|
|
St. Christopher School * 13305 Proctor Road, Philadelphia, PA 19116 * 215-673-5787 |
|
OLD NEWS
JUST CHECKING IN!!JUNE 8, 2005God bless our children and keep them near Him these wonderful days of summer. THIS IS IT! This envelope is our final Wednesday envelope for this school year so you do not have to return it to school. It might be a good place to keep summer paperwork about school. Please check first the report card envelope next week and then the church bulletin each week and our website periodically for updates about what’s happening. We are grateful to our wonderful “Senior Stuffers” for their dedication to you and your children. They make this whole communications process so easy for everyone. We hope that have a relaxing summer. We know they’ll all be back in September because as they say, the pay’s too good to turn down and the benefits are heavenly. Bless them all and all of you as you get ready for a wonderful summer. I hope that your family is able to join everyone at Dorney Park this Friday. This is perfect weather for it. Remember that next week’s dismissals are at 12:30 PM each day. IMPORTANT NURSE’S REMINDER As the school year comes to a close, our school nurse, Mrs. Coleman, asks that parents whose children have medication here at school arrange to come in to pick it up. If you need to call Mrs. Coleman about this, please do so. SUMMER SCRIP HOURS You might want to find somewhere visible to keep our summer Scrip hours instead of that proverbial safe place we all have but can never remember. Except for Father’s Day on the 19th, Sunday hours are from 8:30 to 11:30 AM, Wednesday 9-10 AM, Thursday 7-8 PM, and Friday 9-10 AM. Please note that the Scrip office will be closed on Saturdays and Mondays for the summer. SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE Although we do not usually subscribe to a mandated number of violations equals a suspension, etc. we are looking to ways to make students (parents) know that how they look is important. Too many of you send your children here because you want them growing up not only in our faith but with habits designed for a successful future. These habits include appearance. Look for paperwork included in next week’s report card envelope that will review expectations for the fall from haircuts to school bags. We owe it to you! A CELEBRATION OF WHO WE ARE Last Friday our Peer Helpers under the direction of our counselor Eve Boyd presented a program about celebrating who we are and the diverse cultures and ethnicities we represent here at St. Chris. Presented as a classroom setting, the “students” shared tidbits from their cultures—songs, language, customs—that provide memories and make for a richer America . WE’RE GOING TO DO IT! Having heard more and more instances of breast cancer in the families of our students and on our own faculty, Mrs. Tremper and I have signed up for the three day/60 mile walk on a September weekend. The training and the walking will be the easy part—it’s raising $2100 each that’s unnerving. Ideas?? MAY STUDENTS OF THE MONTH Kindergarten—Brianna Geiger and Thomas Ferry; 1st Grade—Evan Cerebe, Julianna Rusden, Lexi Merrigan, Kelli Beveridge; 2nd—Amanda Lawson and Patrick Rusden; 3rd—Alexa Temorali, Daniel Palage, Anna Ryan and Erika Jesberger; 4th—Grace Hiegl, Katie O’Brien, Katherine Wible and Joe Ruskowski; 5th—James Schuck and Sean Fitzpatrick; 6th—Brianna Druding and Molly Moore; 7th—Greg Olenski and Brian Dones. We are proud of each of you and to all who are “students of the month” named and unnamed. It means you do a good job! PEOPLE AND EVENTS Hearing about Locks of Love, Amanda Bowman (1-33) had 10 inches of her hair cut and donated to this wonderful organization that helps children who have lost their hair during chemotherapy or for other reasons. We are proud of Amanda and are wondering just how many total inches St. Chris students have donated to this worthy cause so far. If you have, drop us a note and we’ll start keeping a tally. St. Chris CYO is hosting a Home Run Derby this Saturday, the 11th, at Boyle Playground. Besides participating, it’s the time for team members to turn in their uniform pants. If you won’t be there, please send the pants in with a teammate. Here’s the schedule for this fun day: Boys’ JV – Noon, Girls’ JV-1 PM, Coaches-2 PM, Girls’ Varsity-2:30 PM, and Boys’ Varsity-3:30 PM. Our Track Team had a fine ending to a fine year that came to a close last Saturday at the Archdiocesan Championships at West Chester University. We are proud of their successes which include the season itself, the Penn Relays, the City Champs, and now the Archdiocesan Champs. Well done! CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to Kelsey Tyrell (1-33) whose correct entry was drawn for our final puzzle of the school year. The sit words are situation, university, and parasite. The sat words are transatlantic, babysat, and saturate. We hope that you find lots of ways during the summer to think critically. Just play hangman, tic-tac-toe, checkers, chess, etc. They make you think and think strategically as well. Between reading for the pure pleasure of it—where it will take you and what you can imagine—and keeping your brain exercised, you’ll be in good shape for the fall. JUNE 1, 2005St. Christopher ~ Carrying Christ to OthersWHAT COULD BE EASIER? All Father Joe wants is to see our families in Church each week and to know that we are all living up to the baptismal promises we made for our children. To make it even easier, just like the advantage of Scrip and Market Day where you get tuition rebates for spending no more money than you normally would for groceries, etc., the stewardship tuition rate offers the same kind of tuition “rebates” just for going to Church each week like you should and keeping up your offertory commitment. What could be easier? FUN IS RIGHT HERE IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD—OR ALMOST! Join your fellow parishioners at our Parish Picnic this Sunday from 3-8 PM. Sister Michele has lots planned to make the day fun and Mike Sweeney does a mean burger. Check it out! Friday, June 10th, is Dorney Park Day for St. Chris—a time for families and friends to get together and enjoy the Water Kingdom and rides that make the day so fun. Remember, if it rains and we don’t go, Eileen Kelly sends your check back. It’s a win-win situation. A Serengeti Safari in Somerton? You bet! And it’s right here at St. Chris. Have you signed your children up for this year’s Bible School yet? It starts Monday the 20th and runs all week long. TUITION INFORMATION To Receive End of year report card: Tuition must be paid in full and Offertory commitment must be current through 6/12 - $612. Monthly Applications are available at school office and parish office. Completed forms are due back to parish office no later than June 30 in order to avoid $20 processing fee. There is a $70 discount if you are able to choose either the annual or semi annual plans. SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES The City of Philadelphia including the School District is providing many opportunities for summer fun for children. To that end, they have published the 2005 Directory of Summer Camps, Programs, and Activities. They sent us three copies and said that people interested in obtaining more copies may call 215-683-4DHS to place an order. If you’d like to see one of our copies, make a call or send a note. PEOPLE AND EVENTS Wow! What an amazing year our Track and Field teams have had. We already told you how great they were in the Penn Relays. Well, they’re still going! Last week the boys came in 2nd in the City Championships and the girls came in 6th. We’re looking forward to hearing from their proud coach Alyssa Dunphy about how they all do in the Archdiocesan Championships this Saturday morning at West Chester University . Go St. Chris! Congratulations to our JV Boys 5th Grade Baseball Team who qualified for the CYO play-offs. These fine players are Michael Adair, Ian Baird, Kevin Clifton, Shane Davis, Billy Dever, Michael Gradel, Tommy Lynch, Pat Micciulla, Chris Muldoon, Kyle Murphy, Kevin Nelms, Nick Pascali, Pat Peiffer, and Jim Tyrell. CRITICAL THINKING 101 We thought we’d get you but you got us and so we needed to have a dual drawing. There are two states surrounded by eight other states – Missouri and Tennessee —and so we had two piles of correct entries. Getting drawn from the Missouri pile was Marissa Russell in 8-26 and from the Tennessee pile were twins Jackie (4-12) and Gabby (4-10) Bamberski. So we’re handing out two $10 Scrip of Choice certificates. For our final Critical Thinking this school year, we hope you won’t just SIT around and not try to figure these out since those three letters pop up in many words. Do you know these three? We put clues in parentheses. 1. Sit------ (Unusual state of affairs) 2. ------sit- (Place of learning like a college) 3. ----sit- (This life form lives off other beings) If you SAT and SAT trying to figure those out, you might have better luck with these three. 1. ----sat------ ( over the ocean) 2. ----sat (cared for someone’s children) 3. sat----- (soak) MAY 25, 2005Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us!IF IT’S MAY, IT MUST BE TIME FOR THE ANNUAL GYM SHOW Hopefully you and yours are able to attend this show and see how talented our children are. This year’s title and theme is Memories. Not only will we draw on memories of gym shows past, but we’ll also create new ones for the children performing this year. God bless Mrs. Giammaruti and her wonderful committee of teachers and parishioners who work so hard to keep this tradition alive at SCS. IT’S DEFINITELY A REFRIGERATOR HANG-UP! The June calendar is enclosed in this envelope and because of the different scheduling and dismissals in this final school month, you’ll definitely want to have it nearby to keep things straight. However, you know that you can also find it on our website if you misplace it. The end of the year is a busy time for school with all that takes place besides being a busy time in families’ lives with graduations, weddings, etc. –all the things that make June so special especially Father’s Day. TO REMEMBER WHEN… Pope John Paul II died, we distributed holy cards to all of our students with a brief timeline of his life on the back. We are now sending home holy cards of our new Pope Benedict as a remembrance. We are mindful of the fact that your children will want to show their children and their children’s children remembrances of when they lived out this important time in our Church’s history.
HOW DO THEY DO IT? Quite simply, they do it out of love! The “they” is our wonderful group of H & S people who work so hard to keep our school year extra special for everyone. Although their personal lives are filled with family events, they still make sure that our children have yet another Special Lunch and then we’ll be having Water Ice Day in June to name just two ways these people keep things extra fun here. We are grateful to Janet Dunphy, H & S President, and her board whom she inspires with her own sense of commitment to SCS. Thank you one and all. Your time and effort are true gifts from your hearts.
EVERYBODY LOVES A PICNIC… and it’s even more fun when you just come without having to pack your coolers and picnic baskets. Make your family’s reservation to attend our Parish Picnic Sunday, June 5th. Forms are in the church bulletin. We want to order enough food for everyone, and Mike Sweeney who’ll be manning the grill doesn’t want anyone to be hungry.
SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES We’ll draw two names this Friday. Little Flower HS is holding enrichment and skills classes for girls completing grades, 5, 6, and 7. Fliers are in our office. Assumption School in Feasterville also has a summer tutoring program about which you can call them.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS We are proud of Nicole and Danielle Weiss, twins in our 2nd Grade, who generously donated 21 inches of hair to Locks of Love. The girls had planned on having their hair cut the day after they made their First Holy Communion, and so on Sunday, the 15th, Danielle had 11 inches cut off and Nicole 10 inches. A few years ago when the girls saw how sick a friend-also a twin-was with Hodgkin’s disease, and how she lost all her hair during chemotherapy, they decided they would help other children who might also lose their hair. Mr. and Mrs. Weiss as well as SCS are blessed with such loving and caring children. If we’d all bought stock in the companies that producing casting materials and crutches, we’d have it made! Looking around our school on any given day, you can see almost a dozen cherubs with casts and/or crutches. Their injuries come from a range of activities—falling off trampolines, being hit with baseballs, tripping, kicking soccer balls near cement, etc. It must be spring! Hopefully, everybody will soon be healed and ready for swimming—if it ever gets warm enough!
CRITICAL THINKING 101 Shannon Dougherty in 7-24 will receive this week’s $10 Scrip of Choice certificate since her entry had the right answer when it was drawn. The answer is “The letter R”. For next week, our second to last week for this envelope, tell us the only state in the USA that is surrounded by eight other states.
MAY 18, 2005
“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.”
WHAT A BLESSED WEEK IT WAS! Beginning with the celebration of Mother’s Day honoring all those women who indeed grace our lives to Confirmation Thursday night, First Eucharist Saturday, and the Sunday celebration for those First Communicants, it was truly a graced and blessed week. There are so many people—especially their classroom teachers, Mrs. Mantone, Mrs. McFillin, and Ms. Thompson, and Sister Michele-- who worked so hard to make these sacramental celebrations as special as possible for our children. We know that God blesses each of them as well as all the parents who work to make both Saturday and Sunday memorable.
