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ST. LOUISE SCHOOL PARENT BULLETIN
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January is always one of the busiest months around St. Louise School, as we kick-off a number of annual special events:
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Admissions Season for prospective new school parents (has begun already), as well as re-registration for current school parents (which begins on January 31);
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Catholic Schools' Week celebrations that kick-off with a sea of red-sweatered-students attending various Masses the last weekend of the month (January 26-27);
- The Annual School Gift Campaign for donations from all current school parents, as well as many alumni parents, parishioners, and school supporters (which begins now!).
As much as we've entered hectic times with some long days and nights and weekend-work for me, I feel more energized than tired. I think it's because I get excited when I talk to others about my favorite subject - Catholic education. I feel so fortunate to have been either a student in, a parent of kids enrolled in, a teacher in, or a principal in Catholic schools for 52 of my 58 years! There was no Catholic kindergarten when I was a kid -- but, yes, the "wheel" had been invented by then; don't get smart! -- so I didn't enter the Catholic school system until 1st grade. But ever since I was 6, I've been a student/parent/teacher/principal in a Catholic school. My involvement as a teacher and principal has been just as much of a ministry as a job. I join with all my teachers and staff in thanking you for entrusting your children to us for seven hours a day, as we partner with you in the educational and faith development of your children.
Speaking of my teachers and staff, were you aware that 100% of them participate in the Annual School Gift Campaign (ASGC)?! They are not required to do so per their employee contracts, but the school faculty believe so much in the importance of Catholic education and have such a love for St. Louise, that they all donate! (As do my wife and I.) As you know, as school parents you are actually required to participate in the ASGC when you sign your Tuition Contract each year. Of course, I believe without this requirement, you'd still donate...just as the teachers and I do...it's just that it's easier if we spell out each year what the commitments are for a Catholic school parent.
You received in the U.S. Mail in recent days our Annual Report, and it contained your Annual School Gift Campaign request letter and pledge envelope. I ask that you please send in to school over the coming weeks your entire donation or at least your initial pledge. Thanks for giving as much as you are able, after prayerful consideration. Remember, we offer this fund raiser as a way to offer you a tax-deductible way to help finance the school, instead of simply raising tuition by another couple hundred dollars per family, as tuition payments are not tax-deductible.
Your tuition payments cover about 80% of the cost to run our school (paying salaries and benefits, buying books and computers, upkeeping the rooms and buildings, etc.). The other 20% comes from fund raisers and donations such as this ASGC. Your ASGC gifts will go directly into our school operating fund, helping us to have enough funds to buy those books and computers and to help give annual raises to our faculty.
For your convenience, we offer many avenues through which you may donate to the Annual School Gift Campaign. If going the avenue of paying your ASGC donation by check, you may use the pledge envelope we mailed you and return to us now a one-time gift paid in full. However, we realize many families are able to pledge a larger donation if they divide their gift into four quarterly payments or twelve monthly payments, or even pay via credit card. If giving through any of these alternate avenues helps you give more, by all means we will accommodate a gift in four-parts, 12-parts, via credit card, ....even via a donation of stocks!
Many families choose to donate by using their credit cards online here, not only because that allows them to give more, but they also might earn airline-mile rewards. Then this whole donation-thing ends up a win-win. You win miles, and we win donation-revenue. If you have any questions about the best way for your family to give or want to explain a special circumstance, such as giving via stocks, please contact Cindy Wagner in our development office.
Besides sending your gift to the school, please take advantage of your company's matching gift program if applicable. Matching gifts are not able to be used with tuition payments, but they are with fund raisers like the ASGC, so this is another reason why the ASGC is so valuable. If you have questions about matching gifts, you may ask Cindy.
I realize that this is a time of year that might find some school families in awkward financial situations. Maybe you're still paying off your Christmas purchases you made with a credit card in December and money is tight now. Maybe you just lost a thousand dollars on your Vegas bet that the Seahawks were going to go to the Super Bowl. As a parent who spent 20 straight years paying for two children's Catholic elementary school, Catholic high school, and Catholic college tuitions, I can totally relate to tight finances. That is why we offer paying your donation in periodic payments or using a credit card. Thanks for praying about your gift and giving as much as you are able to stretch.
Thank you for all you do as Catholic school families and supportive, involved parents, to help St. Louise! The teachers, staff, and I appreciate you!
Pax et bonum,
As I mentioned about admissions season beginning, besides the upcoming Open House on January 31st - that you are welcome to attend, and are encouraged to invite co-workers/neighbors/friends with school-age kids - January 31st is also the date we send home the re-enrollment paperwork for current school parents to re-enroll their children for the 2019-20 school year.
If you will be having a child newly apply to St. Louise for the first time - such as in our PreK or Kdg. program - please contact Lola & Mindy in the school office to ask for additional paperwork to be sent home for this initial enrollment.
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Upcoming Calendar of Events
Today
Tomorrow
- Registration closes for CYO Volleyball; see the article below for more information
Saturday, January 19
- Speech Team competes in Seattle Prep Tourney; Go, Chargers!
