Thoughts From Our Principal Thoughts From Our Pastor
Transcription
Thoughts From Our Principal Thoughts From Our Pastor
Mary Immaculate School Parents/Teachers Club Newsletter Congratulations to our MIS Librarian, Karen Saldana, who has been recognized this past month for her outstanding service at Mary Immaculate School through the Catholic Foundation’s Work of Heart Award! Thoughts From Our Pastor The National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sponsor Catholic Schools week each year. The week always begins on the last Sunday in January. The year the dates are January 30 to February 5. This is the 37th time Catholic Schools Week has been held; the first celebration was in 1974. This annual celebration focuses on the good work done by the Catholic schools across the nation. As we begin this new calendar year and continue with this school calendar year, it is fitting for us to recommit our selves to fulfilling our school mission of providing “academic excellence in a Catholic and Christ-centered environment.” The theme “Catholic Schools – the Good News in Education” has been used for several years. This year the NCEA has also incorporated the phrase, “Dividends for Life: Faith, Knowledge, Discipline, Morals”. These four ideals are the cornerstones of Catholic education. “Academic Excellence” is easier to quantify and assess through homework scores and testing. “Catholic and Christ-centered environment,” however, is more difficult to quantify and assess but still it should be readily identifiable. The executive director of USCCB noted, “We realize that in most parts of the country a Catholic education is not without some cost. But I can’t think of a better investment in the future than to invest in the education of a child.” Feature Story: MIS Service ......... 3 Community Events .................. 4 Community News .................... 5 Serving Our Community .......... 6 Volunteer Thank Yous .......... 7 Spotlight on Sports .................. 7 January 2010 Thoughts From Our Principal The dividends are life lessons for our students. There is no better way to invest in your child’s future. In these tough economic times parents can find comfort in the fact that they are giving their children tools they will use and need for a lifetime. Contents www.mischool.org Make plans to celebrate the good news of Mary Immaculate Catholic School with us. We will celebrate students, parents and teachers. The week will culminate with a special liturgy and Grandparents’ Day. Watch the weekly Mustang Mail and Sunday’s Week at a Glance for the 2010 schedule of events for Catholic Schools Week. Happy New Year! Nancy Russell We, individually and as a community, are responsible for fulfilling our role to reach this mission. All of us: parent, teacher, student, faculty, staff and pastor are to do our part in this endeavor. A Catholic and Christ-centered environment is one where Jesus’ words are lived out, not just spoken. As a reminder, Jesus summed up the Law and the Prophets in one, two part, commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul and love your neighbor as yourself.” So, a Christ centered environment would be identified by the manner in which each and every one of us loves God and each other. Our love for God and neighbor would necessarily find expression in the way we treat each other. So, a Catholic and Christ-centered environment is an environment where we love, are loved, and it shows that we love and are loved. Lest there be any confusion here, I’m not merely referring to the students at our school fulfilling this mission, I’m referring to the entire school community, parents, teachers, students, faculty, staff and pastor. We all have to fulfill this mission and provide the Catholic and Christ centered environment! As I wrote above, a new year gives us an opportunity to recommit our selves to fulfilling our school mission. May our year be filled with the many blessings of fulfillment! God bless, Fr. Michael Photo Finishes .... 