| 1/14/2009 6:59:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| During her Jan. 13 visit to Little Flower School in Bethesda, First Lady Laura Bush greets second grader Giovanna McBride (above). In the photo below Mrs. Bush addresses Archbishop Wuerl, students at the school, faculty and others. |
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First Lady Laura Bush's last school visit is to Little Flower in Bethesda
MEREDITH BLACK
Catholic Standard staff
In her last school visit as the First Lady of the United States, First Lady Laura Bush visited Little Flower School in Bethesda on Jan. 13, which this past fall received the U.S. Department of Education's Blue Ribbon Schools Award in recognition of its academic achievement as one of America's most successful schools.
"This is a wonderful day for Little Flower...This is really a Blue Ribbon event and a wonderful looking forward" to the celebration of Catholic Schools Week, said Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Rosemaron Rynn, the principal of the school, after the First Lady had arrived and students were gathered in the school hall. Catholic Schools Week is celebrated nationally the last week in January.
Introducing the First Lady, Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl said, "She is no stranger to education and no stranger to our schools," and he said she had come "to confirm what you're doing." Last year, the First Lady visited Holy Redeemer School in Washington, which as a Magnificat school has a special partnership with the University of Notre Dame.
Speaking to the Little Flower students, First Lady Laura Bush said for the last eight years, one of the things she has been most interested in is education, and she mentioned that she was once a teacher and a librarian. The First Lady said during her time in the White House, she has visited schools in the United States and foreign countries, but she said, "Today is my very last school visit while my husband is president." The First Lady said, "...I wanted to end my school visit with a terrific school like Little Flower."
The First Lady said Catholic Schools Week is a time to talk to leaders about the importance of Catholic education. She noted that many of the first schools in the United States were Catholic schools. The First Lady said the other reason she was visiting Little Flower was because it was chosen as a Blue Ribbon School. "That's really a wonderful accomplishment," she said. First Lady Laura Bush added, "In your school, kids are really learning." To the students, she said, "Congratulations on being such smart kids."
Mary Therese Snyder, an eighth grader at Little Flower School, also spoke. The student mentioned the school's patron saint, St. Therese of Lisieux, who had said she would spend her heaven "doing good upon earth." St. Therese was known as the "Little Flower." The student said, "Mrs. Bush, in many ways you have also showered others with roses." The student noted the First Lady's "grace under pressure" after 9/11 and her work in Afghanistan. "You've been a model of graciousness..." the student said, adding that the First Lady would be presented with a bouquet of roses "for all the good you have done on this earth." The First Lady hugged the students after they gave her the roses. "That's so sweet. I love the idea of showering with roses," she said.
Then the First Lady was ushered to the music room, where the kindergarten, first, and second grade students sang her a song they had prepared for their Christmas concert. Archbishop Wuerl gave a special blessing.
Hanging on the wall in the music room, was a picture of the school's choir in the White House, from when they sang there in December.
The First Lady told the students she had brought them children's books, and that she had been cleaning out her office. "These were all in my office, and now they're going to be in your library," she told them. President Bush, she said, has asked, "Do you read as much as you watch TV?" She also showed them a book she wrote with her daughter, Jenna Bush, "Read All About It."
Then the students took a photo with the First Lady.
The Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors private and public K-12 schools that are either academically superior or that demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement. Little Flower School has excellent reading programs and ranks in the top 10 percent of schools in the nation in both reading and math and went through a rigorous application process to receive the Blue Ribbon Award.
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