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Weekly Newsletter
3.13.2024
Calendar Reminders
Wednesday, March 13th
K-8 Non-Uniform Day
K-8 Noon Dismissal Day
Friday, March 15th
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day - Wear Green on top, Uniform on bottom
All School Mass, hosted by 3rd grade @ 9am
Thursday, March 21st - Saturday, March 23rd: GREASE!
Thursday, March 21st @ 7pm
Friday, March 22nd @ 7pm
Saturday, March 23rd @ 11am & 7pm
Thursday, March 21st
World Down Syndrome Day: Wear Silly Socks!
Friday, March 22nd
Noon Dismissal Day for All Students
Grandfriends Luncheon: Mass @ 11am, followed by lunch in Victoria Hall
St. Catherine Presents: GREASE!
From the School Office
LAST CALL - YEARBOOK PHOTOS!
Please send any pictures you take throughout the school year to yearbook@stcatherineschool.net to be included in the yearbook. This year, we are excited to include a Summer Adventures page! Please send us pictures of your student or family during the summer of 2023. We are in particular need for photos of CYO Basketball, Volleyball, Ski Bus, 7th/8th Grade Camp, 5th/6th Grade Camp, and GREASE! The last day to send in photos is Friday March 29th.
Order Yearbooks Now!
Order forms for the 2023-2024 school year are now available in your SchoolAdmin/FinalSite Parent Portal under the Optional Checklist section. Yearbooks are $30 each and you will be charged at the time of your order. Last Day to order yearbooks is March 29th!
2024-2025 School Calendar: Key Dates
First Day of School: Tuesday, September 3, 2024 (Noon Dismissal Day)
Last Day of School: Friday, June 13, 2025 (10:30am Dismissal, after Moving Up Mass)
No School Days
October 11, 2024: Accreditation Work Day
October 31-November 1, 2024: Preschool-8th Grade Fall Conferences (K-8 Students Only)
November 8, 2024: Archdiocesan In-Service Day
November 11, 2024: Veteran’s Day
November 28-29, 2024: Thanksgiving Break
December 23, 2024-January 3, 2025: Christmas Break
January 17, 2025: Accreditation Work Day
January 20, 2025: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
February 7, 2025: Archdiocese In-Service Day
February 17-18, 2025: President’s Day Break
March 7, 2025: Curriculum Development Day
April 21-25, 2025: Easter Break
May 26, 2025: Memorial Day
The full calendar for the 2024-2025 school year, as well as the specific preschool calendar, will be released in the coming weeks. Be on the look-out for it here in the weekly newsletter!
Study Hall Announcements
Adopt-an-Eighth Grader
We're excited to continue the tradition of celebrating our graduating 8th graders at STC! You can volunteer to "Adopt-an-Eighth Grader" for the last few weeks of school. Each eighth-grade student will be paired with a K-7th grade family who will provide three special gifts, including a special lunch.
We will accept the first 25 people who email Tammy Matusak requesting participation. We'll send you the name of your adopted 8th grader, their likes & favorites, and a calendar so you know when to deliver three surprise gifts. Each gift should be at most $20 for a total of $60. Every 8th grader will be participating. The deadline to sign up is April 8th. We'll email you with additional information after the April 8th deadline.
Thank you for participating in this great tradition! #thetigerway
Social Awakening Presentation
Please join us on Monday, March 25th at 6pm as we welcome Max Stossel and Social Awakening to Victoria Hall at St. Catherine School.
Max Stossel is an award-winning artist, the Founder of Social Awakening: an organization dedicated to helping young people survive and thrive in the modern world, and the Youth & Education Advisor for the Center for Humane Technology, a group working to realign technology with humanity (as featured in The Social Dilemma).
Before working in this field, Max was a media strategist with an extensive background in social media. He ran social media for big brands, and later worked for a social media company where he designed some notifications to distract people.
He has spent the past seven years speaking with 100,000+ students, parents, and educators around the world about social media's impact on our lives, and creating resources to help manage that impact. Max provides a unique and much-needed perspective on the role of technology in our homes, schools, and in our society.
Max will illustrate some of the specific ways technology is designed to be addictive & distracting, highlight how that's impacting our kids’ minds, and give recommendations on how to address some of the challenges you and your family are facing. This presentation concludes with open space to discuss what’s working and not working in our households.
Please register to attend this presentation here. This presentation is for parents only. Students in 5th-8th grade will attend a presentation with Max earlier in the school day.
We look forward to all of you joining us!
DAZZLE: St. Catherine School Auction
Questions? Reach out to auction@stcatherineschool.net
CYO Track & Field
Calling all Tiger Track and Field athletes ...
Track and Field Registration is open for 2024! When registering you will have the option between picking K- 3rd Grade or 4th - 8th Grade for St. Catherine. Seattle CYO Athletics (teamsideline.com)
Our first practice will take place right after school on Monday, April 8 at Maple Leaf Park. We will practice on Monday's right after school through the end of May. 4th - 8th grade will have two additional practice opportunities each week at the Roosevelt High School Track. Last year the practices were on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm. I will confirm shortly, but we are shooting for those days/times again this year.