“O MARY, WE CROWN THEE WITH BLOSSOMS TODAY…” If you were fortunate enough to be at our May Procession, you know what a reverent experience it was for our students and grown-ups. Like our sacrament celebrations, this day was so special because of the hard work of Ms. King coordinating the whole procession, Mrs. Muldoon and Mrs. Mottershead working with the liturgical dancers, and Ms. Thompson and Mrs. Del Quadro with the May Court. Following SCS tradition, the May Court, dancers, and the May Queen were all 8th Grade girls. Our queen was Shelby Cucinotta, the court was Rachel Mack, Shannon McDonald, Meredith Kelly, Lauren Wagner, Kim Wilkinson, and Kelly Young, and the liturgical dancers were Julianne Atkinson, Alexandra Boyle, Colleen Boyle, Ariel Christopher, Jessica Fuss, Marcelina Hollender, Meghan Lavelle, Diana Mangoni, Brittany Parkinson, Devon Reed, Justine Rizzo, Nicole Scott, Sara Szymendera, Allison Wagner, Rebecca Washburn, Christina Zambito, and Danielle Zuccarini. Our First Communicants, Confirmed, and Soon-to-be Grads also processed into church in their special garb. It was truly a fine day right down to the Blessed Mother blue of the sky!
WHAT A PROUD MOMENT Watching our St. Christopher 2005 Josephine C. Connelly Achievement Award recipients as they went on stage at Ryan Monday evening was truly a proud moment. Congratulations and best wishes to 8th Graders Chelsea Bryan, Brian Fitzpatrick, Jessica Gittings, and James Kopaczewski! We know that you will do your best in high school. All of us are grateful to the Connelly Foundation for all they do to support our Archdiocesan schools and students. They know how vital students with strong Catholic values and faith formation are to our future.
CHURCH ENVELOPES To help insure the recorded accuracy of your contributions, we ask you to use your church envelopes and clearly mark them with the amount of your donation. If you are doubling up financially for past or future Sundays, please use one envelope only for that purpose as all envelopes are posted to the date they are received. However, if you are informing us that you attended Mass at another church, please note that parish on the envelope for that week or in a note and turn it in when you are next at St. Christopher. Maryann Junod is in the Parish Office from Monday to Thursday to answer any questions you may have.
SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES Roman HS is holding a football camp for boys in grades 5-9 this school year. Fliers are in our office. Father Judge is holding a Basketball Camp for boys 7 to 15. Fliers have been left with their teachers.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS Our Varsity Girls’ Softball Team has been doing great! Last Friday they began play-offs winning a very close game –3 to 2—against St. Katherine’s. Monday they had an amazing game beating St. William’s 18 to 0. The Championship game will be played today at 4:30 at Ryan so hopefully you can be there to cheer these girls on as they make those runs. Go St. Chris! Congratulations to Tim Lamb (1-32) who accepted the challenge from Action Karate which he attends to achieve honor role grades and do his best in school. Tim’s whole class enjoyed pizza from Action Karate last Friday because Tim followed through with his challenge. Sarah Malamut (7-22) was honored on Saturday, May 7th, by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth for her performance on the 2005 SAT’s. Sarah received a score of 1060 and was honored along with 1,550 students statewide. Imagine what Sarah will score in high school! Kate Ewing (3-6) won the Sigrid Wiswe Memorial Award which included a $25 Barnes and Noble gift certificate for her consistency and enthusiasm in learning German at the Immanuel German School. We are proud of you, Kate.
CRITICAL THINKING 101 Nicolina DiMascia (3-7) found seven ways to make 40 cents without using pennies when her correct entry was drawn. She will receive a $10 Scrip of Choice certificate to enjoy. For next week, “What is it? It’s in the rock but not in the stone. It’s in the marrow but not in the bone. It’s in the comforter but not in the bed. It’s not in the living, nor yet in the dead. What is it?”
MAY 11, 2005
God bless our Confirmandi and First Communicants!
DON’T FORGET 12:30 DISMISSAL Please remember that tomorrow, May 12th, is our special Confirmation day and therefore we are dismissing at 12:30 so that we all can be ready and in place when Cardinal Rigali arrives to confer the sacrament on our 6th Graders here and in CCD as well as some RCIA members. We ask that you pray for all these people who have prepared for so long to be ready. God bless them.
AND THEN THERE’S SATURDAY… and our 2nd Graders here and in CCD will be receiving Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist for their very first time. These are very excited cherubs who radiate innocence and the love of God in what they say and do. Like our Confirmandi, these boys and girls have been preparing for this sacrament for many months. Please remember them in prayer as well. If you are at the 9 AM mass on Sunday, you will see them dressed in their 1st Communion garb once again and then celebrating at a reception hosted by 1st Grade parents. Traditions like this and your prayers exemplify the meaning of the Body of Christ.
ANOTHER REASON WHY WE’RE BLESSED TO HAVE FATHER JOE Our pastor has such a succinct and clear way of reminding us in this special Year of the Eucharist of who we are and who we are called to be as committed Catholics. Enclosed in the envelope is Father’s letter from last Sunday’s bulletin about the special sacramental week we are enjoying and just what our stewardship commitment entails.
WHAT MAKES YOUR FAMILY SPECIAL? Our Peer Helpers working with counselor Eve Boyd are asking for input from you so that as a school we can celebrate our diversity and connectedness. Read all about their plans for us and fill out the form.
TUITION INFORMATION Three notes about tuition—this year’s and next: 1) To receive your final report card, tuition must be paid in full and your Offertory commitment needs to be current through June 12th which would be $612 minimum. 2) There is a $70 discount for families who choose either the annual or semi-annual plans. 3) Applications for monthly tuition payments are available at the school and parish offices. Completed forms are due back to the parish office no later than June 30 in order to avoid a $20 processing fee.
SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES We again want to make you aware that we have brochures for Girls Grade 3-9 Soccer Camp at Nazareth Academy, Boys Gr. 2-8 Basketball Camp at Ryan, Camp CORA —an innovative media arts program, and a sports camp at St. Basil Academy. Give our office a call or have your child go for a brochure for any of these opportunities.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS We again want to congratulate our St. Chris Track Team. For the first time in our history two of our teams made it to the Penn Relay Championships. Hats off to our JV Boys—Chris Averill, Jason DeNofa, Nick Ricci, Brendan Rusden, and Christian Stewart and to our Varsity Boys—Ted Bordelon, Phil Celona, Tony Cerruti, Bob Sharkus, and Bob Wright! Thank you Coach Alyssa Dunphy for training them so well and inspiring them to do their very best. It certainly paid off! Kaitlin Demchuk in 7-23 performed in Donna Graham’s 5th Annual Singing Recital at the Y on Red Lion Road last Saturday, May 7th. Kaitlin has been performing in group numbers in this show for five years and has been singing solo numbers for four years. We are all very proud of her for doing such a fine job. In recognition of her outstanding achievements in Polish Language Study in the 2004-2005 year, Marcelina Hollender was awarded a Certificate of Excellence from the Polish People’s University as well as one from the Polish American Congress for her part in helping continue the customs, traditions, and dances of Poland. Imagine what an advantage it is to speak two languages! We too are proud of you, Marcelina. Keep up the good work.
CRITICAL THINKING 101 Did you remember that we’ll have two winners this week since we last week’s was on hold? Congratulations to Jason DeNofa in 5-12 whose correct entry was drawn for the ‘colorful” things. They were 1) orange bowl, 2) gray matter, 3) purple heart, 4) white pages, 5) red carpet, and 6) brown bread. For last week, Brigid (3-6) and Courtney (5-15) Young had their correct entry drawn. All the clues connected to a baseball game. Please know we would never give you a puzzle about killing that a few people thought it was. Yikes! Both Jason and the Youngs will receive $10 Scrip of Choice certificates. For next week “Without using pennies, what different combinations of coins can make 40 cents?” MAY 4, 2005
May our prayers ascend with the Risen Christ as He goes to His Holy Father!
ASCENSION THURSDAY ~ A HOLY DAY AND SCHOOL HOLIDAY Although it is early May, tomorrow will mark the 40th day after Easter and so the time of the Lord’s Ascension into heaven. St. Christopher provides many mass times so that families can conveniently fulfill their obligation for this day. Friday is likewise a school holiday as it is our teachers’ annual retreat day.
OUR SPECIAL SACRAMENTAL WEEK IS ALMOST HERE Next Thursday, May 12, our 6th Grade will receive the sacrament of Confirmation. Cardinal Justin Rigali will be anointing the children as they come forward. As if the day were not special in its own right, being so very close to the feast of the Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down upon the Apostles in tongues of fire in the upper room makes it even more so. For our students –and all of us confirmed- to be part of this rich church tradition is awesome. Then on Saturday, May 14, our 2nd Grade will be receiving the Eucharist for their very first time. Again, a joining with the Church to the sacrament that Christ bestowed to the Apostles in that same upper room! Please pray for all of these students as their special days near. Also pray for their families who are living out yet another sacrament when they promised at their children’s baptisms to raise them in the faith of our Church.
OUR MAY PROCESSION CELEBRATES MARY AND THESE SACRAMENTS On Monday, May 16, in the afternoon at 1:45 we will hold our annual procession to honor Mary the Mother of God. It is fitting that those students who have so newly received these sacraments participate in the usual special way of wearing Confirmation robes in 6th and Communion garb in 2nd. Our 8th Grade will also wear their graduation robes anticipating a special time in their lives as well. Everyone else is asked to come in regular uniform and not gym uniform even if it is your letter day.
THE POPE WILL BE GETTING A PACKAGE FROM PROCTOR ROAD Our students and teachers have committed to prayers, masses, and service as a way of showing our newly elected Pope Benedict XVI how much we support him in his new role as the spiritual leader of our Church. We are preparing this spiritual bouquet to send to him at the Vatican. It is inspiring to hear the commitment your children have made for him as many of our 8:30 Mass attendees heard last week when Father Joe dialogued with students at masses then.
WE’RE GLAD WE WERE ABLE TO MAKE LIFE EASIER in just a small way at least. Today is the final day of our school book sale for summer reading and a good many of you took advantage of purchasing books either at last week’s H & S meeting or by sending an order in to school up until today. If only we could handle laundry or carpooling!
HATS OFF TO OUR HOME AND SCHOOL Last week’s closing meeting was packed with people and had so much going on as you saw if you were able to join us. Read all about it and the winners of the annual tuition drawing in President Janet Dunphy’s letter for you.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS Wow! Groups from our track team ably coached by Alyssa Dunphy ran in the Penn Relays last week. We congratulate the boys’ and girls’ teams who did so well. By coming in 9th in the heats, the boys were able to return for the finals where they again placed 9th against 128 teams. Well done, gentlemen. We’ll publish all the team members who participated next week.
CRITICAL THINKING 101 We will announce last week’s winner with next week’s. For next week, can you answer this? “A man in uniform was running home. Suddenly he saw a second man wearing a mask and holding a dread object. He quickly turned around and ran back to where he had come from. What event was occurring?” APRIL 27, 2005“Habemus Papam!” ~ Pope Benedict XVI ~ Pray for him and his intentions.
MOTHER’S DAY MAY PROCESSION We are all invited—young and old—the faithful of the Archdiocese to participate in the annual May Procession in honor of our Blessed Mother on Sunday, May 8th held at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. The Rosary Procession begins at 2 PM and the Crowning of Mary is at 2:30 PM. For further information, call 215-561-1313 or send an e-mail to ourlady@mayprocession.org.
TAKE YOUR DAUGHTER TO WORK DAY If you have already sent in a letter notifying school that you are taking your son or daughter to work tomorrow, you do not need to call the absentee line. If you have not yet notified us though, please do leave a message on the line so that we know your child is safe. Please remember to send the official work letter in with your child on Friday.
OUR ANNUAL DAY AT DORNEY PARK is scheduled for Friday, June 10th. Final testing will be over and everyone can just relax and enjoy the day at Dorney with the rest of our school community. Look for flyers to come home with details about the day. We know this is a special St. Chris tradition that our families enjoy so much.
NUTS TO YOU! That what we’re hoping that many of you were able to say to your children when you came home from last night’s H & S meeting. If you were there for the whole meeting, before you left Mrs. Tremper and I handed you N. U. T. passes which are No Uniform Today passes. Unless it is a gym or special event day, your child can decide just what day to use this pass.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO ANNOUNCING THE UPCOMING HOME AND SCHOOL BOARD Next week we will be posting this information for you. Our Board does so much on behalf of our children. They look forward to working with you and for you to make St. Christopher School an even better place. Your support –in the way that works best for your family-is vital to the success of H & S. How can you help?
