Panther Parent Association:
Enriching the
St. James Community
through Parent Involvement
February 2017                                                                            Panther PPA News Volume 3, Issue 2 
 
  Upcoming Dates

2/24 Field Day
3/3 PPA Parent Coffee
3/10
Variety Show
3/16 Box Tops Student
& Teacher Basketball Game
3/31
Lenten Dinner & Stations of the Cross
4/7
PPA Parent Coffee
4/8
Dinner Auction
Lenten Dinner
The annual PPA Lenten Dinner and Stations of the Cross student re-enactment will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, March 31st. It is a special evening for the SJCS Community to gather together during this blessed time of year. More details to come so watch your email. Contact PPA Lenten Dinner Chair, Nancy Hanson for more information.
Field Day
Fun, fitness and games will be the the focus for this year's Field Day, planned for Friday, Feb. 24th. What better way to burn off that extra energy as students gain a great workout both physically and mentally, as they tackle activities such as inflatable obstacle courses and tug-of-war contests. This school-wide event provides activities geared toward each age group.
Slots are still open for volunteers with high energy to lead stations and games. To sign up, please contact C
ommittee Chair Laurie Beechner.
Variety Show
We are rolling out the red carpet for our St. James stars! The SJCS PPA Variety Show will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 10th in the gym. Come participate in the show or just come out to watch. It's always full of entertainment -- dancing, singing, piano performances, comedy acts, etc. -- and is a fun evening for everyone! Admission is FREE but please bring a donation of canned soup with protein for The Coalition for the Homeless. 

Mandatory variety show auditions will be held in the school gym after school on Tuesday, Feb. 21st (K-4th) and Thursday, Feb. 23rd (5th-8th). There is also a mandatory dress rehearsal after school on Friday, March 3rd. 
Audition forms are available in the front office or on the Parent Portal and are due to the front office by Thursday, Feb. 16th. Contact PPA Variety Show Chair, Jamie Gutweniger with any questions.

Panther Promise

We want to know all the great things the parents are doing for St. James! This includes PPA committee hours, lunch room volunteer hours, classroom volunteer hours, cathedral ministry hours, athletic coaching hours, etc. All volunteers who have logged at least 5 hours in a trimester will be entered into a drawing for a wonderful prize from PPA. All volunteer hours logged by Feb. 25th will be eligible for the PPA drawing.

Please remember to log your hours using the online form found on the SJCS website. You can access the online form here or go to the SJCS website and click on the "Get Involved" tab on the top and scroll down to the "PPA Committees" line.  

Questions...email PPA@stjcs.com

PPA Committees
So, how do you get involved with your child and the PPA? The PPA provides a number of committees to join. Simply click on the link below. After you sign up, the committee chair will contact you with details about your choice. Remember, you must be fingerprinted prior to volunteering.


Featured PPA Committees
Box Tops for Education
Chairs: Stacy Greeno and Lauren Prather 
Volunteers assist in collecting, counting and mailing Box Tops to earn money for the school.
 
Dinner & Auction Gala
Chairs: Tammy Spence and Marti Wolszczak
Our annual Gala is an opportunity for volunteers to help plan, promote, and oversee a fabulous evening event for St. James parents.
This newsletter is created monthly by  PPA Newsletter Committee volunteers.
Chair: Janel Jacobs and Committee Members: Caitlin Murray and Jennifer Beaird.

Contact Us at:  PPA@stjcs.com
Boosterthon Success!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU -- to everyone who made the Boosterthon Glow Run a HUGE success this year. We were blessed to have raised more than $30,000 -- exceeding our goal! We couldn't have done it without all of the parent and family support, as well as all of the teacher and student enthusiasm! We are looking forward to the improvements to the playground and the middle school social area.

Congratulations to all of our classroom winners (based on pledges collected):
  • K-2 Pizza Party Winner: Ms. Urena's class
  • Grade 3-4 Soccer Game Winner: Miss Reed's class
  • Grade 5-6 Soccer Game Winner: Ms. Lutz's class
  • Grade 7-8 Soccer Game Winner: Ms. Schiffman's class
Thank you to our amazing Boosterthon PPA Chairs, Julie and Dan Markiewicz, and all of the volunteers. And, thank you again to all of our Boosterthon T-shirt Sponsors who made our custom shirts possible. 

Grandparents Gather for Special Day
This year's Grandparents' Day was full of love and smiles and created some lifelong memories. It was wonderful to watch the students bond with their grandparents and join each other for Mass, followed by a wonderful picnic under the tent with delicious food from Firehouse Subs and performances by the SJCS cheerleaders, Wizard of Oz drama club members and the SJCS Tone Chimes.

Afterwards, the students were able to show off their classrooms and the day ended with a special take home treat -- pictures of each family! It was a great turnout this year and several grandparents express
ed their love of this annual event.

We would like to thank all of our teachers, administrators and volunteers who made this event successful and welcoming.Thank you to Grandparents' Day PPA Chairs Wendy Thomson, Carrie Conti and their fabulous committee all of your hard work.

   

Chili Cookoff and Kids Bakeoff 

The morning started with Grandparents' Day and ended with a scrumptious food competition: A Chili Cook-off. This year our palates were wowed with the creative recipes that were presented. Family and friends bonded over bowls of this homemade comfort food.

Of course, every good meal needs to followed by dessert. The Junior Bake-off provided just the right amount of pastries and desserts to make our stomachs happy and full.

We are already looking forward to tasting these yummy dishes next year! Thank you to all family and friends that came as well as those who shared their family recipes. 


Spiritwear Update
Thank you to all those who ordered the new 2017 SJCS Spirit Items! We anticipate receiving these items within the next couple of weeks so watch your email for pick-up instructions.

Did you miss out on ordering??? GREAT NEWS...due to minimum order quantities we have a limited number of SJCS Corkcicle tumblers available to order online here.

As always and for your convenience, the SJCS Spirit Wear online store website is continuously open for orders of PE Uniforms and available in-stock Spirit Items. To allow for processing time, orders placed online by 8 a.m. the Monday PRIOR to a PPA Parent Coffee (usually the first Friday of every month) will be processed by volunteers and ready for pickup at the PPA Parent Coffee Friday morning from 7:30-8:30 am. Upcoming PPA Parent Coffee Dates are as follows (subject to change): March 3rd, April 7th and May 5th.

The SJCS Spirit Store is a volunteer-run store maintained by volunteers from the PPA and Panther Athletic Club (PAC). 

Questions...contact Lisa Watson.