This local school started in a church basement, and now it’s continuing to grow

It’s the quiet Catholic school of Liberty Twp., but its enrollment continues to boom.

Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School (MTCES) recently welcomed dozens of new area families during an open house while showing off a new 22,000-square-foot wing of classrooms.

Started modestly in 1998 with just 20 kindergarten students in the basement of a Monroe church, the Butler County school has now expanded to enroll 518 students in grades K-8 in its 72,000-square-foot school building.

The school, which moved to Liberty Twp. in 2002, entertained more than 70 families at its open house, offering them registration and other information for enrollment next school year.

What the Catholic school, which is affiliated with but not governed by the Cincinnati Archdiocese, offers to parents is both a solid education for kids but also the important intangible of self confidence borne of accomplishments, said its leader.

“One of the greatest gifts we give our children when leave our school is they are self-assured and they have confidence in themselves,” said Sister Anne Schulz, school founder and CEO of MTCES.

Schulz, who will be retiring at the end of next school year, has received many honors, including the prestigious Sister Helen Lucille Habig award from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and a 2009 West Chester-Liberty Chamber Alliance Woman of Excellence.

“It always makes you feel happy when so many people want to see the school,” she said of the event.

The MTCES’ growing popularity is no mystery to Liberty Township resident and school parent Kay Harmeyer.

“I like the support of the school community,” Harmeyer said. “It makes you feel like family and the education here has proven to be excellent.”

Noel Balster, spokeswoman for the school, said, “August 2018 marks our 20th anniversary and Sister Anne Schulz has been principal since the school’s inception.

“We now serve 518 students in grades K-8. We have four kindergarten homerooms, three homerooms of grades 1-2, and two homerooms for the remaining grades. The expansion that we opened in August 2016 will allow us to continue to steadily grow over the next few years.”

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