LOTS OF OPPORTUNITES FOR NOW AND SUMMER Simply call or e-mail if indicated or let our school office know you need a brochure for the following: We have brochures with information about the Metro Kids Fun portion of the Broad Street Run this Sunday, May 1st. The Lighthouse Strikers U10 Girls Team is holding open tryouts for experienced soccer players. This team will be playing 11 v. 11 in the fall and have some spots open on their roster. Tryout dates are Mon., May 2nd (rain date May 4th) and Mon., May 9th (rain date May 11th) at 6:30 PM. If you are a player born Aug. 1, 1994 or later and are interested in being part of this competitive team, please e-mail LSCstrikers@yahoo.com or call 215-612-9813 for more information. You may also visit the website www.eteamz.com/strikers95. Archbishop Ryan has a girls’ basketball camp for 4-9th graders. We have brochures or you can call John Farrington at 215-816-5591 or reach him at bb_coach_f@yahoo.com. Bishop McDevitt has a boys’ basketball camp for boys aged 7-14. We have brochures. APRIL STUDENTS OF THE MONTH We’d like to congratulate our April 2005 students. They are: Kindergarten-Abigail Jastrzembski and Caitlyn Maggetti, 1st-Alain Jesberger, Sean Finnegan, Ronnie Porretta, Kurt Stengel, and Sean Coolen, 2nd-Devon Shiffler and Kelly Bradley, 3rd-Brigid Young, Samantha DiFrancesco, and John Luciano, 4th-Jamie Gogel, Brianna Markeee, Josh Cannon, and Jessica Horton, 5th-Courtney Young and Danielle Chichilitti, 6th-Steven Smith and Jesse Worek, and 7th-Caitlyn McLaughlin.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS We’d like to thank the Class of 2005 Peer Helpers who did so much working with Eve Boyd our counselor on behalf of our students. They are Julianne Atkinson, Alexandra Boyle, Colleen Boyle, Kevin Dwyer, Caitlin Feighan, Alexander Gonsiewski, Meredith Kelly, Laura Luisi, Shannon McDonald, Brian McGuire, Nicole Scott, Amanda Smith, Sara Szymendera, and Meghan Wahl. We are proud to announce that Corinne Fanelli in 6-20 was a winner in the Archbishop Wood Annual Writing Competition. There was a ceremony this past Sunday at which winners read their essays in the Sophie Feldman Auditorium at Wood. Good writing has been benefits, doesn’t it, Corinne? Lauren Haber also in 6-20 is off to the State Gymnastic Championships in Erie, PA in a few weeks. Lauren, training at Somerton Gymnastics, got this opportunity by coming in 3rd Place with a score of 34. 525 at the Level 5 Sectionals. Keep up the good work, Lauren. We’re rooting for you.
CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations and our $10 Scrip of Choice Certificate go to Nicolina DiMascia in 3-7 whose correct entries were drawn for last week’s puzzle. The hidden animals were 1. seal, 2. bear, 3. camel, 4. fish, and 5. llama. For next week, let’s be colorful. The first word in each expression is a color and the second word, when unscrambled, completes a common term associated with that color. For example, white + esla = white sale. Here we go: 1. orange + wobl = ? 2. gray + tamter = ? 3. purple + threa = ? 4. white + gaspe = ? 5. red + tarcep = ? 6. brown dbaer = ?
APRRIL 20, 2005"Habeamus Papa!” Gob bless our new Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.THESE PROGRESS REPORTS ARE THE LAST ONES FOR THE YEAR…. so please take them to heart. If your child is doing fine, keep up the routine. If your child needs to grow or improve in an area, please take the steps you can to help. Some students simply need to know that you are behind them and what your expectations are for them and how they work and behave in school. If you know your child is doing his/her best and still struggles, then you need to arrange a meeting with that teacher. NICKELS FOR NEIGHBORS is the junior version of the Catholic Charities Appeal spearheaded by our resident Bishop McFadden. Our diocesan schools are asked to make children a part of giving and helping others. To make it more fun, St. Chris will be hosting a dress down day on Monday, April 25th, for the cost of 20 nickels which happens to be one paper dollar minimum. Feel free to have your child send in more. A representative from SCS will meet with Bishop McFadden at Archbishop Carroll on the 29th for a photo session when our monies are turned in. BRAVO FOR BRAVO! This wonderful program that provides for tuition help to families from State Tax Credits is up for vote in Harrisburg as to whether or not it should be renewed. Many of our St. Chris families have benefited from Bravo in the past few years and it is a program that we would like to see continued. Home and School has provided letters in this mailing that you can simply sign and send to both our Governor and Rep. Kenney letting them know how much you support the program. All you need to do is sign the letters, address and stamp the envelopes, mail them off, and you will have done your part in making a difference. We are grateful to our H & S for making it so easy for us in our busy lives. Please go for it! SPEAKING OF HELP WITH TUITION Please remember that the deadline to apply for tuition assistance is approaching. Please call or write for an application. IF YOUR CHILD IS FREQUENTLY LATE, please look for a letter to you in his/her progress report envelope which needs to be signed and returned. Being late affects not only your child but the rest of the class. Besides that, punctuality is a life skill that all of us must help the children develop in their lives. SCIENTISTS ON DISPLAY We would like to thank Mrs. Del Valle, school parent and Professor of Chemistry at Philadelphia Community College, for arranging to have the top ten science fair boards from 7th and 8th grade on display at the college. In the next school year, we will be having trips to the college to work in their science labs. Exciting, isn’t it? Congratulations to 7th Graders Kelsey Haugh, Drew McIntyre, Megan Nardi, Cait McLaughlin, Laura Guinan, Alex Scott, Kelly Clavin, Michelle Pacitti, Andre Del Valle, Anna Moffa, and Jamie Davis and to 8th Graders John Morrison, Tony Cerruti, Rachel Mack, Brett Johnson, Mike Rotondo, Colleen Boyle, Kelly Young, Meredith Kelly, James Perfidio, and Bill Alexander. PLAN YOUR SCRIP BUYING TO HAVE WHAT YOU NEED A heads-up for you that our Scrip Office will be closed on Saturday, April 30th, and also Sunday, May 8th, Mother’s Day. Our volunteers for Scrip do an awesome job and sometimes need plain old uninterrupted family time. MATH IS FUN! And just to prove how fun it can be, we are piloting a math club for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders for the rest of the year. Those parents will be receiving letters from their children today about the club that our Honors Math teacher Mrs. Binder will moderate one lunch period a week. We’ll keep you posted on how it goes. WANT ADS/ CLASSIFIED SECTION We are in need of a Tuesday AM pretzel parent as well as two lunch parents and also any lunch subs. If you have some time and would like to find out more, please call Mrs. Kennedy at 215-673-5787, ext. 15. PEOPLE AND EVENTS Congratulations to Laura Micciulla in 6-17 for taking 1st Place in an ice skating competition at Princeton University and also at Grundy Recreation Center in Bristol, competing against nine other girls. When Michael Leithead, one of 41 students in the Archdiocese named as Neumann Scholars, attended the installation ceremony at St. Joseph University this past Sunday, he discovered that he was also one of the five students in that group who achieved a perfect score of 800 on the quantitative part of the exam. Imagine! What an honor, Mike! CRITICAL THINKING 101 Wow! We have never had as many entries as we did last week—and most of all them correct. We’d like to congratulate Merill Mittathany in 6-20 whose correct entry was drawn from the basket and so he will receive a $10 Scrip of Choice certificate. The animals are 1. dog, 2. panda, 3. ostrich, 4. goat, and 5. horse. Since this was so popular, let’s continue for next week Find
the animals in these sentences
: APRIL 6, 2005To our Holy Father, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Rest in peace.”TO PAY OUR RESPECTS TO POPE JOHN PAUL II, all schools in the Archdiocese will be closed this Friday, April 8th, the day of the Holy Father’s funeral. Teachers, students, and parents are invited to attend a memorial mass Friday at 12:05 PM at the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul. Like you, we keep reminding our students of the poignancy of what is taking place and their place in this piece of history which they themselves will be able to recall for their own children. It is wonderful to watch so many journalists proudly proclaim their Catholicity as they too connect with this most saintly and loved pope. It is a proud moment in history for our Church and we are living it. God bless us all and God bless the Sacred College of Cardinals as they prepare for the election of our next pope. We hope that your family will be able to follow these wonderful traditions and the entire process of election.
LOGISTICS INVOLVED FOR USAll of our 6th Grade classes will be attending retreat together this Thursday rather than both Thursday and Friday, our 5th Grade Art Museum trip has been rescheduled for the 21st, and the 5th Grade Family Mass has been rescheduled for Sunday, April 24th. When we return to school on Monday, the 11th, it will be for the C Day we are missing this Friday so please adjust your April school calendar accordingly. In addition to student activities, please be aware of all the Home and School information as your hard-working Board and committees have made some time changes to help you as well. Remember that we have elections coming—how about you?
THE ANDY WALLACE ST. CHRISTOPHER SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP MEANT FOR FAMILIES LIKE YOURS It is amazing that so few families have chosen to try for this full family tuition scholarship for the upcoming school year. We put an information sheet in the last communications envelope on March 16th and the deadline for responding was this Friday, April 8th. Since we won’t be at school, we will extend the deadline to next Tuesday, the 12th. All that is involved is answering three questions about commitment and sending in copies of your 2004 federal income tax returns with attached W-2’s. If you would like to be considered and have misplaced the information sheet, call school or send in a note tomorrow so that we can send you another one. Who would pass up this chance?
THIRTEEN SECONDS AND TWO POINTS are all that separated our Boys’ Varsity Basketball Team from taking home the State CYO championship. In our way of thinking, they did bring it home. Just imagine—they were first regional winners, and then diocesan winners, before going to the Elite Eight in Pittsburgh, moving on to the Final Four, and ending up playing for it all—the state title! How easily those two points could have gone the other way. Thank you, Champions for a wonderful experience for us all. We enjoyed supporting you and cheering you on as you showed us just what champs are made of. Coaches Steve Devlin and John Luciano had to put the trophy in a seatbelt on the return trip. It’s about four feet high and on display in the main lobby now and we’ll put it by the Scrip/Meeting room for the long weekend.
THE LANCERIAN ACADEMIC OCTATHLON was as impressive as its title! We had three teams representing SCS there for eight hours of written tests on Saturday, March 12th, and back again Thursday evening, March 17th, for a Super Quiz followed by a reception and awards ceremony. 6th Grade team members were Michael Rymal and Jessica Sylvester, 7th Graders were Abigail Gumpper and Peter Jester, and 8th Graders were Phil Celona and Amanda Smith. We are proud to announce that with eight schools participating, SCS won seven awards. Peter Jester took 3rd Place in Music, Phil Celona took 2nd Place in Math, and Amanda Smith took 3rd Place in Music, 2nd Place in Geography, 2nd Place in English, 1st Place in History, and earned the honor of being the Top Eighth Grade Scholar which would have given her a partial scholarship to Bishop McDevitt, the host school, if Amanda had chosen to attend there. Walking into McDevitt that Thursday night was like walking into the state championship game—the cheering rocked the house! It was an awesome sight to see a gym packed with families and fellow students backing their respective academic teams. Our Honors Math teacher Marion Binder did a great job of coaching our three teams who met after school for months to prepare.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS Congratulations to Dylan Cerebe in 3-5 and Jim Tyrell in 5-15 for bringing home the gold medal at the Can Am Hockey Tournament in Lake Placid, New York. Way to go, boys! Imagine playing where the Olympics stars played! As a member of the Archdiocesan Boy Choir of Philadelphia, Christopher Marshall in 3-6 embarked on a pilgrimage to Avila,Spain for Holy Week, a time of sacred celebration and a spiritual experience that the choirboys will never forget. Chris will have much to share with his classmates and we are proud that a SCS student is a member of this famous choir. We have some Home and School Box Top winners who each won a Scrip of Choice certificate. They are Patrick DeTreux in K-35, Albert Buoncristiano in 4-11, Caitlyn Heston in 1-30, Alyssa Solomon in 1-33, and Michelle Paul in 6-19. It is amazing how much money school earns just by turning in those cereal box tops that you so faithfully cut off and send in to school. Stay tuned to hear how our 7th Grade reps do at the Spelling Invitational Competition this Saturday at Ryan. The three top finalists will be awarded partial scholarships to Ryan. Likewise, nine days later on the 18th, Mike Pastore will represent us at the Houghton Mifflin Spelling Bee offered for students in grades 4 to 6. We wish all these spellers luck and will keep you posted. Getting up in front of a big crowd and then spelling words correctly takes lots of deep breaths and we are proud of these students.
