Nun’s class has her seeing double -- and triple
The harvest basket of fall leaves decorated with all her pupils’ names outside the classroom door says it all.
“A Bushel of Love,” reads Sister Barbara Whelan’s hand-lettered welcoming caption.
Whelan expects a bumper crop of pupils in September — a record-breaking class for St. Mary’s Elementary School, the 110-year-old Catholic school located high on a hill in the heart of Lancaster.
“Five sets of twins and a set of triplets in one preschool class,” the astonished nun said.
The “Lucky 13” will be joined by 11 other classmates as they begin their preschool journey.
“It’s going to be interesting,” said Joannne Janik, mother of twins Jocelyn and Nicole. “Sister Barbara’s going to have her hands full.”
When the youngsters got together with their teacher for the first time Monday morning for an informal meet-and-greet, they behaved like little angels — giving Whelan shy pecks on the cheek when she held out her arms to them and obediently following instructions without so much as a peep.
And Whelan — a veteran of 42 years of teaching — looked as placid as those statues of St. Francis with little birds gathered at his feet when she settled companionably on the classroom couch to share a book with the children.
Families started telephoning Whelan to register their children for her class of 3-year-olds beginning in January, and the tally of twins and triplets kept mushrooming.
First came a call to enroll the three Bauers: Brooke, Matthew and Travis.
That was a pretty special moment in itself, Whelan said.
But then came the first set of twins: the Janiks.
After that came successive requests to enroll Miranda and Tyler Leach, brothers Blake and Evan Gallo, sisters Nadia and Alina Schnitzel and, finally, sisters Elizabeth and Rachel Kamrowski.
All the twins and triplets belong to families who live either in Lancaster or Depew.
“I thought: Wow, this is highly unusual for one class,” marveled Whelan, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis order based in Williamsville.
How unusual is it?
Maybe not as surprising as we might be tempted to think. The National Center for Health Statistics reports that the number and rate of twin, triplet and other multiple births among American women has climbed at an unprecedented pace over the last two decades.
Between 1980 and 1997, according to national data, the number of live births in twin deliveries rose 52 percent, and the number of live births in triplet and other multiple deliveries soared a startling 404 percent. Single births, by contrast, rose 6 percent.
An increase in fertility treatments nationwide and older moms, who are more likely to have a multiple birth, continue to be the major reasons that the birth rate of multiple siblings has risen so dramatically, researchers say.
Statistics aside, Whelan said she’s so excited by the prospect of teaching her new class that she finished decorating her classroom several weeks early. She has even included a doll crib with twin babies for the kids to enjoy.
Whelan jokes that her job this fall should be easier because there will be fewer parents to get to know than usual.
“Really, though, I think it will be a special experience for all the families in this class,” she said.
One final coincidence: Whelan’s family has a set of twins — her younger sisters Brenda, who is a Sister of Mercy in Lackawanna, and Teresa, of Texas.
