APRIL 16, 2008

“Lord, source of eternal life and truth, give to Your shepherd, Pope Benedict, a spirit of courage and right judgment, a spirit of knowledge and love.”

IMAGINE THAT WE COULD BE THERE FOR THE ST. CHRISTOPHER COMMUNITY!  Please know that when Mrs. Tremper and I attended Pope Benedict’s Arrival Ceremony at the White House today, we were there for all of our SCS families too and are bringing his blessings back to Philadelphia and St. Chris with us. 

“I HEAR MUSIC AND THERE’S NO ONE THERE!”  won’t be the case tonight. Our school choir and beginner bell chimes group will definitely be there and center stage for our music recital at 7 PM in HFH.  Whether or not you have a student performing, please know that you are cordially invited to attend and hear the lovely sounds these young people produce. Their many hours of practice with Ms. Paul are very evident and we are proud of their dedication and accomplishment.

BMI a.k.a….  Body Mass Index. Our nurse will be sending home letters to parents this month as she prepares to measure students for this again this year. It is good that parents can have feedback about this important area of fitness.

IF NOT YOU, WHO?   Check out the nominations form in our envelope for H&S. Some of our positions are open and we would like you to consider them. Everyone brings different gifts to the table—you may be quiet, outgoing, methodical, out-of-the-box thinking, organized, unorganized. When we put the mix together, we can have a great H&S Board. Please consider nominating yourself or other people that you think might fit the bill. It would be fantastic to have three or four names for each position open. We are a big school and we have lots of parents who have so many ideas for both some of our traditional and new activities for our students, parents, and families. We’d like to see things off and running with chairpersons and committees in place at the start of school for a great 2008-2009 year. So, if not you, who?

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR TUITION   There is limited assistance available for families with serious financial difficulty.  These families may apply for financial consideration.  All applications should be in writing to our tuition review committee no later than May 1.  Parents seeking assistance will be sent an application form which must be completed before a meeting is scheduled for them with the committee.  Please be assured that these families will be treated with dignity, respect and confidentiality.  Please keep in mind that this applies only to families in grades k-8.  Full tuition must be paid for Pre-kindergarten.  Families receiving assistance are expected to use Scrip Program to reduce their tuition.

JOSEPHINE C. CONNELLY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS  Although these winners were announced a day after last week’s envelope, we did get to include them in the Sunday bulletin. We are proud to announce here that Michael Adair, Elizabeth Beramendi, Sean Fitzpatrick, Christopher Muldoon, and Megan Wolf are the 2008 of this annual award given by the Connelly Foundation. The awards of approximately one-third the yearly tuition--$1,605 this coming year-- are for all four years of Archdiocesan high school and acknowledge that these students will make a difference in their high school’s programs—curricular and extra-curricular. Congratulations to all of you!

THERE’S MORE…  We are likewise proud to announce that Jennifer Retter and Jim Tyrell are both recipients of $1,000 yearly scholarships to Ryan for exceptional academic achievement on their competitive tests. Excellent!

PEOPLE AND EVENTS  High Society?  Great old movie, great new band!  We congratulate Jered Celona, Jim Cannon, and Mike Nitowski on the success of their band High Society.  The boys have been playing at our CYO dances in January, March , and will close out our dance season at the end of this month. These three young men have quite a following among our students and our parent chaperones too.

Erin Dwyer (8-260 represented Tacony PAL in the City-Wide PAL Challenge. She studied an entire trivia book and competed in the semi-finals last Thursday. Erin’s team of six won and are in the finals next Monday, the 21st, at Temple University. Good luck, Erin! We’ll keep everyone posted.

At the closing of the Bicentennial Jubilee for the Archdiocese at Villanova University, we saw two of our alumni who serve on the Archdiocesan Youth Board. Rory Gledhill ’06 and Alyssa Johncola ’07 were Eucharist escorts for two of the forty priests bringing Communion to the congregation gathered in the Pavilion. It made us very proud to see SCS alumni in this role and obviously active in their faith lives.

If you’d like a brochure for the Kids Activities at the annual Broad Street Run on Sunday, May 4th, or for the Eagles Youth Football Camps, call the office or send in a note and we’ll send you one. We have a limited number of each.

CRITICAL THINKING 101  Congratulations to Shawn Tamulis (K-35) for winning this week’s $10 Gift Card of Choice/Scrip Certificate. Shawn’s correct entry said that if the total number for the months was 78.  For next week, “If your uncle’s sister is related to you but not your aunt, what is the relation?”

APRIL 9, 2008 

“Christ was raised so that we might live!”

 ****News Flash****5th Grade teacher Mrs. Armstrong had a healthy baby girl very early this morning, April 9, at 12:41 AM. Her name is Haley Rose!

THE HOLY SPIRIT’S PRESENCE WAS TANGIBLE  in our church yesterday as our students and seven adults were anointed with the chrism sealing their Confirmation by Bishop McGinnis. Parents and guests had the sense of that presence in the thoughts they shared with us at the end of the liturgy.  When we visited our sixth graders in the morning before they left to pass out their Confirmation folders, we were pleased to hear the sense of family heritage and tradition present in the names that all of the students chose for Confirmation and how they could model those saints in their lifetimes. We are all reminded that saints are ordinary people who lived their lives in ordinary and sometimes extraordinary ways for the sake of God. We are each of us called to be saints. This special one-time sacrament strengthens us to live with that calling. Our children are full of the Spirit to live so. May we help them to be ever mindful of their goals.

SCHOOL-REACH FORMS TO FILL OUT  Please take the time to fill out the information sheets that are in this envelope so that we will have a complete data system for contacting you in case of emergency or a special situation. We are looking forward to having a trial run of this system as soon as we can so we ask that you would take a minute and complete these to be back to school by this Friday.

SCS SUMMER LEARNING CAMP IS BACK AGAIN  If you turn this newsletter over, you can read about it, when it is, etc. and fill in the information for us so that we can move forward with our planning for this fun time.

THE FIRST ANNUAL KYLE MCGINLEY MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP  Please check the sheet enclosed about this special opportunity being offered at SCS for the very first time by a group of Mr. McGinley’s friends who have established a fund in memory of Kyle, a Kindergarten student in our school who died in an automobile accident. We thank them for remembering him so specially.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR TUITION   There is limited assistance available for families with serious financial difficulty.  These families may apply for financial consideration.  All applications should be in writing to our tuition review committee no later than May 1.  Parents seeking assistance will be sent an application form which must be completed before a meeting is scheduled for them with the committee.  Please be assured that these families will be treated with dignity, respect and confidentiality.  Please keep in mind that this applies only to families in grades k-8.  Full tuition must be paid for Pre-kindergarten.  Families receiving assistance are expected to use Scrip Program to reduce their tuition.

SUMMER UNIFORMS  If it’s income tax day, then it’s time for optional summer uniforms. Starting April 15th students may choose to come to school in their summer uniforms. Please note, however, that the option is either summer OR winter uniforms and not a blend of both. We thought that having Columbus Day and Tax Day as change-over times would be easy to remember.

HEAD CHECKS  If your son or daughter ever comes home with a form from the nurse about head lice, please take that message seriously and continue to check your child’s head occasionally to be sure that your child continues to be lice-free. If a child is found to have lice at school, a parent is called to take the child home and begin treatment. At-home treatment is done with over-the-counter shampoos and then following through with washing bedding,  hats, etc. is generally effective.

 We have recently had a few cases of head lice in 2nd Grade as those parents know.. Sometimes parents are embarrassed that their children have gotten lice but the reality is that they are a just a frustrating fact of life. If I remember, research indicates that they are actually more prevalent in elite private schools than other settings. Like colds and stomach viruses, lice can sometimes be around.

APRIL STUDENTS OF THE MONTH   Congratulations to the following students: PK-Matthew DuBan;  Kindergarten- Marco Rossillo, Gianna Monaco;  First-Ryan O’Donnell, Colleen Dean, Tyler Benz;  Second- Kathryn Palmer, Lauren Hall, Kassidy Rusden;  Third-Hayley Retter, Harry Davis;  Fourth-Patrice Gantert, Alessia Rossillo, Juliana Caranci;  Fifth-Nicole Serrano, Alexis Johncola, Jill McNamee;  Sixth-MaryKate McMonagle, Christopher Carroll, Erika Jesberger, Charles Hoyt; Seventh-Melissa Rizzo, Kaitlyn Shields, Nora Jackson, Brandi Zieminski;  Eighth- Meaghan Harrington, Elizabeth Hoch, Michael Gradel.  We are proud of you all.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS  Last week we told you about Shannon Harrington (6-19) participating in the East Coast Swimming Championships. We are proud to announce that Shannon came in 4th in Individual Medley and 9th in Butterfly. What an accomplishment!

CRITICAL THINKING 101  Samantha DiFrancesco (6-20) had her correct entry drawn for our $10 Gift of Choice Certificate. If you add all the numeric values of the alphabet, you get 351.  For next week, what if you add the numbers for each month? January—1, February-2, etc.  What would that total be?

APRIL 2, 2008

We ask your prayers for those who are about to be confirmed. May this time serve as a reminder to each of us of what strengths and graces this sacrament brings to each of us.
 

NOON DISMISSAL FOR ALL TUESDAY So that all will be in readiness for our Confirmation Mass at 4 PM this coming Tuesday, April 8th, school will be dismissed for all students at noon.