8 1 click here to return to page 1 of electronic copy MIS PTC BOARD (meets Jan. 5) President Alina Gaubert Rita Ford (Pres. Elect) Vice President Dyan Dalton Treasurer Christine Huff Christina Martin (Treasurer-Elect) Secretary Vicki Davis Volunteer Services Catherine Bitterman Julie Donnelly Community Enrichment Jane Shafer Marie Coker Spiritual Enrichment Melissa Haydek Gillian Norman Hospitality Chair Leslie Sakalas Ann Hunt Happy New Year from the PTC! On behalf of the entire PTC Board, I’d like to wish you and your families a very Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday break and is now looking forward to a wonderful second half of the school year. We have several exciting events to look forward to between now and June. The PTC will sponsor the Chili Cook Off, Texas Hold ‘Em, and Bunko Night in a couple of weeks, Catholic School’s Week in early February, and several other community-building events. But the one we are most excited about is our 2010 Heart of Gold Auction! www.misauction.org We invite you to include a tribute to your loved ones in the 2010 Heart of Gold Auction program. This is a wonderful chance to congratulate a team for a successful year, celebrate your child's 1st Communion or Graduation, or thank someone for their love and support. Please complete the order form that can be found on the auction website, send with payment to the front office, and email your digital ad to Marie Coker, [email protected]. You should receive your auction invitation www.misauction.org in the mail soon. Be sure to take advantage of the early bird pricing and send in your RSVP as soon as possible. As mentioned in December, you will now receive auction update emails every Tuesday, keeping you informed on everything auction-related. Watch for exciting news on our new auctioneer, the online portion of our auction, a new electronic system we’ll be using to facilitate bidding for items on the Big Board, and information on our speaker at this year’s event. The MIS Heart of Gold Auction is not only the school’s largest fundraiser but it is also the largest community event for the school. This makes it an excellent opportunity for parents and friends of the school to come together for an important cause, a cause near and dear to all of our hearts — our children! The majority of the profits from our auction goes toward the school operating budget to offset the rising costs of education and help keep tuition costs down. Teacher Liaison Sara Cusick Funds generated are also used to provide each teacher with $300 each year for classroom supplies, give each grade $700 for buses or other cultural activities, as well as help with general school improvements. Some recent examples of these improvements and additions include new carpet in the library, new lockers in the junior high wing, pads for the gym walls, canopies for the playground, and classroom bibles. This is one MIS event you’ll definitely want to be a part of! MIS ADVISORY COUNCIL Again, Happy New Year and good luck with all the resolutions! As always, send any questions or comments to me at [email protected] . (meets Jan. 21) Alina Gaubert, PTC President President Jim Bitterman Vice-President Mike Tullis Secretary: Lisa Staberg Members: Charlotte Bickerton Eddie Eason Jim Stofer Thom Suhy Marcus Scrudder Steven Hunt 2 click here to return to page 1 of electronic copy FEATURE STORY: THE REASON FOR THE SEASON Community service is a yearround activity at Mary Immaculate Catholic School (MIS) in Farmers Branch, Texas, but the spirit of giving in the students really flies into action during December. “We have service projects each month that help our students understand the connection between community service and their Catholic faith,” said principal, Nancy Russell. “And as the Christmas season approaches, our students take stock of the blessings they have received during the year and realize just how fortunate their own families are. They then want to share their good fortune with others by reaching out beyond their usual community service.” The school choir offers the most vibrant and vocal sharing of good will. Their voices ring with both traditional and modern tunes when the students sing at the Farmers Branch Senior Center across the street from the school. Adorned with Santa hats and jingle bells, the choir often uses the American Sign Language to relay the words in tandem with their voices. Their music director, Vivian Marino, is skilled in signing and has been teaching the MIS students to sign as they sing ever since she joined the school in 1992. Greetings to the U.S. troops send the students’ good wishes the farthest distance. Colored with crayons and markers or glistening with glitter, the words on their “Hero Letters” reflect the discussions that the students and teachers have as they work on their projects: “Come home safely,” “I appreciate you,” “Thank you for keeping our world safe.” One third-grade student sums it up the best with her words of innocent youth: “I want to share God’s love with the soldiers who are keeping us free.” During most of their fine art classes, the students study the history