November Newsletter 2017
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER 2017 St. Mary Catholic School Challenging the Mind—Living the Faith www.stmarycatholicschool.org Dear Parents: Happy November! Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever. MISSION STATEMENT (Psalm 106:1) This is the time of year we tend to focus on the many blessings we Saint Mary Catholic School have in our lives. As we get closer to the holidays, most of us look forward to empowers children in their faith spending time with family and friends. Planning, preparing, and eating Thanksgiving journey and promotes academic dinner, watching football, talking and joking with family, playing games, and perhaps heading out late for Black Friday deals might be some common family traditions. excellence and life-long service Being together with people you care about, no matter what the activity, is truly a inspired by the Gospel of Jesus blessing. The same can most definitely be said about our school community, too. Christ in a nurturing community. During this Thanksgiving season, we have so much to be thankful for to God. Being UPCOMING EVENTS named a 2017 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence is such an honor. It's affirmation to our entire school community, students, parents, faculty & staff, HSA, November 1 School Board, Pastor, and Parishioners that SMCS offers academic excellence in an All Saints Day—10:30 Mass engaging and nurturing environment. Being a Catholic School we offer all of this to the glory of God. I hope you will join me in offering prayers of thanksgiving for the November 3 work ethic and enthusiasm of our students, the dedication of our faculty and staff, First Friday Mass the commitment of parents, the efforts of our HSA, the guidance of our School Board, and the support of our Pastor and Parishioners in making SMCS such a special November 8 place. We are truly blessed! Read-a-Thon We begin this month with All Saints Day. Join us for Mass at 10:30 A.M. Our sixth November 9 graders will be representing our heroes of the Church, the Saints. Mrs. Barger and I Thanksgiving Lunch will be in Washington, D. C., for the official National Blue Ribbon Ceremonial events on November 5, 6, and 7. Our Thanksgiving Lunch is November 9. Our Thanksgiving November 22-November 26 break begins at 3:00 on November 21. When we return from break, there will be Thanksgiving Break many Blue Ribbon celebrations. November 30 will be a special day for our students! More details will be shared soon! November 30 Blue Ribbon Day for Students And finally, on behalf of the SMCS faculty and staff, I want to wish you a blessed Thanksgiving with your family and a relaxing mini-break! December 1 As always, I ask for your prayers to the Holy Spirit to give me the guidance and School will dismiss at 11:45 AM following our First Friday Mass in wisdom needed to serve as principal of Saint Mary Catholic School. celebration of our recognition as May God Bless you! A 2017 National Blue Ribbon School Patricia A. McDermott of Excellence Page 1 of 8 FAITH ST. MARY PARISH NEWS SCHOOL LITURGIES SACRAMENTAL NEWS Please join us on Wednesday, November 1, at 10:30 A.M., Eighth graders who are members of for our school Mass. Our sixth graders will be making a St. Mary Parish have their special appearance as SAINTS. Our students look forward Confirmation Pilgrimage to the to this special Mass each year. This is a holy day of Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus obligation for Catholics. on November 10. Students are to meet at 8:00 A.M. in Fatima Hall. Please join us again on Friday, November 3, at 10:30 A.M., Students are to bring their own lunch for our First Friday Mass. Father Cibelli will be the celebrant. money. Cell phones are not permitted, but students may bring a TRIMESTER NEWS camera. Students will return to campus at 3:30 P.M. ACADEMICS St. Mary Parish second graders and their parents must attend a First Holy The first trimester of the 2017-2018 school year ends on Friday, December 1. Communion workshop on February Progress Reports will be distributed on Wednesday, December 6. 21, at 6:30 P.M. A GENTLE REMINDER The Trimester I progress reports are scheduled to be distributed on Wednesday, ST. MARY PARISH MUSIC MINISTRY December 6. Please make sure that all your financial obligations (tuition through The St. Mary Parish Music Ministry is November, health & art fees, late fees, Phase I fundraiser, after-school care looking for more voices to enrich the through October, classroom fees, cafeteria expenses, etc.) are paid in full by that sound of the various Parish choirs at time. Otherwise, progress reports will be held until all financial obligations are weekend masses. If interested, please contact Trevor Rowland, met. Please refer to pages 50-51 of the handbook. Notifications will be sent [email