METHUEN -- "Finishing your homework, even when you'd rather play."

"Practicing soccer every day so you get better."

"Trying to ride your bike again after you fall."

"Trying to tie your shoes over and over again until you get the knot right."

"Reading a hard book and shouting out the tricky words, instead of giving up."

Those were some of the definitions of the word "perseverance" offered by second graders at St. Monica School in Methuen during the school's monthly community meeting and awards presentation on Feb. 25. Each month, students in different grade levels educate the rest of the school about a specific virtue. This month's virtue was perseverance, and St. Monica's 258 pre-K- to eighth-grade students heard the story of St. Monica, "the patron saint of perseverance," and her son, St. Augustine.

"Did St. Monica give up?" one of the second graders asked.

"NO!" The rest responded.

After their lesson, the second graders sang Miley Cyrus's song "The Climb," an anthem of perseverance.

"Who'd ever thought we'd have Miley Cyrus at a community meeting?" said Principal Donna Henderson.

The community meetings were initiated this school year, in response to a survey of students, faculty, and families.

"What we learned is that students didn't feel they had a big enough voice or were recognized for things outside of academics," Henderson said.

The meetings are a way for students to teach from their own perspective and learn in a way that matters to them, hence the Miley Cyrus song.

"It's an opportunity for us to evangelize as a community," Henderson said, "specifically where the students are at, not above them. It's right where they're at."

She said the meeting is just one of the ways that students at St. Monica's live their Catholic identity.

"As a Catholic school, it always comes back to that," she said. "We do things for the right reasons, and we emulate the people before us, and that's one of our tenets of our community."

After the second graders' lesson, Henderson congratulated the kindergarteners, first graders, and fourth graders for their math test scores. She praised "the busiest, best basketball season we ever had" since she started working at St. Monica's almost a decade ago. Staff handed out awards for perseverance, as well as awards for "Morning Kickstarters," who are bright and energetic when coming to school each day, and "Specialist Superstars" who "went above and beyond" with their schoolwork in special classes like art and music.

"It's just a good school, in my opinion," said eighth grader Carly, who won a Morning Kickstarter award. "That's why I've been here for so long, and that's why I'm excited to come into school."

Fourth grader Bella won an award for perseverance. She served as a lector during Mass recently, and even though the words were hard, she kept reading and didn't give up.

"I feel like other schools, they don't really pray, but we go to church every Monday," she said. "We do a lot of stuff here."

Eighth grader Robbie said he won a perseverance award for his dedication to studying math and karate. He has attended St. Monica's since he was in sixth grade. Back when he was in public school, he never attended Mass and didn't know what Lent was.

"I literally didn't know who that gentleman is, on top over there," he said, pointing to the crucifix in Henderson's office.

Now, he is baptized and is preparing to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.

"I definitely have a lot more tighter of a community," he said, "because when I went to public school, I was friends with a lot of people, but over here, it's the people you have that you're friends with and that really empower you."