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.