CRITICAL THINKING 101 The puzzle for a chance at next week’s $10 Scrip of Choice certificate is the Cat’s Meow. For each of the following clues, what is a synonym that contains the letters “cat”? Example: baseball position—catcher. 1. What you get with a doctor’s prescription MARCH 16, 2005
EASTER BLESSINGS TO YOU AND YOURS As we near Holy Week we again express our hopes that your personal Lenten journey has been a meaningful one and that your family will be able to share in the many rich traditions and liturgies of next week. Our final meeting as a school community before we go home for the Easter break will be next Wednesday afternoon at Living Stations presented by our 8th Graders. We want our students to go home with the message of God’s love and sacrifice for each of us strong in their hearts. LAST COMMUNICATIONS ENVELOPE UNTIL APRIL 6TH Because next Wednesday is the last day of school until after the convention, there will be no envelope next week. Now you know why this one is so full. We have so much to share with you— the April calendar, Home and School elections and news, basketball fundraisers, Market Day, etc. Check it all out and see all that is applicable to your family. ICE CREAM –LESS DAY As we talk about all the fundraising, let us not forget the orphans at Amigo de Jesus in Honduras who count on our students’ generous hearts. Please be sure that your student “buys ice cream” this Friday so that they not only help these orphaned children but help themselves to grow in what is right and good in God’s eyes—sharing with those less fortunate. We will be collecting money for this through next week in case anyone forgets Friday. That’s the beauty of virtual ice cream—it keeps! MORE THAN A REPORT CARD FOR SOME GRADES Parents of students in 4,6, and 8 can see your child’s Terra Nova results which will be in the envelope with the report card. It’s a good time to compare both the school report and the Terra Nova report to see if they are in sync. Parents of 2nd and 3rd Graders who are taking the Terra Nova this week can expect results near the end of the school year. Parents of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students will also find a letter about following our uniform policy and dress code. In addition, 7th Grade parents should ask their students for the letter we sent home to you today. PHILADELPHIA ARCHDIOCESAN CYO BOYS VARSITY BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS… This most prestigious title belongs to our very own team. Imagine! After an undefeated season, exciting play-offs both regionally and diocesan-wide, our boys went on to capture the title for the whole Archdiocese last Friday evening at Villanova University defeating Corpus Christi Lansdale 41-21. This is a first for our school and we are all excited as the team now contemplates the state championship which will be held in Pittsburgh on April 1-3rd where the champions from the eight dioceses of PA will meet. Imagine what those games will be like! At this time, the team and parents are working hard to raise funds to get the boys there and for hotel, meals, etc. There are a number of fundraisers planned between now and Sunday so you’ll be able to participate in at least one, we hope. Look for the fliers about a special Sweets Day tomorrow, a CYO dance, and a Beef and Beer. There will also be opportunities for parishioners to wish the team well after all the masses. MARCH STUDENTS OF THE MONTH We would like to recognize these outstanding students: Kindergarten-Kristen Lichtner and Angela Sylvester, 1st-Madison McNally, Samantha D’Alfonso, Juliana Pascali, and Erin Gibson, 2nd-Shannon Boyle and Chandler DeRosa, 3rd-Andrew Hund and Ali Pottebaum, 4th-Gabrielle Bamberski, Brandon McCammitt, Lindsey Johnson, and Emily Chow, 5th-Justin San Juan and Tripp Kenney, 6th-Juliana Garvin and Kathleen Brown, 7th-Brittany Frank, Jim Murphy, and Alyssa DeTreux, and 8th-Meredith Kelly and Shelby Cucinotta. Good job! PEOPLE AND EVENTS We are very proud of 8th Grader Laura Luisi who represented us in the Philadelphia Tribune Spelling Bee. Laura held her own in the huge group of students from all around Philadelphia and its suburbs coming in 8th. Congratulations, Laura! We also need to congratulate Kaitlin Demchuk (7-23) on being selected as a winner in the Philadelphia Phantoms Second Annual Season Ticket Design Contest. She was one of forty lucky winners from a field of 325. Her drawing will be showcased on the season ticket being used for the game on Sunday, March 20, 2005. Kaitlin will also get to take a ride on the Phantom’s zamboni that night. Well done, Caitlin! Brian McGuire (8-25) likewise needs to know how proud we are of him. Brian has been highlighted in an article in last Saturday’s Philadelphia Inquirer for carrying on the wonderful tradition in the Irish world of music of the accordion. Brian is learning his music from the well-known John McGillian who performs and teaches. If you had attended the Joey Callahan Night of Comedy at St. Ceceila’s last week, you would have heard Brian playing. As if playing the accordion for his sister Kerri-Ann who does Irish step dancing, Brian also plays the alto sax. Being able to play two such different instruments is amazing, isn’t it? We will have Kaitlin’s Phanom ticket design and the newspaper article about Brian on display by the library and computer lab for everyone to enjoy. CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to Julia Davis in 1-33 whose correct entry was drawn for a $10 Scrip of Choice certificate. Julia sent in 13,1,1,1 as five odd figures that add up to 16. Critical Thinking 101 will resume with our next newsletter on April 6th. March 9, 2005~We pray that your Lenten journey continues to be meaningful~ DO WE EVER NEED YOUR HELP… As this trimester draws to an end, we want to thank the good number of you who send your children to school on time and dressed neatly and in uniform. These are life skills that need to be taught and reinforced. We continue to look at options that address these areas which are problems for a number of students. Because they are both so related to you as parents, you need to look at how you address them as well. Getting your child to school late many mornings means that you are most likely not allotting enough time for preparation and travel. How your children look is related to you as well. Look at their hair, condition of clothes, ripped and pinned, shoes—condition and type, jewelry, etc. We need your help here if this message is speaking to you. WHO’S WHO AMONG AMERICA’S TEACHERS Last week we told you about two of our teachers nominated for this wonderful honor and this week we’d like to tell you about two more. Mary McFillin in 2-3 and Connie Carcel in 7-21 have both been nominated for this year’s listing. This is a reflection of their dedication to teaching. Teachers are nominated by students who in turn have been accepted into National Honor Societies. ACADEMICALLY SPEAKING We’d like to wish 8th Grader Laura Luisi luck and good wishes as she represents SCS today at the Philadelphia Tribune Spelling Bee. This is the one in which the winner goes to Washington for the national competition. The following students had their selected essays sent to the Archbishop Wood Writing Competition: 4th Grade-Nora Jackson, Amanda Leithead, and Grace Hiegl. 6th Grade-Grace Cochrane, Robert Fagan, Corinne Fanelli, and Dylan Singleton. 7th Grade-Dana Raciti, Greg Olenski, and Julie Williams. We will keep you posted of the results. PEOPLE AND EVENTS Congratulations go out to our JV B Boys Basketball Team who won the District 1 Championship after quite an exciting play-off season. Their trophy is now on display in the main lobby. Coached by Joe Shaw and Pat Peiffer, the boys are Ed Blob, Andy Blob, Tripp Kenney, Kevin Clifton, Pat Peiffer, Chris Muldoon, Mike Adair, Mike Gradel, Steve Zoladek, Jimmy Schuck, Jimmy Cannon, and Tom Lynch. What a wonderful accomplishment, boys! We are very proud of you. Our Varsity A Basketball Team is at the Archdiocesan Championship level now! See the accompanying flier for details about the upcoming game and pep rally. We are so proud of Mike Leithead, Will McFillin, Matt Whitworth, Mario Buonanoce, Frank McGarry, Kevin Regan, Greg Olenski, Brian Dones, Matt Hoch, Steve Jackson, Dan Kelly, and Matt Riloff and their coaches Steve Devlin and John Luciano. Our Cheerleaders are getting a lot of press with all their accomplishments! Once again they have brought home more trophies. Varsity brought home two—3rd in Dance and Best Jumps. JV brought home 3rd in Dance as well. Either one of our Little Misses have placed 1st in all the competitions. This time Michelle Paul took 1st Place for Little Miss JV and Devon Kenney got 2nd Place for Varsity Little Miss. Way to go, girls! Our Somerton Spartans u-9 Soccer Team is going for their 4th Championship this Sunday. Good luck, girls! Congratulations to the Somerton U-9 Girls Basketball Team who are the winners of the NEPL Championship. On Sunday, the 6th, they beat Liberty Bell by a score of 12-4. Players are Taylor Adair, Claire Cochrane, Hannah Cochrane, Nicole Haselbarth, Caroline McAndress, Michelle Nocitra, Ali Pottebaum, Jessica Sucharski, and Brigid Young. The girls are coached by John Haselbarth and Mike Cochrane who are preparing them for another hopeful championship in the Lincoln League. Good luck! Registration for the 2005 Track season will be held Sunday, March 13, in HFH after the 9 AM, 10:30 AM, and Noon Masses. All students in 4th through 8th grades are welcome. The Philadelphia Soccer Club U-9 Girls Travel Soccer Team is looking for dedicated players for their spring and fall seasons. Anyone interested in trying out for FEVERNOVA should contact Sandy Boyle at 215-676-7101. Believe it or not, even with all this great news, I think one is missing. If you sent in a notice and did not see it this week or last, please re-send it. CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to Tripp Kenney in 5-16 whose correct entry was drawn for a $10 Scrip of Choice certificate. You would have to pull three socks out of the drawer to guarantee a match. For next week, “Find five odd figures that add up to 16.” MARCH 2, 2005
~May your Lenten journey continue to be a meaningful one~
GOD BLESS THE SYLVESTER FAMILY Please remember Fred Sylvester, the husband of 6th Grade teacher Gerry Sylvester. Many of you know Mr. Sylvester from the 30 years of service that he gave to the Somerton Youth Center and the 20 years he gave to our CCD program each Monday evening. A viewing will be held this evening from 7-9 at the DiGiacomo Funeral Home on Southampton Rd. and a mass of resurrection will be held tomorrow morning at 10:00 here at St. Christopher Church. We are bringing the 6th Grade classes to the mass and thanks to many helpful moms, some of our teachers who have spent many years with Mrs. Sylvester will be able to attend the mass as well. If you have a 7th or 8th Grader who had Mrs. Sylvester and you would like to come and take him or her to mass, you are most welcome. However, only students accompanied by their own parents may attend.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE! We’d like to thank all of you for how smoothly our 12:30 dismissal on Monday went. When you could anticipate what was coming, it was much easier. Reminding children know what to do in case of early dismissal is always crucial on these kinds of days. If you work in a place where it is difficult to track possible closings, you too might have a plan in place where a friend or family member calls you with the information. Again, we thank you for making this a stress-free time for our children.
REPORT CARDS WILL SOON BE HERE Second trimester report cards to be distributed on March 18th will be withheld if monthly payment plan tuitions have not been paid through the month of February and/or for families whose Offertory contributions are at a low level. As an awareness note, know that contributions averaging $12 weekly beginning last July 1st would total $396 through February 13. To insure accurate recording of your Sunday Offertory contributions, you are reminded to use the envelopes provided and to mark the amount enclosed. Maryann Junod will answer any questions or concerns you may have in these areas. She may be reached in our Parish Center Monday to Thursday from 9 AM to 4 PM.
WHO’S WHO AMONG AMERICA’S TEACHERS We are proud to announce that Mrs. Marion Binder in Honors Math and Ms. Kathleen Thompson in 2nd Grade have both been nominated to this annual honor. Knowing that these nominations can only come from former students makes them even more significant. Congratulations to both fine teachers!
PEOPLE AND EVENTS We have more news about our cheerleaders coming. Look for it. Also, we are looking forward to hearing about our boys Varsity B basketball team as they are in some important games right now.