of art and how culture affects art through the different eras in different countries. But as the holidays approach, art instructor Cathy Phemister encourages students to see how their own contributions to art can brighten the world of others by creating gift bags. Along with their cheerful messages, these colorful creations carry homemade shawls that are knitted by the Prayer Shawl Ministry of the Parish. Together, these gifts comfort individuals in the community who are experiencing grief or illness in their lives. The book drive for Children’s Hospital in Dallas is perhaps the project that hits closest to home for the students. Held annually in loving memory of Kraig Frick, an MIS student who passed away in 1996 from an inoperable brainstem tumor, the book drive encourages families to contribute new or “like new” books to children who must spend Christmas away from home. The third-graders decorate bookmarks to accompany the books, and the entire collection of gifts is sent to the Children’s Hospital to help restock their Child Life library. This article appeared in the Carrollton/FB NeighborsGo Section of the January 1, 2010 Dallas Morning News. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, one of the oldest charitable organizations in the world, has a local branch that is assisted by the school’s largest project for the month, a school-wide toy drive. The different grade levels are encouraged to contribute gifts that are age-appropriate to their grade so that a very wide variety of toys are contributed. The toys are sorted by the students, and then combined with gifts of food, clothing and household items donated by church families before a St. Vincent de Paul case worker delivers the entire package to eligible families in the community. The school has been participating in the St. Vincent de Paul toy drive for over 30 year and is a popular activity with the students. “Not everyone has the same opportunities that our families have [to provide toys to their children].” said Andrian Collins, an eighth grade student. “This toy drive helps us to give them that opportunity.” Teacher Jennifer Watts, the service project coordinator for the school, is proud of the efforts of MIS students and families. “We have a very generous parish and school community.” explains Ms. Watts, “By providing different opportunities for service, the MIS school community is able to assist a variety of people with different needs.” 3 click here to return to page 1 of electronic copy COMMUNITY BUILDING EVENTS THIS MONTH Students from MIS will be assisting at St. Ann’s 10:00 Mass on Sunday, January 24th as greeters, choir, readers, and altar servers. We invite you to join them in their celebration of Catholic education at this Mass. SIGN UP NOW! Chili Cookoff/ Texas Hold’em/Bunko: Jan 16th Gather your friends and family together for this adults only evening to show off your best Chili and/ or play Texas Hold’em or Bunko! This funfilled community building event includes a complete chili dinner and prizes. Registration due by Jan. 8th. Click here for the registration form that you can turn into the school office with your payment. Contact Jane Shafer ([email protected]) for more information or to volunteer to help with the event. Celebrating Mary Immaculate and Catholic Schools Week Let us ring in the new year celebrating the gift of Catholic Education. Mary Immaculate School will be hosting Catholic Schools Week February 1 - February 5. In preparation for this exciting week all are encouraged to attend the Alumni Mass at Mary Immaculate Church on Sunday January 31st at 10:30. There are many wonderful things taking place that first week in February: Monday 2/1 Student Appreciation Day with ice cream at lunch & a free skating party at Interskate after school. Tuesday 2/2 Open House sessions will be held in the morning and evening. This is a great time for current and prospective families to see the school and classrooms. Wednesday 2/3 Parent Appreciation Day with free coffee, juice & donuts in the morning carpool drop-off line or served inside. Thursday 2/4 Teacher/ Staff Appreciation with a luncheon for teachers and staff. Friday 2/5 Grand Friend’s Day where grandparents and grand friends can attend the school Mass, enjoy a breakfast reception and visit the classrooms. Note: Dates may be subject to change...consult your Week at a Glance emails to confirm. 