protected]. home during the week of November 14 if you are still in arrears with anything at that time. C.H.E.R.I.S.H. FAMILY COMMITMENT HOURS Husbands and Wives! Join Rev. Collin The SMCS faculty and staff want to thank all our Poston and Rev. Matt Buening at the parents and grandparents who have been putting CHERISH married couples retreat on th in their volunteer hours. The extra help we are Saturday, Nov. 4 , from 5 – 9 PM at St. Mary Parish. CHERISH stands for receiving is truly amazing and very much Catholic Hearts Espoused Rejoice in appreciated! Please remember to log your hours Sacramental Hope and the theme of in HELPCOUNTER, the retreat is "Living Your Marriage (http://helpcounter.org/main/index.php). A Abundantly." Includes Saturday minimum of ten hours must be completed and Evening Vigil Mass at 5:15 PM, dinner logged in by midnight on Thursday, November 30. buffet, and more. Free-will donations accepted. RSVP by October 31 at Invoices for unfulfilled hours will be sent in cherishcouples.net or 301-797-6493. December. Page 2 of 8 HOME & SCHOOL ASSOCIATION NEWS—H.S.A. HSA EXECUTIVE BOARD President: Mrs. Bella Barron Vice President: Mr. Jack Dill Corresponding Secretary: Mr. Jay Zuspan Recording Secretary: Ms. Aggie Cantave Bookkeeper: Mrs. Crystal Strother Treasurer: Mrs. April Nitzell SMCS CASINO NIGHT AND SILENT AUCTION MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT The SMCS Casino WORK VOLUNTEER PROGRAM Night and Auction The SMCS Volunteer Program hosted by our HSA continues to benefit our students was simply and our entire school community amazing! The HSA 1,679.17 volunteer hours have Executive been logged as of October 26! It is Committee (Bella, great having so many parents and Jack, Jay, Aggie, grandparents participating in the Crystal, and April), endless volunteer opportunities along with MJ that exist at SMCS and that are Sommerville, vital to the mission of our school. Stacey Stine, Thank you! Cassie Kinna, Our Top Ten Volunteers Candice Romsburg, per Hours Logged are: Kelly Byrne, Mo Bella Barron Tedeschi, and Carrie Stumpf, spent countless hours planning and organizing this April Nitzell spectacular event. Pangborn Hall, our cafeteria, was truly transformed. Everyone Cassandra Kinna who attended had a fabulous evening enjoying delicious food from 28 South, a Candice Romsburg cash bar, music, fabulous prizes, fun games, raffles, and silent and live auction Stacey Stine items. We appreciate all our guests who came out to support our SMCS Crystal Strother students. Jennifer & DJ Smallwood Keri & Jack Dill MARTINS A+ REWARDS Cathy Toothman MJ & Buddy Sommerville Please sign up for this great program that generates money and costs nothing to participate! Once you register, all you Remember to log into HelpCounter (http://helpcounter.org/main/index.php) need to do is shop and swipe your BONUS card every time you to track your hours. You will receive a shop. monthly summary from HelpCounter at the end of each month. Trimester I ends RUMMAGE SALE on December 1, so a minimum of 10 hours must be logged by midnight on The Rummage Sale was a great success, earning November 30, or notify the principal of $5,784.84. We appreciate Mrs. Mary Grove’s continued your plan to complete the required hours. dedication to SMCS. All the volunteers who made Questions can be emailed to [email protected]. donations, assisted with sales, worked in the kitchen, monitored our hallways, or helped with set-up and clean-up should be commended. This event not only earns money for our school but provides the community with a Page 3 of 8 great service. If you were unable to help with October’s sale, please mark your calendars for our spring rummage sale on May 3, 2018, and become one of the SHIELD THE VULNERABLE rummage sale enthusiasts. The Archdiocese of Baltimore and Saint Mary Catholic School are committed to THANKSGIVING LUNCHEON providing a safe environment for children. Our procedures for volunteering Our Thanksgiving Lunch is scheduled for Tuesday, November 9. in schools require that a volunteer who Families are welcome to join in this SMCS tradition as we come will have substantial contact with together as a community and give thanks for all our blessings. The children must complete screening and deadline for reservations is November 1. Many thanks are training procedures that are outlined on extended to Jay Zuspan of 28 South for catering this special event. the www.archbalt.org website. The current and effective version of the Lunch Shift Schedule by last name: Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Child and Youth Protection Policies and Procedures, 11:00 A TO G 11:45 H TO O 12:30 P TO Z including the Statement of Policy for the Protection of Children &Youth and the SCRIP Code of Conduct for Church Personnel of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which Last year St.