Dear Parents,

 

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending all the Masses at St. Catherine's to thank our parishioners for their support and invite families to come to our Open House on Sunday, November 6.  Being at all the Masses gave me the opportunity of meeting a number of our alumni.  It was such a joy to chat with them and learn that they are doing very well at the high school and college levels.  All of them expressed their gratitude for the education they received at St. Catherine's.  These young men and women are confident, happy, and faith-filled.  They are involved in Life Teen, serve in a number of parish ministries, participate in the Catholic Club of their public high school, and receive the sacraments regularly.  Many come back to SCS to visit with their teachers and help: a few came to help Mrs. Khan with her music classes recently, and Coach Katie (7th/8th Grade Girls Volleyball) is a member of our class of 2012. 

 

The example of our alumni reflects the tremendous efforts which our teachers and staff put into practicing and living our school mission daily: Nurturing children through a journey in education anchored in the tradition of Catholic faith: united with family, spiritual formation, scholastic excellence

 

Last Friday, during our professional development day, our teachers, staff, and I spent the entire morning examining our school mission.  It was important that we took this time to reflect on our school mission because we know that, in order for a community to grow and thrive, all its members must think and act according to its mission. 

 

Focusing on the three pillars - "united with family, spiritual formation, scholastic excellence" - our teachers and staff brainstormed new ideas to support our mission.  Among the many strategies are the following: "Pray for the families of our students (by name) each day, strive to know our students personally and deeply so that we may understand and serve their needs, reach out to and communicate with parents good news and compliments about their children, continue to explore and utilize differentiated instruction in the classroom in order to reach all learners, create lesson activities which maximize student engagement, swap carpool duties with partner teachers so that more teachers and staff can meet and greet parents during carpool time!"

 

In the weeks and months to come, we will continue to strive to live our mission actively, mindfully, and enthusiastically.  Thank you for uniting with us in this endeavor.  We want our mission to form the minds and hearts of our young people so that they, too, like the SCS students who have gone before them, will grow to become strong young men and women with character and grace who are willing to set the world ablaze with the love of Christ.

 

With prayers,

Sister Mary Jacinta, O.P.

Principal