CONFIRMATION AND A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION TOO? The 8th is also the actual day of the Archdiocese’s 200th birthday and so schools across the Archdiocese will be celebrating this occasion as you typically celebrate a birthday but we’ll forgo the 200 candles. While other schools will celebrate at 2 PM, here at SCS we’ll celebrate 200 minutes earlier at 10:40 AM, so that we will still be a part of this special day. We are grateful to our H&S for making this happen for our children.

THE CELEBRATION CONTINUES ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE with the closing Bicentennial Liturgy with Cardinal Rigali at Villanova University on Sunday. Our parish has made a bus available as you have been reading in the bulletin and families can also drive to Villanova on their own. Who will be around—and able to come—to the 300th?

STEWARDSHIP VERSUS GENERAL RATE OF TUITION We are reaching the time of year where we review our school families’ records to determine which tuition rate they can expect to receive for the next school year. The special stewardship rate is the lesser rate. Our criteria for determination of the Stewardship rate are regularity of participation at Mass as well as fulfillment of the minimum expected financial contribution. Please review your records and make sure you have made us aware of all your church attendance whether at St Christopher Church or elsewhere. If you have any questions, please feel free to call Maryann Junod at the parish office.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS Shannon Harrington (6-19) will be participating in the Eastern All-Star Zone Meet in Buffalo, NY, for the next three days. This is the top age group swimming meet of the season and only eighty young athletes from hundreds from all over the east coast are eligible to compete based on their times throughout the year. What an amazing accomplishment for Shannon and the SCS Swim Team! We wish her good luck and want her to know how proud we all are of her.

Michael Campellone and Anthony Dattilo both in 2-5 are not only “off to see the wizard”, they will be joining him in Father Judge’s spring musical The Wizard of Oz. Michael and Anthony will be performing in two shows today and again this weekend. Performances are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 7:30 PM and there is also a 1:00 PM Sunday performance. If you have the opportunity, your family will enjoy seeing our boys in this popular musical and we might have some alumni in it as well. We will look forward to seeing some pictures of this very exciting time for Michael and Anthony. Good luck, guys!

Congratulations to the Somerton Under-8 Girls Basketball Team for winning their championship on March 22nd at Lincoln HS. Coached by Joe Shaw and Mary Kate and Maura Regan, the girls are Regan Hoyt, Casey Russell, Katie Rogers, Amanda Shaw, Lauren Hall, Kada McGovern, Deidre Regan, Jeanne Ruskowski, and Riley Regan. Well done, young ladies!

Big-time alumni news from two high schools: When some of our alumni at HGP went to the state forensics championships this past weekend, lots of good things happened. Ted Bordelon and Rory Gledhill won the state qualifiers for their events.  Joe Gallagher took 6th in Duo and Joe Geoghan was declared state champion in Humorous Interpretation.  The Holy Ghost Prep Forensics Team won the state championship.

Against national competition from as far away as California, Archbishop Ryan H.S. won the National Scholastic Indoor Track Championship in the boys Distance Medley race on Friday 3/14 at the New York City Amory Track & Field Center.  The team members consisted of 2 seniors and 2 juniors, one of which was Phil Celona, class of 2005.  The team made a stunning victory by being in the 2nd heat (the slower heat) and by managing to outrun those teams in the 1st heat (faster heat).  The team members earned All American status, received gold medals, All-American shirts and were measured for championship rings.  Along with this great experience Phil can share some of his expertise as he helps future St. Chris runners to be champions.  He is in his 2nd year of coaching distance runners with our own CYO track team.

CRITICAL THINKING 101 Julia Borie (3-7) had her correct entry drawn for last week’s $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate. The boy started out with 12 apples. For next week, if you assign each letter of the alphabet a numeric value starting with a=1, b=2, etc. all the way to z, and then add those numbers up, what will the total be?

MARCH 26, 2008

“Alleluia, alleluia! Let the holy anthem rise, and the choirs of heaven chant it in the temple of the skies; let the mountains sing with gladness, and the joyful valleys ring with hosannas in the highest to our Savior and our King!”

 A BLESSED EASTER TO YOU AND YOURS  Though well more than a century old, the anthem above expresses the exultation of the world itself at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. May this joy and gladness be manifest in our lives so that our children see how intrinsic this mystery of faith—with its promise of everlasting life-- is to our very being.  

“CARRY HIM GENTLY…”  As our 8th Grade soldiers carry the body of Jesus to these hauntingly beautiful words as they prepare to lay him in the tomb, the church is totally united in silence and in love for our God who gave himself so freely in death for us.

The Living Stations have become a special tradition here at St. Christopher that enable us to share so fully in the reality of Christ’s suffering and crucifixion. The visual and oral rendition of each Station brought each of us—whether in our school or in our parish family—closer to the Cross and God’s love for us. We are grateful to the 8th Grade students and teachers for making this a possibility for us. The many hours of preparation they spent helped each of us complete our own Lenten journeys more in step with Christ as we walked with him during this prayer service.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!  With Holy Week in the forefront, it was easy to miss the coming of spring last Thursday, but it’s definitely here. If Daylight Savings Time weren’t enough of a reminder, surely the many notations on your calendars for team sign-ups and try-outs are a sure sign. This is the time of year that calls for parents to be extra-creative in managing time and helping their children to keep a healthy balance with all that’s important. Good luck!

WE NEED YOUR HELP  With spring and hopefully warmer weather, we will be out more often in the mornings before school which is great for the children. If you are a parent who still likes to be there until the children go into school, we again have two requests. Please stand well back of the children’s lines for the whole time. It is disconcerting to our little ones to have parents coming into their lines and it is likewise a safety/security issue.  The other request is that you not take a teacher’s attention at this time by engaging her in conversation at this time.

            At the other end of the day, warm weather brings another problem with open car windows. Many parents, grandparents, etc., enjoy coming a bit earlier and taking some quiet time reading and relaxing. So, what’s the problem? It’s embarrassing to say, but some of the parents who enjoy getting out and catching up with each other have some salty language if you get our drift. It’s a free country, but….!

THE ANDY WALLACE SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION  for a full family scholarship will kick off next Monday for our 6th and 7th Graders. This year’s essay topic is “How do you incorporate Catholicism into your everyday life, particularly in your words and actions?”  Students will receive their information sheets on the 31st and will have until May 1st.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS   For the past few weeks SCS alums now at Holy Ghost Prep have been doing some after school tutoring and homework help with some of our CARES and primary grade students three days a week. We’d like to thank Brian McGuire for coordinating this community outreach and Bill McDowell and Alex Gonsiewski for being on the team. There are some other alums who will also be helping soon. 

CRITICAL THINKING 101  Some of us might live to see Easter on March 22nd in 2285 but not too many “somes” of us! Nor were any of us around when it was last on the 22nd in 1818. That’s the earliest for Easter and next year will look to a fairly average time of year when it occurs on April 12th. TJ  Kuhar (7-21)  had all his March 22nd information correct on his entry that was drawn and so he will win this week’s $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate.  For next week, “Alex bought a bag of apples on Saturday, and he ate a third of them. On Sunday he ate half of the remaining apples. He ate one more on Monday and one more on Tuesday, then ate half of the remaining apples on Wednesday. On Thursday he looked in the bag and saw that there was just one apple left. How many apples did the bag have to begin with?”

MARCH 12, 2008

Lord, as we near the end of our Lenten journey, help us to be strong for you.

ST. PATRICK GOT A NIGHT OFF  and we can all just imagine that he sat back and put his feet up for an hour or so. With his feast day being one of Mrs. Reid’s favorite days to celebrate, you can imagine how busy she has kept him getting her first heavenly celebration ready. Therefore, our re-scheduled faculty-student basketball game dedicated to her was perfect timing for him. With Mrs. Reid busy watching all action and hot dogging on Ryan’s court, maybe he got in a few zzz’s.  It was a fun night with the many signs cheering people on, our cheerleaders in full spirit, and our enthusiastic crowd. Mrs. Armstrong’s shirt announced, “Back in ‘09” to put fear into the hearts of next year’s student team.  Her baby is due in just about a month but she wouldn’t miss being at that game. Besides all the fun of the night, your donations at the door will be sent to the orphanage Amigo de Jesus in Honduras that Fr. Denny directs. Mrs. Reid’s family was so pleased to hear that. We will let you know how much was collected when we get the total count.

LIVING STATIONS   Once again our 8th Grade is continuing the tradition of Living Stations which we inaugurated about eight years ago. Students look forward to participating in this most meaningful event and the entire school leaves with such a poignant image of Christ’s suffering for us. You are welcome to come and sit behind our student body to share this time of prayer with us next Wednesday afternoon.

SOME CALENDAR REMINDERS    School will be closed Thursday and Friday, the 20th and 21st, and Monday and Tuesday, the 24th and 25th, for the Easter break. There will be no communication envelope next Wednesday, but look for it on the day we return

(REVISED) 2008-2009 TUITION RATES –Please see them in this envelope. There is a letter about the revisions on the back of this page.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE WITH TUITION There is limited assistance available for families with serious financial difficulty.  These families may apply for financial consideration.  All applications should be in writing to our tuition review committee no later than May 1.  Parents seeking assistance will be sent an application form which must be completed before a meeting is scheduled for them with the committee.  Please be assured that these families will be treated with dignity, respect and confidentiality.  Please keep in mind that this assistance applies only to families in grades K-8.  Full tuition must be paid for Pre-Kindergarten.  Families receiving assistance are expected to use Scrip Program to reduce their tuition.

