THE SAINTS’ SCOOP

THE MAGAZINE OF ST. LAURENCE CATHOLIC SCHOOL ALUMNI Spring 2018

"Once a Saint, Always a Saint"

There's no better way to celebrate being a Saint than returning to the SLCS Campus! We look forward to your visit!

In This Issue

 Message From Mrs. Barto

 Steps for Students 2019

 In Loving Memory

 Invitation to Auction 2018

 Class Notes

 STREAM Lab

ST. LAURENCE CATHOLIC SCHOOL WELCOMES ALUMNI TO CAMPUS YEAR-ROUND! St. Laurence Catholic School Committed to the trinity of the parent, child, and educator

THE SAINTS' SCOOP

MISSION STATEMENT

As a pastoral instrument of the church, St. Laurence Catholic School educates and develops the whole Christian person in body, mind, and spirit through the trinity of the parent, child, and educator. Will Botard ’14 with Daniel Cardinal DiNardo and Bishop George Sheltz after his first place win at the Steps for Students Race! Congratulations! ADMINISTRATION Principal Suzanne Barto A.P. PreK-4th Joanne Landrito STEPS FOR STUDENTS A.P. 5th-8th Germaine Guedry

More than 12,000 runners and walkers came PUBLISHER / EDITOR together last February, to raise over $1 million to Adriana Gutierrez support Catholic education in the 13th Annual Steps for Students 5K held at the Co-Cathedral CONTRIBUTORS of the Sacred Heart. Suzanne Byrne, Kelly Goff, Caroline Allee, Terry Boyer, Steps for Students benefits the ten counties in Marie Brown, Belinda Maldonado the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston by raising awareness of religious education benefits and PHOTOGRAPHERS providing resources for its 59 Catholic schools. Adriana Gutierrez, Rafaela Lynn, The participation of these supporters raises parents, faculty, and staff of SLCS awareness of the value of Catholic education, assists schools with needed improvements and SPECIAL THANKS TO supports the Archdiocesan Tuition Assistance CAROLINE ALLEE Program, which makes private education affordable for families needing assistance. FOR HER CONTRIBUTIONS

We are very proud to share that SLCS had the largest team! Thank you to all of our Cover: Elaine Garza and Kelli Goff community for your support! We had the honor of shooting the confetti cannons at (SLCS First Graduating class) returned the start of the race! Watch us HERE! to SLCS with their families for the

25th Anniversary Celebration.

We enjoyed seeing many of St. Laurence Catholic School our alumni and we hope that you 2630 Austin Parkway can join us next year! Sugar Land, TX. 77479 281-980-0500 www.stlaurenceschool.org

The legacy of Steps for Students is Contents of The Saints’ Scoop may not be scheduled to continue next year reprinted without permission from on Feb. 16, 2019. St. Laurence Catholic School

Greetings to all of our amazing alumni!

I hope that you are doing well and that the start of 2018 has been kind so far. We continue to pray for you and sincerely enjoy hearing stories of your accomplish- ments and adventures that have taken place since you left our school. Thank you to those of you that were able to come back and visit us last January for our 25th Anniversary Celebration. I have to say that the alumni vs. the current basketball players game was extremely popular. We will have to do that again very soon and perhaps include some other sports. You can let us know if you are interested in something similar via our alumni Saints Facebook page. We appreciate those of you that have joined that page and sent in information for us to share with the community. Recently, we began highlighting our alumni in the weekly newsletter and our website. Our current and future Saints families are curious to know what you have done since leaving SLCS. Now that we are Mrs. Barto with 25 years old, we are excited to see more and more of you return to us with your Olivia Nguyen as own little “Saints”. “Principal of the Day” We experienced a very sad event this past fall with the loss of our beloved Band Director, Mr. Richard Stone. Mr. Stone had been battling a very serious illness for quite some time, and he left the school early in the fall of 2016 in order to concentrate on his recovery. Sadly, we lost him in the fall of 2017. Mr. Stone built up our excellent band program over the years, and I know many of you recall learning under his talented instruction. He was a fixture at our school and will be greatly missed.

