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Dear St. Serra Parents,
The St. Serra Core Value that we will be focused on during the month of February is Hope. What is Hope and why is it important? How does the virtue of Hope guide our students and staff at our school?
Hope is one of St. Serra’s eight Core Values that’s based in scripture. Along with Faith and Charity, Hope is one of the three theological virtues upon which the Christian’s moral life is based. We teach our students about our school’s core values throughout the year partly because they act as an important navigation system to help guide choices and behavior. Hope is not a strategy that we use to achieve personal goals. We don’t hope that we win the ‘big rival game’; we don’t hope that we ‘ace’ a final exam; we don’t hope that we have an outstanding performance in the school play. The virtues of Hope, Faith and Charity help guide us in the righteousness of God. During hardships, we maintain hope: "Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer." [Romans 12:12]
At St. Serra, our students and staff encounter hardships every single day. Some examples might be a student having a disciplinary issue, a student receiving a poor grade, or a student dealing with a ‘mean’ classmate. As parents, when these things occur to your child, it causes anxiety, stress, and the instinct to take action to defend your child. You should know that our staff strives to counsel our students through these occurrences with guidance, wisdom and forgiveness. This is the amazing thing about being at a Catholic school, where faith is part of our everyday life and promotes a strong focus on the children's overall success, happiness and growth.
It is my Hope that our school creates an environment where every child and family feels equally important. By respecting individual differences, understanding one another’s unique set of challenges, and embracing our faith, we Hope to ensure that all of our students and families feel safe, respected and wanted.
“Remember. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
-Stephen King, “Different Seasons.” Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. 1982. Viking Press.
Always striving,
Tim Tolzda
Sr. Principal
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