by Chrysa Smith

CSW. Better known as Catholic Schools Week rolls around this time of year. Actually this very week. It's a celebration of Catholic education. And the week is traditionally marked with special events, including author visits from yours truly.

It's not quite the same on zoom as being there in person. But it's still good. And it brings me back to my roots---at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Elementary School in Queens, NY. I remember it fondly. A place where I felt welcome and comfortable and safe. A place where the education was solid, even if some of the nuns were a bit scary to a young child. The uniforms were standard issue, and the manners were second-to-none.

What I tell kids today harkens back to my days at St. Nick's. And that is, you never know where writing is going to take you. It's there that I first learned to enjoy it. It was slightly later that I'd learn to love it. And even a bit longer on when I chose it. I didn't know where my eighth grade composition was going to take me. Turns out, it was behind these keys of a computer keyboard. And it's all thanks to winning a writing contest, which gave me the privilege of placing the crown atop Mary's head during the May Procession. It was quite an honor; one that I'll never forget. Perhaps it was because it was also my birthday, my final days of my final year in the first real school I'd ever known.

So it is with grace and fondness that I approach CSW each year. And hope to leave at least a few kids, a little more in love with writing than when they first began.