Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic School October 7, 2020 Newsletter

Mission Statement: Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic School is a community that proclaims the gospel by our dedication to quality instruction while fostering our commitment to the needs of others.

An Update from Mr. Mihalyo Dear Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic School Families, What an exciting week this has been for our Saint Mary Magdalene community! This past Sunday, Fr. Donald Staib was given the honor of Monsignor Staib at Mass. Congratulations to him on this tremendous honor! As many of you know, Msgr. Staib was our church’s founding pastor serving until his retirement in 2020. One of his biggest joys was the children at our school. I invite any student who wishes to make Fr. Staib a card to congratulate him to consider doing so. For our remote students, you can bring your cards to the Materials Pick Up Day on Friday, October 9th and place them in the drop box. We will deliver all cards to Msgr. Staib next week.  Our IOWA and CogAT testing began this week. This year has presented new challenges with students taking the tests both in person and remotely, but our team, led by Mrs. Iozzo, has done a tremendous job on the preparation and execution of the testing for our students and teachers. Thank you to everyone for you patience as our school completes these tests.  This week we added a new component to our morning announcements as we began praying for our Diocese of Raleigh Seminarians. Each week, our students will pray for one seminarian by name, as well as have the opportunity to make cards or write notes of encouragement to them. This week, we have been praying for Tyler Di Vito, who spent some time with our Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic Church community earlier this year. I would ask you keep Tyler and all of our seminarians in your family’s prayers this week.  Beginning next week, our students will begin returning to Mass in the Church one classroom per week. We will begin with one of our 8th grade homerooms and give each classroom the opportunity to attend Mass as a class. We invite our parents and remote learners from each homeroom to consider attending Mass with their class in person. Even though the class will be seated away from everyone, the chance to be together at Mass is something we are very excited about for our Monarchs. We will notify you when your child’s homeroom is attending Mass so parents or remote learners can make plans to attend if they wish. Our first homeroom to attend Mass will be 8M (Mrs. McElroy’s homeroom) on Thursday, October 15th at 9:15am in the church.  We celebrated National Coaches Day this week! I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our coaches at Saint Mary Magdalene for representing our school with class, teaching our Monarchs the importance of hard work and sportsmanship, and their dedication to our school. I look forward to our athletic teams being able to resume play in the future.  Next Friday, October 16th our school will have an 11:30am dismissal as we end our first quarter. Please encourage your child to use this time to make sure any missing work or tests have been turned in and all work has been made up before the nine weeks end.  God Bless, John Mihalyo, Principal @StMMPrincipal

UPCOMING EVENTS Thursday, October 8th, Day 4 - IOWA Testing, School Mass 9:15am Click here to watch School Mass Friday, October 9th, Day 5 - IOWA Testing, Virtual Learning Materials Pick Up Monday, October 12th, Day 6 - IOWA Testing Tuesday, October 13th, Day 1 - IOWA Testing Wednesday, October 14th, Day 2 - IOWA Testing Thursday, October 15th, Day 3 - IOWA Testing, School Mass 9:15am Friday, October 16th, Day 4 - IOWA Testing, Early Dismissal 11:30am Click here to view our online school calendar.

NOW ACCEPTING 2021-22 APPLICATIONS Have a friend, neighbor, or family member interested in joining our Monarch family? Spread the word! Applications for the 2021-22 school year are now available by clicking here. Prospective three year old preschool parents, please note that our full day spots tend to fill up quickly. If you are interested in our program, you are encouraged to apply early. Children must be three years old by August 30, 2021 and potty trained to enter preschool. Current students DO NOT need to apply. Re-enrollment for our current students will begin in January 2021. Questions, please contact Lydia Binanay, 919-657-4800 x7296.

CRISTO REY RESEARCH TRIANGLE HIGH SCHOOL VIRTUAL PARENT MEETINGS Cristo Rey Research Triangle High School offers students the opportunity at a Corporate Work Study Program as a means to help pay for their private high school tuition, while gaining valuable professional experience at businesses such as Cisco, Duke School of Nursing, CREE, UNC School of Medicine and BB&T. Two virtual parent information meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, October 20th and Thursday, October 22nd at 7:00pm. You can also find more information about Cristo Rey Research Triangle High School on their website, www.cristoreyrt.org or by clicking here.