4 Please mark your calendars so you can join us in giving back to the school that has given us so much. Let’s kick off the new year celebrating Mary Immaculate School and the gift of Catholic Education. Used Uniform Sale: Jan. 8th Our Used Uniform Sale will be on Jan 8th from 8-10am, 2-4pm, & 5-7pm in the Parish Hall. Please come shop with us after drop off, after mass, during pick up, or after work! We will be sell your MIS approved uniform items such as shirts, blouses, jumpers, skirts, pants, skirts, and sweatshirts, as usual. We will also sell scouting uniforms, MIS spirit wear, and MIS sports gear. You might even find some practically brand new shoes! All buyers should bring CASH in 1 and 5 denominations, as well as plenty of checks to write to all those individual sellers. There’s no fitting rooms, so bring measurements/child. All sellers should bring clothes washed and on hangers (please no stained/torn clothes.) Safety pin a selfsealing envelope with your name, phone, item size and price to each piece of clothing. If you would like to volunteer, have questions, or prefer an early drop off, please email Paula Bertrand at [email protected]. Grand Friends’ Day MIS Grand Friends’ Day is Friday, February 5th. The day will begin with the celebration of Mass. After Mass there will be a breakfast reception and visits in the classrooms. Please encourage your grandparents and grand friends to visit MIS that day and see all the great things going on at our school! ••••• Other Key Dates This Month: Tue Jan 5 7pm – 9pm PTC Board Meeting Thu Jan 14 Chick-Fil-A Family Dinner Nite Sat Jan 16 5pm Chili Cook-Off / Bunko / Texas Hold ‘Em 5pm-10pm Mon Jan 18 NO SCHOOL: MLK, Jr. Holiday Wed Jan 20 Service Project: Austin Street Centre Thu Jan 21 6:30pm – 9pm SAC Meeting Tue Jan 26 7pm – 9pm PTC Board Meeting Wed Jan 27 Chili’s Family Dinner Nite click here to return to page 1 of electronic copy Community News Mary Immaculate Catholic Community News The parish office is now distributing their quarterly newsletter on-line. To read, click on the link below: http://www.maryimmaculatechurch.org/site/ cpage.asp?cpage_id=13874&sec_id=2706 Egg-citing Way to Learn Every December, Mr. Finch’s 6th grade Science classes participate in a much-anticipated project: The Annual Egg Drop. Students are challenged to build a contraption to safely house an egg that is dropped from various locations. They work in groups of three and allowed only a limited amount of supplies: 25 straws, 25 toothpicks, and about 3 feet of masking tape. The teams are given one week to design, build and drop their eggs. The distance their eggs fall grows greater with each drop. First the contraption is dropped from a team member standing on the floor, then moved to standing on a chair if the egg survives. If the egg is intact after the second drop, the team member moves onto the counter to drop the egg from ceiling height. If all of these locations are completed without breaks, the egg is finally moved to a drop from a second story window. This year, five groups made it to the window for the final drop. Sadly, no group survived this last drop...better luck next year! MIS Speech Team Competitions Congratulation to the MIS Speech Team! Several of our students received Superior and Excellent scores at the recent Bishop Dunn Speech Meet. The Speech Team practices after school for about 4 weeks prior to each event. The competition provides interested 6th-8th graders with a venue to compete in the following performance categories: monologues, prose, poetry, duets, storytelling and oratory. The next competition on February 6th is open to those students that competed in a previous meet. Here are the results from the Dec. 5th Meet... Duet Superior Perfect Score • 8th Grade: Adrian Collins and Michael Connally • 8th Grade: Michelle Dalton and Gabrielle Santiago Superior • 8th Grade: Nicholas Mayfield and Jessica Wiklund Excellent • 8th Grade: Joe Heath and John Edward Shuford Prose Superior • 7th Grade: Leo Ernest • 7th Grade: Audrey Gan Excellent • 6th Grade: Katie McMord • 6th Grade: Rebecca Moxley In January, the new Mustang Spirit Store goes to regular business hours of 2:30 to 4:00 pm on Fridays. 