St. Thomas the Apostle School students Brianna Bernath (l) and Isabella Fredericks place cutout figures of themselves on a wall in the auditorium of the Old Bridge school Tuesday. The room was being decorated in anticipation of Saturday’s event marking the school’s 50th anniversary. JEFF GRANIT staff OLD BRIDGE — The last few decorations are being hung throughout the halls of St. Thomas the Apostle School as students and teachers prepare for the institution’s 50th anniversary celebration.

The Catholic school, which offers education to children from prekindergarten to eighth grade, will hold a special Mass for staff, students, alumni and parents on Saturday in honor of its milestone birthday. The Mass will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the St. Thomas Parish, Route 18, and will consist of several readings by students.

“We are a praying community and this is a Catholic school — we take Mass very seriously and pray very hard,” Principal Thomasina Wyatt said.

In addition to the readings, six children will be bringing special gifts to the altar, including a yellow and blue carnation to represent the school colors, a crucifix, a candle, a statuette of St. Thomas the Apostle, the Bible and a collection of yearbooks to represent the students who have graduated. The school and church choirs, organized by choir director Justin Connors and music teacher Colleen Fritzen, will also perform during the ceremony.

Following the Mass, a reception will be held offering light refreshments.

There will be many special guests at the event, Wyatt said, including former school staffing organization Daughters of Divine Charity, former parish priests from St. Thomas the Apostle Knights of Columbus, the school advisory council, former faculty members, Ellen Ayoub of the Diocese of Metuchen, former St. Thomas Pastor John B. Szymanski and the current pastor, Msgr. Richard A. Behl.

“The whole St. Thomas community came together to make this happen,” Wyatt said, noting that a PowerPoint presentation on the school’s history has been put together for the anniversary as well. “It just shows how much of an impact the school has had on so many people.”

The Rev. Walter French, a former pastor of the accompanying parish, established St. Thomas the Apostle School. French obtained 11.7 acres of land in November 1957 with the intent to use the site as the location of a new church, school and auditorium. After receiving a commitment from the Daughters of Divine Charity to staff the school, construction was initiated in the summer of 1959.

Though classes began on Sept. 15, 1959, with 154 children in grades one, two and four, the new school had yet to be completed. Instead, the old parish hall in East Brunswick housed students temporarily in four classrooms until construction was finished. The 16-classroom new school opened its doors on Sept. 19, 1960, to 736 students in grades one through six.

The school has gone though several changes and spearheaded many notable events. Wyatt cited “The Great Green Stamp Collection” as one of the school’s more acclaimed moments. According to Wyatt, an effort began in May 1960 to acquire a school bus by collecting green stamps awarded by supermarkets and drug stores. The idea, suggested by Sister Ignatius, was supported by the entire Old Bridge community, Wyatt said. While it took several months to collect the 5 million stamps needed to win the bus, the school was presented with the 66-passenger vehicle in October 1961.

Wyatt noted that although St. Thomas underwent an enrollment boom in the first few years it was open, the number of applicants began to decrease in 1965 due to the addition of other area religious schools such as St. Bartholomew School in East Brunswick and St. Ambrose School in Old Bridge. Wyatt noted that a reduction in available staff to serve as Catholic teachers also contributed.

In response to declining enrollment, the school instituted a full-day kindergarten program in 1976, and a full-day prekindergarten program and after-care program in 1989.

The number of religious educators continued to dwindle, and in 1991 the Daughters of Divine Charity were forced to withdraw its staffing services. As a result, Wyatt became the first lay (non-churchaffiliated) principal with a faculty that comprises the wholly of lay teachers. She noted that the major difference between lay and sisters is that lay receive a salary while sisters receive a stipend.

Despite some hardships, St. Thomas received Middle States accreditation in 1994, an honor that was renewed in 2004.

“We’ve had some difficulties, but our students continue to do well,” said Wyatt, who became the youngest St. Thomas principal in 1989. “About 95 percent of students go on to Catholic high school, and some of them have even made it to Ivy League schools like Princeton and Harvard.”

Wyatt said students are currently involved in a number of school-related events, including the annual diversity project and a school-wide Haiti donation project that will be given to the Catholic Relief Fund at the end of Lent.

For the 50th anniversary, students are enveloped in decorating the school, while officials have been organizing events such as the biannual open house on May 12 and an alumni dance for graduates from 1963-2002 on May 22.

For more information about St. Thomas the Apostle School’s 50th anniversary event on Saturday, contact Eileen Tabert at eatabert@hotmail.com.