Spooner High School salutatorian Clare Essenmacher sits with her preschool teacher, Carol Waltz, who helped guide her through a speech impediment. (Catholic Herald photo)
Jenny Snarski
Catholic Herald Staff
Class of 2026 Spooner High School salutatorian Clare Essenmacher attended St. Francis de Sales Catholic School from preschool through eighth grade. At the school’s annual gala fundraiser on April 25, the teen testified to the importance of Catholic education to her success.
“I was prepared academically, socially and spiritually for high school and beyond,” Essenmacher said.
She noted the small class size and personal attention of teachers who were “exceedingly encouraging and supportive to me and every other student;” the school’s music and drama programs, which introduced her to the performing arts and helped her develop confidence; and the Rube Goldberg building project that stretched classmates’ cooperation and communication.
Essenmacher discussed her early speech impediment and how frustrating it was to communicate with classmates.
“As my preschool teachers can attest, I was a shy and quiet kid,” she said, adding, “I was always welcomed at school, though, and through a supportive environment, I grew in my confidence and maturity.”
“Most importantly,” Essenmacher affirmed, “St. Francis was a place where I grew spiritually and learned what it means to be Catholic. Faith was an integral part of my education … I learned that Catholicism isn’t a bunch of rules from a dusty book, it is a living, powerful belief that unites people everywhere.”
She will be attending Yale University this fall to study mathematics and environmental studies.
“I am excited for the future, and I know that St. Francis had no small part in providing me with the work ethic, mentality, and resources that have served me well,” she added.
Preschool days
One person moved by Essenmacher’s words was her former preschool teacher, Carol Waltz.
Waltz remembered her as a 4-year-old pre-kindergarten student.
“I wasn’t teaching her anything new,” Waltz said. Essenmacher knew all her letters and numbers, except “at the beginning she couldn’t say the words correctly.” Waltz got permission to have the girl evaluated and a plan was put in place for weekly speech therapy.
“It didn’t take long,” Waltz said. After a few months, Essenmacher’s speech “was perfect.”
“I think I learned a lot,” Essenmacher said of the class, “especially being introduced to books and reading.” She admitted the social aspect was harder for her, but the smaller class size helped her make friends.
Waltz started 10-year teaching career at St. Francis de Sales after 28 years at Salem Lutheran Preschool in Shell Lake. From 1998 to 2018, she was also a technical college instructor for Early Childhood classes and workshops around northwestern Wisconsin.
Having taught two generations of students already, Waltz still enjoys substitute teaching as needed.
“I’m just not ready to be away from the kids,” Waltz said.
On to high school
Making the transition to high school, Essenmacher felt “more than prepared academically.” Socially, it was a challenge going from a class of fewer than 10 to almost 100.
“But I made friends,” she added. Freshman year is “awkward for everybody … you’re just trying to find out who you are.”
When it came time to apply for college, Essenmacher credited an older cousin for encouraging her to spread her net wide and see the sky as the limit. She told her about summer programs that a lot of schools host for prospective students.
“I applied to one at Yale and got in,” she said, believing it was “by some miracle” she was accepted and even given a full scholarship as a part a rural outreach program. She went to campus between her sophomore and junior years and loved it.
“I would say that was the turning point of realizing, ‘maybe I could go to school like this,’” she recalled.
Summer camp at Yale lasted two weeks. Students took classes from Yale professors and had seminars with current students in one of four tracks. Interested in mathematics and environmental studies, Essenmacher chose “Solving Global Challenges.”
Her mother works as a forester for the Department of Natural Resources, and in middle school, Essenmacher and her younger sister started a youth environmental club with support of the Spooner Public Library.
“We did this for about two years with five to 10 teens and did some cool stuff,” she said.
Projects included providing recycling bins for the county fair and participating in public research projects at Hunt Hill Nature Center, Sarona.
One of their biggest projects was tackling an invasive species in the Spooner and Shell Lake area. “Battle of the Buckthorn” was started in conjunction with the regional DNR and is continuing with the help of another local organization, Rails on Trails.
These projects lit an interest that Essenmacher decided she might like to pursue. Her intended major is climate science, a choice also influenced by her Catholic faith: “We have a responsibility to be good stewards of the earth.”
After attending the summer program, she knew Yale was her dream school.
“I knew that I wanted to go to school really far from home,” Essenmacher said. She loves where she lives, “but I’ve spent my whole life here, and I want to find out what’s out there.”
When she visited the Connecticut school in March for student orientation, she visited the Catholic student organization on campus. She intends to stay connected to her faith.
Grateful for the support and opportunity to reach for “the sky,” Essenmacher said it is faith that keeps her grounded.
“When you’re achieving things, or when people tell you how smart or talented you are, it’s important to remember that all of that comes from God,” she concluded, “and to be grateful to him for all the things, because ultimately everything that I’ve done is because of him.”
