WHEN ORANGE County experienced a dramatic population growth during the 1950s and 1960s, the number of Catholic parishes and schools in the county expanded as well.
Realizing the need to provide a Catholic education to the surrounding community, Msgr. John Sammon, the second pastor at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Tustin, established St. Cecilia Catholic School in 1961. In those early days, the school consisted of a few portable trailers where classes were taught and not much else.
As the population grew, buildings were added, along with new programming to keep up with the times. Now, six and a half decades after Msgr. Sammon first opened the doors, St. Cecilia Catholic School celebrates its 65th anniversary.
St. Cecilia, which embraces the motto, “More than School,” marked the milestone with a day-long celebration on Oct. 10. Alumni dating back to the early 1980s, along with current students and families, turned out for the festivities, which featured food, games, activities, entertainment, alumni engagement and historical displays.
A talent show featuring students’ performances was a highlight.
“From time to time I see parishioners, they say, ‘Oh, I went to St. Cecilia School,’” St. Cecilia’s pastor, Fr. Michael Khong, said. “I’m happy to hear about that. There is no such thing as a Catholic education in Vietnam, so I never had a Catholic education until I went into formation.”
Tim Kovacs, a 1982 St. Cecilia graduate, grew up next door to the church and recalled attending school when the campus consisted of a patch of dirt and trailers.
“The only thing that was here was the church,” Kovacs said. “There were no parking lots here. It was all dirt fields out here. I used to just go out over the backyard fence to come into school.”
Two orders of sisters staffed the school for years: the Sisters of Providence and the Sisters of St. Joseph, said St. Cecilia’s principal, Mary Alvarado, who has served as principal for 21 years. Today, the church and school draw a diverse group of families, who readily volunteer and support the needs of the school, Alvarado said.
“We’re so pleased,” Alvarado said of the anniversary celebration, which began outside but moved inside midafternoon when it began raining.
“It just speaks to the beauty of this community and how flexible they are,” the principal said. “They just pivoted.”
Fr. Brandon Lopez, parochial vicar at St. Cecilia, has been at the parish for four months and said it was uplifting to serve in a parish with a school that celebrates its history.
“It’s great to be able to walk through the hallways and see the legacy of the inaugural class,” Fr. Lopez said. “And then to be able to walk the hallways and see all the families that came afterwards.”
Several former St. Cecilia students now have children attending the school and a few even have grandchildren attending.
“I definitely remember playing sports in this gym,” said Melissa Pajarito, a 2001 St. Cecilia graduate who now has three children attending the school. “So, I tell my kids I played on this same floor. They are amazed that it is the same school from that long ago.”
Pajarito said providing a Catholic education for their children was important and the couple looked at other Catholic schools before circling back to St. Cecilia.
“There was just something that felt different,” she said. “It felt like home. It is so welcoming, like a community.”