5 Humorous Excellent • 7th Grade: Shannon Burton • 7th Grade: Richie Friedl Poetry Excellent • 6th Grade: Dylan Thompson click here to return to page 1 of electronic copy Serving Our Community The Spiritual Enrichment Committee helps to linking our faith between school and home. For more info, contact Melissa Haydek or Gillian Norman. Donate your old Christmas cards to St. Jude's Ranch for Children, an organization for abused, abandoned and neglected children. The children earn money by removing the fronts of donated cards to make new ones that are sold in packets of 10. Their website is: www.stjudesranch.org. If you are interested, you can mail your old Christmas cards or any other greeting cards to: St. Jude's Ranch for Children Recycled Card Program 100 St. Jude's Street Boulder City, NV 89005 They are accepting cards until February 28, 2010. January Feast Days Epiphany – January 6th (observed by the Church on the Sunday between Jan 1st and Jan 8th) January’s Focus: Gifts of the Holy Spirit and Corporal Work of Mercy The term epiphany means “to show” or “to make known” or “to reveal.” The Wise Men or Magi who brought gifts to the child Jesus were the first Gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as “King” and so were the first to “show” or “reveal” Jesus to the world. This act of the Magi was one of the first indications that Jesus came for all people, of all nations, of all races, and that the work of God in the world would not be limited to only a few. This is a time of focusing on the mission of the Church in reaching others by “showing” Jesus as the Savior of all people. Knowledge is the gift of the Holy Spirit we will focus on for January. Our corporal work of mercy is to shelter the homeless. Please see our flyer in kidmail for more details. The children were given blessed chalk before the Christmas break so your family can bless your home in celebration of the Epiphany. May God bless us and fill us with the light of Christ, so that by His grace we may reveal Jesus to all that we meet. Feast Days of Classroom Patron Saints January 4th Saint Elizabeth Ann Seaton – patron saint for 3C, 4A, 7B January 20th Saint Sebastian – patron saint for physical education Mary Immaculate Rosary Guild You are invited to join the new Mary Immaculate Rosary Guild. We will meet once a month for an hour or so to learn the art of rosary making and to make mission rosaries to be distributed locally and worldwide. Our first informational meeting will be held January 15th at 2:00 pm in the cafeteria. Our project for the spring will be to help Monsignor Sagra meet his goal to take 1,000 rosaries to the Philippines to pass out in celebration of his 45th anniversary of being a priest. Please plan to come by and help us out! Even if you think you can’t learn to tie a rosary knot, there are many other ways you can participate even from home. For more info contact Christina Martin at 972245-2580 or [email protected]. MIS Student Community Service Project: Austin Street Centre Austin Street Centre provides a safe shelter every night to more than 400 men, women, and children. In addition to shelter they provide food, medication, substance abuse counseling, jobtraining and ministry to those in need. Austin Street Centre provides all these services free of charge and is funded only by private donations. On January 20th, the students of MIS will be collecting new or gently used items to be donated to Austin Street Centre. The specific items being collected will be listed in the weekly Mustang e-mail or by flyer. In addition to the collected items, 7th & 8th grade will be making sack lunches to feed all those needing a meal at the shelter on January 20th. This is a great opportunity for MIS students to answer the call to shelter the homeless. Mother Hubbard's Ball Saturday, January 23, 2010 7 p.m. Knights of Columbus Hall 2280 Springlake Rd #100 Dallas TX 75234 For the benefit of SVDP Food Pantry and sponsored by First Community Bank and Mary Immaculate Parish, this event includes a dinner and dancing to the Celebration Orchestra. Cost per person is $15 plus a nonperishable food item or Grocery Store Gift Card. For more information, contact Anne Baum at [email protected] or contact Mike Murawski at [email protected]. 6 click here to return to page 1 of electronic copy VOLUNTEERS: YOU LIGHT OUR WAY! Take time to thank your fellow parents and staff who donated their time and talents to organizing last month’s events! The PTC spiritual enrichment committee would like to thank all the volunteers who helped feed & serve 100 seniors at the brunch on Dec. 8th...the senior citizens all had a wonderful evening of fellowship and great food! A big thank you to Macklin’s Catering from the seventh grade for preparing the delicious pies for the Thanksgiving pie sale. The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention. ~Oscar Wilde Spotlight on Sports Highsteppers Winning Tradition Continues! Congratulations to our 2009-2010 Highsteppers and Spirits who competed at Bishop Lynch’s 1st Annual Stars and Stunts Dance and Cheer Competition. The competition was open to all K-8 