The 4th - 8th grade Track and Field Meets will take place on the following days - Times TBD
Preliminary Meet: Saturday, May 4th - Highline Stadium
Relay Meet: Saturday, May 11th - Highline Stadium
Qualifying Meet: Saturday, May 18th - Highline Stadium
Championship Meet: Saturday, June 1st - Renton Memorial Stadium
We will host a K-3 meet at our last practice of the year to celebrate their hard work!
Please contact Dave Mayer at dmayer25@hotmail.com with any questions or to let me know that you are interested in helping out at the practices!
STC Spirit Bags: Order Now!
St Catherine Spirit Bag orders are now open! Please complete the Spirit Bag order form below and return it to Tammy Matusak. Orders will be processed once we hit a minimum of 24 orders.
Parent Club News
Grandfriends Lunch | March 22nd
Purchase tickets for Grandfriends Lunch on March 22! Grandparents or grandfriends are invited to join children in Victoria Hall for a catered lunch. Invite your Grandfriends to come visit our school and community. This event is for preschool through 8th grade.
- Sign up here to help run the event and earn volunteer hours.
- Click here to purchase tickets. Tickets are $15 per person. Ticket sales close 3/15 and the event fills up fast, so purchase as soon as you can!
- Email photos of students with their grandfriends to stcatherinegrandfriendphotos@gmail.com - pictures will be shown in a slideshow montage at the event!
Wanted: Science Fair Judges
The middle school students have been working to prepare for the upcoming annual St. Catherine Science Fair. For this event to be a success, we need judges! Judging will happen all day on Tuesday, March 26th between 8:30am and 3pm, and in the morning on Wednesday, March 27th between 8:30am and 10:45am. If you can be a science fair judge, please contact Lissa Payne at lpayne@stcatherineschool.net.
Experience or science background is optional and judges are not asked to be there the entire day. Rather, come when your schedule allows and judge one project or twenty. Please consider helping us out.
Also, Wednesday, March 27th between 11am and noon is when the projects will be on display for public viewing. Please mark your calendar and stop by to peek at all the hard work these students put into their investigations. Thank you!
Volunteering at St. Catherine School
Volunteer Hours Reporting
Each family with students in grades K-8 are asked to contribute 40 volunteer service hours (single families contribute 20 hours) during the school year. Five of the total hours are required to be given to the auction. The school auction is on April 20th and you can find volunteer opportunities in the upcoming weeks.
If you haven't submitted any volunteer hours, please complete a Volunteer Hours Summary Sheet and email it to cvanhollebeke@stcatherineschool.net. If you have any questions regarding Volunteer Hours please email Charlotte Van Hollebeke.
Safe Environment Program
The Archdiocese of Seattle requires all school volunteers to take part in the Safe Environment Program, through VIRTUS, in three ways. In order to be a Safe Environment approved volunteer you need to:
- Register at http://www.virtusonline.org/virtus/
- Read and approve policies
- Complete a background check
- Take the Introductory class, Protecting God's Children
All components of the Safe Environment Progam MUST BE COMPLETED before volunteering in any capacity at St. Catherine School.
If you have any questions about the Safe Environment Program or the requirements, please contact Charlotte Van Hollebeke at cvanhollebeke@stcatherineschool.net
Parish News
Stations of the Cross | Dinner + Movie March 15th @ 5PM
St. Catherine of Siena Parish is sponsoring dinner and a movie after a family friendly Stations of the Cross, all in Victoria Hall. Please join us to gather together in prayer and fellowship! We will be serving cheese pizza along with fruit, veggies, and drinks and showing a movie after Stations. The devotional we are using is 15 Minute Stations of the Cross for Kids by Jared Dees.
Sign up for the event here so we know how much pizza to buy. Bring blankets and stuffies for the kids to sit on while they watch! For questions email fshammami@gmail.com.
Altar Server Training
Hi all, if you have a kiddo between the 3rd and 8th grade that is interested in becoming an altar server or would like a refresher on how to altar server, then please come to the altar server training on Tuesday, March 19th at 3:15pm in the church. Once we have a list of those wanting to serve, we will send a schedule where you can schedule your kid to serve for a weekend Mass. More details on what is required from each server will be given at the training.
To RSVP for the training, please email MJ Price at m.price@st-c.org. Please title your email 'Altar Server Training' to help MJ organize a list of those participating.
Mission & Philosophy
St. Catherine of Siena Parish School is a welcoming, Christ-centered community, rooted in the Catholic faith and inspired by Gospel values. As an extension of the parish and with Jesus as our model, we are dedicated to lifelong growth in faith, love, and learning.
We recognize that the care and education of the child begins with the family and that parents are the primary educators of their children. In partnership with parents, we work to promote our students’ achievement and spiritual growth. Together we are committed to developing responsible, ethical leaders who think critically, act justly, communicate effectively, and serve willingly.
Vision
We are committed to providing a faith-filled, inclusive, and welcoming learning environment for all our students. Through our rigorous academic programs, our students will gain the cognitive, technological, and social skills necessary to become ethical, innovative leaders who successfully navigate the complex challenges of today’s world.