CRITICAL THINKING 101 This week’s $10 Scrip of Choice certificate goes to Jenna Clavin in 4-9 whose correct entry was drawn. So many of you knew that Joseph was the oldest boy. For next week, “Sam’s favorite colors are blue and green so it’s not surprising that all his socks are blue and green. His mother always insists that his socks match. However, his sock drawer is always a mess. One day Sam got up and reached in the drawer for socks without the light on. How many socks would he have to take out to be sure he had a pair that matched?” FEBRUARY 23, 2005
~In this Year of the Eucharist we, the faithful, are invited to open our hearts to Jesus at Reconciliation Weekend February 25th and 26th~
A TRUE COMMUNITY OF FAITH As we begin each school day, we recognize and affirm the community of faith the members of the Body of Christ are when we pray for the needs of each other in our schools, families, and hearts. It is a beautiful acknowledgment of our belief in God’s plan and the trust we have in that plan as hundreds of voices join together praying to Our Loving Father and Creator.
THANKS FOR HELPING US BE READY TO WELCOME NEW FAMILIES By making your applications for the upcoming school year within the designated time, you have helped us know how many new families we can consider for the fall. Not only that, but by applying on time, you were able to be on the list with a $120 application fee as opposed to a $150 one. We will now hold general application sessions this Thursday evening from 6-8 PM in HFH and this Friday morning from 9-10 AM in our main lobby. If you know an interested family, please make them aware of these times if they have not seen them in the parish weekly bulletins.
WHAT IS AN OCTATHLON? Just ask Michael Rymal, Jessica Sylvester, Abigail Gumpper, Peter Jester, Philip Celona, and Amanda Smith who have been training after school each week with Mrs. Marion Binder, our Honors Math teacher, so that they can represent SCS at McDevitt’s Academic Octathlon which begins with a full day series of eight written academic tests on Saturday March 12th followed by a current events contest on Thursday night March 17th.
NOW, WHAT ABOUT FORENSICS? We have heard much reference to forensics on televison shows usually as it applies to dealing with criminal problems. Forensics is also related to argument and public debate. Forensics tournaments feature original oratory (speeches), declamation (famous people’s speeches), oral interpretation of prose or poetry, dramatic speaking, and extemporaneous (off-the-cuff) speaking. We know we have students at SCS who would excel at these. It is our dream that a coach or two or three would step forward to coach these students. We would make the time—day or evening—and the place available for you to work with these students. There are some tournaments out there just waiting for us to participate. If you think speeches, acting, and arguing are avenues that appeal to you, let us know and we’ll talk—dramatically or however you choose.
FEBRUARY STUDENTS OF THE MONTH Kindergarteen—Sean Palmer and Patrick DeTreux, 1st—Sean Domzalski, Erin Young, and Jessica Marino, 2nd—Bryn Reilly and Rachel Shaw, 4th—Amanda Leithead, Alexandria McDonald, Jackie Valori, and Kristin Thomas, 5th—Tripp Kenney, 6th—Edward Blob and Merrill Mittathany, 7th—Brianna Chiarolanza, Kelly McGarry, and Shannon Dougherty, and 8th—Allison Wagner and Paul W#isniowski.
AS THE AD SAYS, “FOR EVERYTHING ELSE….” This morning’s Father’s Festival that our Kindergarteners held for their dads or dads’ representatives was quite simply priceless. To watch these men as their special cherubs spoke and sang to them and for them was a wonderful sight. To visibly see love is an amazing thing! We are grateful to Mrs. DiCicco and Mrs. Bertolino for helping their students prepare to celebrate their dads so specially.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS Wow! Our Varsity A Boys Basketball Team had an awesome game Sunday night in a St. Chris packed gym at Father Judge and came away as the champions. Besides superior playing, it was great to hear what great sportsmanship was displayed at such a touch-and-go game with so much at stake. Our boys came into playoffs undefeated and then were down by four at half-time going on to win 56-35. As a community, we are grateful to coaches Steve Devlin and John Luciano for teaching our boys just what it means to be champions. They know that scores have very little to do with it. We are proud that the “special assistants” for the team, John and Vincent Luciano and Mike Devlin have such great role models. We look forward to hearing how the boys do in the Archdiocesan Tournament when they go against the 23 best teams. Our cheerleaders have been equally busy! At Cardinal Dougherty’s competition, our Varsity Little Miss, Devon Kenney won 1st Place, our JV won 3rd Place, and our entire squad won the Spirit Award. At the Ryan competition,Varsity Little Miss Devon Kenney took 1st Place, once again—a St. Chris first! JV Little Miss, Michelle Paul took 2nd Place. Our Varsity team won 2nd Place in All Around and Honorable Mention in Dance and our JV won 3rd Place in Dance. To cap it off, St. Chris won the Spirit Award once again. We know that winning this award twice in a row says it all for these girls. Thank you for being so spirit-filled and good sports.
CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to Nora McWilliams in 3-7 whose correct entry was drawn for a $10 Scrip of Choice certificate. Nora had one of the many correct ways to arrange the numbers from 1-9 in a tic tac toe grid so that each row adds up to 15 no matter in which way you add. For next week, “John is 3 years younger than Jerry. Joseph is 5 years older than John. Who is oldest?”
We pray for you on your Lenten journey.
FEBRUARY 17, 2005
“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I need…You restore my strength. You guide me along the right path for the sake of Your name. “ Psalm 23
BLEST ARE OUR LAMBS Last evening St. Christopher 2nd Graders received the sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time. Thirteen priests were present to help our lambs become closer to Jesus their Good Shepherd as they opened their hearts to Him in Reconciliation. Our prayers are that they will always realize the blessings of this sacrament of Reconciliation and continue to model it for others as they did last night.
ENJOY THE GOOD NEWS YOURSELF We told you that Father Joe had received a very special and first-time award from the Archdiocese. You can read all about it in the article reprinted on the back of this newsletter. See if you recognize our students in the picture with Father.
“I LOVE A PARADE" The Archdiocese is hosting a twilight parade Monday, March 28th, to welcome our national and international guests to the city of Philadelphia for the NCEA convention the week after Easter. St. Christopher has the opportunity to have our some of our students march. Our cheerleaders will be participating and we may invite 50 more students from grades 4 to 8. If you would like to have your children participate, please send in their names and we will make it happen on a first-come, first-serve basis. Busing will be provided directly from our school and parents are welcome to sign up as chaperones as well if you’d like to attend.
TWO CALENDAR REMINDERS Please remember that this coming Monday, Presidents Day, is a faculty meeting day and there is no school for students. Also, this Friday, the 18th, is the final day that 2005-06 applications are due. Applications received after Friday will be considered if space is possible and need to be accompanied by a $150 fee.
BLOCS –NO WAY THE SAME AS LEGOS Please be very sure to read over the BLOCS information sheet in the envelope to see if your family may qualify for a grant. If you think so, you may request an application form from the school office.
SAFETY FIRST AND FOREMOST Once again we ask that safety trump convenience. It is frustrating that some of our parents do not see things that way. Please observe school safety and arrival and dismissal policy for the sake of all our children. When you are driving in areas that are designated as walking areas you put our children in possible jeopardy. How else can we ask?
PEOPLE AND EVENTS We are beginning to receive information about scholarships that our 8th Graders have won. Please share any news with us in case we don’t hear about a particular award. We are getting ready to share the good news that we have heard so far. Let’s hear it for our girls’ basketball teams! By coincidence both JVA and Varsity finished in 6th Place. JVA had a 6/5 record and Varsity of 5/6. This is wrap-up week to celebrate accomplishments and what a great season our teams enjoyed. We are grateful to the people who give so freely of their time to coach and to our CYO Athletic Director Pat Peiffer who work so hard on behalf of our children.
CRITICAL THINKING 101 Bryan (4-12) and Kyle (4-10) Constantine had their correct entry drawn for the $10 Scrip of Choice certificate. Last week’s words had in common that they all contained a body part: ahead allege bear eyelet hearth warm. For next week, arrange the numbers 1 to 9 in a tic-tac-toe grid so that the total is 15 when added horizontally, vertically, and diagonally.
FEBRUARY 9, 2005“Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.” THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY Today each of us—from young to old—are called to consider how we will walk with Christ on His Lenten journey to Calvary and make it easier for Him. It is good to be part of a worshipping community that sets aside time to consider how we want to spend our eternity by how we spend our time on earth. May your family’s Lenten journey as well as your personal one be meaningful and rich. POOR FATHER JOE! Just last week we were celebrating with Father Joe about his being awarded the first-ever Pastor Appreciation Award from the Archdiocese. This week we are commiserating with him about his broken ankle. Father had a fall on ice and is now in a cast and on crutches as his ankle begins to mend. LAST NIGHT HE WORE HIS STATE REPRESENTATIVE HAT If you were able to attend last evening’s General H & S meeting, you got to hear school parent George Kenney speak to us in his official role as State Representative. We heard about the financial opportunities available for Catholic school parents and how we can take advantage of them. We were urged to encourage businesses large and small to request that their state taxes which they must pay any way be allocated to educational tax credit which can then directly help SCS parents. With his very busy agenda, we are grateful to Rep. Kenney for making time to speak with parents. HOW CAN WE THANK THIS WONDERFUL BOARD? When you see one of our H &S Board members who work so hard doing extra-special things for our school families and our children in particular, remember that they represent each of you. We are most grateful to each of them—President Janet Dunphy, VP Mary Ellen Luciano, Treasurer Yvonne Stevens, Recording Secretary Erika Lynch, Corresponding Secretary Patti Smith, Hospitality Coordinators Terry Cannon and Anna Garvin, Special Lunch Coordinators Debbie Murphy and Michelle Serrano, and Faculty Representative Lynne Reid. OUR CHERUBS DID IT! Student Council challenged our school families to reach a $1,000 goal to help tsunami survivors. We almost reached that amount just at our student-faculty basketball game last Monday when we took in $702 at the door. Since then we have brought in almost $500 more. Part of the incentive was the promise of a dress down day this Friday and it is certainly a well-deserved one. As usual, we need your help in making sure that students still look appropriate. PEOPLE AND EVENTS The Northeast Lacrosse Association has a number of registration times at Ryan. If your grade 5-8 son is interested, let our office know and we’ll send you one of the information fliers they left with us. CPR Saturday is being offered for teens and young adults Saturday, March 5th at Dougherty from 9-12. Call the Red Cross at 1-800-42-CROSS to register. CRITICAL THINKING 101 Michael Apice 7-21 is this week’s winner of the $10 Scrip of Choice certificate. The numbers from 0-100 add up to 5050 and by coordinating the ends 0 + 100, 1 + 99, 2 + 98, you can quickly figure out the pattern. For next week, “What do the following words have in common: ahead allege bear eyelet hearth warm? FEBRUARY 2, 2005
THAT’S OUR FATHER JOE! If you were fortunate enough to be at the Opening Catholic Schools Week Mass Sunday, you got the chance to see our pastor totally caught by surprise. When Office of Education Assistant Superintendent Mary Rochford came forward to speak, it was to say that Father Joe was receiving the Archdiocesan Award of Appreciation given for the very first time. Father was selected by the Office of Education for his consistent support of Catholic education as evidenced by his support of our school. We all know how important it is to Father that our students are faithful Catholics educated to be responsible witnesses and involved citizens as adults. The standing ovation spontaneously given to Father Joe was testimony that OCE made a great choice. If you turn this newsletter over, you can see that Father’s seeds have borne fruit when you read Nicole Scott and Matt Whitworth’s essays about what their Catholic education means to them.
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2005 has been a great one. First we had our pancake breakfast, Father got the Appreciation Award, we’ve almost raised our goal of $1,000 to help tsunami surviviors just at our packed student-faculty basketball game, and all week long we’re remembering our parishioners, parents, teachers, volunteers and students themselves. Tomorrow, the feast of St. Blasé, the priests will be coming to our classrooms to bless students’ throats. Remember that you don’t have to pack lunches on Friday with the H &S hot dog treat lunch and then there’s family bingo at night.
IT WON’T BE JACKSONVILLE BUT… you’ll have a hard time believing it’s not if you’re around SCS this Friday. Our students will be going all out with their Eagles gear and/or colors. Green hair, face paint, ribbons, etc. This is it! Weather permitting, we’ll end our day with an all-school Super Bowl pep rally out front at 2:20 . We’re looking forward to a fun day and looking to you to be sure that it’s also an appropriate one. “Fly Eagles, fly!” E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!
HARRISBURG COMES TO ST. CHRIS School parent George Kenney will be addressing our Home and School meeting next Tuesday, the 8th, in his position as State Representative. We will be hearing of opportunities to help families as well as being able to ask generic questions of Representative Kenney. Knowing his busy schedule, we are pleased that he will be with us—we hope you are too—with us, that is! H & S General Meeting-Tuesday, February 8- 7:30 PM -Trainer Hall.
