AbbyMcGuire

Saint James Seton Grade School is full of wires. Wires that are plugged into outlets, wires that flow in every ceiling and are strung through the floors beneath the student’s feet. This technology didn’t randomly appear on a Tuesday morning. It was weaved together by a hardworking woman and her Marian TAR helpers. 

Sr. Peggy Miller, a Servant of Mary, is this hardworking woman, and her story is one of perseverance, adaptability and strength. 

Early on into her Servite ministry in 1985, she picked up a part-time job working with technology at Saint James Seton. Immediately after settling into her position, she realized the six computers the school had were not enough to properly educate students on. So, she started to collect bottle caps to exchange for money, and the six computers doubled to 12. 

Faced with outdated equipment and no budget, Sr. Peggy resorted to using unauthorized software. Aware that her life of crime couldn’t last long, she made  finding legal software her top priority. “So, my first task was to get legal software. We had no money in the budget, so we started collecting aluminum cans…that’s how we got the money to get some software. Then…we were able to get a license…so we could make legal software.” 

Once Sr. Peggy set up the software on the new computers, the technology room became a hotspot for students. Within the cramped classroom two or three students were assigned to a single computer each, and students and teachers had to walk sideways, barely able to squeeze through the room. 

“The Fire Marshall would have had a fit!” Sr. Peggy said.

It was time for a change of scene, and so the computers and Sr. Peggy moved upstairs. Technology changes rapidly, so everytime the computers seemed somewhat settled, a new development came up. This time, it was the internet. 

“With the help of the Marian girls…we were able to wire our building. Now again, money was a problem. We couldn’t hire anybody to wire it, so the Marian TARS spent about a day and half showing us how to wire, and they also helped us by jack hammering through some walls and one spot on the floor so that we could bring wires to all parts of the building. So we pulled wires…probably about 70 wires…because there were 34 classrooms…and we got wired.” 

Completing the wiring took Sr. Peggy and her team of 12 other teachers five and a half days. It was tough work, as they had to set up wire systems in every single classroom, move up and down the stairs and use power tools. Without Sr. Peggy’s contribution, Saint James Seton would have fallen behind other schools. 

During this time of setting up wires, squeezing through cramped rooms filled with computers and collecting bottle caps, Sr. Peggy was also pursuing her masters degree. Originally, she didn’t want to get a masters degree because she hadn’t found one that interested her yet. But when she discovered that Clarke College in Dubuque, IA, had a Computers in Education program, she jumped on the opportunity. Years after achieving her masters, she became interested in teaching typing classes, programming and coding. She decided to start teaching typing classes to better prepare students for success in the outside world. Although they weren’t initially adored by her St. James Seton students, they have come back to thank her for typing classes.

“They’ll come back and they’ll say, ‘Thank you for teaching me typing skills…So, I’ll still run into somebody and they will say, ‘Thank you for the keyboarding’.” Technology is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, so technological education is vital to success.

After 18 years at St. James, she joined the Marian business office staff in 2003 and worked there for 20 years. Her work in the business office consisted of managing the alumnae database and creating programs to make Marian’s online side more accessible. 

Now in her first year of retirement, Sr. Peggy has traded the wires and keyboards in for prayer and time with her fellow Servants of Mary. She is still helping those around her. This time, though, she is driving her fellow servites to doctor’s appointments and praying for the people in her life. Her hard work and dedication to implementing technology into Saint James Seton will never be forgotten, because everytime a student logs on to a computer or typing.com, it will be because of Sr. Peggy.