I’m sure that you are all aware that the fall was rough for the Houston area and especially for several of our families and staff members due to Hurricane Harvey. We were fortunate enough not to sustain any damage to the school, but the St. Laurence Parish and School community really stepped up and did an amazing amount of service to help those in need. Our families and students worked alongside the parish Social Concerns office donating, sorting, loading and unloading supplies needed for recovery. We were also blessed to have a student join us from Puerto Rico due to being displaced from the storm that affected her school. It was both exhausting and exhilarating as we truly experienced living out our mission to be Jesus on earth.

The big addition to our instructional program this year was a STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion/Reading, Engineering, Arts, and Math) Lab. With this newly-dedicated space, we are able to provide 21st Century Learning skills to all our 1st-8th grade students on a regular basis. We would love to have you stop by one day and meet our new robot friends, Dash and Dot, as well as share any knowledge you may have in that area with our current students. We are blessed to have our students continue to shine in the areas of service, academics, leadership, and enrichment activities. Please know that you are always welcome to come back and visit us, whether you are just curious or want to share your expertise as a graduate of St. Laurence Catholic School. I hope that you continue to keep in touch with us and let us know what you are doing via Facebook or in person. That way we can keep you in touch with your former classmates and inform you of any upcoming events. Please keep us in your prayers and never forget that “ONCE A SAINT, ALWAYS A SAINT”

IT IS ALWAYS SO NICE TO CATCH UP A MESSAGE FROM OUR WITH OUR ALUMS! SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT

What amazing experiences you must have had at this point in your life! Even the most successful person now and then will take a moment and reflect upon their life’s journey. We, at St. Laurence Catholic School, hope that we are a part of those memories. Each year, we are very proud of the young students that leave us to form our prestigious alumni. St. Laurence continues to strive to be the best Catholic school possible. We received the National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence award from the Mary Boneno U.S. Department of Education in 2005 and 2014. In 2017, we Class of 2014 received the Innovations in Catholic Education Award. We continue to Mrs. Guedry and Mrs. Boyer were excited to have great accomplishments, especially in the areas of academics, visit with two SLCS alumni who attended the technology, community involvement, fundraising, and athletics. Our Mass at the Co-Cathedral for the University of academics are abounding; our teachers continue to challenge stu- St. Thomas Essay Contest winners. Pictured dents by introducing and using new techniques such as differentiated are Mary Boneno, who attends Incarnate instruction. We have the latest technology used in classrooms Word Academy and Emma Tran, who attends today. Our students and families continue to be fully involved in our St. Agnes Academy. Also in attendance was community, both in our parish and Sugar Land and the surrounding Olivia Green who is a member of the IWA areas. Our fundraising efforts such as Steps for Students continue to Choir which sang at the Mass. Unfortunately, hit new levels. The school auction continues to be an amazing event we weren’t able to catch up with her for a with the support of all of our wonderful volunteers. Our athletics con- photo opportunity! Mary served in Hospitality tinue to flourish at SLCS; each of our sports has had great seasons as a Student Usher for the Mass, and Emma over the years. was recognized for winning second place with We have also implemented many programs to develop and nurture our her essay (10th grade). Catholic faith here at SLCS. We are very appreciative and feel blessed to have been a part of each of your lives. Your spirit makes this a special school for all of our community, and we will especially look forward to welcoming the first alumni to return and serve on the SLCS School Board. The entire school community will continue to think of you and pray for you. God bless, and we hope to see you around campus!

Nora Sessions 2017-2018 SLCS School Board President

Emma Tran

YOU ARE INVITED TO OUR AUCTION GALA AND DINNER

We are Called… A Black & Bling Extravaganza!

APRIL 28, 2018!

This annual event takes place April 28, 2018, at the Marriott Town Square in Sugar Land. Contact the Advancement Office at 281.980.0500 for ticket information.

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

We dedicate this issue of The Saints’ Scoop to Mr. Richard Stone. He was a beloved member of the SLCS faculty as the Band Director for many years.

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Mr. Richard Stone. Mr. Stone was a beloved member of the SLCS faculty as the Band Director for many years. We will miss him greatly!

Thank you, Mr. Stone, for your service to the Lord and to our school community.

