6/7/24 Principal Update

Good Morning St. Clare Community,

This week's Principal Newsletter comes to you from my patio with a cup of coffee as I take some time to enjoy a slower paced Friday morning and reflect on the 2023-2024 school year. The best way to describe this year is: WOW, THANK YOU GOD!

Thank you for the incredible teachers and staff who give countless hours of energy, love, and support to our students and families.

Thank you to the immense support from Fr. Brian and the entire Parish Office Team who help lead our community with faith, mission, and a vision of discipleship for our present and future.

Thank you to each of our families for your commitment to Catholic Education. Choosing St. Clare School truly changes lives for the better and I am so grateful for you.

Thank you to the students for being kind, curious, energetic, silly, thoughtful, but most importantly, faithful. Jesus and you are the reason each of us are part of this incredible team.

Thank you to the volunteers, parishioners, local businesses, police, fire department, and community for your continued support. Your generosity and kindness is essential to our success. A special thank you to the volunteers who helped move over 100 pieces of furniture yesterday as St. Clare students will have some new desks and chairs to equip many of the classrooms. Many hands make light work and yesterday was a true example of that needed support. Over 20 people came and made a job that would have taken days into less than an hour. YOU ARE AMAZING!

Thank you to the team at Holy Spirit Catholic School in Darboy for donating their gently used items to us and making this donation possible.

As with all things that come to an end, a bittersweet ache sits on my heart this morning as well. This week, we officially recognize the change shift on our staff for a few of our beloved members. Each of them choosing to move on to other opportunities for various personal reasons, we will always recognize them as family and part of our St. Clare story. So, THANK YOU again to Mrs. Mary Smits, Mrs. Stephanie Bartosch, Mrs. Kate Iversen, Ms. Olivia Nisbit, and Mr. Pete Brauer. Although we may not see them in the halls as much, we will certainly stay in touch. Each of them has asked for your continued prayers and love as it is hard to separate from a place that holds so much of each of their, and all of our hearts.

But, just as God reminds us in Ecclesiastes 3: There is an appointed time for everything and a time for all things under heaven. {PS, yes I'm listening to the song Turn, Turn, Turn by the Byrds, lol}. With the end of the 2023-2024 year, we also look forward to a well-deserved summer break and the exciting things in store for 2024-2025.

With that, we have some new and exciting things in development for 2024-2025:

1. St. Clare School has room for more students in our After School Care Program, if you are interested, please email KStanczak@stclareagw.org

2. We are waiting on the decision of a number of grants that could provide some much needed financial support for some of our larger deferred maintenance projects.

3. St. Clare School will be adding some additional security and safety measures to our school and campus. I am also working on technological updates for our school building and updated student devices. Additionally, we are in the process of reviewing curriculum resources and enhancing our student supports.

4. We are officially welcoming Mrs. Linn Meulemans and Mr. James McDonald to our School Advisory Board. The committee will be working on continued growth of our alumni group and long-range strategic planning related to marketing and enrollment strategies.

5. St. Clare School will be implementing an added student character and virtue-based classroom management program for next year. Each of our classrooms will be assigned a core value that integrates into their journey of development and discipleship. These dispositions and softer life skills will be incorporated into the overall classroom culture of each grade. Our "Disciples in Development" program will be focused on the overall growth of the spiritual, academic, and behavioral skills of each student in each grade. Please watch for more details in our newsletters through our "Mission Moment" highlights.

6. Welcome Fr. Robert Mitchell! We met briefly this week as he took a short tour of the school and was eager to get to know the community. We are grateful for his support and flexibility as we prepare for Fr. Brian's sabbatical at the end of June. Mrs. Kyle Strebel, the Parish and School teams, committees, and I are ready to do our best to help while Fr. Brian is out of the office. The collaboration and kindness of our team is unmatched.

7. And... one more thing....

Mr. Will Van Rossum: Middle School Science & Social Studies:

St. Clare School is excited to officially announce and welcome the hiring of our new team member. Mrs. Peterson, Ms. Bohman, and I are looking forward to collaborating with Mr. Van Rossum. The four of us will work closely to engage, grow, and support our grade students. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience about middle school, science, and math to our team. His experience in Catholic school and our local community are wonderful assets for our team.

