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
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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
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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.”
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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.
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.
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!
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.
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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.
•••••
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
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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.
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Humorous
Excellent
• 7th Grade: Shannon Burton
• 7th Grade: Richie Friedl
Poetry
Excellent
• 6th Grade: Dylan Thompson
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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].
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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!”
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