SERVING THOSE IN NEED DURING HURRICANE HARVEY

Our 3rd grade classes decided to collect rosaries for those affected by Hurricane Harvey. In four days they collected hundreds of them and sent them to the Rice Catholic Student Center to be distributed. We know these brought comfort to all those who received them.

Teen Leadership students wrote letters to our city's local leaders to thank them for all their hard work during Harvey!

St. Laurence Boy Scouts Troop 828 and their families are always helping our community. The troop's members are SLCS students and alumni. This troop, along with other SLCS families and staff, helped Mrs. Feagin. After helping Mrs. Feagin, the troop helped others in her neighborhood.

SERVING THOSE IN NEED DURING HURRICANE HARVEY

We Are Called To Love One Another!

We are called to make a difference! Thank you to our generous students, families, alumni, staff, and parish. Watch them in action HERE!

OUR PARISH SERVED AS A COLLECTION SITE FOR DONATIONS!

Spanish Honor Society collected materials and supplies to send to their friends in Spanish classes "Amigos en Clases de Español" at True Cross Catholic School, one of the Catholic schools affected by Hurricane Harvey.

SPOTLIGHT ON KELLY MCGEE GOFF

SLCS ALUMNI AND AUCTION CHAIR

 Name and Class: Kelly McGee Goff ‘97

 Tell us a little bit about what you’re doing now. My family and I recently moved to Sienna Plantation from Houston where we had lived since graduating college. We stay very busy with our three small children. We have 2-year-old twins -William and Katherine- who attend St. Laurence Weekday Children’s Program and a 6-month-old little girl, Emma.

 How do you feel about being back at SLCS? Being back at St. Laurence feels like coming home. It is so wonderful to see how much the school has grown and changed for the better! The community of staff and parents is unlike any other I have seen in just the short time I have been back. I love seeing Mrs. Brown, whose daughter I graduated with, and also Mrs. Guedry, who was our middle school Assistant Principal.

 What did you do right after you left SLCS? After I graduated from SLCS, I went on to St. Agnes Academy and then St. Edwards University in Austin, where I graduated Cum Laude. I had a short stint as a commercial real estate broker and then found my passion at Child Advocates in Houston. I served on the development team there for nearly 10 years and was the Development Director for the last three years before making the very hard decision to stay at home with Emma.

 What do you remember most vividly about your time at SLCS? The fun we had! When we began 4th grade, there were 10 boys and just 3 of us girls - Umbe, Margeaux, and me. We were very close! As the school grew, more girls joined us, and we were all so happy - I think the boys too! Since we were always the oldest grade, we were able to start the volleyball and basketball teams along with the cheer squad! It’s funny - there is a sweet bond between all of us that grew up together here at St. Laurence, and it has carried on through all of these years.

 What was your best day at SLCS? There are a few wonderful memories that stand out, from playing on the tire swing that hung in the field where this school is now, to competing in Odyssey of the Mind with fellow classmates, and graduation day. As the first graduating class of St. Laurence, I think we all felt a little extra something special that day and really that year. It was such a special class, and many of us had been together since that first day of 4th grade.

 What are some lessons you learned at SLCS that have served you well in your life after SLCS? While here I learned about the importance of always keeping Christ in your life and the importance of prayer. Having daily prayer at school along with the church-based mission running through the curriculum has stayed with me, and I am so happy that my children now have that opportunity.

 What advice do you have for today’s Saints?

Enjoy every day! It all goes by so fast. Cherish the friendships and memories that you are making. They will last a lifetime.

