“Everywhere in the community, there seems to be some kind of connection, maybe distantly or very closely,” she said, adding, “That’s part of what I love about a small community. Even though Chehalis is bigger, it’s still close-knit and recognizable.”
The Chehalis community as a whole has been an invaluable supporter of St. Joseph for years, Talley said, with businesses donating to financial campaigns and community members contributing volunteer hours.
“It is amazing how the community can support our little school,” Talley said.
For more information on St. Joseph School, visit https://stjoeschehalis.org/.