SPELLING BEE UPDATE: Click here for photos. Participants in the 4-5-6 Grades Spelling Bee: 4- 9: Amanda Leithead & Brian Sieruc, 4-10: Kaitlyn Shields & Colin Wilk, 4-11: Patricia Cummings & Michael Cram, 4- 12: Maura O’Donnell & Gabriel Moctezuma, 5- 13: Jennifer Retter & Sean Carroll, 5-14: Monica Sucharski & Michael Nitowski, 5-15: William Dever & Justin San Juan, 5- 16: Anna Kim & Taylor Kaminski; 6-17:Diana Amado & Patrick McNicholas, 6-19: Sara Scholwinski & Michael Pastore, 6-20: Emily Sylvester & Matt Terrenzio ….and the winner is Michael Pastore who, after correctly spelling hygiene and then graffiti, will go on to represent SCS at the Houghton-Mifflin Spelling Bee. Gabriel Moctezuma is the runner up. Good work, gentlemen!
Participants in the 7 & 8 Grades Spelling Bee: 7-21: Kaitlyn Micciulla & Peter Jester, 7-22: Adrienne Cianfarini & Veronica Robbins, 7-23: Kelsey Haugh & Joseph Landherr, 7-24: Joseph Geoghan & Robert Zielinski, 8-18 :Jenna Cannon & Shannon McDonald, 8- 25: Alexandra Boyle & Richard O’Donnell, 8-26: Francesca Magis & Clint Zakrzewski, 8-27: Marcellina Hollender & Laura Luisi. ….and the winner is Laura Luisi, after correctly spelling taupe and then forsythia, will go on to represent SCS at the Philadelphia Tribune Spelling Bee. The runner-up is Clint Zakrewski. Well done! The final three 7th Graders in our 7-8 Bee will go on to represent SCS at Archbishop Ryan’s Bee and compete for scholarship awards. They are Joe Geoghan, Kate Micciulla, and Veronica Robbins. Joseph Landherr is the alternate. PEOPLE AND EVENTS Here’s our first Students of the Month for 2005—Kindergarten: Lauryn Stride and Nicholas Glenn, 1st: Kelsey Wible, Haley Zukowski-Echols, Patrick Becker, and Joseph Gillespie, 2nd: Briana Colli and Robert Rudolph, 3rd: Clarissa Atkinson, Nicholas Pelbano, Matthew Welte, and Thomas Farmer, 4th: Nicholas Barbadoro, Kaitlyn Shields, Jeffrey Altmeier, and Gabriel Moctezuma, 5th: Jaclyn Borie and Stephanie Welte, 6th: Michelle Paul and Meaghan Horner, and 7th: Robert Capaldi, Brittany Boyle, and Christopher Nevrincean. Thanks to getting our January off to such a good start!
CRITICAL THINKING 101 Lions, Bears, Panthers, Ravens, and Falcons! This season our Eagles played all these teams named after birds and animals. Jillian Spicer in 2-4 knew that and so because her correct entry was drawn, she gets a $10 Scrip of Choice certificate. For next week, let’s do some math. Without using a calculator, see how quickly you can add up the numbers from 0 to 100 and give us the correct answer. A hint to help you do this fast is to match opposite ends of this range of numbers and figure out a pattern.
JANUARY 26, 2005
Philadelphia ~ The City of the EaglesFAITH IN EVERY STUDENT is the national theme—and ours as well—of this year’s Catholic Schools Week celebration beginning Sunday, January 30 to Friday, February 4. We are thankful to our committee who has devoted so much time to preparing for this time. You’ll notice our school looking more special than usual with crosses of every student on windows throughout the buildings. Messages of faith are evident and we will celebrate that faith at the opening liturgy at noon on the 30th. Go for pancakes downstairs and then come up and celebrate our reason for being—Faith in Every Student.
ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO! As if having the Eagles go to the Bowl weren’t enough! Can you imagine how 6th graders Juliana Garvin and Akil Kalaparambath are feeling about now? Based on the essays and drawings they submitted, these two students have been selected to attend the LAY’S Eagles Kids Football Experience. “The prize is three hours of interactive instruction and may include throwing, passing and catching drills at various interactive teaching stations throughout the NovaCare Center , the official practice center of the Phila. Eagles. The Experience will also include appearances by various Eagle coaches and players, photo and autograph opportunities, one Eagles jersey…..: The Experience will take place Saturday, February 26th.” Juliana and Akil, we’re looking forward to hanging up some pictures around school and claiming our bragging rights.
BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS! Mrs. Walsh, our librarian, is happy to announce that we will once again be holding our Book Fair from February 14th to February 22nd with evening hours on Wednesday, the 16th. Perhaps your child’s Valentine treat could be spending money for the Book Fair. It’s a great way to say “I love you.”
CHILDREN’S SCHOLARSHIP FUND PHILADELPHIA “….requirements are simple, to be eligible families must: meet income requirements, be residents of Philadelphia, have at least one child entering grades K-5th in fall 2005, and complete the required application question. The applications…are also available on website at www.csfphiladelphia.org.” There is a March 1, 2005 deadline to this. PEOPLE AND EVENTS Congratulations to Kate Wildonger in 2-2 and her Crispin Cheerleading Squad for winning 1st Place at the Plymouth-Whitemarsh Cheerleading Competition on January 9th. Crispin also won Best Jumps and Best Choreography. Therefore, we also need to congratulate Nicole Scott in 8-26 and Alexandra Boyle in 8-25 who choreographed the winning dance.
CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to Marissa Prout in 5-16 whose correct entry was drawn for a $10 Scrip of Choice certificate. The correct answer for last week was 4100. For next week, can you name all the teams we defeated this season, who like our Eagles, are named after birds or animals?
JANUARY 19, 2005
May Martin Luther King’s dream for an America for all people continue to inspire us!
SHARING FACULTY NEWS We’d like everyone to know that Mrs. Del Quadro came through heart surgery well yesterday and now begins her recovery process. Miss Thompson will be leaving the hospital today and continuing her therapy at home. We ask that you continue to pray for both of these ladies and for Mrs. Sylvester’s husband who is battling cancer.
GO GREEN, GO WHITE! Again this week we get to show our support and spirit for the Eagles by coming to school on Friday in Eagles gear or green and/or white. Although students may wear their colors with jeans and sneakers, we do expect appropriate dress and only Eagles colors. If clothing is inappropriate—jeans too low, shirts too short, shirt simply a dress-down one with no green or white connection but a band or some other connection, etc., we will have your student wait by the office until you come to school to take your student home to change. In addition, your student will not be allowed to participate in Super Bowl Spirit Day on February 4th... If you were in school to see how some of our students looked, you know why we are coming out so strongly about this. We won’t ruin a fun day for everyone by not holding it though
“PANCAKES AND BUTTER AND SYRUP, OH MY!” You’ll find a flier in this week’s envelope announcing what might be Home and School 1st Annual Pancake Breakfast to open Catholic Schools Week on the 30th. Look for more information from Home and School next week but we wanted you to have a heads-up and be able to plan ahead for this special day at St. Christopher.
IF ONLY…. If only, our buses were our own and not sent to us, coming and going might be consistently smoother for those of our students who take buses. However, they are not and so we must make the best of situations with changes as they arise. We know how frustrating it is to have a bus come late or hear that a substitute driver needed help with the route directions. Again, if only we could clone those wonderful drivers we have that your children tell you about so that all of our buses would always be perfectly run. If only…
THIS COULD DRAW YOU TOGETHER The Dept. of Recreation is holding Winter Art Programs including one at Jardel Recreation Center Saturday mornings 9-11 AM from Feb. 5th through March 19th for ages 7-Adult for a $60 fee. Classes include painting, sculpture, drawing, jewelry making, and pottery and the fee covers all costs. If you’d like a registration form, please contact our office and we will send you one or as many as you need.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS A reminder that if/when you send in good news to share here, you must include your name and a number where you can be reached. Not only does this validate information, but also helps when there are errors in the message. Thanks for your help and keep sending us news. We love sharing it.
CRITICAL THINKING 101 Grace Cochrane in 6-19 had her correct entry drawn for this week’s $10 Scrip of Choice certificate. Congratulations Grace! We have Friday the 13th, the Seven Dwarves, the Three Musketeers, the four oceans (seven seas), thirteen in a baker’s dozen, the third dimension, and the five senses. For next Monday, put the following figures in a column, add them up, and send in your answer: 1000, 20, 1030, 1000, 1030, 20
JANUARY 12, 2005The Body of Christ calls out to us to pray and help at this time of need.
CALENDAR ALERT Just in case you could have forgotten, there is no school Friday, Jan. 14th for students or Monday, Jan. 17th for students and faculty. We try to put our faculty meetings at “user friendly” times for you in case you may be able to make family plans. SCRIP VOLUNTEERS NEED SOME FAMILY TIME TOO AND SO… there will be NO Scrip sales this Friday, the 14th, or Monday, the 17th. We appreciate all the time these volunteers and others give to our school, our students, and our families. We’ve said it often—we are truly blessed.
WE HAVE CAR LINES FOR OUR STUDENTS’ SAFETY. No one should be dropping students off anywhere but in the car line. For the second time in a week, we witnessed a vehicle come within two feet of a student walking in the back lot. Only school buses and faculty should be there. What possible excuse could someone offer?
TIME TO THINK AHEAD Like you, it is crucial for us at school to think ahead to plan responsibly. For that reason, we will be sending home information about applying for the next school year soon. We have maintained the same $120 application fee and will send the letter and information envelope in plenty of time for our Feb. 14-18th application week. New families and new students may then apply the next week on the 24th and 25th when we know the space available.
HISTORY RIGHT HERE AT ST. CHRIS We want 4th Grader Michaila Harris to know that we too share her pride about her late father’s accomplishments in the sports world. You can read the Inquirer article about Mr. Harris on the reverse side of this newsletter.