– Lori McMenemy Newell ‘97 Taylor McBride ’07 I graduated from business school at MIT in 2013 and took a I grew up within the walls of job in Dallas with Bain. I then got married and joined Amazon St. Laurence and could not have in Seattle, where I have been working for the past 3 years. asked for a better childhood. I have a one-year-old son, Jack, who is the light of my life! The faith and the people gave I loved my days at SLCS, and I appreciate the great me the tools I needed to gradu- foundation it set for my future. I especially loved having my ate and be successful at St. Ag- mom, Coleen McMenemy, teach there and my sister Cari nes Academy. I left St. Lau- there as well. I also met one of my best friends (and rence in 2007 with the goal to bridesmaids), Elaine Brown Garza, at St. Laurence. Thank be successful. Today, I am you, SLCS! in Pharmacy School in Louisi- ana. I am undecided where I will be at the time of my Lisa Pinina ‘97 graduation, but I will take the memories and the love of I’m a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit RN. I’ve been travel learning that St. Laurence taught me wherever I go. nursing for 3.5 years now. I move every few months to a dif- ferent city (so far 9, not counting Houston). I’m currently in Garrison Jones ’07 Phoenix, but still own a home in West U (that has flooded I graduated from SLCS in 2007. Currently I am a twice since owning it), keeping Houston as my permanent Merger and Acquisition Strategy consultant at place of residence. My parents are still living out in Sugar Accenture. I work on projects in Mexico City, the Creek. My sister (who also went to St. Laurence) is married Netherlands, and Singapore. I have been back to and has been for almost 7 years and has two girls 5 and 2. St. Laurence for Career Day in 2016 to talk about how

I help companies buy and sell each other. Sarah Alexander ‘01 Mrs. Alexander is a proud member of the Chris Holland ’07 I started going to SLCS in middle school. I graduated Saints faculty! She recently had her first with the class of 2007, the best class to ever graduate baby! Please join us in welcoming Baby from St. Laurence in my opinion. I went on to attend Logan Carter Alexander to the Saints and graduate from Oklahoma State University and took Family! He is precious! Congratulations to on a career as an investment banking analyst. I live in the Alexander and Glaser Families! Fort Worth, Texas, but St. Laurence in Sugar Land will always be my home. Kevin Thompson 2007 I graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in John Murphy ‘08 economics. I worked in the finance department for Merrill St. Laurence is where I made Lynch Wealth Management for some time before moving into great friendships. I graduated in commercial lending with Community Bank of Texas. Outside 2008 and went to Clements High of work I play music with The Good School. St. Laurence prepared me Heart, and I help with Life Teen music very well and I went on to graduate at St. Faustina. from Mississippi State with a de- gree in Marketing. Currently, I am Alexandria McBride '07 (formerly located in Dallas working as a fa- Pane) cility manager. I also spend a great Alexandra and her husband Philip were deal of time as an expert dog train- married at St. Laurence Catholic er at Wildrose Kennels Texas. Church in October of 2015. They have a beautiful baby girl, Lucia Jane! She is precious! Congratulations to the family!

Laura Holland ‘08 Robby Allee ’11 I began school at SLCS in I attended SLCS for 9 years. the 5th grade. This is where I began school when I was in I found my friends forever. Kindergarten and graduated in 8th I believe that speaks for the grade to attend Strake Jesuit. school. I am still friends with Currently, I am a junior at LSU the people I met when I was seeking a degree in Business Fi- 10 years old despite the nance and Marketing. I have also different schools, back- been enjoying volunteering at the grounds, and career choices animal shelter on the school we made. More recently, I have been accepted to a school in campus. My best advice for the Alabama to attend medical school. This was delayed some time students at SLCS is to work hard and dedicate yourself to because of my diagnosis with cancer over a year ago. I am proud what you love. to say that with the support of my SLCS friends and their families, I am cancer free today, and excited about the opportunity to help Marianne Reyes ‘11 others once I become a doctor. Marianne is a Biomedical Engineering student at The University of Texas at Austin. In 2017, she was selected for Maggie Brill (Bain) ’08 the Kaya Collaborative Summer Fellowship. She spent the After graduating St. Laurence summer in Bohol, Philippines developing strategies for a I went on to attend school at co-working space, technology incubator, and fabrication lab LSU. I graduated early with a for the local creative community. She hopes that fewer people degree in Physical Therapy and will have to move to Manila or become an overseas worker to Movement Science. I worked for find jobs in tech. a year at the Methodist Hospital in Sugar Land before discovering Delaney Wolf ‘13 that I had a desire to teach. My siblings and I all attended St. Laurence. I went on to I currently teach at St. Thomas attend St. Agnes Academy and now I am at Texas Christian More as a 4th and 5th grade University. I am involved in the Greek life as an English and Reading teacher. Alpha Chi Omega. I am also in the College of Education and In addition to teaching, I am in planning to be an elementary teacher. charge of Marketing for K-9 Angels in Houston. I work with the most caring and loving animals in search of a forever home with Hannah Kaiser ‘13 We enjoyed Hannah’s visit to SLCS to Christian families. I am also married to my husband, David Brill, our school and to the Saints TV Studio whom I met at Strake Jesuit while I was attending high school. during her Christmas break! Thank you This path that has been given to me stemmed from the for sharing with our school community foundation that St. Laurence gave me. many of the benefits that you received Daniel Koeppen ’10 from attending SLCS! You were awe- Daniel is graduating from A&M in May and then starting as a some! credit analyst at Allegiance Bank in Katy.

