March 10, 2020 6-8 pm at St. Thomas

Chris’ Corner………………………….. February 21, 2020

Happy Friday Spartan Families, Looking Ahead……. Our short week was nice and I’m very impressed with all that our students  February 25, 2020 accomplished! We’ve been receiving more and more volunteer hours - please continue to submit them, we’re only 150 hours away from our end of Texas Roadhouse Give Back year goal of 500! Night, 4:00 - 10:00 pm

Please continue to submit registration packets for next school year. We  February 26, 2020 have at least nine new families who are interested and have submitted Ash Wednesday paperwork. Open seats are reserved for current families through Friday, All School Mass, 8:15 am March 13 and we’ll hold them for you as long as we possibly can. As a reminder, our staffing decisions for next year rely heavily on enrollment, so  March 5, 2020 your help is appreciated more than you know. First Communion Parent Mtg.

Elementary parents - We are continually gathering feedback on the school 6:30 pm Elliott Hall year and we are working to be very intentional about how we collect and  March 6, 2020 use data. Please check your email for a second communication with a link Curriculum Day for Teachers to a survey that corresponds to your students grade-level. No School Middle-School parents - thank you for your participation in the survey we sent during the second nine-weeks, we’ll look forward to your responses on our end-of-year survey as well.

All the best for a restful weekend,

Chris

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. ~Rev. King

From the Pastor’s Desk…………….

Dear Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic School Community,

Besides February 22nd (tomorrow) being George Washington’s Birthday, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter on this day. Peter was chosen by Jesus to serve in a position of authority. The cathedra in the apse of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome may have been the very seat Saint Peter sat upon at one time, and popes were solemnly enthroned upon this chair for many years. The chair serves as a reminder of the teaching authority of the Church, especially through the pope, as a successor of Saint Peter. We know that Pope Francis, like his predecessors, is not someone who sits around simply proclaiming various doctrines of the Church. The popes go to the margins of society reaching out and engaging people in every walk of life, in every culture, in every country they visit. In Fundraiser…….. George Washington’s study at Mt. Vernon there is a fan chair like the one he used at that time when he would go to this room to work. Few would accuse Box Tops For Education Washington of being someone who took a hands-off approach and sat around. He was often in the thick of things leading our military forces and then our It’s Time to Send in Your nation at critically important moments at the beginning of our nation’s history. Washington turned to his faith in Almighty God when making Clipped Box Tops! important decisions. These men and many other Christian men and women throughout history recognized that faith should guide our actions. The authority of the chair of Peter is manifested when the pope makes himself a $523.50 Earned so far servant to the body of Christ. Teaching the Faith is most clearly shown in Goal $1,000.00 what we do. We begin the Lenten Season next week on Ash Wednesday. Some of It’s time to send in your us might be considering what we are going to give up or what we will do. Be clipped box tops! Please send sure to include something that will deepen your walk with Our Lord. A few all your clipped box tops in the extra minutes of prayer instead of social media, reading the Bible instead of white envelope this week. watching political news on TV, spending more time each day or each week The spring deadline to send with an ailing loved one, and doing charitable outreach in the community can them in is March 1st, so we all transform you into a better Christian whose words will then have more need to get them counted and authority because your actions are a living witness. submitted ASAP.

Thanks!

Mark your calendars!

The Middle School Spring Program is Thursday, May 7th at 6:30pm. All middle school students will be performing "Willy Wonka Kids". Beginning and Advanced Band students will also be performing!

Saturday, February 22, 2020 4:30 pm - Lilly Day, Sophia and Noah Dibley, Leo Duggan, Adriel Briseno Zylman Sunday, February 23, 2020 8:00 am - Jaxon and Mason Szymanowski, Madeline Dougherty 10:30 am - Preston Manzuk, Kaden Schuetz and Kathryn Rivas 6:00 pm - Lexie Hicks, Cynthia Aguilar, Victoria Garcia, Volunteers

SCRIP Sales………………….. SCRIP is invaluable to the school budget. Sometimes things come up that the school needs that was not initially in the yearly budget. It is why it is so im- portant for everyone to participate in this program. If you have questions, please call me at anytime to find out how easy this is to do. Cards on the form you re- ceive are on hand most of the time unless you need an unusually large amount (usually over 5). Here are just some of the Items that SCRIP has purchased or helped with so far this year……….

 Mrs. Yeakey’s room needed carpet desperately.—Done  All students visited Ethos this year. Buses for transportation of students.—Done  Bus for the middle school field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry—Done  Help with field day t-shirts for students –Done  Programmable Thermostats for each classroom.—Done  Novels for middle school literature class.—Done  Art desks for Pre K –Done  Cafeteria lights to update and save energy.—Done Texas Roadhouse Give Back Night Please take one of the coupons sent home in the white envelope and enjoy dinner out for your family. Take the other coupon and pass it along to family or friends. There are more available in the office if you need them.

2/25 Texas Roadhouse Give Back Night

2/25-3/4 ILEARN Snacks

3/5 PTO Meeting (8:15am)

3/7 PROM (TBD) (NEED A CHAIR HEAD)

3/17 St. Patrick’s Day Treat

4/2 PTO Meeting (8:15am)

5/4-5/15 ILEARN Snacks

5/7 PTO Meeting (8:15am)

5/4-8 Teacher Appreciation Week

5/27 8th Grade Luncheon and Grad Walk

Amazon Smile

Amazon Smile works to donate a small Step 1 - Go to percentage of the items people buy www.smile.amazon.com back to the charity of their choice. Step 2 - Follow the prompts (if not St. Thomas is now able to be selected prompted go to step 3) as one of these charities. Instructions Step 3 - Underneath the search bar, are included on how to connect your This is a great way to support click the button that says Amazon account to St. Thomas. St. Thomas by shopping on Amazon - “supporting” If you make purchases on Amazon or there are no charges associated with plan to shop on Amazon anytime this service, just a benefit to our Step 4 - Search for “St. Thomas the during the holidays or after Church and School. Apostle School - Elkhart” then this is a great way to help support Step 5 - Select St. Thomas as your St. Thomas by doing what you already We have earned $50.00 so far. give-back charity! do! You can even track how much your We will keep you posted as to what purchases are contributing by hovering we earn. Congratulations! over St. Thomas’ name under the We receive donations quarterly. A percentage of any purchases search bar. made when shopping on Amazon