The story continues for Dominican High School

by Kim Roberts

By Kim Roberts
Clarion Herald

In preparation for the school’s 150th anniversary, St. Mary’s Dominican High School pitched the idea of writing the history of the school to Dominican Sister Dominic Savio Estorge, who had been at the school in various roles for more than 60 years.

Three years in the making, the 122-page book, “The Story Continues…A History of St. Mary’s Dominican High School 1860-2021,” is available for purchase for $35 through the school bookstore or at https://www.stmarysdominican.org/item/the-story-continues-a-history-of-st-marys-dominican-high-school/, for $35.

“For me, this experience has been most enjoyable,” Sister Dominic Savio said. “It was work, but who would not find joy in reminiscing about a gratifying experience when the memories are good? It was good to recall stories and remember teachers, friends and experiences. It is also exciting to see how things have changed, evolved or remained the same.”

Different perspectives

Dr. Cynthia Thomas, president of Dominican High School, said the unique perspective of Sister Dominic Savio was that she had access to all the sisters who had been at the school and to the high school’s voluminous archives. Also helping her was the fact that she had served at Dominican in so many different capacities over her six decades there.

“She was in the classroom as a teacher, assistant principal and president of Dominican,” Thomas said. “ She had different perspectives from all of those positions. Also, her background in English and writing ability made her the perfect choice for this project. She truly lived so much of the history of the school and knew so much that many of us did not.”

Sister Dominic Savio was very methodical about her documentation throughout the process and made sure there was more than one source to corroborate everything that was written. After graduating from Dominican in 1956, she earned a bachelor of arts degree in English education from St. Mary’s Dominican College in New Orleans, a master of arts degree in English from Indiana University in Bloomington and a master of education degree in administration from Loyola University New Orleans.

“She always went back to the four pillars of Dominican – study, community, service and prayer when working on the book,” Thomas said.

“That is what makes Dominican, Dominican. That’s our identity,” said Sandra Cordray, Dominican executive director of strategic communications. “We thought the pages should be limited and be something that people really would want to read. The goal was to make it manageable.”

Thomas said Sister Dominic Savio had a unique vision of what she wanted in the book and how it was connected to the mission of the sisters who built the school.

“Ultimately, the school’s mission flows from our sisters as well as all of our traditions,” she said. “And, Sister Dominic Savio, being a native New Orleanian as well as a graduate of Dominican, really had the best perspective of our history.”

Thomas added that Sister Dominic Savio’s love of the Dominican order, long and varied tenure at the high school, and past leadership roles with the Dominican Sisters’ congregation offer a personal perspective to be preserved and shared.

Something for everyone

“I know that the book will speak to current students and generations of alumnae,” Sister Dominic Savio said. “I hope that this history awakens memories and gratitude for what we learned those many years ago, or just this past semester, and how it has impacted our lives. I would hope that each person will find at least one thing for which she is still grateful and dwell on it.”

Thomas noted that when Sister Dominic Savio was selecting the title of the book, the title she chose – “The Story Continues” – was very important to the school.

“I think the words ‘the story continues’ remind me of our patron saint St. Dominic and how he moved from place to place,” Thomas said. “It’s a reminder that we’re conscious of the fact that we go where God calls us and uses us where he needs us, perhaps even at the school. We would not be where we are today if it were not for every one of those people who have worked, taught and attended this school. So, that’s the idea, the story continues and we are all connected to one another through our history.

“Sister Dominic Savio was very humble while working on this project,” she added. “She wanted it to be right and to preserve Dominican’s history.”

[email protected]