Joseph Allee ‘13 Alec Schroeder ‘14 I graduated from SLCS in 2013 and We are thrilled to announce went to Strake Jesuit. There, I played on Alec Schroeder'14 will continue the Men’s Varsity Water Polo team. his football career this fall kick- Now, I am a freshman at Texas ing for Blinn College. Alec A&M...Whoop! There are many former signed on February 7th, Nation- SLCS friends here with me. Right now al Signing Day, and can't wait to I am on track to receive a Biology kick in college. Way to go! degree in 2022. “Once a Saint, Always A Saint”

Emily Nelson ’15 Mia Clay ‘16 Emily hit her 1000th point as a St. Ag- Mia is doing well at nes Tiger recently! She joined the St. Agnes Academy. ranks as the 4th player in St. Agnes Water polo season is Academy history behind another St. beginning, and they are Laurence Alum Michelle Nwokedi. looking strong. This year Congrats Emily! is definitely an interesting one as we are starting the college communications Avery Byrne ’15 process that will be a Avery visited our TV Studio last December. She is going into her three-year High School senior year and running for student body president of Ridge Point journey. She is starting High School. She continues swimming on the varsity team and college visits... SLCS and she is very involved in the leadership program with Fort Bend ISD St. Agnes together have and Life Teen at the church. “I’m so grateful for the amazing foun- put her on the right track dation that SLCS provided me!”- Avery said. of starting early and attending all events Bailey Burgess ‘16 available to get a good perspective of her goals. Besides Bailey is a sophomore at St. Agnes Academy and a member of year-round aquatic sports at St. Agnes, Mia is involved with the Tiger Girls Dance Team. In January, the SAA Tiger Girls com- the Labre Project, Lunches of Love, and the Young peted at the Crowd Pleasers Competition where they received the Conservatives clubs at St. Agnes. Most importantly, she is highest award possible "Overall Grand Champion". This was a first working this year on the Sacrament of Confirmation at ever for the SAA Tiger Girls! Besides year-round dance, Bailey St. Laurence with the amazing Life Teen group. is a Student Council representative and a member of Campus Ministry at St. Agnes. Most importantly, Bailey is working this year on the Sacrament of Confirmation at St. Laurence and will attend the annual Steubenville weekend retreat (3rd year) prior to making her confirmation in September.

Hannah Haney ‘16 We are so proud of Hannah for placing first in the Top Hands Horse Show for English Equitation hosted by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo! She also placed 2nd out of 217 riders in the trails competition. Way to go!

Alex Garcia ‘16 Alex is a sophomore at The British International School of Houston where he is the president of the Interact Club and a member of The Model United Nations, The Texas Mock Trial Team, and Student Investors. He continues to play the trumpet and was featured on Remembrance Day where he was the soloist for “The Last Post” (the British version of Taps). He recently appeared on Channel 2’s Houston Life program where he promoted Unicef’s World Children’s Day. He enjoyed a school service trip to Costa Rica where he helped in a nature preserve and in a local school. Alex sings in the Life Teen Choir and will sing with Dr. Kevin Klotz’s combined choirs at Carnegie Hall in June. He enjoys Life Teen each Sunday and is looking forward to his third Steubenville Conference and making his confirmation later in the year.