6TH, 7TH, AND 8TH GRADES  will be having their computer periods in the lab this  trimester with Mrs. Tremper who has formerly been a computer teacher,  We will continue to interview for the position when the opportunity presents itself and we are grateful to Mrs. Tremper for taking this on in addition to her full roster of responsibilities. 

A THOUGHTFUL PARENT ARTICLE  At our H&S General meeting last Wednesday, Mrs. Gervino told you that we’d be including a monthly article just for you in your role as parents. The first one is included in this envelope and your feedback about it is welcome as you will see on the flip side. Mrs. Gervino chose a good one to start us off..

MARCH STUDENTS OF THE MONTH  PK- Julia Quigley; Kindergarten-Wyatt Purvis, Nicholas Giantomaso;  First- Meghan Kidd, Kada McGovern, Barbara Walsh;Second-Arthur Naylor, Tyler Dackow, Connor Fennell; Third-Patrick Jurgelewicz, Emily Mulvenna; Fourth- Daniel McDowell, Anthony Heffner, Vincent Luciano; Fifth- Francis Reilly, Aidan Lynch, Noah Brakoniecki; Sixth- Brigid Young, Laney Coull, John Birch, Kelly Giantomaso; Seventh-Kelsey Dale, Dan Stahl, John Zuk, Anthony Moffa; Eighth- Jared Celona, Jason DeNofa, Kerri McGuire

PEOPLE AND EVENTS    This Saturday, March 15th, the Field Hockey Team at Ryan is hosting an Easter Egg Hunt on the school grounds from 11 AM to 1 PM. The cost is $7 per person. The girls have come upon a creative way to fundraise for their team, don’t you think? Kids of all ages love egg hunts.

            Patty Cummings, Sean Griffin, Ryan McLaughlin, and Melissa Rizzo were the SCS reps at Ryan’s 4th Annual Spelling Bee. Our students did a great job—Patty came in 7th among 65 students from 19 schools—and all four enjoyed a good day.

            While they were at Ryan, 8th Grader Elizabeth Beramendi was at the Scripps Howard Regional  Spelling Bee where she came in 10th. That’s the bee where the winner goes to Washington for the national bee so you can see how well she did. Elizabeth will always remember how to spell gazpacho forever. Any of us who have ever been in bees like that can remember.

CRITICAL THINKING 101  The Celonas—Jared (8-25) and Kristian (4-11) will have to figure out how to spend their $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate. The knew that the next time Easter would be as early as this year is in 2228 and the last time was in 1913. Do you know anyone  95 or older who was alive to celebrate then?  For next week, Easter can actually be one day, but just one day, earlier. When is the next time it will be on March 22nd and when was the last time?

MARCH 5, 2008

 Pardon and Peace + Every Church + Every Wednesday + 7:00-8:30 PM

GOD IS PROVIDING THE OPPORTUNITY  Just think! Tonight you can slip out of the house a few minutes early and go to Reconciliation/Confession/Penance before coming to our re-scheduled Home & School meeting at 7:30 PM.  Even if you’re a bit late for the meeting, what better reason can there be? We’ve enclosed a two-sided help in this packet that you can slip into your pocket or just keep at home. Our students will be receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation next Wednesday and being able to look to you as role models for this is an opportunity straight from God to you..

THANK YOU FOR SHARING  Your children are awesome and we thank you for entrusting them to us and letting us share with you the tremendous task of preparing them to be our future. We need them to take over and keep our church, country, and planet strong and vital. God bless them!

ANOTHER TRIMESTER IS OVER!  This Friday marks the close of our 2nd Trimester. Can you believe how quickly time passes? We will be issuing report cards next Thursday, the 13th. Please double-check to be sure that you have no outstanding fees or tuition so that your child can receive that report on time.

STEWARDSHIP VS. GENERAL RATE OF TUITION  We are reaching the time of year when we review our school families’ records to determine which  tuition rate they can expect to receive for the next school year.  The special stewardship rate is the lesser rate.  Our criteria for determination of the stewardship rate are regularity of participation at Mass as well as fulfillment of the minimum expected financial contribution.  Please review your records and make sure you have made us aware of all your church attendance whether at St Christopher Church or elsewhere.  If you have any questions, please feel free to call Maryann Junod.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS   When we got a call from the Connelly Foundation last Friday asking us to gather our 7th and 8th Graders for a presentation Monday morning, we thought we just might have a Neumann Scholar. Well, guess what? We did but we had not one but two. We’d like to congratulate 8th Graders Jim Cannon and Sean Carroll for earning this prestigious scholarship. Of the over 600 students who sat for the January exam based on their academic and Terra Nova scores, the top 50 test scorers earned these full four year scholarships to their chosen Archdiocesan high school. We congratulate these two young men for such an accomplishment.

            Not to be outdone on the feminine side though, Monica Sucharski has likewise won a full four year  academic scholarship to Nazareth Academy. Not only did Monica score high enough to win that scholarship, she got the highest score of anyone taking the test.

            Mike Nitowski will be attending La Salle College High School using the Presidential Scholarship that he earned from that school as well based on his academic performance and activities.

When the Archdiocesan Choral Festival takes place next Monday evening at 7:30 PM at Archbishop Carroll High School, three of our SCS students will be part of it. We congratulate Julie Ford, Princess Gay-Henderson, and Jillian Spicer for being a part of this and representing us so well. We have heard them at practice for many hours and their voices will certainly make the chorus sound even better. We thank Ms. Paul for all her efforts in preparing these girls for such a special occasion.    

We will  continue to keep you posted on other accomplishments of the Class of 2008 as we receive official copies of their achievements. However, we will also keep you posted on the good news about our students at all grade levels. You just need to send in the information via email to scsprincipal@hotmail.com or in a message addressed to me specifically. If your children give that to their teachers, it comes to me in the AM envelope. Some people are very faithful to keeping us in tune with what’s happening like the Swim Team as you know. We love sharing good news! Please sign the news and include a phone number though in case there is a question.

CRITICAL THINKING 101  Well, we might have our first SCS woman President! Congratulations to Juliana Hughes in Pre-K whose correct entry was drawn for last week’s questions. Our PA Primary is Tuesday, April 22nd. Only registered voters can vote within their specified party. Democrats can only vote for a Democratic candidate and Republicans can only vote for a Republican candidate. What a difference there is from state to state, but Juliana knew about PA and will get that $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate. For next week, let’s look at Easter and see when the last time it was as early as March 23rd and the next time that it will be this early again.

FEBRUARY 27, 2008

“Save your people, O Lord. Show us the way to come home. We have been wandering far from your love. Save your people, O Lord.”                         Jim Farrell-text based on Psalm 27

THANK YOU SO MUCH  for making a tough day easier. It was good knowing that although last Friday was a headache, it was a shared one that we all knew was beyond our control. Even the very few calls we had about what a disgrace it was were calls of commiseration. It certainly seems like people’s voices across the city were heard as you caught the follow-up in the media.

            Down to joining a new car line plan to accommodate all the families whose students are usually bused, we had great cooperation here at SCS. When I asked Mike Sweeney to help us come up with a plan for what was sure to be an unusually high number of cars, he got right to it even after a full morning with the plow. Dismissal went well, don’t you think?

            If your child is working toward perfect attendance for the year, being absent last Friday will not affect that status. We still have to record absences in our roll books and you’ll see it noted on report cards, but  absence on 2/22 won’t affect perfect attendance. Any other lateness or absence does, however.

SCHOOL REACH-INSTANT PARENT CONTACT  Please be sure to review this important information included in today’s envelope. We are looking forward to getting this program set up to  keep you instantly on top of situations like closings and to make important general announcements. We will put the program into effect this year and be able to refine it for the upcoming year.

2007-2008 TUITION RATES  are included in this envelope as well. Please remember that there are no longer separate fees for stationery, art, lunch, and the like. The rates listed include not only the tuition increase but these costs which will from now on be part of tuition. We are hopeful that this inclusive approach will make your life easier. Specific costs like class trips, sacramental prep costs, and 8th Grade expenses must continue to come home during the year and you will still order hot lunches and H&S special occasion events separately.  

A TRUE COMMUNITY OF FAITH  Each morning when we begin our day together with school-wide prayer, we preface it with an on-going prayer list reflecting the needs of our school families. Please be sure to call or send in a note if you’d like us to include someone special to you in our prayers. Often, children just come up and ask in person if we would but you too should feel welcome to take advantage of this faith opportunity.

TWO WEEKS FROM FRIDAY   is the deadline for BLOCS applications. Your family might be eligible for a grant and you can check it all out at www.blocs.org. If you receive a grant, BLOCS then sends us a check toward your tuition. Like other programs, their deadlines are non-negotiable and cannot be extended. Everything must be in to them by March 14.th

PEOPLE AND EVENTS    What an amazing run our Boys’ Varsity B Basketball Team had this year ending with a perfect 12-0 season! That is quite an accomplishment and it took them straight to the District Championships Monday night. We held a hallway pep rally in the afternoon to let them know that SCS was supporting them and proud of an awesome season.  If you come into the main lobby you can see the Runners-up trophy they brought home after a neck and neck game with St. Jerome’s.  Congratulations to Coaches Steve Zoladek and Mike Adair and team members Mike Adair, Mike Allandorf, Bill Dever, Brian Finnegan, Eric Lynch, Tom Lynch, Chris Muldoon, Kevin Nelms, Justin San Juan, Matt Spangler, James Udovich, and Steve Zoladek. 