EDUCATION:

HIGH SCHOOL: Graduated from Wrightstown High School in 2007
COLLEGE: Graduated from UW Oshkosh in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education with a minor in Mathematics.

WORK EXPERIENCE:
2016 – 2024: Chilton Area Catholic School. I am currently the 6th Grade Homeroom teacher. In addition, I teach 6th grade Science and Health, 6th – 8th grade Math, and 6th-8th grade STREAM.

HOBBIES/INTERESTS: Outside of school, I enjoy reading, playing geeky card and board games, occasionally playing video games, and attending comic conventions.

CLUBS / ORGANIZATIONS: I am an advisor to our Math Team as well as a Forensics Coach.

PERSONAL/PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT: My overall goal of education is to make learning exciting and meaningful to students. I want them to know what they are doing and why they are doing it. In other words, I want students to understand where, in real life, the skills they are learning will help them.

INTERESTING FACT: I worked as a baker for 10 years.

Thanks to a unique and special partnership with the fantastic local team of Jeanette Roskom and Wendy Sandona at GROW Market & Studio, St. Clare School is going to share monthly tips for healthy eating. Additionally, we are working to further the relationship with GROW to offer 1x/month a la carte lunches available for pre-purchase. This will be an opportunity for families to take a break from packing a cold lunch, provide a healthy meal for their children, and support a local business in the process.

More details to come in the fall for this opportunity.

Thank you to our Home & School Group for an incredible year of fun and support. They are planning to meet in August and will set the dates for our monthly hot lunch meals as well.

If you would like to be part of this incredible group who helps with fun events like:

- Monthly Birthday Recognition for our Students
- Movies and Ice Cream Socials
- Breakfast with St. Nick
- Wrightstown Holiday Parade Participation
- Staff Appreciation/Classroom Baskets
- Holiday Staff Scrip
- All School Lunch Days
Events like: Middle School Dances, Field Trips, and Family Outings
... PLUS SO MUCH MORE!

School Email: StClareSchool@stclareagw.org
School Phone: 920-532-4833

Home and School Board Officers 2023-2024:

• President: Kristin Mayer
• Vice-President: Ashley Van De Hey
• Treasurer: Sarah Kinate
• Committee Members: Kristin Stelzer, Kari Besel, Brooke Van De Hey, Kayla Treml, Stephanie VanZeeland, Trisha Meulemans, Heidi Van De Hey, and Lauren Krause.

Thank you for being a supportive advocate for Catholic Education!

Here at St. Clare, not only do we have high expectations of our students academically, but we also strive to help our students become "fishers of men." We encourage them to grow spiritually - to come to know God personally and share His love with everyone they meet.

Following in the tradition of St. Paul's Award of Excellence, our Devoted Disciple Award is given for the genuine kindness a student shows toward their fellow classmates, teachers, and staff members. A student that displays Catholic leadership to their peers and participates in the church and Parish in and out of school.

While many of our 8th grade students show a multitude of the qualities of a disciple of Christ daily, one student has stood out to us this year. This student has demonstrated day in and day out a deeper understanding of how to live as a disciple. he acts as a role model for his classmates -- and quite frankly, for all of us - by letting Christ color his unique personality.

This year's winner says that he lives out his Catholic Discipleship by, "I sing and I love to serve. I love to help people and cheer them up. "Being a good disciple to him means "to do the work of God..." I just want people to be happy and I want to be a good example."

He participates as a Mass server, volunteers at the Parish picnic and other events and is seen singing in choir at Mass on Sundays. On behalf of all the St. Clare staff, for his very strong example of how to love as Jesus Christ did in his everyday life, we are proud to present the second annual Devoted Disciple Award to: SAM LAMERS. Congratulations!

JUNE:

Monday: Closed

Tuesday: 7am-1pm

Wednesday: 7am-1pm

Thursday: 7am-1pm

Friday: Closed

JULY: The building is closed for maintenance and cleaning

AUGUST 1st: Business Operations Monday-Friday 7am-3:00pm resume.

If you need to reach Mrs. Stanczak over the summer, please email KStanczak@stclareagw.org as that is the easiest way to contact me.