Eagle's Eye

St. Joseph Catholic School fosters a diverse community of disciples empowered through a rigorous and inclusive Catholic education rooted in Gospel values and service to others.

• Family members of students at St. Joseph Catholic School who would like to attend school Mass at 8:15 a.m. must preregister by 12pm on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024.
• If you have previously visited SJCS and been cleared through the Raptor System using your driver's license, simply submit the form below.
• **Please note that you must be cleared through the Raptor System each school year. If you have not had your driver's license scanned this year, please go to the school office to have this done.
• If you haven't been cleared through Raptor, please complete the form below AND you must go to the school office to have your driver's license scanned into our Raptor System for attendance at future events by 12pm on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024.
• If you submit by noon on the Tuesday before Mass, please plan to arrive at the back doors of the church in the courtyard by the Parish Center between 7:55 a.m. and 8:05 a.m. on the day of the Mass. The church doors on the Avenue M side will be locked and no admittance will be given to anyone attempting to enter on that side.
• Once Mass begins, we will not open doors to visitors for the safety of our students.

Click here to sign up to attend Mass: https://forms.gle/drZvbUWfKr62TvEE9

In today’s first reading from 2 Thessalonians, Paul said that if you work hard you may receive rewards and blessing but when you do the least, you do not deserve any gifts. When we slack off and do the minimum, we often do not get the grade or gift we expect. When you receive something, it is a blessing and you should be grateful. Working hard gets you to great places for your mind and body.

Aubrey, grade 8

In the Gospel, Jesus shared that people cared too much about themselves and not what was in their hearts. Jesus compares the leaders to whitewashed tombs that are beautiful on the outside but are filled with dirty bones. The moral of the Gospel and Father Raju’s homily were that we shouldn't focus on the outside but how we are on the inside because that is what God sees and cares about the most. We can apply this to our day-to-day lives by trying to be kind and holy humans and show others how they can be, too.

Jackson, grade 8

Parents are reminded that SJCS is closed tomorrow, Friday, August 30th for Teacher Professional Development. School is also closed on Monday, September 2nd for Labor Day. Enjoy the long weekend!

Games start next week

Thursday 9/5: Soccer @ RCS JV 4:30 V 5:30 | Volleyball JV 4:30 V 5:30

Friday 9/6 Volleyball vs Candlelight Christian Academy 4:30

For questions regarding athletics, please contact Athletic Director, Coach Edwards, ledwards@stjosephwhschool.org.

When exiting morning carline at the Parish Center parking lot, there will be two lanes of traffic. If you are in the right lane, you will need to turn right onto Unity Lane. If you are in the left lane, you will need to turn left onto Unity Lane. This traffic pattern ensures that cars continuously move through the carline. Please make sure you are in the correct lane for how you wish to exit the parking lot.

We have received some questions about after school care billing. If your child is not picked up by 3:30 pm, they will be signed into after school care and you will receive a bill the following Monday. To avoid this cost, we recommend arriving to school well before 3:30pm. If you child is clocked in anytime between 3:30-4:30, you will receive a bill for $4.50 per child. Please note that any child that is not picked up at the end time of their extracurricular activity will also be signed in to aftercare and charged accordingly.

PreK-5th grade students will be in the Parish Center or on the playground for Aftercare. Middle school students will be in the Science Lab or playground.

The year has been getting off to a great start in media. Most classes have finished reviewing book care rules (you may have heard about the book crimes!) and have started checking out books. With books now going home, I wanted to make parents aware of the changes in the AR system this year. In the past, SJCS has had point clubs that students earned their way into by reading books and earning points by passing quizzes. This practice worked well for our upper elementary/middle school students and strong readers, but was not effective for our younger elementary students or readers at all levels. Therefore, we are moving to individual AR goals. Based on student STAR reading tests, as well as teacher input, students will get an individualized reading goal for each trimester that is based on their own reading level. Students will continue to read books and take AR quizzes at school to earn points towards these goals. Students who reach their goal by the end of the trimester will get recognition and a small reward. We will continue to recognize students who earn the highest number of points each trimester, as well as other admirable achievements. We hope that by moving to this model, more students can experience success and we can continue to foster a lifelong love of reading. We are also going to be introducing other reading incentives at our school. Teachers may have additional awards and incentives based on AR points in their individual classrooms.

Come back next week to find out about: SSYRA!

Our Chess Team is starting up soon! If your child is interested in this, we will have an informational meeting on Friday, September 13th at 3:30 pm in Mrs. Motsch's classroom. The meeting should last 30 minutes.

Our annual Mary K. Hession Nun Run will be a great 3.1 mile run/walk. It will be a flat course out and back along the Chain of Lakes Trail, and is pet friendly. The event is on Saturday, October 5th beginning at 8 a.m. in the parking lot. Click the link to register. Sign up by September 10th to receive a t-shirt. For more information about this or sponsorship opportunities, contact Allison Beeman at sjcsnunrun@gmail.com. You can sign up using this link:

https://www.athlinks.com/event/st-joseph-catholic-school-nun-run-372770

Please use this link for sponsorships:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebo_nB9DC1mR0gzg7OfKmkJGCMgWrEEOiJfTYlFtdaAdZwmg/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0

EPCAR (the East Polk County Association of Realtors) is hosting a golf tournament on September 23rd. This will benefit our school as we are their charity of choice for the year!

https://members.epcar.com/calendar/Details/2024-epcar-charity-golf-tournament-1073270?sourceTypeId=EmailInvitation

We are beginning to schedule field trips for some grade levels already! Parents interested in chaperoning are reminded that they must wear a SJCS shirt. There are several options. Parents may either purchase a SJCS polo from our uniform company or a t-shirt from Boosters. Please keep this in mind as you start making commitments to chaperone field trips. These can be purchased in the office.