DOING OUR PART Student Council is seeing that St. Chris does its part in promoting Eagles spirit by sponsoring an Eagles dress down day tomorrow. Students may come in with their Eagles green shirts, hats, etc. We’ll save the big stuff like face paint and green hair for the big event on February 6th. As always, we ask your help in being sure that your cherubs look appropriate for school. …AND REALLY DOING OUR PART will be when we collect on at the school level to help tsunami survivors in Southeast Asia . Our Student Council will be spearheading this important outreach effort in the next few weeks culminating with our annual student-faculty basketball game.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS Congratulations to our Varsity Boys “A” Basketball Team coached by Steve Devlin and John Luciano for their recent championship win in the Archbishop Ryan CYO Tournament. The players are Mario Buonanoce, Mike Leithead, Will McFillin, Frank McGarry, Matt Whitworth, Brian Dones, Matt Hoch, Steve Jackson, Dan Kelly, Greg Olenski, Kevin Regan, and Matt Riloff. Well done! Our Boys 10 and Under CYO Soccer Team also needs to be congratulated. They won the JV CYO Championship against St. Anselm. Team members coached by Bob Gass are Kevin Clifton, Greg Soussa, Pat Peiffer, Jim Tyrell, Walt DeTreux, Michael Gradel, Jared Celona, Pat Haselbarth, Michael Adair, Tim McCrosson, Kyle Murphy, Jim Schuck, Andrew Amado, Sean Fitzpatrick, Chris Muldoon, Brendan Rusden, Kevin Nelms, Joe Gallagher, and Pat McNicholas. The winners of the Knights of Columbus-sponsored Free Throw Contest locally held here last Thursday are Kelly McGarry, Dominique Menichella, Jessica Sylvester, Kelly Young, Zachary Buehler, Brian Burkett, Richard O’Donnell, and Michael Rymal. These eight students will move on to the next level. We’ll all be cheering them on and will keep you posted about their progress. CRITICAL THINKING 101 As we ended the Christmas season last week, our critical thinking was realizing that you were seeing Noel (no “l”) in any of those words. Oh well! For next week’s chance at a $10 Scrip of Choice certificate, “What numbers commonly go with the following? 1) a particularly unlucky Friday, 2) Snow White, 3) men carrying muskets, 4) the oceans, 5) a generous baker, 6) an additional dimension, and 7) the senses. JANUARY 5, 2005Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” William James (1842-1910) ~ Philosopher A GOOD WAY TO BEGIN THE NEW YEAR Yesterday we enjoyed our first school liturgy of 2005. Not only is it a good way to start the new year in general, but yesterday was the feast day of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and today is that of St. John Neumann. These two American saints are known for their dedication to Catholic education and the preparing of young people for their future in society. We are fortunate to have these role models. GOD DOES WORK IN STRANGE WAYS Back in December, in planning to meet with 7th and 8th Grade Student Council members at a lunch meeting yesterday, neither Mrs. Tremper nor I gave a thought to the fact that it was our Mass Day. However, God does His work and it was a great day to meet and brainstorm with the morning liturgical message of readying our young for the world. Student Council is a mirror of democracy and working together for the good of others. Our students look to how to raise spirit and service. BELIEVE IT OR NOT…. Yesterday was also the meeting time for Catholic School Week faculty committee members to come together for planning how we will celebrate all we are because of parents, students, volunteers, community, and faculty dedicated to the ideal that we need to make a difference and as this years theme states provide Faith in Every Student. This year’s celebration begins at the Noon Mass on Sunday, January 30th, and continues through Friday, February 4th. It is fitting to begin this week with a liturgical celebration. Families can also gather in anticipation of the week, the evening before at a spaghetti dinner. Please read Home and School President Janet Dunphy’s newsletter with information about this and other things. TSUNAMI SURVIVORS AND ST. normal; font-size: 11.0pt"> CHRISTOPHER normal; font-size: 11.0pt"> SCHOOL At all the masses this week, collections will be taken up to help these people. In addition, because of who we are reaching out to others is an important part of our message. Both Student Council and our Catholic School Week Committee are making that a part of their activities. You can look forward to the opportunities we present our students and you for making a difference even these many thousands of miles away. CALENDAR ALERT Please remember that next Friday, the 14th, there is no school for students as we have a full day faculty meeting. Monday, the 17th, is a school and national holiday as we remember Dr. Martin Luther King. WE’VE BEEN KEEPING YOU IN TUNE about the fact that all of our students need to observe the school dress and uniform code. Today, we are going from room to room specifically to see how students follow that policy. Those who still choose not to follow it will initially be given detention notices. We are ever reminding students that there is a time and place for observing different styles. This school is not the place which is one of the reasons you send your children here. Knowing how to “dress for success” is a learned habit. PEOPLE AND EVENTS We’d like to remember all the people who are able to go and help the survivors of the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia and likewise those people who serve America in Iraq and other places throughout the world. God bless them all. CRITICAL THINKING 101 Although we celebrated the Epiphany liturgically on Sunday, for many people tomorrow marks the end of the traditional Christmas season. With that in mind, consider all these seasonal words and see what they have in common: Nativity wreath cookies tree ornaments gifts manger toys decorations Please send in your responses by next Monday to be entered in the $10 Scrip of Choice certificate drawing if your response is correct. DECEMBER 22, 2004~ Let us welcome Christ, the Child of Peace, Love, and Hope, into our lives ~YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN OUR LOBBY when our Student Council gathered all the donations that students had brought in to help the Outreach program at St. Vincent’s in Germantown . Program director Eileen Smith was stunned by the sight as was the driver of their van which could not accommodate SCS generosity. Our H & S president Janet Dunphy who had spearheaded the drive had to ask school parent Mr. Udovich to make a trip to Germantown as well with all the winter coats and jackets that you sent in. Teaching our children to share their blessings with others is an easy lesson here with your wonderful role modeling.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A LETTER MAKES! Although you probably realized it any way, please note that Scrip sales end at 11 AM on December 31st and not 11 PM as your last notice indicated. Our chairs Joanne Medernach and Dixie Wagner and their loyal committee of volunteers have really been working long and hard to make Scrip as available to you as possible for Christmas giving and shopping. We know that you let them know you appreciate the time they give up to make this happen.
LEAVE IT TO THE CHILDREN to make us take time to remember what this season is all about! Sunday, a week ago, our children’s choir brought us together and this past Sunday, it was again many of our children’s participation in Ryan’s Family Christmas that brought people and families together. Taking the time to consider the Birth of the Christ Child is one of the best gifts we can receive. As Mastercard says, “It’s priceless.”
A CHRISTMAS REMEMBRANCE When St. Chris alumna Francine Callahan had the opportunity at Seymore Rubin Associates to choose where to make her firm’s Christmas donation this year, she thought at once of her grade school. Because of that, we have just received $1,000 to purchase library books to supplement and enrich our curriculum areas. With input from our faculty, Mrs. Walsh will have those books ordered and on the shelves in short order so that your children may enjoy them. Text books suggest literary connections to foster student interest and we will take advantage of these connections. We are most grateful to Mr. Rubin for his donation and to Ms. Callahan for thinking of us.
TUITION NIGHT REMINDER Tuition Night will take place Wednesday evening, January 5, 2005, between 6:30 and 7:45 PM in Holy Family Hall. You may also mail tuition to the parish office before this date. If you are redeeming scrip, a scrip credit voucher should be included as part of your payment.
WHEN THE WIND BLOWS AND THE TEMPERATURE DROPS to the teens or lower, your children might be warmer wearing their gym uniform with a long sleeved shirt underneath. Jackets, gloves/mittens, hats/hoods, and scarves are needed for coming and going as well as outdoor recess whenever the day permits. We know that we need to appeal to you about this as many of our students seem oblivious to the temperature. If only more girls would wear tights or school slacks, they’d be warmer too.
WITH PLENTY OF TIME OFF our students who need to do so will have the time to get hair cuts, sneaker laces, uniforms unhemmed or hemmed, hair undyed, make-up remover purchased, etc. Please remember that we will be putting various consequences into effect for those students who violate our dress code by how they look and dress. Girls at Wood whose uniforms are shorter than they should be are required to wear school slacks instead.
OUR DECEMBER STUDENTS OF THE MONTH Being Student of the Month is an honor. Congratulations to K—Skylar Tabita, 1st—Connor Green, Vincent Luciano, Anthony Heffner, and Kyle Weller, 2nd—Nicholas Bianco and Jillian Spicer, 3rd—Brittany Hunter, Megan Villarin, Nicolina DiMascia, and Claire Cochrane, 4th—Jenna Clavin, Chris Brown, Kaitlyn Jester, and Julie Peterson, 5th—Maria DiMascia, Melissa Lucci, Meaghan Harrington, and Christopher Muldoon, 6—Edrick Chow and Patrick Haselbarth, 7th—Ashley Seeger and Jamie Davis, and 8th—Sara Szymendera and Julianne Atkinson.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS Congratulations to the Somerton Seven and Under Soccer Team who just finished their tournament this December 4th coming in 3rd Place in the Parkwood Turkey Bowl. They are Jimmy Crown 1-32, Billy Eastburn 1-30, Sean Finnegan 1-31, Kayla Higgins 1-32, Brendan McFadden K-34, Juliana Pascali 1-32, and Melissa Szelagowski 1-31 Our Swim Team coaches were delighted to hear from the Resurrection coaches whose team St. Chris had just beat how polite our team is and how nice it is to see good manners. As we go into our holiday break, our Girls’ JVA Basketball team does so with a 3-2 record. Good start, girls!
CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to Sandra Kolek (7-24) whose correct entry was drawn for a $10 Scrip of Choice certificate. Merry Christmas! In French-Joyeux Noel, in Polish-Wesolych Swiat, in Spanish-Feliz Navidad, and in Italian-Buon Natale. Whatever the language, know that all of us here at St. Christopher wish you and yours:
DECEMBER 15, 2004“…and unto us a Child is born.” THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS is ever in the hearts of our St. Christopher families. No matter how you are asked to share of the blessings your family has received, you always do so with such open and giving hearts. Your response to the H & S drive to help children in need right here in our city was overwhelming. The letters your children wrote to soldiers stationed thousands of miles from home during our holiday were beautiful and will bring many smiles and tears to those soldiers. We are grateful to Student Council for running that operation and to you for sending in candy canes to accompany all the mail. Mike Sweeney took eight cartons to the post office to reach our military by Christmas. THE LAST ICE CREAM TREAT OF 2004 will be held next Wednesday, the 22nd. It’s our treat to the children to say thank you for all the ways they share from their hearts. Please remind your little ones that “our treat” means they do not have to pay. Sometimes children refuse because they say they brought no money. “JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON” Do you recall that sing-song reminder from a few years back? It’s as true as ever and both our Kindergarten and our 1st Grade have been working particularly hard preparing for Jesus. Kindergarten will be holding a prayer service/presentation of the Nativity next Wednesday morning for their parents, and 1st Grade have invited their parents to Church next Wednesday afternoon for a preview of the prayer service they will be presenting to our entire school Thursday morning at 11:00. We want our students to leave at 12:30 dismissal with the reminder that truly Jesus is the reason for the season. OUR CONNELLY FOUNDATION GRANT has enabled grades 4-8 to partake of some good cultural events. In the past two weeks, grades 4-7 have been in town to the Arden Theater in Old City for a musical production. We also hosted an assembly for 4-8 with Kala Jojo, a story teller musician who brings a message of values and history to the schools he visits. Although this program is limited to 4-8, we are hopeful of receiving the grant again in upcoming years so that K-3 students will have the same opportunities. In the meantime, we make sure that we introduce them to the arts and culture with trips and programs for them as well. SOMETIMES WE GET MIXED MESSAGES from you. We know that our faith and values are the reasons that you send your children to St. Christopher. However, when a number of students continue to come to school with dyed and/or long messy hair, skirts too short, pants too long and baggy, no belts, sloppy shoes and sneakers, make-up, etc., we are confused. We have a dress code policy in place but it is often ignored. However, in talking to a number of you, we are asked to please let sons and daughters know that how they look is unacceptable because they pay no attention to parents. We do our best to remind children each day. Please make any changes needed with your children over the holidays so when we come back in January, your child will receive no dress code consequences—even dyed hair can be undyed, pants hemmed, skorts unhemmed, you get our drift. PEOPLE AND EVENTS Congratulations to the Somerton Spartans Under 9 Girls’ Soccer Team who won the Department of Recreation Under 9 Championship with a score of 2-0. Led by Coach Tom McAndress were students Melissa Rizzo, Nicole Haselbarth, Hannah Cochrane, Claire Cochrane, Shannon Harrington, Taylor Adair, Nora McWilliams, and Caroline McAndress. CRITICAL THINKING 101 Jack Raynor (1-32) is the winner of this week’s $10 Scrip of Choice certificate. 