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS SHRIMP BOIL Knights of Columbus Council 7186 is proud to host a Low Country Shrimp Boil at St. Mary Magdalene. Order now for take out on Friday, October 30th.  Each Low Country Boil order will be filled with plump shrimp, sweet corn, smoky kielbasa, and tender potatoes – all with a custom seasoning blend.  Kids grilled cheese meals are also available. Of course, all orders come with dessert!  Proceeds go the LAMB Foundation, supporting individuals in our community with intellectual disabilities.  Order now for take out on Friday, October 30th at: KofCseafoodboil.com.

OCTOBER YEARBOOK PHOTO CONTEST The theme for October's photo contest is Action Shots! Send us photos of you and or your Monarch friends in action. How about an amazing football catch or dancing with your Monarch friends? Be creative and have fun! The best shots will be featured in the 2020/2021 yearbook and displayed on the school lobby television screen. Winners will be announced and prizes will be given out Thursday, October 22nd.   Make sure your student's name and grade is included with submission. Submit your photos via this Google Form or use the yearbook QR code.

And don't forget to take advantage of the lowest price of the year and order your StMM yearbook now. Visit http://jostensyearbooks.com/?REF=A01055247.

VIRTUAL MONARCHS Next Materials Pick Up is This Friday, October 9th Virtual Monarchs, your next virtual materials pick up days are Friday, October 9th and Friday, October 23rd. Please note, there have been changes to the pick up time schedule. New times are listed below. Please come at the times designated for your grade level. Park in the back of the school building and use the back entrance near the gym/cafeteria. PK-2nd: 11:30am-12:00pm 3rd-4th: 12-12:30pm 5th-6th: 12:30-1:00pm 7th-8th: 1:00-1:30pm There is still time for our Virtual Monarchs to order lunch to go! Be sure to email Heather Blake your order by 1:00pm Thursday, October 8th. She'll have your order all ready for you when you pick up your learning materials on Friday.

FROM THE CAFETERIA LUNCH MENU Monday, October 12th - Chicken Nuggets Tuesday, October 13th - Hot Dogs Wednesday, October 14th - Pizza Thursday, October 15th - Taco-in-a-Bag Friday, October 16th - Early Dismissal, No Lunch

PSO NEWS  SCHOOL TOOL BOX UPDATE Thank you to all our parents who ordered school supplies through School Tool Box's easy online ordering system. Our school's sales were up this year! We hope their service was useful so you could avoid crowded back to school shopping in big box stores. We will partner with them again next year. Thank you to School Tool Box for donating a portion of the sales back to the PSO!

THANK YOU, TEACHERS & STAFF! Because we love our teachers and staff, the PSO is treating them to dinner! All StMM faculty and staff will receive two large pizzas of their choice from Papa Murphy's to take home on Friday. The Papa Murphy's truck will be on campus Friday afternoon to deliver their orders. Thank you to Angela Malfeo, Chair of the Teacher Appreciation Committee, for setting this up. Our staff deserves a treat for all their hard work, and a Friday night off from cooking. The PSO loves you and appreciates all you do for our students!

NOVEMBER USED UNIFORM SALE Thank you to everyone who shopped our used uniform sale last evening. Our next sale will be on Tuesday, November 10th from 5-6:00pm in the school lobby. Stock up on long sleeves and pants for fall and winter! Don't forget to wear your mask and bring your checkbook! Have items to donate to the used uniform store? Feel free to send them in with your Monarch or drop off during the November sale.

NEXT SPIRIT DAY IS OCTOBER 23rd Need a spirit shirt for our next spirit day on Friday, October 23rd? Short-sleeve shirts, long-sleeve shirts and hoodies are available, along with other fun spirit items. Visit the online Spirit Wear Shop by clicking here.

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Mr. John Mihalyo, Principal Mrs. Christa Iozzo, Assistant Principal Mrs. Kate Lawson, Dean of Students Mrs. Nikki Curliss, Guidance Counselor Mrs. Lydia Binanay, Marketing & Recruitment Mrs. Laura Tomczak, Communications & Admissions Mrs. Carmen Boyd, Business Services Mrs. Barb Senn, Preschool Mrs. Wendy Walsh, School Nurse Mrs. Megan Mastrogiovanni, Special Programs Manager Mrs. Mary Stein, Receptionist Mrs. Kathy Loeschorn, Technology Mr. Tom Milmoe, Athletics Director

Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic School www.stmm.net

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