DECATUR - Lynne Reynolds is very familiar with St. Teresa High School.

She's an alumna, and Wednesday she and husband Ron spent their fourth consecutive Grandparents Day at the school with their granddaughter, Alexsandra Reynolds, who's a senior. This year, they also got to visit Alexsandra's younger brother, Luke, who's a freshman.

"We love St. Teresa," Lynne Reynolds said.

Grandma and Grandpa were going to go to the K-9 Café with Alexsandra after lunch to watch while she took her turn working there. The K-9 Café is a coffee and snack shop run by business students in the school's basement. Then they were going to visit Luke's art class.

"We're going to be here for a while," she said.

This year's turnout was possibly the largest, with about 70 grandparents in attendance.

"We have three lunches, and a lot of them came early and stayed," said Kassie Landry, director of development.

Many of the grandparents sat at tables together in the school cafeteria, chatting and catching up while they waited for their grandchildren to appear. For several families, St. Teresa is a tradition.

Linda and George Park sent their children to St. Teresa, and now their grandson Tyler Rizzo is a freshman there.

"We're going to have lunch," Linda Park said. "We're both on a break from work."

After lunch, Landry offered tours of the school, but the Parks had to get back to work and wouldn't be able to stay for the tour. They arrived too early because they didn't realize which lunch was Tyler's.

"(Tyler's) mother told us about (the event), and she made the reservation for us," Linda Park said, adding with a laugh, "Freshmen aren't very good at communicating."

Tyler has enjoyed his first week at St. Teresa, he said, and he already likes the school. He's attended Holy Family School.

Grandparents also received sports passes and coffee mugs. In the past, Landry said, the school mailed the passes to grandparents and never actually got to meet them, but since instituting Grandparents Day, the faculty and staff get to meet the grandparents and welcome them personally.

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