            SCS Track Team continues registrations for the 2008 track season this Saturday, March 1st, in Holy Family Hall after the 5 PM Mass, and again Sunday after the 9, 10:30 and 12:00 Masses in HFH. All students in 4th thorugh 8th Grades are welcome. There is a $25 sign-up fee.

CRITICAL THINKING 101  Joey DiMascia (3-7) had his correct entry drawn for this week’s $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate. Like so many of you, Joey correctly figured that the period would end at 11:55 AM.  For next week, “When is the Pennsylvania Primary, and who can vote in it?”

FEBRUARY 20, 2008

May you continue to walk your Lenten journey filled with determination and faith.

CONGRATULATIONS to the Boys Varsity B Basketball team who were a perfect 12-0 in the season. They will be playing for the CYO Region 1 Championship this Monday, February 23rd at 7:30 at St. Martha's.

Coached by Steve Zoladek and Mike Adair, the team members are: Mike Adair, Mike Allandorf, Billy Dever, Brian Finnagan, Eric Lynch, Tom Lynch, Chris Muldoon, Kevin Nelms, Justin San Juan, Matt Spangler, James Udovich, Steve Zoladek.

Over President's weekend, the team participated in the CYO-sponsored 'Coaches vs. Cancer' Tournament, in honor of Mrs. Reid, winning all 5 games.

POSTPONED—PLEASE NOTE  Our H&S Board is postponing this evening’s meeting so that you will not have to wonder will it be too slippery or not tonight and should you or shouldn’t you venture out.  H&S will let you know when the meeting can be re-scheduled in this busy parish life of ours. It’s not always as easy as “We’ll just move it to…!”

 IT WAS A BUSY FRIDAY   Middle States evaluation, Terra Nova review and mapping, TeacherWeb pages, UnitedStreaming, you get the picture. Our faculty was very engaged last Friday in the many ways in which we can provide as comprehensive an education as possible for your children.  

 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS BUT WHO’S COUNTING?  The Archdiocese is and so are we! This year marks 25 years in Catholic education for 7th Grade teacher Connie Carcel and 1st Grade teacher Annette Del Quadro.  We will celebrate these special women with a luncheon and prayer service Friday and then they will celebrate on the Archdiocesan level Sunday at a special mass and dinner. We are grateful to them for their dedication to our students and their ministry of teaching. Like Catholic school parents, Catholic school teachers make a financial sacrifice to be in our schools. We remind ourselves that our benefits are heavenly though!

 THANK YOU TO ALL OUR GOOD ROLE MODELS  We teach our children in so many ways. Know that they watch and remember all that we do and say. We are each called to teach them only in positive ways that will make them better people.

 2008 SCIENCE FAIR WINNERS  We are  grateful to the judges from Ryan and St. Basil’s who spent much time reviewing our science projects and awarding ribbons to the following students:  Gr. 5—1st Place- Tom Peterson, 2nd Place- Clare Gervino, 3rd Place- Devon Shiffler;  Gr. 6—1st Place-Jessica Kaminski, 2nd Place- Jessica Parker, 3rd Place-Taylor Adair; Gr. 7—1st Place-Grace Reilly, 2nd Place-Chris Brown, 3rd Place-Brian Finnegan; Gr. 8—1st Place-Michael Meehan, 2nd Place-Nick Harkins, 3rd Place-Jessica Dawson. Our Grand Prize winner for the second year in a row is 6th Grader Collin Wiercinski. Collin is probably already thinking about next year and so are many others who were inspired this year.

 FEBRUARY STUDENTS OF THE MONTH  Congratulations to the following students: 
 PK- Juliana Hughes; K- Megan Shields, Jayson Clark; 1st-Jarrett Streeper, Matty Bianco,Riley Regan; 2nd- Kaitlin Cavallo,AmandaDean,Courtney Weller; 3rd- Sarah Schuck, Amanda Hearn;4th- Laura Bonacci, Erin Gibson, MaryKate Comas;5th-Kerry Dunphy, Kirsten Cavallo, Mia Retter; 6th- Stephanie Vogelman, Mathew Anthony, Sarah Morici, Antonio Herrick; 7th- Jacquelyn Bamberski, Jessica Horton, Alexandra McDonald, Patricia Cummings; 8th- Jessica Dawson,Sean Fitzpatrick, Taylor Kaminski. We look forward to seeing the students of the month pictures seasonally displayed on the bulletin board in the main lobby each month.
 

PEOPLE AND EVENTS  We are proud of the many ribbons, medals and trophies SCS swimmers won at the Championships at La Salle this past weekend. We’ll publish the list for you next week.

            Our Boys Varsity B Team spent their weekend playing in a tournament called “Mrs. Reid vs. Cancer” and we will also have more about that to share with you.

CRITICAL THINKING 101  Congratulations to Rebecca Springer (1-30) for having her correct entry drawn and winnign this week’s $10 Gift Card Certificate of Choice. When the ice cubes melt in a glass of water, the level remains the same.  For next week, “Sunnyside School starts promptly at 9 am. If each period lasts 40 minutes and there are 5 minutes between each period, when does 4th period end?”

FEBRUARY 13, 2008

God bless our 2nd Graders who celebrated First Reconciliation last night!

AT LEAST WE DON’T NEED AN ARK! It seems a First Reconciliation almost-tradition that we have wintry weather so that we can see our God’s presence in making this a night of newness for our 2nd Grade cherubs. Some people in the world might need ark-like conditions to get the message, but here at St. Chris a fresh coat of snow will remind us of what an important grace these children receive with First Penance or Reconciliation. However, if as adults, we don’t make sure that there will be a 2nd, 3rd, and 54th one, we might envision an ark in our dreams.

LENTEN JOURNEY Be assured that here at school starting with Ash Wednesday last week, we make opportunities for your children to have good Lenten experiences. Grades take turns attending 8:30 Mass each morning and pray at our church and school Stations of the Cross sites during this time. Our morning prayers include a daily Lenten reflection, and teachers have on-going age-appropriate activities for your children.

APPLICATIONS 2008 We have enclosed a letter informing you about this year’s family application and tuition rates information. Please be sure to read about the changes we have made to make life easier for you.

INSTANT PARENT CONTACT In the next few weeks, we will be sending you a letter about the SchoolReach, the telephone broadcast system, that will notify all our families within minutes of an emergency event, early dismissal, school cancellation, etc. The service will also be used from time to time to communicate announcements important to all or some just to specific groups or grades. Your job will be to give us all the numbers that will help this system work to its maximum. Stay tuned.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION Second trimester report cards are due to be distributed on March 13th. They will be withheld if offertory contributions are at a low level and if monthly tuition is not paid through February. Please note that contributions averaging $15 per week beginning July 1 through February 13 should total $480.00. To insure accurate recording of your Sunday Offertory contributions, you are reminded to use the envelopes provided and to mark the amount enclosed. Any questions or concerns you have may be addressed to Maryann Junod at parish office. (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9 am to 4 pm - 673-5177).

WE ARE EXPERIENCING AN EPIDEMIC of latecomers. When the same students come running across the yard every morning or their parents pull right up by the front door because they are even later, a problem exists. Fortunately, some problems have easy solutions. Instead of aiming to just make it—if there’s no traffic, if the school bags are all packed, if the shoes are where they should be, if no one takes too long in the bathroom, you get it—aim for being ten minutes earlier and letting both parents and children start the day in a calmer fashion. People don’t like to see a check under Responsibiity on report cards either. Honest truth—some high schools will not accept students who have a pattern of lateness. You can understand their logic: If a family has trouble being on time for a local school, how will they ever be on time for one farther away? The real bottom line though is the poor habit that you are helping your child establish and it is one that will affect life so see if the alarm clock needs an earlier setting. We do realize that a few parents work nights and are doing their best to get here on time. Oddly, it does not seem to be those families who are consistently late. Sermon’s over!
Do remember though that if you drive your children in late, you need to come in to sign them in.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS As promised, you can see all the participants of our two spelling bees listed on the back of this newsletter. It takes a lot of courage to stand up in front of a hall filled with students and teachers and spell words. We are proud of them all.
     We sent grade entries to the Archdiocesan Art Festival for Gr. K to 5. Congratulations to the following students whose entries will represent SCS for their grade level. K—Katrina Juntereal, 1st—Casey Coan, 2nd—Eduardo Santos, 3rd—Angela Sylvester, 4th—, and 5th—Shannon Kelly. We will keep you posted on how these students do and we’ll display their work when it is returned in March. Each grade level had themes which they had to follow.
     Max Serrano (4-9) was in a karate competition this weekend for AmeriKick. He won first place in his kata, first place in weapons (using numb chucks), second place in sparring, and also third place in board breaking (he broke 3 boards with his fist). Imagine the discipline involved for Max to do all of this!
     It’ back in the pool this weekend as 65 members of our Swim Team compete for trophies, medals, and ribbons in the Diocesan Swimming Championships at LaSalle University. We are grateful to our coaches who will be spending most of Saturday and Sunday to help with all that is involved in a swim meet of this size. Good luck, SCS swimmers!
     Both our JV and Varsity Girls’ Basketball teams and our Boys JV A Team have made it to Play-offs and we will keep you posted on their progress. It’s an exciting time for them and we are proud that they have done so well.

CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to Amanda Bowman (4-11) for having her correct entry drawn for last week’s contest. The numbers on the phone add up to 45 and every entry was correct. Good adding! For next week’s $10 Gift Card/Scrip of Choice certificate and in honor of our recent science fair, “Three ice cubes are melting in a glass of water. Once they have completely melted, has the level of the water changed?”

 

FEBRUARY 6, 2008

May our Lenten journey be a journey of love and growth for each of us!

“SEIZE THE DAY”   After getting word last Wednesday evening that the host of the Sirius Radio Program was down with the flu and that we’d have to postpone until Monday, we knew that we could never let you know in time. All of you would have been so proud of 7th Grader Jillian McIntyre when she read her prize-winning essay about Mrs. Reid on the Everyday Heroes segment of the program. Mrs. Tremper and I got to share many anecdotes about our special teacher and why she is a hero and role model to us all.

NEXT YEAR??  To plan responsibly and be good stewards, it is important to know what fall enrollment looks like. Before we open enrollment to new families, we set aside time for our present families to let us know their intentions for the upcoming year. Your $120 annual family re/application fee has a dual purpose in that we know that we can count on your family’s being here in the fall, and you also know that  this fee alleviates the need for the kind of minimum fundraising that so many schools require of parents.  We obviously continue to offer many events throughout the year but you need to participate only if you’d like to do so which keeps the fun in fundraisers.  We will be hosting an Information Night for new parents next Wednesday at 7 PM in HFH. Those parents can learn about our school firsthand and even enjoy meeting other parents at our Book Fair evening if they choose to do so.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD…  If you’d like to, you can watch our SCS Catholic Schools Week evening production of it on a DVD right in your own living room. Kathy Garvin came and filmed the show for us and DVD’s are available for sale for $15. If you are interested, please send a check payable to SCS care of Mrs. Paul.  Between our Fine Arts Festival at this time and Summer Stock in July, our students have plenty of opportunities to shine under the lights.

FOCUS ON FAMILIES!  is a free service that comes to you from the Community Services Division of CORA Services. Beginning tonight until March 26th from 6:30-8:30 at CORA on Veree Road, parents of teens aged 12-17 have a chance to meet, share, and learn. Contact them at 215-342-7660, ext. 2450 or ext. 2678.

CHILDREN’S SCHOLARSHIP FUND PHILADELPHIA   has 1, 500 new scholarships available in Philadelphia for a maximum funding amount of $1900 per child per year. Go online to www.csfphiladelphia.org and see if you fulfill the eligibility requirements for this random lottery scholarship. There’s a March 1st deadline though so don’t delay.

IF YOU’VE PROCRASTINATED THOUGH  you’d still be able to apply to www.blocs.org  since their deadline for applying is March 14th. These are great opportunities designed to help as many families as possible with their school costs.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR STEWARDSHIP TUITION RATE  Those families who currently receive the stewardship rate must continue to have an acceptable rate of church attendance in order to be eligible for the stewardship rate for the 08/09 school year.

If you choose to make your Church donations on other than a weekly basis, please place the empty envelope in the collection on the Sundays you will not be making an actual contribution.  This will verify attendance at Sunday Mass.

For Sundays that you/your child will be attending Mass at a Catholic Church other than at St. Christopher’s, please write in large letters on that week’s St. Christopher Sunday collection envelope the name and town of the Church you attended and the time of the Mass (above or below your name).  Simply put that envelope in a subsequent collection at St Christopher Church or drop it off at parish office.  

You’ll find enclosed a log for your use if you regularly attend Mass at a Church other than at St. Christopher.  Please complete and drop in the collection or drop it off at the parish office.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS   Congratulations to this year’s spellers who will represent SCS at outside bees. Jessica Sucharski (6-20) and alternate Kevin Brown (5-16) will be studying for the Houghton-Mifflin Bee while Elizabeth Beramendi (8-26) and alternate James Udovich (8-25) will be preparing for the Philadelphia Tribune Bee. You should see some of the words that these students encounter. No C-A-T for them!  Look for the complete list of all the spellers in both bees in next week’s JCI.

A big congratulations to our Swim Team as they competed for the Championship last Saturday evening against St. Albert the Great. Swimming in 42 events, our team had a great performance and came in Overall Second for the season. We are proud of the team who are all listed on the back of this newsletter. As you read through the names, you’ll realize that our team extends across all our grades. Coaches and moderators Donna Nicklous, Bernadette Griffin, and Steve Boyes deserve recognition as well for all the time they have devoted to this sport which begins in September each year.

Last Saturday was also a banner day for Kristen Goldstein as she sat in the hairdresser’s chair and had seven inches of her hair cut off for Locks of Love which uses the donated hair to create wigs for young cancer patients. Like her parents, we are proud of Kristen as she lives out our mission.

CRITICAL THINKING 101  This week’s $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate goes to Sean Thomas (2-5) for having his correct entry drawn with St. John Neumann and St. Elizabeth Seton.  For next week, what is the total sum when you add up all the numbers on the telephone?

JANUARY 30, 2008

“May the angels guide you and bring you into paradise:  and may all the martyrs come forth to welcome you home: and may they lead you to the holy city, Jerusalem. May the angel chorus sing to welcome you, and...you shall have everlasting rest.”

“SAFE HOME, MRS. REID”   We join the traditional prayer of the Church to the traditional good-bye of the Irish as we all pray for our own Mrs. Reid. As her son Bill said so poignantly at her mass, Sts. Peter and Paul will be readying the Lifetime-Achievement Award Oscar for his mother who was among other things a huge fan of the Academy Awards. Mrs. Reid put the enthusiasm of life and love into living life to the fullest for her God, her family, and her students.  To think that she was still here with us until mid-day, January 7th says it all. We are  each of us blessed to have been a part of her life. May we look to her as a role model.

AN ARCHDIOCESAN CELEBRATION FOR EDUCATORS  As you know, our faculty will be at the Cathedral tomorrow as the Cardinal celebrates mass for educators.  Know that not only will our thoughts and prayers be with our students, we will be strengthened as a faculty by the knowledge that Mrs. Reid will be with us in spirit as well. What more fitting and apt tribute that first her mass of Christian burial and then this mass honoring educators are both during Catholic Schools Week. Our God is an amazing God.

GOD IS INDEED AMAZING –IMAGINE THIS TIMING!  Last Thursday just hours after learning that Lynne Reid had gone to God, we were contacted by the Media Office. Sirius Radio produces a program called Seize the Day and wanted to know if SCS would like to participate this week with a piece about everyday heroes.  It took about one nano-second to see God’s hand in this. If you tune in tomorrow morning, Thursday, at 7:30 AM to Sirius Radio’s Catholic Channel 159, you will be able to hear about just some of the things that made Mrs. Reid an every day hero for all of us. Jillian McIntyre, one of the Archbishop Wood Writing Competition winners, will be sharing her essay about Mrs. Reid and how she influenced her with the listening audience. We will be on for a 20 minute segment and are hopeful that one of our Sirius radio subscribers might tape the program for us so that we can share it with our students and faculty later.

“WE’RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD…”   This will certainly be an exciting day as our two casts perform this wonderful musical for our school and again for our parents and community this evening. You can’t beat the admission cost either—one can of food. It works!  Look for pictures online later.  Have a great time, cast1

PEOPLE AND EVENTS  Nicole Serrano (5-13)  entered the Tremaine Dance Competition in NYC this past weekend. Her dance team placed second in two dances and third in one dance. She will be going to nationals this summer in Orlando and she is also a semi-finalist for a scholarship. Congratulations, Nicki! We think you should bring the lovely reversible dress that you made when you go to FL. It should bring you good luck and remind you of all of us cheering you on.

Get the posters and banners ready, fans!  This Sunday at 6 PM at our pool, the SCS Swim Team will be competing for the championship. Remember that this is our first time in 16 years and so we are even more excited it that’s possible. We will be holding a hallway pep rally here at school this Friday at noon to let our team know that we are rooting for them.

SCS alum Joe Geoghan now at Holy Ghost Prep has been busy. Besides a  tourney upstate where he placed 3rd and 4th in final events, Joe and Ted Bordelon, another SCS alum, as two of the eight member Forensics A Team, have been at a national tournament in Atlanta, GA, at Emory University. We just got word that Joe placed 1st in his event and will wait for word about Ted.

CRITICAL THINKING 101  Congratulations to Brigid Young (6-17) and her sister Courtney (8-26) for having your correct entry drawn in last week’s contest. Tons of people knew that what silent and  listen have in common is that they are both made up of the same letters just in different order. We will be sending Brigid and Courtney  a $10 Gift Card/Scrip of Choice certificate. For next week, who are the two saints that you would most connect with Catholic Schools in the United States?

JANUARY 23, 2008

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”    Psalm 150:6

CALLED TO CARRY CHRIST TO OTHERS  Here at St. Chris this takes place many ways. As a school community we have been praying for 5th Grade Teacher Mrs. Reid  as she responds to her cancer treatments while in the hospital. We ask that you too join in praying for Mrs. Reid at your homes.

            Saturday evening, our community will again be reaching out to help the Dunphy family as the CYO Program hosts the Chatterband. There will be all sorts of ways to entice you to open your wallets while you are there. How about a chance to spend time at a Florida condo? How about one of the theme baskets made with grade by grade student family donations? How about adult baskets of cheer? We could go on and on.

