September 15, 2020
School Business
2020-2021 Annual Fund "Kick Off"
The 2020-2021 Annual Fund Drive will kick off tomorrow! Please be on the lookout for your letter in the mail at home. The Annual Fund is our cornerstone fundraising campaign and your donation is so vitally important to help us sustain our mission. Thank you in advance for praying about how you may support us this year. Together we can make a difference for our school, for our students, and for the people of God. Your gift is more important than ever to help us keep our community together during these unprecedented times. For it is in giving that we receive.

Your students may wear their favorite sports team jersey tomorrow Wednesday, September 16 to "kick off" the Annual Fund Drive! You may give online at: www.jp2.org/give.
Friday Mass
Please join us this Friday for our weekly All School Mass at 8:30 a.m. by clicking the link below. Mass will be live-streamed from our All-Saints Chapel. In an effort to maintain the reverent nature of the Mass, please ensure you turn off your video and mute your devices to keep our focus on the altar.
Notes from Nurse Aertker
  • Thank you for partnering with us so we can keep our community healthy. We are happy to report that our safety protocols have become a consistent part of our daily routine. Now that cold and flu season is approaching, please familiarize yourself with the requirements for returning to campus should students develop a fever over 100F or any other symptoms suggesting Covid-19. You may download the Archdiocese's handout featured below for more details.

  • Don't forget to pack plenty of water for your students and follow up with them to make sure they are coming home with empty bottles! They may take their water to PE class too, as it is easy to become dehydrated while wearing masks.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to call or email School Nurse Jeanne Aertker.
Progress Reports
It's hard to believe we have already been in school for half a quarter! Progress reports will be emailed this afternoon for students in grades 1-8 who have an average below 78.
Student Services
After-School Activities

Click on the various links to see club flyers, contact information, and online registration.

·     Robotics Online Schedule & Robotics Online Class Flyer (K-5th) - register online with American Robotics Academy
·     Challenge Club Registration Form (5th-8th Grade Girls) - contact Annette Higgins
·     Conquest (3rd-8th Grade Boys) - contact Miguel Cardenas
·     Cub Scouts Pack 598 (K-5th Grade Boys) - contact Dean Dominy
·     Girl Scout Daisies Troop #149168  (Kindergarten Girls) - contact Laura Richard or Lidia McMahan
·     If you are interested in Girl Scouts (any age/grade level) please contact the StJPII Girl Scout liaison, Tiffany Doucette, at tifslater@hotmail.com
Challenge Club
CALLING ALL 5TH - 8TH GRADE GIRLS!!
The StJPII Challenge Club invites all 5th-8th grade girls to join us this year! Challenge Club is an all-girls club which fosters a deeper friendship with Christ, while having fun and serving others in our community. Our Club program is led and mentored by high-school team leaders (mostly StJPII graduates) and college-aged missionaries. Due to present circumstances, we will be meeting via Zoom during this first quarter of school. ALL students (both in-person and virtual learners) are welcome to participate! Zoom meetings will begin on Friday, September 18. Click here for the Challenge Club registration form. If you have any questions, email Annette Higgins at sjp2challengeclub@gmail.com.
StJPII House Competition: Congratulations, House of Luke
Thank you to everyone who participated in the SJV Food Drive Challenge! We donated over 800 non-perishable items for a great cause.

The House of Luke earned a Free Shoes Day next Tuesday, September 23 for donating the most items, with a total of 236! Way to go, House of Luke!
Counselors' Corner
Counselors on the Go
Our StJPII Counselors will present at the St. John Vianney St. Monica's Society meeting on Wednesday, September 30, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. The topic is Helping Kids Deal with Anxiety During the Pandemic.

If you would like more information or would like to attend, please email: StMonicasSociety@gmail.com.
Athletics
Middle School & Elementary Athletics
We are happy to announce that we will offer limited Fall Sport Conditioning Camps starting on October 1! We received permission from the Archdiocese to slowly introduce limited and controlled camps for PreK- 8th grades. Coach Ade and Coach Morales will run grade level camps for the entire month of October. I will have a set schedule posted on the Athletic Calendar within the next week, so please refer to the calendar for ALL information.
Students who are Virtual Learners, per the Covid Handbook, will not be able to participate in after school/extracurricular activities. However, Virtual Learners in grades PreK-8th will be allowed to attend the camps upon returning to school on October 19.

