Principal Update

Good evening St. C Families,

This is perhaps one of my favorite times of the school year, as there are so many things to celebrate. As we tie up loose ends from wrapping up the auction. I am thrilled to share that, thanks to your incredible generosity, we raised a record high $292,000! As our largest fundraiser, this has such a significant impact on our operations and offerings. Your unwavering support of our school this year, through your generosity in our fundraisers, your countless volunteer hours, and working in partnership teaching your children, are blessings we are truly fortunate to have. THANK YOU, for once again, coming together as a community to celebrate and support our school!

This month has also been a celebration of a number of students receiving the sacraments of First Eucharist and Confirmation, as well. In addition, our 8th graders are navigating their last few weeks at St. Catherine with many exciting events including their trip to Washington DC, their culminating retreat at Golden Gardens, and presenting their ROPE (Rite of Passage Experience) culminating reflections to their families.

These are just a few of the amazing things happening right now, but I can affirm that there is a lot of energy and joy as these kiddos near the end of another school year!

Thank you to all of you who completed our end of year survey (you can still access it tonight if you haven't had an opportunity to do so). Your feedback will be beneficial as we begin looking ahead to next year.

Kindly,

Kathy Cox

Principal

One of the most coveted offerings in middle school is our electives program. We are excited to announce that we're facilitating a one-day elective experience to our K-5 students during the last week of school. Staff members have created a range of fun elective offerings from tie dye to Conga drumming to beading and more. Each student in grades 1-5 will get to select 5 electives to go to on this special day. Our kindergarten class will travel through electives in two small groups that day, also getting to enjoy 5 electives. Soon, we will be facilitating a selection process for kiddos to preference their choices for that day. Lots of fun coming for the kids during this fun new tradition!

We had many highly qualified applicants for this position, and are thrilled to announce we've hired Lorie Knobloch. Lorie formerly worked in in both our preschool program and K-5 classrooms in an instructional assistant role at St. Catherine. Lorie brings a wealth of experience in early learning, and we couldn't be happier to have Lorie back on board! I am also excited to announce that our current Lions instructional assistant, Mariana Rosales, will be staying on staff as an on-call substitute in preschool.

As you know, this was our second year of having a Jog-a-Thon wish box for students to wish for anything they'd like to make our school a better place. After the jog-a-thon, we collected nothing shy of 300 wishes. While they ranged from a private jet to a school pet 🐱🐶🐍🐢, a very large number of wishes wanted shade for our play areas. Thank you to the success of our jog-a-thon fundraiser, we are in the process of preparing to install a large shade structure near the play structure in the plaza and 6 industrial table umbrellas at our round tables between the portables. One of the other top wishes was a vending machine. While this simply isn't feasible after exploring, thanks to a number of parents, students enjoyed a human vending machine experience in which all students received a variety of treats. We are excited to be able to use this cool vending machine again in the future to indulge our students with treats!

We are also excited to share that we received a Fulcrum Early Learning Grant to allow us to extend our efforts to add a shade structure to preschool. Thanks to this grant and parent club funding, we are in the process of scheduling the installation of a large shade structure at Siena Center in the preschool play yard! This will allow our Lions to play outside whether rainy or sunny by offering a place to play and enjoy while staying comfortable in the elements.

Not to worry, I am awaiting the determination for another grant that would enable us to put a shade structure in the Tigers and Cubs Preschool play yard, as well. Fingers crossed!

This past week, I had the pleasure of meeting with our new pastor, Fr. Bill Heric (as of July 1). Our PAA, Sarah Lentz, and I met with Fr. Heric to get to know one another and share about all-things St. Catherine. I look forward to welcoming Fr. Heric and our parochial vicar, Fr. Duc, to campus soon to more formally meet our staff and students. They are looking forward to having a presence on campus and in the school, and participating in many aspects of school and community life at St. C.

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.

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.