June Letter from the Principal

Dear Parents,

It is with joy and pride that we conclude our school year. We have had much to celebrate with the achievements of our students and teachers, our family-centered school activities, and our rich faith traditions.

SJA-Faith: The last day of our 8th grade class in our school building ended in a prayer service dedicated to Mary. The class led us in a “Living Rosary”. The 8th graders were assisted by their 1st grade buddies. Thanks to Mrs. Mohler, Mrs. Autery, and Mrs. Crowe for their coordination of this service. The children’s prayers bless their families, the parish, and the greater community. The 8th grade graduation was celebrated with a Mass on May 25th followed by awards, dinner, and dancing. Our school year concluded with a Mass to celebrate our Patroness on her feast day followed by awards.

SJA-Leadership: The Kindergarten class has been an example to us of faith in action this year with their random acts of kindness. Their acts included toys for Cardinal Glennon, a canned goods collection for SVDP, picking up trash to help the environment, and baskets of cookies along with a challenge to act with kindness to neighboring schools. (Check the blog on the parish website for photos.) Thanks to Mrs. Eschmann for her response to the students’ interests and coordination of their acts of kindness.

The SJA Student Council raised $700 for the Go Challenge for cancer research. They also added to the 4th grade Mission Carnival proceeds to be able to send Sister Ann Coleman’s school in Ghana $200. The Student Council leads our school in spirit and service. Congratulations to the new officers for the 2014-15 school year: Daniel Karr, Olivia Miller, Zayda Mathews, and Andrew Shearer. We look forward to their leadership in the coming school year.

SJA-Learning: Congratulation to our 8thgraders as 100% of them have been accepted into their 1st choice high schools. Allison Bettlach, Elizabeth Campbell and Ben Mueller have been accepted with scholarships into the Bishop DuBourg Honors Academy. Joshua Zitko has been accepted into the CBC Honors Program with a De LaSalle scholarship. We are proud of all our graduates!

STEM activities continued throughout the 4th quarter. (Again, check the blog for pictures.) Thanks to Mr. Ed Ortleb, aka Mr. Science, for his visit to our 5th grade class with a lesson on electricity.

On May 28th, the school community was entertained with a concert by the SJA Band. Thanks to Mrs. Sharon Buckman for her years of instruction of our band students through Palmer Music. We wish her well in her retirement.

SJA-Families: The Volunteer Appreciation PTO Meeting was held on May 14th. Mrs. Michelle Siroko, our school counselor, presented information on the Brainwise Program at the meeting to keep parents informed of this widely used Catholic Family Services program that promotes responsibility and thoughtfulness in students. School board member, Michael Menne, presented information on accessing the Script program on-line. Thanks to Michael for all his hard work in making the Script program more accessible for everyone. We are grateful to Mrs. Christy Schiller for her years of service as our PTO president and to all our volunteers for all they do for the school. Mrs. Becky French has stepped up to be our new PTO president. Thank you, Mrs. French! Field Day was held on May 16th with lots of help from parents and grandparents. Mrs. Beard and Mrs. McCormack developed the games with an Olympic theme. It was a fun day for all. The Kindergarten Celebration was held on May 22nd. A crowd of family and friends enjoyed the Kindergartners’ entertaining performance of the National Anthem and School is Cool among other songs. Thanks to Mrs. Eschmann for her coordination of this event for our families!

Other good news is that through the SJA Athletic Association’s generosity and a substantial stipend from our hosting the summer STEM camp, the Primary floor in the school building will be air-conditioned. We are excited and grateful for this update to our building! We commend our primary teachers who took advantage of the STEM training this year and Mrs. Mason who will participate in the STEM summer camp activities.

We are grateful to Senora Jocelyn Pollard for her service to our school this past year and ask blessings for her new endeavors. We welcome to our faculty, Mrs. Jenna Strutmann Reker, our new PreK teacher for the 4-year-old program. Mrs. Reker is an experienced teacher who comes highly recommended from the IHM school community. Moreover, we are excited to welcome the Learning Center students and teachers to our school community as well as all new families that have registered.

Peace and blessings,

Deborah DaLay

“Come, follow me” Matt.4:19 P.S. 5k For SJA- I am training. Are you?