PETE OLSON ANNOUNCED SUGAR LAND NAVAL ACADEMY APPOINTMENTS THOMAS LE

Rep. Pete Olson announced that SLCS Alumni Thomas Le, has received appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy for the fall of 2018. Thomas Le is a SLCS Alumni and senior at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory. He is a proud Eagle Scout and lettered all four years in varsity wrestling. He is also a Principal’s Honor Roll student and serves as head of the House Student Council. Rep. Olson presented Thomas with a proclamation congratulating him on his appointment.

Military academy appointees are evaluated for a variety of qualifications including: moral character, strong academic record, demonstrated leadership potential, physical fitness, and commitment to serve a five-year military term in the United States Armed Forces upon graduation. CONGRATULATIONS!

WE LOVE TO HAVE ALUMNI BACK ON CAMPUS! Carl Schneider and Alan Ward joined us for Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass!

Last December, Ms. Bonno, our Music teacher, had the pleasure of hearing three of her former choir students, Fredrick Sjodin, Jordan Hannah, and Jack Baugh perform solos in the St. Agnes/Strake Jesuit musical production of Handel’s Messiah. Many of our alumni are members of the 150 member choir! Bravo on an amazing concert!

Mrs. Dodson happened to bump into Sean Thompson and Chase Knecht at the tailgating tents at a Texas A&M game. They both attend A&M, and Mrs. Dodson was visiting her daughter, Amy!

THREE SLCS ALUMNI ACHIEVE THE RANK OF EAGLE SCOUT! Thank you to Jamie Wallner for sharing this beautiful picture John Baugh, Michael DeMoor and Cade Deroche, students at Strake Jesuit of her Christmas tree with us! High School and alumni of St. Laurence Catholic School (Class of 2016) , have This ornament from the mid-90's achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Boy Scouts. This accom- still hangs on her tree! plishment represents almost five years of adventure, fun, work, and dedication to the Boy Scout program for these members of St. Laurence Catholic Parish, Sugar Land Troop 828. NATIONAL MERIT FINALISTS

During the process of satisfying the requirements for the Eagle rank, these young men performed community service, provided service and leadership for their troop, and are currently serving as mentors within the troop. In addition to the traditional outdoor skills learned in Boy Scouts, Baugh, DeMoor and Deroche earned a host of merit badges including those from art to wood carv- ing. Eagle projects completed by each scout benefited a variety of organizations and required hundreds of volunteer hours to complete.

We are excited to share that Claire Cho’ 14 and Grace Meyne ’14 are finalists in the National Merit Scholar competition!

St. Laurence Class of 2014 at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory is getting CONGRATULATIONS! ready to graduate this May! This amazing group of friends are still together WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU! 4 years later! (not pictured Alex Montes and Ben Tabar).

Alex Garcia ’16 was interviewed on Channel 2’s “Houston Life” talk show. He and some classmates from the British International School of Houston were there to talk about their efforts to promote children’s rights internationally. It’s great to see SLCS alumni making a difference in the world!

Same boys! School Days and a Class Reunion last week!

SLCS Class of 2013 hanging out at the Aggie game!

Renee Livesay ’04 is an awesome Motor Lab and Art teacher at St. Laurence Catholic School! Many of her art students received recognition at the Rodeo Art Contest, and her Honors Art student, Evan Pedraza, won “Best of Show” out Private Middle School entries. Evan’s artwork was on display during the Rodeo at the Hayloft. Thank you, Renee, St. Agnes/Strake Jesuit Mainstage Musical: for all you do for SLCS! In The Heights

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEW SUPERINTENDENT OF HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT OUR CATHOLIC SCHOOLS! NEW STREAM LAB, ALSO KNOW AS THE COLLABORATORY?

In collaboration with the Enrichment Specialist, Mrs. Anne Quatrini, SLCS provides opportunities for all students in grades 1st-8th to participate in developing 21st Century Learn- St. Laurence Catholic School celebrates with our former ing Skills. These four C’s of creativity, collaboration, critical teacher, Assistant Principal, and Principal, Debra Haney thinking and communication are developed by students at- M.Ed., who was appointed by Cardinal DiNardo to be the tending classes in our STREAM (Science, Technology, Engi- new Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese neering, Reading/Religion, Arts, Math) Lab. Projects that fo-

of Galveston-Houston! Congratulations, Mrs. Haney! cus on the engineering design process and problem solving will help prepare our students for the future.

