EARLY DAYS: THE STUDENTS The first St. Patrick School enrolled 60 students. The three teachers (and one housekeeper) were nuns who came to St. Patrick’s from Nazareth convent near Kalamazoo. It would be more than forty years before lay teachers arrived in the classrooms. There were no extracurricular activities at St. Patrick’s. The students were there to learn, and their days were filled with academics, catechism, and the Palmer Method of Penmanship. The only exception was music class and a few occasions when Sr. Lucille took the students outdoors, lined them up in rows and had them perform some exercises.