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES  We remind you again that the Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia is now accepting new, need-based scholarship applications for the upcoming school year. These new four-year scholarships are available to students entering K-5th Grades and are awarded by random lottery. Please go to www.csfphiladelphia.org to check it all out. There is a March 1st deadline.

            Kohl’s Kids Who Care Scholarship Program will be accepting nominations to reward kids whose volunteer efforts have made a positive impact on their communities. For official rules and to nominate a student, visit www.kohlskidswhocare.com between Feb. 1st to March 15th, 2008

            Don’t forget that BLOCS too is offering grants for families. Go to www.blocs.org to check it all out.

TUITION POLICY REMINDER  “In order for children to continue after February 1, 2008:  1.  Families on the semi-annual payment plan must have tuition paid in full.  2.  Families on the monthly plan must be paid through January.  3.  Obligations must be fulfilled to have the first trimester report card released.  IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO MAKE EXCEPTIONS TO THIS POLICY.”  If you have questions about your tuition status, please call Maryann Junod at the Parish Center.

FUTURE CITIES COMPETITION  This annual event for schools takes place this Saturday at Villanova University. We have been hopeful that we will have enough volunteer power to have a SCS team in this competition and Mr. Altmeier is taking his son Jeff and some of our other 7th Graders/Boy Scouts to check it all out Saturday. Having seen the finals myself, I am sure that these boys will come home all fired up to be a part of a SCS team. So we’re looking for some adults interested in helping to build a model city first in computer mode and then in scale model mode. It can all happen before school, after school, in the evening, on the weekend. We’re flexible and would just love to have it start here. Learning and having fun at the same time is an unbeatable combination.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS   The Archbishop Wood Annual Writing Competition had over 400 entries and we are proud to announce that SCS had five winners in the competition. We would like to congratulate Zachary Zaremski (2-5), Harry Davis (3-7), Marissa Sylvester (5-16), Jared Celona (8-25), and Dan Burke (8-27) for their success. Our God is an amazing God, three of those five winners wrote about Mrs. Reid in their essays which were done and sent in before the first trimester ended. We sent them to her as special greeting cards. These winners will read their essays at Archbishop Woods’ Presentation Ceremony this Sunday at 2 PM. This means that Mr. Davis and Harry will have to quickly change from pancake flipping and serving at our annual H&S Pancake Breakfast to their presentation wear. They’ll do it! We are proud of each and every winner. Good writing is worth it.

 Somerton Under 9 boys basketball team won the Christmas basketball tournament which was held at Parkwood Youth Organization. Congratulations to these boys for a job well done! They are Jimmy Newbert, Charles Layton, Chris Kuhar, Patrick Detreux, Ryan Comas, Joe Comas, Seamus Lynch, Brendan Ruskowski, Sean Palmer, Mark Mclaughlin, Cameron Gontek, Jared Di Campello,  and Connor Killion. The boys’ team is coached by Tom Kuhar and Walt Detreux.

            Wow!  For the first time in 16 years St. Chris will be going to the Swim Championships and it all happened this past weekend when they beat Christ the King. The team will be swimming on Saturday, February 2nd, but the time is yet to be determined. We will be holding one of our hallway pep rallies to cheer them on before the big day. Go team!

            We are proud to report that Tori Matthews (6-18) collected 45 cell phones to be refurbished and given to help others reach out to their loved ones. Thanks, Tori.

            The Philadelphia Dept. of Recreation is holding its Winter Art Camp 2008 at various sites from February 2nd to March 8th.. We have a few applications and there is a registration deadline of this Friday for mail registration and next Saturday for in person registration. The cost is $60 for the program geared to people from age 10 to Senior Citizens.
 

CRITICAL THINKING 101   Congratulations to Amanda Hearn (3-7) for having her correct entry pulled for the $10 Scrip of Choice certificate. The next year when the two numbers on each end add up to the two numbers in the center will be 2307.   For next week, “What do silent and listen have in common?”

January 16, 2008

“…Look on us, Jesus, and our need for priests. Help those you are calling to hear Your voice and to respond generously to Your call…”

THOSE FAMILIES WHO ATTENDED THE HOLY HOUR had a wonderful experience. Bishop McFadden’s homily was so down to earth and so tied to the scriptures that there was not even a wiggle, sniffle, or cough the whole time. I think one little cherub said about two words but other than that the words of the Bishop were what was heard. Seeing our young people—both ours and high school—as readers and servers also made the point of where our church’s future is as well. It was a good experience and knowing that you were joined with others throughout the Archdiocese gave it a sense of our oneness.

IN REMEMBRANCE OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. our school will be closed Monday, January 21st for this national holiday. A call for service has marked this day and that can be in the community but even in the home. Our mission statement at St. Christopher of carrying Christ to others is what Dr. King’s hope was as well. We strive to live it each and every day.

IT LOOKS LIKE A CREDIT CARD AND IT’S GREEN We have been able to enhance our security for the sake of the students by the use of ID cards. Our teachers and staff have already received personalized Id’s which we are wearing on lanyards around our necks or clipped on to our clothing. As of next week, we will be replacing our present visitor badges with ones like ours. They too look like a green credit card saying Visitor/Volunteer and are made to be clipped on. Any adult in the building should have an ID visible and children should tell a responsible adult immediately if they see someone without this ID. When a visitor signs in at the office, besides writing his/her name, etc. in the log, he/she will also write the number on the back of the ID. It will be important for all the adults connected with our school to be part of this security measure for the sake of the children. Even a few adults have a hard time with seeing the importance of such measures. We sometimes still have an adult signaling a child to open a school door for them and you know why that is not a good thing.

“WE’RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD…” We hope that you too will be joining us to see our school production of The Wizard of Oz the Wednesday of Catholic Schools Week. Between our annual faculty-student basketball game which will be held at Ryan’s Girls’ Gym this year, the show, our science project displays, spelling bees, etc., it will be a full week of celebration. Look for the special brochure that will be coming home next week.

SORRY, BUT IT’S A SUSPENSION If your child has a cell phone in school which has not been turned in to Mrs. Tremper or me for safekeeping the first thing in the morning, your child will be suspended. Both students and parents signed Acceptable Use contracts at the start of school about the responsible use of technology and what was not acceptable in school including cell phones. “I forgot it was in my school bag” or “I forgot to take it out of my jacket” doesn’t work. Neither does, “But I promise I’ll never bring it again!” A cell phone has too many capabilities that we have seen used inappropriately by students here. Help us with this please for the well-being of all our students.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE RE: TUITION “In order for children to continue in school after February 1, 2008: 1) Families on the semi-annual payment plan must have their tuition paid in full. 2) Families on the monthly plan must be paid through January. 3) Obligations must be fulfilled in order to release 1st trimester report card. IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO MAKE EXCEPTIONS TO THIS POLICY.

THAT SAID… If you go online to www.blocs.org, you can download the BLOCS grant application for the upcoming school year. It is due by Friday, March 14th so be sure to print it out to see the provisions and salary ranges, etc. So often, families overlook opportunities like this. It is well worth reviewing.

WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE THE ACCEPTANCES AND SCHOLARSHIPS that the awesome Class of 2008 is receiving! We are so proud of these students and know that they will continue to make up proud as SCS alumni. Stay tuned for details.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS This is it! Our Swim Team needs to think Championships as they swim in their final meet against Christ the King this Sunday at 3 PM. If/when they win Sunday, they will be in the Championships. All swimmers need to be on board and if people make banners and posters for this meet, the team will be even more motivated. Good luck, swimmers!

CRITICAL THINKING 101 1,009 = MIX! What a lot of Roman numeral scholars we have. Good work! Michael Johncola (6-19) had his correct entry drawn for this week’s $10 Gift Card/Scrip of Choice certificate. Congratulations, Mike!
For next week, “The year 1978 has an unusual property: When you add the 19 to the 78, you get 97, the middle two digits of the year. What will be the next year to have this same property?”

JANUARY 9, 2008

St. Elizabeth Seton and St. John Neumann, please watch over St. Christopher School.

TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 15th is a very special time in our parish. It is so special, that Father Joe has asked that there be o meetings, games, practices, etc. so that as many families as possible may attend this holy hour dedicated to Father John. You can read about it on the flyer behind this newsletter. The back of the flier has the Novena of Prayer for Priestly Vocations. It would be wonderful if your family were able to pray that each day from the 12th to the 20th to be part of the archdiocesan novena.

SOME GRADE ALERTS 2^nd Grade parents are reminded that First Penance is definitely Tuesday, February 12^th. We had it listed as the 13^th in January’s Looking Ahead section of the monthly calendar.

8^th Grade parents whose sons and daughters will be attending Archdiocesan high schools should ask them for the TAP applications that were distributed o them today. You may be eligible for some finds for high school.

CALLING ALL CHERUBS! If you know any families who have school-aged children, you might bring them or tell them about our annual Open House after the noon mass on Sun., Jan 27^th, the opening of Catholic Schools Week. We will also be holding an information night for new parents on Wed., Feb 13^th, and have scheduled times on Thurs., Feb, 28^th and Fri., Feb. 29^th to receive applications and answer any questions that prospective parents may have. All of our application materials are available on our school website.

WHICH LUNCH FEE? Please be reminded that some families may have forgotten about the 2^nd Trimester lunch fee. Some people pay the fee for the entire year in September, but some families opt to pay by trimester. If you are wondering if you owe for this trimester, simply speak with Mrs. Kennedy in our office or leave her a message and she will let you know.