parochial students and was held Sunday December 13, 2009. The Highsteppers swept the competition with their routines and won first, second, and third place in Dance Division 1 category. The Highstepper officers came home with the first place trophy in Dance Division 2 along with the “Superior Technique” award. The Spirits were also recognized winning the "Outstanding Precision" award. All the girls did a terrific job. They have been focusing on the competition since October and have been practicing every week. Their hard work paid off! We would like to give a special thanks to both Liz Mahaffey and Micaela Gomez for all their time and commitment to the teams. Way to Go Mustangs! 7 click here to return to page 1 of electronic copy Photo Finishes Festival of Tables by Mary Lecca It was a wonderful luncheon, style show and gathering at this year’s Festival of Tables. The Parish Hall was transformed into a beautiful Christmas wonderland! We want to thank Strong’s Nursery for donating all the gorgeous poinsettias and live Christmas trees. Macklin’s Catering provided us ladies with tasty salads, breads and three beautiful and delicious cakes to choose from. The hostesses decorated each of their tables with style and creativity. We would like to thank the following hostesses: “Chicas Bonitas” – hosted by Ana Schaller “Oldies But Goodies” – hosted by Nancy Dobbs “Gardening” – hosted by Christine Huff/Marissa Tomlinson “Longhorn” – hosted by Michelle Rozier/Marlo Senick/Marianne Megarity “Boston Tea Party” – hosted by Marisa Walsdorf “Winter Wonderland” – hosted by Margie Jones/ Wendy Kelleher “Wo-Man’s Best Friend” – hosted by Mary Lecca “Spa” – hosted by Holly Kerr “Clue” – hosted by Margie Marshall/Rita Ford Thanks also to our wonderful 7th and 8th grade waiters and waitresses. In addition, we would like to thank all our generous raffle donors. 8 The style show was a big success thanks to our wonderful vendors: CAbi (Wendy Taylor), Luli & Me (Frank & Ana Casero) and Jewels by Park Lane (Wendi Jones). We also want to thank some additional vendors: Cratton’s Candles (Sharon Hatton) and Rita Ford Designs. This year we added in our mini MIS junior models. They modeled the beautiful fashions by Luli & Me. They were so adorable! We want to thank Millie Kerr, Charlotte Kerr, Katherine McMahon, Rachel Chambers, Kylie Dobbs, Jadyn Bozarth and Grace Taylor. Festival of Tables is always a fun and exciting time for the ladies of MIS, their friends and family to join together for feast, fellowship... and a little shopping, of course! See you all next year! click here to return to page 1 of electronic copy Photo Finishes MIDs News This year’s 2nd Annual Turkey Bash basketball tournament, hosted by the Mary Immaculate Dads (MIDs), was a great success! With 24 teams participate this year, there were some amazing plays to see, mostly performed by the kids. Last second 2 pointers, schooling the dads, etc.— it was wonderful to see our children push themselves to beat their opponents. This year’s champions on Varsity were “The Replacements”: Jack and Jill Bitterman and Megan and Dano Olinger. 2nd place went to the “Playmakers”: Alec Ramos, Bob Dalton, Rachel and Kevin Kohler. JV champions were the “Team Chambers”: Ted and Michael Chambers, Cameron Johnson and Matt Colley. 2nd place went to the “Highlighters”: Todd and Pauli Kerr and Patrick and Whitney Ryan. The MIDs raised about $600 after expenses and are on their way to providing a new sign for our Gymnasium. If anyone is interested in helping with this project, please contact Kevin Kohler for more information. The MIDs have some other very special events coming up through this 2nd half of the school year and all MIS dads are invited to get involved in some way. Whether you realize it or not, you are an intricate part assisting OUR school with your involvement. You are teaching our kids some of the most valuable lessons in life: Support your community, Make time for family, Compete in a friendly manner, and Get involved! For more information on the MIDs, contact Kevin Kohler at [email protected]. “I can’t tell you how much we appreciate the people that donated their time, money and talent to this special event.” said Kevin Kohler, tournament organizer and the President of the MIDs. “A special thank you to the referees, who had to put up with some tough talking teams. And thanks also to all of the behind the scene volunteers that made this all possible...you know who you are!” 9 click here to return to page 1 of electronic copy
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