I couldn't have put it better than our 4th Grade students and Mrs. Hayes did above, but I do want to express my personal gratitude for the chance to be part of this community. I would be sitting here at my desk until midnight if I were to begin thanking each and every person in this amazing community and I promised my kids we would make pumpkin pie today.

From the bottom of my heart, humbly and sincerely, thank you. Thank you for all that you do, in ways big or small, through time, talent, or treasure, to support St. Therese, Catholic education, and the future of our students. I must also remind myself to thank God, for everything. Father spoke to that today in his homily in our school mass. Gratitude and giving thanks are obviously popular themes, especially this time of year, in the secular world as well as in Catholic resources. In an effort to dig a little bit deeper than "Live, Laugh, Love" decals on pinterest, I found this one recently, which is a homily from Pope Francis on Thanksgiving day. (For the record, I have nothing against decals, and I happen to thoroughly enjoy each of those verbs.)

In reference to the Gospel story of 10 lepers, Pope Francis remarked, "among them, there was one who experienced an additional joy: in addition to being healed, he rejoices at meeting Jesus. He is not only freed from evil, but he now possesses the certainty of being loved. This is the crux: when you thank someone, give thanks, you express the certainty that you are loved. And this is a huge step: to have the certainty that you are loved. It is the discovery of love as the force that governs the world – as Dante said: the Love that “moves the sun and other stars” (Paradise, XXXIII, 145). We are no longer vagabonds wandering aimlessly here and there, no: we have a home, we dwell in Christ, and from that “dwelling” we contemplate the rest of the world which appears infinitely more beautiful to us. We are children of love, we are brothers and sisters of love. We are men and woman who thank."

This resonated with me, and in many ways what I see kids struggle with often at school. As adults we can too easily forget that growing up is hard! Middle school alone is an arduous journey full of self-doubt, and comparing oneself to one's neighbor is the name of the game. Moving to a new town and being the new kid at any age...that's terrifying! As Pope Francis explained, being thankful and expressing that, requires some vulnerability. "This is a huge step: to have the certainty that you are loved."

It is my hope that at St. Therese, we are helping to form young people who can and do thank. I hope every St. Therese student knows God's love deeply so that it overcomes the natural inclination to avoid vulnerability. I am confident that we are going in the right direction. I could feel it today at our school mass and the virtues assembly that followed, in which we recognized students from Pre-K through 8th grade, who demonstrated gratitude in their behavior over the month of November. We strive to reinforce what parents and family are teaching kids at home. Certainly nobody can trademark thanksgiving, but we are here to celebrate it and rejoice in God's love for each of us, for the students.

(The pumpkin pies, and my kids, are calling my name.)

All the best to you and your families this long weekend. Perhaps it does not have the same effect in a newsletter sent to all school parents, but I want to again thank each of you for what you do for this St. Therese School community. We're not St. Therese without each of us, without each of you.

Remember too, that there is 10 a.m. mass tomorrow morning to celebrate Thanksgiving and the Eucharist, which we know are synonymous with each other. Father Gabriele will be celebrating mass. We hope to see you there.

Gratefully yours,

Principal Schoning

6th Grade students in Dr. Giamona's social studies class used multimedia to showcase their studies on ancient civilizations. They were excellent!

Mrs. Bavaro, or Ms. Emily to a lot of our students, is our new Director of Music. At 3:30pm on Sunday, 12/1, at St. Therese Church, she will be showcasing her talents and some of what she has been working on with our students.

The program will feature a mixture of new and old works.

The event is free to all. Bring your kids, family, neighbors, friends and anyone who is interested.

We're blessed to have Mrs. Bavaro on staff this year. Come show her a warm St. Therese holiday welcome.

Hope to see you there!

We read the book Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano in class. The Kindergarteners were then asked to disguise their turkeys, so they wouldn't get eaten! - Ms. Forsyth

We are so excited to announce our new Hot Lunch program for St. Therese students. St. Therese is partnering with My Hot Lunchbox! My Hot Lunchbox partners with local restaurants our school requests and facilitates delivering meals individually packaged, labeled, and sorted for your students. Parents can now download the My Hot Lunchbox app for easy ordering, or order online. We will be offering this lunch service two days a week: Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our first Hot Lunch day will be Tuesday, November 26th.

What are the big details to know?

• Orders must be completed AT LEAST 24 hours ahead of time. Students can not bring money to school and order lunch from the office.
• Ordering can ONLY be done via the app or website- the school cannot take money from students for lunch orders.
• Tuesday lunch is provided by Red Robin.
• Thursday lunch is provided by Chick Fil A.
• The menu includes meals and a la carte options.

How do I order?

• Lunch can be ordered via the App or go to https://ordernow.myhotlunchbox.com/sign-up and click the ‘Create Account’ button under ‘Customer’.
• Fill in all required fields, agree to our terms and conditions, and click ‘Create’!
• Once you have created and logged into your My Hot Lunchbox account, select the 'My Profiles' tab on the left sidebar. Click 'Add Profile' and fill in your child's first & last name, type of organization (School), organization name (St. Therese School), teacher and/or grade, if applicable. Click 'Add Profile' again to add other students once you're done!

• Family FAQs about how to order, download the app, and how the lunch program works. (Also available in Spanish)
• A flyer with instructions for downloading the app.
• A QR code for a YouTube tutorial video.
• Benefits for Parents

After a very successful Food Drive, our 8th graders spent Monday morning moving hundreds of canned food items and other food items from the school to the St. Vincent de Paul garage. Afterwards, the 8th graders worked hard to clean the campus of litter. Nice work 8th grade!

