By CHRISSY SMITH
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – When the Calamari family says they have history with Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, they aren’t kidding.
Over the past 40 years, there have been 60 Calamari descendants that have attended the local school with two of them being current teachers at the school, and now educating their own relatives.
Lori Hursey has been a teacher for 13 total years at OLL, and her daughter Christina Hursey is in her second year of teaching. Lori has seven children ranging from ages 12 to 24, and said during the past 40 years, there has not been one year gone by without a Calamari at Lourdes.
Part of their rich tradition is what makes the school successful as they get ready for the annual fundraiser, a “Knight to Remember Gala,” which will be held on Saturday, Nov. 1 at the Slidell Municipal Auditorium.
“Fundraising is a big part of keeping this place going at the level it is at. We don’t get money like the public schools do so we have to have fundraisers to keep tuition costs down,” Christina said.
Both the mom and daughter duo said they are happy to be back to OLL to teach after both being students when younger.
“When I got to college, I wanted to come back to Lourdes to teach,” Lori said. “The teachers really care about the students, and I like the family setting of the school. I have taught students here who now have kids of their own, and I have taught them.”
Christina, who went to OLL from kindergarten to eighth grade and then Salmen High School, said she loved the school and was happy to come back to teach.
“It’s great to have a smaller setting and classroom. You know all the families and they are involved in what their kids are learning and how they are doing,” Christina said.
Lori teaches first grade and Christina has sixth and seventh grade classes. They are on different sides of the school so they don’t see each other much, but Lori joked that her daughter will call her when she needs school supplies for her classroom.
While Lori is now a Hursey through marriage, her father was Henry J. Calamari, and her mom started a scholarship fund in his name for OLL students after he passed away. She also held a tennis tournament for 10 years and raised $100,000, which has equaled 50 scholarships to fund families needing help with tuition.
“My parents were really involved at this school, and it brought us all together. There is so much of our family here and a sense of pride in being part of something that effects people’s lives,” Lori said.
Since she began teaching in 1984, many changes have taken place at Lourdes. A gym was added in 1984, a pre-k program was put in 1988, a middle school building was added in 1996, the school added Spanish, art, and computer to the curriculum, computers, smartboards, and TVs were put in every classroom, an accelerated program for grades 3-5 and an honors program for grades 6-8 were added, 12 different sports teams, including cheer and dance team, were added, and 16 extracurricular activities were implemented.
Also, a new facility (school, cafeteria, gym, and church) has been built since Hurricane Katrina, and a three-year-old program is set to begin for the 2015-2016 year.
Tickets for the gala are $60 each and include dinner, dancing, open bar and auctions. The doors open at 7 p.m. and live entertainment will be provided by August Rush. For more information, call 985-768-0069.