We have a few different choirs at SJCS.

School Mass Choir
Students in grades 3-8 are invited to sing in the choir at all school masses. Practice will be once a month with the next one in September. Please don't come pick your child(ren) up until 3:30 if they are staying for choir.

Church Children's Choir

The Children's Choir for our church will begin practicing at 3pm on Thursday, September 5th. Jitka Cinibulk, music director from our church, coordinates this ministry. This is for students to sing at weekend Masses. If you have any questions about this opportunity, please email her at jcinibulk@stjosephwh.org.

Choir with Mrs. James
TBA

We encourage parents to send in water bottles with their child daily to keep hydrated in the extreme heat. We have water bottle filling stations around campus. Remember that water bottles must be clear and may not be glass. Please put your child's name on his/her water bottle.

Our middle school students are invited to attend Edge, St. Joseph’s Middle School Ministry. This will begin on Wednesday, September 18th. Email Nathan Hayes at nhayes@stjosephwh.org for more information.

If you intend for your child to receive any sacraments (First Communion) through St. Joseph Catholic Church, it is time to register! Registration is being held after all masses this weekend in the parish center. You can also call the church office at 294-3144 or email Liliana Reyes at lreyes@stjosephwh.org

Save the Date and RSVP your Hawk Jr. Cheerleaders today!

RSVP Sign-up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4CABAB2DA4FCC70-51075989-sfcjunior

Important calendar dates for the 2024-2025 school year are listed below. ***Please note that the school intentionally schedules school closures at times throughout the school year. We are giving these dates to you early to help your planning for the 24-25 year. Families should schedule family vacations and other commitments during scheduled school closures; vacations should not be scheduled when school is open. Vacations are not considered excused absences and are a violation of the School Attendance Policy.

• August 30th: Teacher Workday: No School for Students
  
• September 2nd: Labor Day Holiday: School Closed
• November 25th-29th: Thanksgiving Holiday: No School
• December 23rd - January 3rd: Christmas Holiday: No School
• January 20th: Martin Luther King Day: No School
• March 17th-21st: Spring Break
• April 18th-23rd: Easter Break
• May 26th: Memorial Day: No School
• May 29th: Last Day of School

As you know, all parents are required to contribute a total of 20 service hours during the 2024-2025 school year. There are lots of opportunities to earn service hours. Thanks to all those parents who have already given of their time in service. It's time to document those volunteer hours in Renweb. You can find information about logging service hours in the "Resources" section at the bottom of this newsletter.

If you have any questions regarding logging of hours, Mr. Kupka is the best person to help you. Email him at mkupka@stjosephwhschool.org

Please remember that there are many times throughout the school year, where parents choosing to come on campus must be fingerprint cleared through the Diocese of Orlando. This includes volunteering at special events or chaperoning field trips. The fall is always such a busy time for the diocesan fingerprint office, and clearance can take weeks depending on circumstances. If you are a new parent to SJCS, or your fingerprints have expired, we urge you to consider taking care of this requirement now! The steps for being fingerprint cleared are below.

If you have been previously fingerprinted and have questions about this, contact the office. Please do not contact the Diocese directly about this.

Since we reached our goal of $100 in funds earned for SJCS, our new goal will be $250. Scan your receipts to help us reach this goal and all students will earn another dress down day.

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
—For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace
they do not eat without purifying themselves.
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds. —
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
"Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?"
He responded,
"Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition."

He summoned the crowd again and said to them,
"Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.

"From within people, from their hearts,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile."

This section of the Eagle's Eye will remain in every edition of our newsletter. It will contain links to information that parents may need from time to time. When parents have questions, we urge you to check this section for possible links that could get you the information that you need.

• School Calendar
• Lunch Menus
• Maschio's Birthday Order Form
• Registering for a lunch account
• PikMyKid User Guide (English)
• PikMyKid User Guide (Spanish)
• Fingerprinting/Safe Environment Certification Instructions
• Fingerprinting/Safe Environment Certification
• Uniform Company
• Technology Responsible Use Policy for Students
• Parent Student Handbook
• Attendance Policy
• Accessing Facts Family Portal
• Family Portal Login
• Logging Service Hours: Parents and students can now enter and view their own service hours. You can use your app to view the hours, however, you have to use the web version to enter new hours. go to FACTS Family Portal. The district code is STJC-FL. Once logged in, click on the Family option in the menu on the left side. At the top of the screen, select the family member who will be adding the service hours. Click on the Add option on the right side of the screen in the Service Hours box. Fill out the information and click Save.

O Blessed Joseph, faithful guardian of my Redeemer, Jesus Christ, protector of Mary, the virgin Mother of God, I choose you this day to be my special patron and advocate and I firmly resolve to honor you all the days of my life. Therefore, I humbly ask you to receive me as your client, to instruct me in every doubt, to comfort me in every affliction, to obtain for me and for all the knowledge and love of the Heart of Jesus, and finally to defend and protect me at the hour of my death. Amen.

Principal: Mrs. Insua

Assistant Principal: Ms. Lucarelli

Assistant Principal: Mr. Kupka

Canonical Administrator: Fr. Tim LaBo

Superintendent: Dr. Erika Wikstrom

Email: jinsua@stjosephwhschool.org
Website: stjosephwhschool.org
Location: 535 Avenue M Northwest, Winter Haven, FL, USA
Phone: 863-293-3311