Monday, January 21 -
NO SCHOOL
- Martin Luther King, Jr's Birthday
- School and Kids' Club closed
Thursday, January 24
- Blessing of the Patrick Cimprich Memorial Plaque/Tree, 8:30am
Saturday and Sunday, January 26 and 27 - Catholic Schools' Week Begins
- All students are asked to attend a weekend Mass at St. Louise wearing a complete school uniform; the reward is a free-dress-bracelet, to be worn on Monday the 28th for a free dress day
- Coffee & Donuts will be served in the school lobby after Sunday's 7:30/9/11 Masses, with student art work on display throughout the school
- Students in 4/5/6/8 will have special roles in the various Masses at St. Louise
Save the Dates:
- Thursday, January 31 - Open House at 6:30PM will be for all grade levels - PreK through 8th. Please invite your neighbor, co-worker, friend with upcoming school-age children to accompany you.
- Friday, February 22 - 9:00 Mass with students' grandparents as special guests, followed by reception in the school
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Calling All Parents
Among the plentiful volunteer opportunities at St. Louise for parents is the opportunity to step forward to serve as a member of the School Commission or the Parents' Club Board. Each group needs a few new members annually to start 3-year terms. The process starts with prospective new members making known their interest in the winter so the final selection of members can be made by the spring. For the 2019-20 through 2021-22 school years, the School Commission will be looking for three new members, and the Parents' Club Board will be needing two new members starting in September, 2019.
You don't need any specific 'job skills" or education/work backgrounds on your resume to be selected for either group, but you do need a love for St. Louise School and a commitment to assist your kid's school in thriving. The time commitment is typically no more than a few hours per month from September through May.
For more information on what each of these parent leadership groups do, please go to this
page on our website. Also if you click around this page, you'll find the names and faces of the following fellow school parents who are current members of the Parents' Club Board and School Commission. If you'd like to talk more to one of them to get a feel for the time commitment and/or to throw your hat in the ring, please do so!
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Save the Date for these Catholic Schools' Week Events
What is National Catholic Schools' Week? Since 1974, Catholic Schools' Week is the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States. It starts the last Sunday in January and runs all week, which in 2019 is January 27 - February 1. The motto for National Catholic Schools Week 2019 is "
Catholic Schools: Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed"
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four objectives we
definitely
have for our students
.
Schools throughout America typically observe the annual celebration week with Masses, open houses, and other activities for students, families, parishioners, and community members. Through these events, schools focus on the value Catholic education provides to young people and its contributions to our church, our communities and our nation.
At St. Louise School, the following is our calendar of special events...
Saturday, 1/26 -and- Sunday, 1/27
theme:
We Love our Parish
+ Catholic Schools Week Masses at:
- St. Louise: Saturday at 5PM; Sunday at 7:30AM, 9AM, 11AM, 1PM (en EspaƱol), 6PM
- St. Jude, Redmond: Sunday at 9AM, 11AM
- Our Lady of Sorrows, Snoqualmie: Sunday at 9:30AM
- Holy Innocents, Duvall: Sunday at 10:30AM
+ All students who attend any listed Mass above - in full school uniform - will receive a "free dress bracelet" which, when worn to school on Monday, allows them a non-uniform day
+ Students from grades 4/5/6/8 assist with the St. Louise Masses as ushers, lectors, & Eucharistic ministers; selected 8th Graders read personal essays on the value of a St. Louise School Catholic education
+ Coffee & Donuts hosted by Parents' Club & School Commission in the school lobby after the three morning St. Louise Masses; tour the school hallways at this time to see student artwork displayed
Monday, 1/28
theme:
We Love our Students & Parents
+ Free Dress Day for bracelet-wearers who attended a weekend Mass in full school uniform
+ No-Homework Night for the entire school
+ Letter-Writing Activity - students write thank you letters to parents for sending them to a Catholic school
+ Pizza-and-a-Movie Reward Day for our 5th grade students who dutifully serve as Safety Patrol members
Tuesday, 1/29
theme:
We Love our Neighbors
+ Tuesday Tour of prospective school parents at 9:45 & 10:50
+ Faculty Bake Sale at lunch time - students buy homemade treats from the teachers and school staff, as they raise funds for Seattle's Union Gospel Mission
+ Art Activity - students design prayer cards to be given to the hungry/homeless at Seattle's Union Gospel Mission
Wednesday, 1/30
theme:
We Love our Teachers & School Staff
+
Teacher-Appreciation Day
for our St. Louise faculty; families encouraged to send notes of thanks & praise
+ School & Parish Staffs treated to a lunch from Parents' Club Hospitality Committee from 12-1, while parent volunteers supervise the classrooms
+ Gr.6-8 take their parents out to lunch from 11:15-1 (permission slip due 1/25)
Thursday, 1/31
theme: We Love our School
+ Read-In for the entire school from 2:05-2:45
+ Young/old paired-students go outclasses work together to pick up trash on various projects around campus
+ Open House of all Gr. Pre-K through 8th grade rooms and specialists - 6:30 to 7:30pm; both current school families and prospective school families invited
Friday, 2/1
theme: We Love our God
+ Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament - attended by Gr. 2-8 homerooms
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Charger Cards Are a Great Way to Appreciate Your Children's Teachers
C
oming up on Wednesday, January 30, is "Teacher & Staff Appreciation Day,"
as part of national Catholic Schools' Week. Remember, as a Catholic school, we take this last week in January to celebrate our school and honor the teachers. (The May date for "Teacher Appreciation" was created for public schools.)