STILL THE NEW YEAR AND TIME TO MAKE NEW RESOLUTIONS If your children are late for school more than once in a blue moon, you need to ask yourself why and what you need to do about it. Your child is at a definite disadvantage when his or her day does not start with the rest of the class. Lateness matters in many ways. Students have been turned down by high schools for lateness records, for example. If your child is late, you too need to come in so that you can sign the late book.

Please think of what other resolutions, like how your student looks each day, to see if a new resolution is needed there, too. As adults, we know how important it is for us to look at our lives to see how we can improve and we need to teach our children to do the same.

JANUARY STUDENTS OF THE MONTH PK- Kaitlyn Bembischew, Kindergarten- Nicholas Schmid, Emily Lonergan; First- Angela Serrano, Meghan McIntyre, John McNamee; Second- Aiden Degnan, Michael Rocks, John Schrenk; Third- Patrick DeTreaux, Thomas Ferry; Forth- William Eastburn, Sean Finnegan, Jack Raynor; Fifth- Colin Regan, Victoria Gryzminski, Lisa Gogel; Sixth- Colin Wiercinski, Tori Matthew, Michael Johncola, Samantha DiFransisco; Seventh- Justin McCrossin, Brandan McCammitt, Conner Smith, Matthew Devlin; Eight- Michael Adair, William Dever, Steve Zoladek. We congratulate these students. You can see their pictures on the Student of the Month bulletin board in the main lobby.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS   Our Swim Team did a terrific job and the coaches were very proud of them when they met St. Albert the Great last week although they did not win the meet. On the 20th, the team will meet Christ the King and if they win that meet, they will go on to the championship meet. Swim your best, team!

            We’re proud to announce that Hannah and Claire Cochrane collected 112 pairs of glasses. Imagine that over 100 people will now see more clearly thanks to the efforts of the twins and your help with it!

            The St. Christopher preliminaries for the annual Knights of Columbus free-throw contest took place after school yesterday. The following students won here and will move on to the next competition. They are:  Jason Amado, Taylor Kaminski, Brendan Lynch, Erik Lynch, Nick Newbert, Pat Peiffer, Ali Pottebaum, Marissa Sylvester, Megan Wolf, and Colleen Young.  Way to go!

CRITICAL THINKING 101  First of all, what was I thinking? I went right back to Santa’s reindeer when we were considering the next palindromic year and so this week  will be a double header.  Shannon Kelly (5-13) had her correct entry pulled for the year being 2112. For this week’s contest, Taylor Goldstein (4-12) had the right answer on her entry. Every year is about 365 ¼ days. We save the ¼’s to the 4th year and leap forward one day on February 29th. Both Shannon and Taylor will receive a $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate.

For next week, “One of the numbers below becomes a common English word when converted into Roman numerals. Which one?

            38                    54                    626                  1,009               2,376               3,128

JANUARY 2, 2008

“For your faithful people, Lord, life is not ended but changed.”

“HEY CHIEF, WHAT’S UP?”    In my heart, I now say, “You are!”  Father John never failed to greet me with that question and we all certainly know that he is definitely up in heaven looking down on St. Chris and enjoying all that we do here in our parish and school.

…CALLED TO CARRY CHRIST TO OTHERS  Our students and faculty did just that the last day before we left for Christmas. Our Student Council and student body in general sponsored a dress down day to raise some funds for the immediate needs of the Dunphy family. We turned in almost $4500 for the Commerce Bank Fund before we left that Friday.  What an amazing school family we have! 

FACULTY CHANGE  Your children probably already told you that our computer/art teacher Mr. Ranieri turned in his resignation effective December 21st to accept a charter school position. We had some interviews over the holiday break but were not satisfied. We will continue the search following Archdiocesan hiring guidelines.

WHICH JANUARY CALENDAR ARE YOU CONSULTING?   It should be the one that says Revised January 2008 on the top. The letter days were incorrect on the first one and so rather than have you change the days from the 2nd to the end, we issued a new correct calendar. However,  it also gave us the opportunity to let you officially know about the change below and for 8th Grade parents to know about the date for graduation pictures. Some mistakes might be fortuitous, right?

TUITION NIGHT CHANGE  Please note on that revised calendar that Tuition Night has been moved to Wednesday evening, January 9th, in HFH. Please remember that you need your Scrip voucher if you are fortunate enough to be in that position. We hope that all of you are in that position, that’s for sure! Who wouldn’t want to save a few hundred dollars on tuition?

DRESSING FOR THE WEATHER  It’s amazing to see the wide range of apparel that our children wear in the cold weather. Sweatshirts seem to be year-round wear for many of our children even when the temps dip and the winds blow. Peer pressure, whew!  It would be good though for children to have hoods/hats and gloves/mittens so that they can enjoy the fresh air when we are outside. Please remember that if we ever get temps and wind chills in the teens or below, you are welcome to send your children in their gym uniforms for those days.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS  You can always count on the Boys Scouts and they came through again to help the Dunphy family in their time of need. You may have made the Scouts and Santa on TV as they visited the Dunphys in Blue Bell. The Boys in Troop 444 that currently attend St. Christopher are Jeff Altmeier, Tyler Bowman, Steven Jordan, Sage Russell, Conner Smith, Joe Dietrich, Jared Celona, Shane Davis, Billy  Gibson, Tim Carlin, Brandon McCammitt, and Kurran Keown. .Scout Tim Prout is also a SCS alum. Thank you, boys.

            With the holidays, you may have forgotten about old cell phones that you might have at home.  If you send them in to school, 6th Grader Tori Matthews has a container for them so that they can be given to an organization that will distribute them to our soldiers to call home.

            Okay, Swim Team! You had time off but now it’s back to practice—tonight, in fact from 5-6 PM.  This Sunday there’ll be an important meet against St. Albert which could be a very close one so all the team needs to be there.

 

CRITICAL THINKING 101  If you said  63,  you were absolutely right!  That’s the total number of hooves, ears, and noses on all of  Santa’s reindeers including Rudolph.  Nicole Haselbarth (6-19) had her correct entry drawn for the first $10 Scrip/Gift Card of Choice certificate of 2008. Good work, Nicole!  For next week, “Why is a leap year called a leap year?”

DECEMBER 19, 2007

This baby  is the lamb of God, the Prince of Peace, the Son.
May you and yours realize and celebrate the blessing of the wonder God has done!
We wish you a Christmas filled with love, peace, and hope.

IT’S ALMOST TIME FOR THE FOURTH CANDLE OF THE ADVENT WREATH  School will close at noon this Friday as families prepare to celebrate Christmas next Tuesday.  Pre-K, K, and 1^st Grade parents have been invited to share Nativity prayer services with their little ones and our school community will all pray together on Thursday afternoon when the 1^st Grade re-enacts the Nativity for all of us.

We will see everyone back in school on Wednesday, January 2^nd, 2008. Do you remember when we were anticipating the turn of a century / millennium and now we are this far into the new one?

“WE HAVE NOTHING BUT WE HAVE EVERYTHING…”  When 20 year old Michael Dunphy made that statement to TV cameras Sunday evening, all the viewers knew exactly what Michael meant. By now everyone knows of the devastating fire that destroyed the Dunphy home early Sunday morning. Everything they owned including their house is totally gone but everyone in the family escaped and so the family does have everything—they have each other. There is a saying “Home is where the heart is” which takes on special meaning for the Dunphys right now. Wherever they will be in the upcoming days and months will be home with all of them united in their own love and supported by the love of their greater family and community.

So many people have asked how they can help and what they can do. Our children want to reach out in our mission of carrying Christ to others and so you can see what they will do when you read the accompanying flyer. If you’d like to help the family, we have been told that the best way is by contributing directly to The Dunphy Family Fund c/o Commerce Bank. Adult fundraisers have also been planned both for this coming Saturday and for January 26^th.  If you’d like to speak with someone about helping in any different ways, the family representative is Steve McGrath at 215-906-4131 and a local representative is Erika Lynch at 215-677-7629. 

TUITION NIGHT  Tuesday, January 8, 2008.  Tuition will be collected between 6:30 and 7:30 pm in Holy Family Hall.  You may also mail tuition to the parish office.  Payment should be received no later than January 8.  If you are redeeming scrip, a Scrip Credit Voucher should be included as part of your payment. 

Scrip Redemption – You will be able to pick up a Credit Voucher on tuition night between 6:30 and 7:15 pm in the meeting room (usual Scrip location.)  Scrip will not be sold on this evening.  Requests for Redemption Voucher forms are available during regular Scrip Sales.  Please allow one week for pick up.

DECEMBER STUDENTS OF THE MONTH  PK- Kathleen Walsh;  K- Seaona Kovatich, Madison Byrne;  1- Erin Dunphy, Joseph Valori, Catherine Ferry;  2-Gianna Zornek, Tess Reilly, Julia Wilson;  3-MaryGrace Berchick, Grace Gervino;  4-Samantha D’Alfonso, Taylor Goldstein, Lexi Merrigan;  5-Bridget Temple, Marissa DiNuble, Marikate O’Toole;  6-Grace Van Thuyne, John Luciano, Taylor Adair, Sam Caranci;  7-Amanda Johncola, Emily Chow, Bernadette Jackson, Nicole Jereb;  8-Emily Gumpper, Monica Sucharski.  Congratulations to each of you!