Last week, Mr. Schoning and I visited De La Salle North Catholic High School. Not only is the campus close to St. Therese, but it is also brand new and beautiful. I will be honest and say I knew nothing of De La Salle other than students get the chance to work one day a week in the community to help off set their tuition. I left De La Salle last week very impressed with their school. Students are held to high academic standards, have 3 beautiful science labs and even have a Maker's Space for computer science. Students have the chance to participate in sports such as volleyball, basketball and soccer, as well as other extra curricular activities.

On top of all of that, students work in the community one day a week at places such as Nike, Jordan, and Umpqua Bank. After 4 years in high school, students have built up 4 years worth of work experience for their resumes as they enter the adult world. Mr. Schoning and I are working with the staff of De La Salle to bring a Parents Info Night to St. Therese. Any parents who are interested in learning more about De La Salle should come! After working with 8th graders for many years, it is so important to find the right fit for high school. We are so lucky to have many wonderful Catholic High School options for our students. This event is geared toward middle school families, but anyone interested should come!

- - Mrs. Baumbach

St. Therese Church is looking to form a Children’s Choir for the Christmas Day 10AM Mass **OR 5pm Mass on Christmas Eve. No prior experience necessary, ages 6-12 preferred but exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis. There will be an optional rehearsal on Friday, December 20 at 4PM, and a rehearsal on Christmas Day, December 25th from 9-9:40AM. Please reach out to Emily Bavaro at ebavaro@archdpdx.org or in person at Mass to sign up.

Please follow the link below to read the letter detailing the Christmas pageant, from Ms. Bavaro.

Thank you!!

Emily Bavaro

Director of Music

St. Therese Church and School

We are having a Christmas Bake Sale after the Christmas Pageant on December 13th. We are looking for baked goods donations! We want cookies, cheesecake, cake pops, brownies and any other sweet treats! Bake sale items will be available for purchase in the school gym following the school Christmas Pageant. All donated baked good items are worth Fair Share hours!

This event is not possible without the help of our amazing community! We need volunteers for the following:

• Set up and Clean up of the school gym
• Helping with Bake Sale/Food Sales
• Baked Good Donations

Please reach out to Mrs. Baumbach cbaumbach@stthereseschool.org with any questions or if you are able to help out at this event!

• Hot Shots and Basketball registration is open through the end of the month

• Deadline to sign up is December 1

• Jamboree for basketball is the week of December 7th and 14th

• We will start practice as soon as teams are finalized -- we need a minimum of 8 players per team and currently only have 2 full teams

• We will combine grades for partial groups in order to make a full team.

• Games are on Saturdays, with practices generally twice weekly for 90 minutes each

• Practices begin next week 11/18

• A pre-season jamboree will be held on 12/7 and 12/14

• First games begin on Saturday 1/4

• Games are on Saturdays, with a 30 minute practice before each game

• Season is 8 weeks long, and the first game is Saturday January 4th

• We will send out the agenda so you know what is being covered

• Hoping to have coaches present so that you can ask questions

• Cover key dates, things to know

• Volunteer opportunities, learning sessions and more

• Second week of December we will open a meeting to all parents interested in supporting the decisions and direction of the program for St Therese.

• We want to increase visibility and partnership with the school community

• Talk about priorities and focus points

• Review finances and goals

• There are plenty of opportunities to work concessions, or as a site monitor, or just be available to help in the gym when we run games, to get your Fair Share Hours!

• 11/28 - 11/29 No School for the holiday break.
• 12/9 School mass at 1:15, Feast of the Immaculate Conception
• 12/13 Christmas Pageant at 5:30 PM in the church
• 12/17 Parents Club Meeting at 6PM
• 12/20 Last Friday of December- Free Dress
• 12/23 - 1/6 Christmas Break

Tuesdays

• Vietnamese classes has changed from leveled classes, to one class from 3:30 - 4:30

Wednesdays

• School mass: 1:15 - 2:15 (subject to change based on holy days of obligation, feast days etc.)
• Sacraments classes with Sister Martina: 2:45 - 3:45 in the PSC.
• Open Gym Time, 6 - 8 pm. St. Therese Students from Grades 3 - 8 are all welcome! Free!

Last year Mr. Rymer showed his students the new Glowforge laser cutter, which he got for the school through a grant. By showing the kids the hardware, Mr. Rymer and the kids came up with the idea of making Christmas ornaments for their families. In doing so, the students are learning about engineering, design, and production. They are handmade by the students, with Mr. Rymer's guidance.

Post-pandemic, the prices of materials have gone up significantly and Mr. Rymer uses Baltic birch for these, which isn't cheap. It's a great way to get a custom made keepsake for loved ones and support the school at the same time. The price is $30 per ornament, or $50 for two ornaments.

Please see the links for a video with more information from Mr. Rymer, and the order form.

Central Catholic’s annual Middle School Leadership Summit is just around the corner. If you know students who have a passion for leadership and want to make a difference in their community then this is the place for them! Join us on December 3rd or December 4th (please pick one of the dates) from 400-7:00 P.M.

At this event, participants will get the chance to attend workshops of their choice facilitated by current Central Catholic Leadership students and staff. Dinner will be provided and we welcome parents to come back for the last 20 minutes of the event for a leadership showcase.

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Registrar/Office Mrs. Barnett, barnetta@stthereseschool.org

Principal Schoning schoningc@stthereseschool.org

Vice Principal Baumbach cbaumbach@stthereseschool.org

School Phone: 503-253-9400