Mayor Michael Nutter values the education he received in Catholic school.
Nutter, in a visit last week to St. Martin of Tours, recalled his days at Transfiguration of Our Lord, a school in West Philadelphia that has since closed.
In one of the upper grades, he remembers getting an 80 on a particular test.
"Not bad," the youngster thought back then.
The nun who taught him wasn’t as satisfied. She asked young Michael if she needed to call his father.
Looking back, the mayor is grateful that the nuns and lay teachers at Transfiguration demanded excellence. He said that trait exists among educators in all Catholic schools today.
"They will not allow you to do work below your potential," he said.
Nutter spent more than an hour at St. Martin’s on April 9. He visited the library and classrooms, spoke with student council members, shook a couple of hundred hands and addressed an assembly of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders. He also bought boxes of oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies at a school bake sale.
The school presented him with a hat, jacket, pen and certificate. The choir sung God Bless America and You Can Make a Difference. So, what brought him to the Oxford Circle school? It was a couple of ties to Transfiguration.
Two of his grammar school teachers were Sister Angelica Marie and Sister Paul Mercedes, both members of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary order.
Sister Paul Mercedes was Nutter’s sixth-grade teacher. She later headed the Immaculate Heart of Mary Education Center, based at St. Martin’s. She was killed in a hit-and-run accident in January 2006. Last year, St. Martin’s dedicated its refurbished library in her memory.
Sister Angelica Marie was Nutter’s first-grade teacher. Though officially retired, she is an assistant at St. Martin’s library and also performs some nursing duties.
"Whatever Sister Angelica Marie tells you to do," Nutter told the students, "that’s what you should do."
Nutter also paid tribute to another of his former teachers, Sister Marie James, who encouraged him to attend St. Joseph’s Prep.
The mayor credits his Catholic school education with helping him succeed at the University of Pennsylvania and in a career that included 14 and a half years in City Council before he was elected mayor last November.
When looking at colleges and universities, he told the students, look no farther than southeastern Pennsylvania, home to dozens of fine institutions.
His parents and grandmother stressed education for Nutter and his sister, and he plans to promote public, private and parochial education as mayor.
"We have to have a more educated populace and work force," he said.
During the mayoral campaign, Nutter promised to organize a citywide cleanup. He made the vow after seeing trash on streets as he campaigned.
The event took place on April 5, and Nutter thanked the St. Martin’s Boy Scouts and sixth-graders who cleaned up as part of their confirmation service project.
According to the nationwide non-profit group Keep America Beautiful, the single-day cleanup was the largest ever by a U.S. city. About 2.5 millions pounds of trash was collected from residential blocks and commercial corridors.
Nutter hopes Philadelphians think twice before tossing a wrapper on the ground.
"Cleanliness is next to Godliness," he said.
The mayor also encouraged the youngsters to be "good Philadelphians" by doing their homework and staying away from drugs and other evils.
And, he added, say hello to people passing on the street.
"It doesn’t cost anything to respect someone else," he said. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com