St. Louis Catholic School Newsletter

May 13, 2022 Dear St. Louis Families, Happy Friday! The month of May is always a busy month with Mother’s Day, graduations, weddings, end-of-year celebrations, and First Holy Communion. We sometimes forget to stop and truly enjoy the moment. Fr. Andrew reminded students during Mass this morning that today is the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima—her simple message is about prayer. In the craziness of this month, let us remember the importance of praying for one another.   Saturday, May 14th is a big day for St. Louis School. Our 2nd graders will receive Jesus for the first time in the Eucharist. We remember in a special way our 2nd grade students and their families as they prepare for this most holy sacrament. The CYO Track Meet is also on Saturday, where members of our team will be running—we wish them well and are so grateful for the efforts and talents of coaches Brian Nienaber, Bill Buffaloe, and Igor Boras.   Deacon Anthony came to campus Thursday to speak with our middle school students. He was a former Youth Minister at St. Louis and currently works as the Director of Religious Education at St. Timothy’s in Chantilly, VA. Deacon Anthony also is a member of the Bishop’s Advisory Council on Racism. One of the key takeaways for our students is that words and deeds have power, and we can use them to lift one another up or bring them down. His message fits beautifully with our mission that seeks to empower our students to love, learn, and lead like Christ.   Of special interest this week in the newsletter is the presentation by FCPD on May 17th at St. Bernadette’s Parish—this is a timely presentation, and you should make every effort to attend. We are seeing more behavioral, mental, and personal challenges in grades 4-8 associated with cell phone usage and social media. As a reminder, St. Louis School does have a no cell phone policy, and students should not be bringing them on a daily basis.   Enjoy your weekend! Peace, Anne Dyke Principal

School Announcements

Spring Book Fair, May 23-26 Looking for good books for summer reading? The Spring Book Fair is coming! Check out this week's Friday Folder for a flier featuring just some of the great books that will be at the fair! Our spring fair will run Monday-Thursday, May 23rd-26th, 8:30 am through dismissal. Interested in stopping by after school? We will be open till 5:30 on Tuesday, May 24th!  Need volunteer hours? We need volunteers! If you are interested, please contact Jill Hixson at jill.hixson@gmail.com or sign up here.

FCPD "Hidden In Plain Sight" Presentation A Fairfax County Police Officer will give a presentation entitled "Hidden in Plain Sight" this Tuesday, May 17, at 7:00 pm in Saint Bernadette Church.    The teenage years can be challenging for all, and this presentation will walk attendees through a teenager's bedroom and identify signs of risky behaviors including information on mental health, alcohol, drugs, tobacco use, vaping, over the counter medications, eating disorders, etc. This is a local program where officers will show you things that are currently taking place in Fairfax County. If you have students in grades 5-8 or high school, please plan to attend and invite your friends.

Order Class Pics Classroom Groups are a time honored tradition where each class is photographed together in a group. Visit -  https://vando.imagequix.com/s1661193245 Choose your child’s class or club. Place your order. All orders will be shipped directly to your homes.

Hawk Happenings - Week of May 16, 2022

Saturday, May 14 Yay Lunch! order before midnight! First Holy Communion (2-12), 10:30am First Holy Communion (2-14), 11:45am __________________________________ Monday, May 16 Parent Rosary Group, 8:05am, Bell Tower Band Concert, 6:30pm Wednesday, May 18 Last Day to order Italian Place Spirit Dinner Thursday, May 19 Spirit Dinner carpool pick-up _________________________________ Saturday, May 21 Yay Lunch! order before midnight! PTO Casino Night & Auction, 6pm FULL SCHOOL CALENDAR Did you know you can subscribe to our school calendar for real-time updates, convenient links to SUGs and flyers, and more? Subscribe to auto-populate your iCal, Outlook 2007+ or Google calendar

PTO

We are so pleased to recognize our 2021-22 PTO Volunteer of the Year nominees: Amy Benitez Laura Carlson Judy Conti Frank Constantino Matt Constantino Carolyn Fortes Lunch Volunteers Dan Matheis Lynn Michaels Greg Roberts Meghan Roberts Kelly Roman   Congratulations to our 2021-22 Volunteer of the Year recipients – Meghan and Greg Roberts! Whether it’s Trivia Night, the Auction, Cultural Arts events, recess monitoring, serving as room parents or even swooping in to save our Christmas Trees, Team Roberts is always willing to lend a hand. We are so grateful for you!!!   We would also like to recognize those faculty members celebrating milestone anniversaries with St. Louis:   Mrs. Cahill – 15 years Mrs. Hurley – 10 years Mrs. Fisher – 10 years   Thank you!

Get your Casino Night tickets NOW! (purchase online or via check)! Join us Saturday, May 21 for a night of fun, friends, food, charitable gaming, live/silent auction and support for our school and teachers. This year’s theme is Viva Las Vegas – come decked out for the swinging ‘60s, Vegas Style. We have lots of wonderful auction items to bid on too, including student pottery, vacation getaways, teacher experiences, theme park tickets, camps, photography sessions and more!