T
ake advantage of Charger Cards if you'd like to treat your child's teachers and/or any staff members to a thank you gift on the 30th.
You'll find the faculty's Wish List of their favorite Charger Cards
here
.
The Charger Cards sale office in the central wing of the original school is open on school-Fridays from 8:15-9:00AM.
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Eighth grader Alexandra took part in the annual tradition of representing Civil Air Patrol by recently attending a St. Louise Sunday Mass in uniform. Civil Air Patrol is a volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary that carries out emergency services while promoting aerospace education, fitness, and future leadership. They are celebrating their 77th anniversary. We're proud of you, Alexandra.
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Thank You, Volunteers!
We appreciate these volunteers who helped out last week's Middle School Open House: school parents Erin Aitken, Liz DeBord, Amy Wilken, John Yuen, Abigail Eala, Colleen Nowak, Shawna Shaules, Annabelle Gegus, Doreen Greene, Kristine Bautista, and Rachael Wong; and school alumni Myles Nowak, Natalie Nowak, Amelia Aitken, and Kate Wilken.
Our final Open House of the admissions season is in two weeks - on Thursday, January 31, from 6:30-7:30pm. If you can help with hospitality, please contact Liz DeBord or Shawna Shaules. If you can help as a greeter, please contact Cindy Wagner.
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Impressive Eighth Grader Organizes Benefit Concert
Camille, one of our 8th graders, went to
Nepal last year, visiting her mother, Laure Heland, who was working there as part of a special University of Washington project involving helping the Nepalis create sustainable communities. While there, Camille met with students from a local junior high school - Little Flowers School - that was just rebuilt after an earthquake. Camille learned firsthand of a project the school had - create a rooftop garden so the students will learn to grow their own vegetables for school lunches, and will be able to sell the leftovers to pay for students' high school educations. (The public high schools are of dire quality in Nepal, so paying for a private high school is basically a necessity in order to assure getting a HS diploma.) Another benefit of the rooftop garden is that the plants will insulate the Little Flowers School, making it warmer in winter and cooler in summer. Camille realized she could help them by raising money that would be used by the Nepalis at the school to buy gardening and watering tools.
So to raise the necessary funds to send overseas to Nepal, the ingenuitive Camille organized an instrumental concert at St. Louise last Saturday night, where she had nine guest artists - teens and adults - perform with her during a ninety-minute show in the parish hall to a crowd of 50 people. Over $1,500 was raised at the benefit concert, and this will take care of the Little Flower School's needs for their rooftop garden tools, as well as go toward high school scholarships.
After the successful benefit concert, Camille said, "I am very thankful for all the volunteers that came to help to make the concert possible and those of my classmates who came to encourage me, before and during the concert. Thank you for your great support!" Those volunteers included: public school students
Ayesha Ubayatilaka, Gregoire Reynald, Eugene Yum, Paul Re
ynald, Ahri Mahler, and Elijah Baradi (St. Louise alum); St. Louise students
Jenna Wilken,
Alessandro Bergamaschi,
Julius Moricz,
Cole Allemand,
Nathaniel St. Pierre,
Ellie St. Pierre.
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| When she wasn't playing the flute, Camille was playing the piano during portions of the benefit concert she produced. |
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CYO Volleyball Sign-Ups End Tomorrow
CYO volleyball registration is open to all St. Louise students in grades 4-8. To sign-
up, please go HERE.
The registration fee is $75. Registration will close tomorrow - January 18th. Late registrations may be
accepted depending on if there is still roster space, but at the increased cost of $110.
For more information, contact St. Louise volleyball coordinator, Joni Hoffman
.
Go, Chargers!
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Thanks so much to everyone who joined in the fun last Saturday night at the Tam O'Shanter Golf Club for the St. Louise Mom-Prom! DJ Sean spun 80s and 90s hits, and moms sang and danced at this Auction-purchased event. Special thanks to Marinell Zevenbergen, Kristy Charles, and Erika Mervin for hosting this incredible party!
Did you know that all
Auction Parties put up for bid this past November raised over $30,000 for St. Louise!? Parties don't only raise necessary funds but they build our community! Thanks for your participation, and in this new calendar year we'll soon ask for your help again in designing and donating parties and/or in purchasing them when they go up for bid at the November 2019 Auction.
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Prayer Inspiration for the Week
"
Prayer is oftentimes less like slipping into a hot tub and more like jumping into a pool and swimming laps."
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See what's happening on our St. Louise Facebook page
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