School photo, ca. 1964  (29th Street church)

On the following pages are photos from the Lesia Ukrainka School of Ukrainian Education (located at St. Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of Southfield, MI).  I spent ten years of Saturdays at this school, and, in the end, benefited more than I ever thought І would.

The school began its existence in rooms scattered throughout the first St. Mary’s church, located on 29th street in Detroit.   There was a stage in the basement, with a pole right in the middle of the front of it (you can see it in some of the photos of our performances).

When the church moved to its current location on Evergreen in Southfield, MI, in 1972, and became St. Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral,a proper school was built as part of the hall complex (which included a large stage with modern lighting and audio).  There was a kindergarten, “preparatory” class, and grades 1 through 10.  There were lots of students, with classes often filled to overflowing. Extra classrooms had to be added – the prop room by the stage, and rooms inside the old parsonage were soon converted to classrooms.

The school was conducted solely in Ukrainian; classes included reading, writing, history, literature, grammar, geography, music and religion.

As the first generation baby boomers moved through the school and then on, the school began to shrink and almost closed. Classrooms were converted to storage facilities for the church hall.  But slowly, over the past few years, the school has begun to grow again, as former students are enrolling their own, second-generation (and often half-ukrainian) children, and members of the new, fourth wave of emigration are beginning to realizes the value of passing their Ukrainian heritage on to their children.

The current school (2008-2009) has a preschool and kindergarten, as well as grades 1-3 (Ukrainian), and an English-language class.  Classes are conducted in a mixture of English and Ukrainian, depending on the capabilities of the students.  Subjects in include reading, writing, literature, music, and Ukrainian culture.  An attempt is made to improve the Ukrainian language skills of all the students.

I’m posting old school photos that I own, and newer ones that I have taken.  If you have any old photos I could use, please contact me (click on e-mail link at the bottom of the page).

The contents (underlined links actually exist):

Old school photos

Школа 2003-2004

Школа 2004-2005

Школа 2005-2006

Школа 2006-2007

And, lastly, photos of our pysanka classes can be found in the pysanka section here.

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