Anne Quatrini is in her third year as an enrichment specialist CATHERINE CASHIOLA MISSION TRIP at SLCS. “Our society is changing every single day and we as TO GUATEMALA teachers must adapt to develop students with critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.” - Mrs. Quatrini says. “My focus is 21st-century power skills. I am all about students learning from a hands-on experience. The rote memorization isn’t near enough for future success. I consider myself a mak- er, and my motivation is to spark that interest and curiosity in students to then carve their own path.”

Catherine Cashiola spent her Spring Break in Guatemala with a St. Agnes Academy group. The Mission Trip was to San Vicente de Paul Bethania Collegio in Guatemala City. The school is owned by the Dominican Sisters of Houston and serves one of the poorest areas in Guatemala. She immersed herself in the local culture. What a great service opportunity! Read more in her blog: www.teachonq.weebly.com

If you missed our 25th Anniversary Celebration, here are some pictures! We enjoyed seeing many alumni! We hosted an Open House for our community to share how we have grown over 25 years. The day included a Past & Present Basketball game, performances by our Middle School Band, school tours, scavenger hunts, food trucks, and photo booth! We closed the day with a cele- bratory Mass celebrated by His Eminence, Daniel Cardinal Dinardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston. During our anniversary week, we hosted our first Career Day for grades three through eight and were honored to welcome members of our community, including alumni, who shared their experiences and careers. It was an incredible day for all in attendance! THANK YOU FOR BEING PART OF THE SLCS FAMILY!

THANK YOU TO OUR LONG-TIME STAFF AND FRIENDS!

Marie Brown Terry Boyer Sandy Cichon Rachel Markum 22 Years of Service 20 Years of Service 16 Years of Service 4 Years of Service ENJOY YOUR NEXT CHAPTER!

After serving many years at SLCS, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Boyer, and Mrs. Markum are starting a new chapter at the end of this school year. Mrs. Brown is moving to Austin, Mrs. Boyer is retiring to North Carolina, Mrs. Cichon is moving to Grimes County in College Station TX., and Mrs. Markum is moving to San Antonio! We are grateful for your love and dedication. We will miss all of you!

FIRST HERITAGE DAY AT SLCS!

We are very blessed to have so many cultures represented at SLCS and we want to ensure that our students benefit from the wealth of lan- guages, experiences, and diverse cultures that surround them on a daily basis.

For this reason, we celebrated our first Heritage Day with cultural presentations and learning tours around the different countries, pre- sented by an amazing group of volunteer parents! Thanks to all our wonderful parents who contributed to this enriching experience for our students! Click HERE to enjoy a piece of Heritage Day!

Please give us your thoughts on how St. Laurence Catholic School prepared you in the area of technology for high school, college and beyond. Thank you for answering our Technology Survey HERE!

GIVE THE GIFT OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION! CHOOSE SLCS!

COME BACK TO YOUR ALMA MATER!

STAY IN TOUCH!

St. Laurence Catholic School

2630 Austin Parkway Everybody has a story to tell. SLCS Alumni Association wants to hear Sugar Land, TX. 77479 yours. Whether it's a wedding, an addition to the family, a new business, a (281) 980-0500 promotion, an award, a passion for volunteering... any kind of update your fellow alums would be interested to hear, just tell us and we'll include it in Visit us on the web at our next The Saints’ Scoop magazine. www.stlaurencecschool.org

Just drop an e-mail to Adriana Gutierrez at [email protected] and  www.facebook.com/stlaurencecs give us the scoop -- it's as easy as that! Pictures are always welcome!  www.twitter.com/StLaurence_1992

Make sure to check out the SLCS Alumni Facebook group to talk  www.instagram.com/stlaurencecs about alumni events, chat with old friends or make new ones!  www.pinterest.com/stlaurencecs

ALUMNI FACEBOOK GROUP: www.facebook.com/groups/slcsalumni