4+5+7-3=13, 4+3x7=49, 1x4+4=8, and 21-3+824=842. For this week before Christmas, we need to know how to say Merry Christmas in French, Polish, Italian, and Spanish. DECEMBER 1, 2004UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN’S SELF-HARM ISSUES Parents and other interested adults are urged to come Monday evening, Dec. 6th, from 7-8 PM in Church to hear about these issues which include the phenomenon of cutting. CORA psychologist Dr. Paul Haughton will share his research and insights with our adults-only audience. If you are able to attend, please park in the back lot since the CCD car line takes place in front. THE FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION Because Wednesday, December 8th, is a holy day of obligation as we celebrate the wonder of Mary’s beginning, there is no school and no envelope will go home. Two reminder dates for you are that report cards will be distributed on Friday, the 10th, and that we will be having our Protecting God’s Children lessons on Monday, the 13th. TUITION/ OFFERTORY REMINDER Please be reminded again that report cards will be withheld for people who are not up-to-date with their obligations. Maryann Junod has been in contact with these families and they know that their obligations must be met by the 6th so that we may return report cards to report card envelopes rather than a letter from Mrs. Junod. Again, know that we distribute reports at the very end of the day and remind all children that they should first look at their reports with their parents and not with other students. AS WE LOOK FOR WAYS TO EXPAND OUR JEREMIAH PROGRAM, we take advantage of many resources. Yesterday, Mr. Holdren, our music teacher and chairperson of our Jeremiah Faculty Committee, and I attended a full day Bullying Prevention Workshop at the CORA Center on Veree Road. Today Mrs. Tremper is at Villanova University attending the Anatomy of Bullying workshop there. It is good to meet with other professionals to learn as much as we can and apply it here at St. Christopher. IT IS SO DISCOURAGING to have a number of parents purposely ignore the safety regulations in place for ALL of our children coming to school and going home. For example, no one should drop children off in the Trainer Hall lot, no one should park on Proctor Rd. and walk children down, no one should have children come out in the Lindsay St. walkers line and then get in cars over there, no should drive in our back lot where the buses come to drop children off or just to drive through, and no one should drop students off in front of church. We’re open to suggestions! 4TH GRADER? SKI FREE! Once again the PA Ski Areas Association, a non-profit association that was developed to promote and serve the ski industry of PA, is pleased to offer the PA 4th Gr. Snowpass which offers free skiing and snowboarding to all 4th grade students whether in or out of state. For all the details, go to their website at www.skipa.com or call their office at 570-443-0963. NOVEMBER STUDENTS OF THE MONTH As we leave November, we’d like to congratulate all the students who were honored. They are Jacqueline Burke K-34, Padraig Scanlon K-35, Caitlyn Heston 1-30, Patrice Gantert 1-31, Amelia Hathaway 1-32, Allison Foley 1-33, Marissa Picozzi 2-3, Gerald Eck 2-4, Alisha Thomas 3-5, Michael Johncola 3-6, Robin Wagner 3-7, Kevin Jurgelewicz 3-8, Eric Sinclair 4-9, Jon Abanto 4-10, Michael De Ieso 4-11, Adam Wisniowski 4-12, Michael Jereb 5-13, Jim Tyrell 5-15, Dominique Menichella 5-16, Matt Riloff 7-21, Tom McDonald 7-22, Robert Zielinski 7-24, and Caesar Desiato 8-18. PEOPLE AND EVENTS Hats off to the Somerton Spartans Under 9 Girls’ Soccer Team for winning the Independent Girls Soccer League Championship with a 3-1 score. The girls-Melissa Rizzo, Nicole Haselbarth, Hannah Cochrane, Claire Cochrane, Shannon Harrington, Taylor Adair, Nora McWilliams, Caroline McAndress, and Laney Coull- were undefeated the whole season. We’re happy to announce that some of our Pack 367 Cub Scouts are winners again this year in the Nov. 3rd Block Kids Lego Building Contest sponsored by the National Association for Women in Construction. For 1st and 2nd grade categories: Max Serrano (1-33) 1st place, for combined 3rd-6th grade categories: Alec Fiorentino (5-15) 1st place and overall contest winner, Kurran Keown (4-12) 2nd place, and Jared Celona (5-13) 3rd place. All winners received ribbons and the 1st place winners received Barnes and Noble gift certificates. CRITICAL THINKING 101 A $10 Scrip of Choice certificate goes out to Megan Wolf in 5-15 for her correct entry in our last puzzler. The words that go from startling to I are starting, staring, string, sting, sing, sin, and in. For next Monday, “What arithmetic signs should go between the following numbers so that the answers come out right? Add, subtract, and multiply to come up with the correct answers. a. 4 5 7 3 = 13 b. 4 3 7 = 49 c. 1 4 4 = 8 d. 21 3 824 = 842 Catholic Schools Provide a Stable Education NOVEMBER 17, 2004May we recognize and be thankful for all the blessings that we receive from our loving God. THANK YOU BOTH WAYS We all experienced a difficult last week. We’d like to thank those of you who shared concerns with us as well as all those of you who didn’t. Both ways communicate strongly. Some of you had specific thoughts or information that you needed to share with us while most of you by not needing to contact us likewise demonstrated the trust and support we have with each other for our children. Thank you and bless you. JINGLE BELLS WILL BE RINGING THIS FRIDAY Whether they’re tied up in some of our girl’s hair ribbons or on Christmas sweaters, we’ll be hearing bells and seeing lots of Christmas wear as students enjoy a different sweater or socks, etc. to add to Friday’s bazaar festivities. Both Friday and Saturday sound spectacular. Each year our H & S continues to outdo itself on behalf of our children. TUITION AND OFFERTORY CONTRIBUTIONS Please be reminded that all tuition must be current and offertory contributions should be up-to-date in order for children to receive report cards on December 10th. As usual, we will use discretion at report card distribution so that children will be spared any embarrassment. WERE YOU FRUSTRATED? If you tried to get on our school website about dinner-time last evening, it was unavailable. Let us hope that this is a very short-lived problem. How dependent we become. WE CAN NEVER HEAR THE MESSAGE TOO MUCH Next Monday the Fire Department’s Education Division will be presenting three assemblies at our school about fire prevention and safety. Be sure to ask your children about it at dinner Monday evening. CALENDAR REMINDER Please remember that our Thanksgiving holidays begin at 12:30 dismissal next Wednesday, the 24th. School resumes Monday, the 29th, and Market Day orders will be here that evening. This is a change because our day would’ve been Thanksgiving. THERE’LL BE A NEW SIGN OUTSIDE 8-25 Ms. Steiger may be starting the Thanksgiving holiday as Ms. Steiger but when she returns, she will be coming back as Mrs. Pale. On behalf of our extended school families we wish the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Pale our wedding congratulations and a life of “…and they lived happily ever after. PEOPLE AND EVENTS Congratulations to Kyle Murphy (5-16) and Jimmy Tyrell (5-15) for winning the 10 and Under Roller Hockey Championship with a 5-2 score on Sunday night. Good work, boys! CRITICAL THINKING 101 Michael Apice (7-21) will receive a $10 Scrip of Choice certificate for having his correct entry drawn. Happy was the one word that did not belong in the list since all the others were nouns and it is an adjective. For next week, “Can you go from STARTLING to I by removing one letter each time but still having a word each time. Altogether you should have a list of nine words each one letter shorter than the one above. Please have this back by Nov. 29th. A Blessed Thanksgiving to you and yours! NOVEMBER 10, 2004“Don’t worry that children never listen to you. Worry that they are always watching you.” ~ Robert Fulghum PROTECTING GOD’S CHILDREN Please be sure that you read over the enclosed letter and accompanying green brochure about the student education program mandated by our U.S. bishops to take place in this 2004-2005 school year. The letter and brochure explain the whys of the program and how you can access further information about it. NO SCHOOL FRIDAY Please be reminded that there is no school for students this Friday as our teachers attend a full day faculty meeting at the MERIT Center located at Cardinal Dougherty High School. Like students, teachers are on-going learners. OTHER TIMELY REMINDERS FOR YOU There is a Monday evening 2nd Grade Parents Meeting regarding First Penance at 7PM in Church. Universal Visitation Day for 8th Graders is on Thursday the 18th. Parents be sure that your student has read the requirements posted for that particular school regarding time, dress, etc. Our Children’s Bazaar will take place on the 19th and our cherubs are looking forward to this day. It’s special for them and parents who can attend. Likewise, our Parish Bazaar is held the following day so that families can enjoy the fun of the upcoming season together. We are grateful to our Home and School for all the hard work and planning under the leadership of co-chairs Terry Cannon and Anna Garvin. CALLING IN ALL NEWS REPORTS If you have any news for us to share, please send it in for next week as there will be no communication envelope on the 24th. Since this is the day before Thanksgiving, our stuffers have other stuffing to do if you get my drift. CRIMINAL AND CHILD ABUSE CHECKS are background checks for people who work around children in any way. In addition to these checks there is a Safe Environment Training Session. We ask that as soon as those of you needing checks receive them in the mail, you bring them in so that we can make a copy for our files. We do need to see the original and we will return it immediately after we initial and copy it. WHO’S WHO AMONG AMERICA’S TEACHERS 2004 Every two years members of the Academic Community are nominated by former students for educational excellence. We are proud to announce the following honored teachers: Connie Carcel, Kathleen Thompson, and Geraldine Sylvester. OCTOBER STUDENTS OF THE MONTH We are pleased to present: K—Joseph Browning, Katherine Eck, 1st—Austin Aviles, Tommy McMonagle, Dillon Hevener, Claudia Candidi, 2nd—Marissa DiNubile, Lisa Gogel, 3rd—Hannah Cochrane, Katie Ewing, Taylor Adair, 4th—Kelsey Dale, Brandi Zieminski, Emily Maher, Maura O’Donnell, 5th---Erin Dwyer, Matthew DiNardo, Manju Anthony, Jessica Dawson, 6th—Matthew Stahl, Joseph Daigneau, 7th—Kristy Burrows, Danielle Udovich, Andrew Sideras, Abigail Gumpper, and 8th—Amanda Smith, Robert Wright, Laura Luisi, Nicole Scott. PEOPLE AND EVENTS We’re proud to say that Melissa Lucci in 5-14 donated nine inches of her hair to Locks of Love for the Cancer Society. Like us, her family and friends are proud of her as well. Erica Kopchinski (5-15) and Megan Manion (4-10) played in the Department of Recreation All-Star Soccer Games on Oct. 20th. Their team won 3-0 with Erica scoring the second goal and Megan successfully defending the goal. Good job, girls! On Oct. 30th, Julie Murray, Lauren Haber, Maggie Ruskowski, and Alexis Vanore, all 6th grade students, participated in Expand Your Horizons, a program co-sponsored by the Philadelphia Section of the American Chemical Society and its Women Chemists Committee as part of National Chemistry Week. We are very proud that our students were accepted for the program and hope that they now have some aspirations for scientific careers. CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to Kaitlin (7-23) and Molly (5-16)Demchuk whose correct entry was drawn for last week’s puzzle. When the two cars meet, they are both the same distance from Philadelphia. For next week, “Which of the following words does not belong with the others? car moon fish happy belief NOVEMBER 3, 2004Let us pray for the holy souls. NOVEMBER ~ A SPECIAL TIME TO REMEMBER As Father Joe expressed it so eloquently in this week’s bulletin, “This entire month we remember those who have gone before us to eternity and we pray that their journeys end in the hands of God.” Each morning at school we are reading a class list of holy souls that your children have asked to be remembered. We are the Church, a people of faith. IT TAKES COMMUNICATION AND COORDINATION BETWEEN HOME AND SCHOOL Because our children and who they will become is the reason for our existence, we ask that you review the following to see how working together promotes what we do rather than hinders it. There are issues that wouldn’t exist if we remember our children and their futures first and foremost. SAFETY COMES BEFORE CONVENIENCE Only in the dictionary does convenience come first. Please know that we have a process in place for picking up and dropping off children that is entirely centered on our children’s safety. When you choose to leave children off or pick them up in places other than our car lines, when you choose to park in places other than the Trainer Hall lot when you are walking children over, you are jeopardizing our children’s safety. We have children who walk, come by car, and are driven. We are concerned and responsible for each of them. We ask that you put safety first for the children’s sakes as well as your own. If anything happens, how would you explain it to the authorities? PLEASE HELP US BY BEING PROMPT Please do your part to keep the tuition process running smoothly by sending in your monthly payments in a timely fashion so that you are up-to-date and do not incur the late fee. HELP REQUESTED AGAIN! You chose Catholic school for the values that we hold and promote for your children. One of them is being prepared for their futures. When your children ignore the dress code, how do you handle it? We are looking at consequences for students about just that. Uniforms too short do not promote our values, nor do untied shoes or sneakers, messy unkempt hair, etc. We are always sensitive to what might be problems at home but we have a responsibility to all our families to uphold the values that we espouse. Please deal with your children at home before we must do so at school. WHAT A SPECIAL DAY OUR CHILDREN’S BAZAAR IS! This St. Christopher tradition is a very special one for children and parents. You should see and hear our cherubs when they come in to Trainer Hall that day. It takes a lot to prepare for it so pay attention to all the information that comes home about the ways that you can be a part of it. PEOPLE AND EVENTS We’d like to recognize our Senior Stuffers who are so faithful to their Wednesday morning envelope stuffing. As you know, there are many weeks when this is a monumental job. CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to the Wellers, Courtney in Pre-K and Kyle in 1-33 whose correct entry was drawn for our last puzzler. The products are DOLE, WONDER, FOLGERS, TANG, SPRITE, TRISCUIT, EVIAN, DORITOS, and LIFE. For next Monday, “A car in Philadelphia starts toward New York City at 50 miles an hour. Fifteen minutes later a car in New York starts toward Philadelphia—90 miles away—at 60 miles an hour. Which car is nearest Philadelphia when they meet?”
OCTOBER 27, 2004“No, our goal wasn’t to keep the Red Sox from going to the World Series; our goal was going to the World Series.” ~ Joe Torres, New York YankeesMOLLY KELLY, AN INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER touched the hearts of those junior high parents who were able to come to Church M |