PTO Volunteer Requirements “Parents are required to fulfill the requirements for volunteer hours through the PTO (18 hours for two-parent families, and 9 hours for one-parent families). The purpose of the volunteer hours is to increase a sense of community, as well as fill in the gaps for needed assistance in the school. If a family does not complete the volunteer hours, they must pay a $400.00 fee directly to the PTO for a two-parent family and $200.00 fee directly to the PTO for a one-parent family. If the fee is not paid, it will be added on to the registration for the upcoming school year.” - Parent/Student Handbook 2021-22   Thank you to the families who have already FULFILLED their volunteer hour requirement for the current school year. Please continue to submit your volunteer hours to our volunteer coordinators, Jannette Wills at jeawills2@gmail.com or Juliette Theroux at jmarchioli@yahoo.com. This list will be updated weekly.   Still need hours? Casino Night is coming up May 21st and there are many hands needed to help make this event a success. Please consider signing up to volunteer!

Spirit Dinner Delivered - May 19 We are excited to partner with The Italian Place (a local Family-Owned Business) for Carpool Dinner Delivery on Thursday, May 19! Treat your family to a scrumptious Italian dinner. All you have to do is click, drive up and heat up! See the attached flyer for details/QR code or click here to order online.

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Month, the Box Tops for Education program is offering bonus offers all month long, including 50 Bonus Box Tops for new participants! If you’re a new to the program, use the referral code TeachersMakeUsBetter and scan your first receipt before May 31, 2022! Last call for physical Box Tops! Some products are not participating in the digital program. If you have any traditional Box Tops on hand, you can send them to the school, attn: Violet Ridenour K-9.

You can support our school every time you shop with Amazon! If you haven’t already set up this feature, go to smile.amazon.com and select St. Louis Catholic School as the organization you wish to support. There are millions of products on AmazonSmile that are eligible for donations—these are marked as “Eligible for AmazonSmile donation” on their product page. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your eligible purchase to the school! If you have questions on the Box Tops for Education Program or AmazonSmile, contact Shannon Ridenour (ridenour0619@gmail.com).

VOLUNTEER COORDINATORS Jannette Amedome jeawills2@gmail.com Juliette Theroux jmarchioli@yahoo.com Don't forget to log your volunteer hours! VOL. HOURS LOG

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES Still need to complete your volunteer hours? Check out these opportunities: NON-VIRTUS: Casion Night & Silent Auction The Casino Night & Silent Auction is coming up on May 21st and there are many hands needed to help make this event a success. Please consider signing up to volunteer! Sign up HERE. VIRTUS REQUIRED: Spring Book Fair - May 23-26 Book Fair time is almost here, and we need your help to make it a success. Please sign up HERE for a shift at the Book Fair. It is a fun way to help the school and get those hours done. The Book Fair runs May 23-26. If you have any questions about helping, please email Jill Hixson at Jill.hixson@gmail.com Field Day - June 2 Volunteers needed! K-4th grades 8:30-11:30am and 5th-8th grades 12:30-3:00pm on June 2nd. Please return the attached form if interested. Cafeteria Helpers - May & June Parent volunteers are needed to assist with receiving, sorting and distributing Yay Lunches and selling ice cream on select days. Ideally, parents are able to commit to a day on a weekly basis each month, but we would be happy to have parents help out even if it's just once or twice a month. Please indicate the date(s) you can help in the comments section. Sign up HERE. Recess Monitors - May & June We are in need of recess monitors during outdoor recess in May and June. It includes supervising all grades from K-8 between 11:30am and 1:40pm daily. Fill out and send in the interest form.

Extracurriculars & CYO

CYO Spring Track Meet - May 14th The St. Louis track team will be competing in the Spring CYO track meet on May 14 at Bishop O’Connell HS. This is a major event with our athletes competing against school from all over the diocese. Our 6th-8th graders will be competing from 7am to noon and our 3rd-5th graders will be competing from noon to about 4pm. Admission is free, and there will be a section in the stands for St. Louis supporters. All are welcome to cheer on our awesome athletes.

CYO Coach of the Year The CYO wishes to congratulate all our Coach of the Year nominees:  Bill Buffaloe, Leah Howard, Luis James, Ted Koch, Tom McGuire, John Miller, Brian Nienaber, Natalie Salisbury and Matt Spierenburg. We extend a special congratulations to Leah Beckett, our Coach of the Year! During this most unusual year, Leah agreed to coach a combined 6th/7th grade girls team and have the 6th graders “play up” into the 7th grade league to make sure that our 7th graders were still able to have a season. Not only did they hold their own in 7th grade play, many reported it was the best year they ever had. Leah met each kid where they were, found their own special skills and value-added for the team, and made this an extra special year for all of them.  We are grateful to ALL our coaches for their Virtuous Excellence throughout the year and congratulate and thank every one of them for all they do.

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Love | Learn | Lead