Also, as I have mentioned in prior Saint's Weekly newsletters, we are reminding MIDDLE SCHOOL ATHLETES that will (hopefully) be trying out for Soccer and Basketball in the coming GHCAA winter programs, to have a sports physical on file with Nurse Aertker. Keep in mind this is required in order to attend tryouts for ANY Middle School sport. You may download the form from our Athletic page on the website.

As for Elementary basketball, we are very hopeful we will resume our participation in the WHCSA basketball program.  We ask for your continued prayers for our students to be able to get back to participation in our sports programs!

GO SAINTS!
Mary Beth Hewitt
Athletic Director
Parent Teacher Organization
Book Lovers Wanted!
Are you a parent looking to get involved? Do you love books? Do you seek to share your love of books? If the answer is yes, then look no further! We are looking for parent volunteers to head up Book Club meetings for 3th-5th grades. Book Club meets 4 times during the school year- perfect for the busy parent! For more information, contact Gwen Montesino at ggmontesino@gmail.com. To volunteer, you must be CMG approved, please check out jp2.org > community > Volunteer Approval/CMG Connect.
We Love Our Volunteers!
We are still in search of room parents. Remember, you must be volunteer approved. Click on the button below to go to our website for a checklist on how to become volunteer approved. On the form you will see a question asking if you would like to be a room parent. Please note for first time volunteers processing the paperwork can take up to six weeks to complete, so don’t delay! If you wish to volunteer this year, please click on the button below.
If you have any questions, contact roomparentcoodinators@jp2.org.
BoxTops for Education
Welcome back to another school year of collecting Box Tops! The Box Tops program helps StJPII raise money to purchase items from the school's wish list.

If you haven’t already, please download the Box Tops for Education app. Start scanning your grocery receipts today. The PTO will still take the original (unexpired) Box Tops so keep clipping and collecting them. Our upcoming contest will be between our four Houses. Please remember to use the "credit" option and type the name of your child's House when you are using the app so your child's House gets credit for the contest.

Our Fall contest runs from September 25 through October 9.

When submitting the original (unexpired) Box Tops to your child's homeroom teacher please label them as follows:
Child's Name/House or Tuesday polo color

Let us see which StJPII House can bring in the most Box Tops! There will be a surprise for the House that wins!

Happy Clipping and Scanning!!!
PTO Spirit Store
You may visit the online Spirit Store to order your StJPII branded merchandise. All proceeds benefit the PTO. This year the Spirit Store will have limited access to fill orders. Orders placed after August 12 will be available for distribution in October with the exception of the StJPII Masks. The StJPII masks can be filled more frequently since they are coming from the vendor and are not on campus. Thank you for understanding and supporting StJPII spirit store. Click the button below to view the catalog and place your order.
Caring for our Saints
Saints Community Showing Support
Personal Thanks from Piotr Przybylski...

This summer my wife, Katarzyna Przybylska, was diagnosed with colon cancer. As difficult as this time has been for our family we were overwhelmed with so much love and support from the St. John Paul II community. All your prayers and help made it that much easier for our whole family. Thank you to everyone for your support, especially the following families:

Mrs. Bogard, Julie Broussard, Eliana Calderon, Sally Clark, Betty Costantini, Gabi De La Rosa, Andrea Dvorachek, Victoria Forkner, Jane Gasdaska, Marcela Gaviria, Cynthia Grillo, Analia Gugliotti, Rosanna Halter, Julia Hillier, Kristen House, Zeina Khoury, Katie Kollar, Nicole Lambert, Mrs. Love, Lizette Muniz, Cynthia Pham, Mrs. Philips, Lourdes Pozo, Susan Riemann, Khristine Salvatierra, Tina Schroeder, Fabi Stonaker, Mrs. Valencia and Tammy Zarnowiecki
St. John Paul II Catholic School
1400 Parkway Plaza, Houston, TX 77077
281-496-1500 • 281-496-2943 (fax)
St. John Paul II Catholic School prepares all students spiritually
and academically to succeed in life and to do God's will.