PEOPLE AND EVENTS  Ring In the New Year For Our Troops! Tori Matthews  in 6-18 will be collecting used cell phones for our troops. The phones will be recycled and the money from the phones will be used for calling cards so our troops can call home. Students can drop of their used cell phones at the office in school. All phones will be collected on January 11, 2008. No chargers or batteries needed.

CRITICAL THINKING 101  The “just right” number for the total of hooves, noses, and ears on all of Santa’s reindeer was 63.  Amanda Bowman (4-11) had her correct entry drawn and so Amanda will receive the last $10 Scrip/Gift Card of Choice certificate for 2007.  For the first contest of the new year, “When is the next year when the numbers of the year will read like a palindrome as 1991 or 2002 do?”

DECEMBER 12, 2007

“Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free!”

SAFE ENVIRONMENT LESSONS  As you know, on Monday every class had a safe environment/ teaching touching safety lesson. We hope that you did or will find an opportunity to talk about this topic with your children. They need to be reminded that they can be comfortable going to an adult at home or at school to bring up any uncomfortable situation past or future. Some times children feel we are empowering them for what they may face in the future but we need them to know that they should be holding no secrets about the past either. 

OH, WHAT A DAY!  Just ask H & S Chair Michele Wagner and her committee about our Children’s Christmas Bazaar Friday, December 14th.  We appreciate so many parents making this happen for the children this much closer to Christmas. As you’ll see on the enclosed flyer there are all sorts of fun things to do and buy at the bazaar. Our cherubs in Pre-K through 1st should have their shopping lists with them. If you don’t have the “official” form, please send in a list of people for whom gifts will be bought and a price range/cap.

            On this day our students are welcome to come in Christmas sweaters, sweatshirts, hair ribbons, pins, etc. You get the idea. We don’t need hair color or face paint though. It’s always fun to see everyone decked out for this fun day.  Call Mrs. Wagner at her number on the bazaar flyer if you did not yet sign up to volunteer your time but would like to do just that.

PICTURE MAKE-UP DAY  will take also  place this Friday. If your child was absent in October or if you needed a re-take, this is the day. If you need a form, your child may get one in the school office. Remember to send in the school sweater  for the picture if your child is wearing a Christmas sweater, etc.

TUITION NIGHT  Tuesday, January 8, 2008.  Tuition will be collected between 6:30 and 7:30 pm in Holy Family Hall.  You may also mail tuition to the parish office.  Payment should be received no later than January 8.  If you are redeeming scrip, a Scrip Credit Voucher

should be included as part of your payment. 

Scrip Redemption – You will be able to pick up a Credit Voucher on tuition night between 6:30 and 7:15 pm in the meeting room (usual Scrip location.)  Scrip will not be sold on this evening.  Requests for Redemption Voucher forms are available during regular Scrip Sales.  Please allow one week for pick up.

A REMINDER PARENT ALERT  that the movie The Golden Compass is definitely not suitable for our children and the books from which it comes are also not appropriate reading material. Both the movie and the books are anti-God and anti-Catholic Church. If your child brings home a book order flyer with those books there, please do not include them in your order or we will not be able to process it. We have let Scholastic know that we will not order those particular books. Sometimes, it’s tough standing strong against a society that chooses to disillusion our children. We are glad that SCS families can be strong and united in not letting this happen to our children.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS   Brendan McFadden’s U9 soccer team –the U9 Raptors in the Philadelphia Soccer Club just won the U9 UJSL Championship AND were the Philadelphia Dept. of Recreation’s U9 runners-up for the City Championship. Way to go, Brendan!

December 1st, our Swim Team had another win. This time around they beat St. Charles Borromeo. They have been working hard and their wins show it. This Friday night, however, they have a break from practice.                                                                                                        

Last weekend, 13 boys from HGPs forensics team competed at George Mason U against 65 teams from across the country-some with much larger teams- and took second place overall- with 11 of our 13 breaking into at least quarterfinal rounds.  St. Chris alumni on the team are-Ted Bordelon SCS 2005, Joe Geoghan SCS 2006, Joe Gallagher SCS 2007.  Other SCS alum that did not compete at GMU, but have been competing locally include Rory Gledhill and Donny Bradley- SCS 2006.  We are proud of these SCS alumni. Keep up the good work, gentlemen!

Look for the December Students of the Month in next week’s newsletter which will be the final one of 2007.  Time flies!

CRITICAL THINKING 101  “Incorrectly” was exactly the word that over 99% of college grads spell incorrectly. Ryan Hearn (6-19) had his correct entry drawn and so Ryan will receive our $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate. Good work, Ryan!  For next week, help Santa out. All combined how many hooves, ears, and noses do his reindeer have including Rudolph?

DECEMBER 5, 2007

“People look East. The time is near of the crowning of the year. Make your house fair as you are able. Trim the hearth and set the table. People, look East, and sing today: Love, the Guest, is on the way.”

THIS IS THE WEEK THAT WAS… is what we’ll all be saying next week! From the beginning of our Middle States visit Sunday to 1st Trimester report cards and noon dismissal today to Sweets Day tomorrow, no school Friday, and the Immaculate Conception Holy Day of Obligation Saturday, the week will be one for the books. It’s been a great week 50 MPH winds and all! We hope that you could start your Advent wreath tradition last Sunday and keep that first candle lit each night so far. The wreath is such a visual for both the children and you—a reminder of where our focus should be.

YOU’D BE SO PROUD OF YOUR CHERUBS—WE CERTAINLY ARE! Everyone was at their company best this week as our seven member Middle States team evaluated our school. The team already knew from the self-study what a very good school SCS is and then the students sealed the deal. From leading the prayer service to guiding tours to serving appetizers on Sunday to holding doors, sharing warm welcomes, and showing how SCS classrooms run Monday to Wednesday, our visitors were won over by our students. Be sure to ask your children about the visitors in and out of classrooms and all around our school. Not only did the team visit classrooms, they met with the pastor, administration, faculty, nurse, CORA staff, the parish financial manager, parents, and students. Did I forget anyone? Middle States is meant to be very detailed and comprehensive so that being an accredited school means something. Now on to the action plan! You’ll be hearing more.

PROTECTING GOD’S CHILDREN or TEACHING TOUCHING SAFETY By whatever name we call it, next Monday is the day that we will continue to provide ongoing education to our students around the issues of respect for one’s self and body as well as assisting our children in what constitutes the many aspects of a safe environment. As usual, we have this “safe environment” program twice each year –now and again in April. If for any reason, you do not want your child to participate, please send in written notification to the teacher making that known. Also, as usual, you can preview the program at www.virtus.org.

HOME AND SCHOOL HAS BEEN HARD AT WORK ON YOUR BEHALF On the 1st, they sponsored Lunch with Santa which had a grand crowd, during our Middle States Visit, they provided in-school hospitality, tomorrow they are sponsoring Sweets Day, and all this is taking place at the same time they are working on the Children’s Bazaar which takes place next Friday, the 14th. Of course, board members are on hand as usual each week to coordinate the good work of our Wednesday Senior Stuffers too.

FORTY-FOUR FAMILIES SAID NO BUT… we’d like clarification about your children being photographed and/or televised. If you mean under NO CIRCUMSTANCES, would you send us a note? We are finding that parents did not mean their children couldn’t have their pictures taken in school to celebrate an activity or class or that you did not mean a group shot of a class or group by a TV station, for example. We hate to tell a child that he or she is not able to be included if we are misinterpreting your wishes.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS We are very proud of Alexis O’Gorman (5-15) for living our mission of carrying Christ to others by her efforts for children in need. Alexis has already collected more than $200 for Keeping Kids Warm, an organization that can buy toddler coats for $6 and youth coats for $7.50 from Carter’s and Osh Kosh. These coats are then given to families who are so poor that they can’t even make the basic purchase of winter coats for their children.

When the Under-Nine Lighthouse Soccer Team took 2nd Place in the championship game of their league Thanksgiving weekend, it was most likely because of all the skilled SCS players on the team including Joey Comas, Ryan Comas, Pat DeTreux, Tom Ferry, Joe Meehan, Sean Palmer, Brendan Ruskowski, and Zach Soussa. These guys were undefeated in all four games leading to the championship and then missed that with a 1-0 score playing the Philly Soccer Club. It must have been quite a game and the team deserves to be very proud.

CRITICAL THINKING 101 There was no tricking any of you with last week’s puzzle. You all knew that there were 48 stamps. For having his correct entry drawn, Sean Finnegan (4-12) will be receiving our $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate. For next week, “What 11 letter word is pronounced incorrectly by more than 99% of college graduates?”
 

NOVEMBER 14, 2007

“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen”

BLUE AND GOLD DAY  at SCS yesterday was just that. Everywhere you turned you met gold and blue, traditional colors of Philadelphia’s finest and worn especially in honor and memory of Officer Chuck Cassidy. Generous as always, SCS raised $1010 to send to the official fund for the Cassidy family.  We were surprised when Channel 10, alerted to our day, called and asked if they could send a camera man to capture the day and you can well imagine the excitement that generated. The camera man was just able to visit a few rooms but told us to be sure to keep them aware of what we are doing here as he could tell what a great school it was and that’s the kind of news people need these days.  Amen to that!

NEXT WEEK IS SHORT BUT LONG ON ACTIVITIES  Before we leave at noon next Wednesday, our students will have wrapped up a canned goods drive benefiting the Somerton Food Bank, seen Seussical the Musical at Ryan or met Animals with Bad Reputations at the Academy of Natural Science assemblies here, some students will have gone to reconciliation, others prepared Tha