Cougar Chronicle
January 29,2016
Issue 20
Send your article through e-mail to Mindy Placke
Deadline: Wednesday at noon
placke_m@stcatharinesiena.org
School Website: www.stcathos.org • PTA Website: www.stcatharinepta.org • Athletics Website: www.stc-athletics.org
DOORS OF HOPE
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Lunch Menu Feb. 1-5
From the Desk of Mrs. Bernier
Monday - Popcorn chicken, mashed
potatoes with gravy, corn, peaches, milk
Tuesday - Cheese burgers, pickles, spicy
potato wedges, broccoli, mixed fruit, milk
Wednesday - Walking taco, shredded cheese, shredded
lettuce, applesauce cups, milk
Thursday - Meatball subs with shredded mozzarella
cheese, green beans pineapple, milk
Friday - Pepperoni pizza, mixed salad with baby carrots,
garlic bread, jell-o squares, milk
*USDA is an equal opportunity provider and educator.
Report cards for the second quarter were
given to students today. Please be sure and
review this report with your child over the
coming weekend. In addition, please sign the report and
return it to your child’s teacher on Monday morning.
Thank you.
•Holy Doors of Hope
Taking our inspiration from the holy doors of
churches that have been opened ceremoniously over the
past couple of months to begin the Jubilee Year of Mercy,
we have created Doors of Hope on each of our classroom
doors for Catholic Schools Week this year. The virtue of
this school year has been Hope, so the themes of our
doors are focused on this theological virtue. Please enjoy
the pictures of all of our classroom doors on the front
cover of the Cougar today.
•If you would like to volunteer to work in the cafeteria,
please call Mrs. Suzy Vossler @ 481-7683 and press 4.
Thank you.
Important Dates
Feb.
Feb.
Feb.
Feb.
Feb.
Feb.
Feb.
Jan. 29 -31 Athletic Association Basketball
Tournament
Jan. 29 Second Quarter Report Cards go
home
6 PTA Auction
10 Ash Wednesday Lent begins
11 Parent Conferences 2:30 - 8:30 p.m.
12 NO SCHOOL for students
15 President’s Day NO SCHOOL
19 Spirit wear day
26 3rd Quarter Midterms go home
•Special Edition of Cougar Chronicle and
Catholic Schools Week
I hope that you enjoyed reading the many student
writing selections in the Special Edition of our Cougar
Chronicle for Catholic Schools Week last week. I know
that I enjoyed them tremendously. What a talented group
of student writers we have here at St. C!
As always, our celebration of Catholic Schools
Week has been filled with activities and a lot of fun. Our
Mass and Pancake Breakfast Kick-Off last Friday was well
attended and festive. We began this week with a Prayer
Service, Student and Staff Award Ceremony and a
meeting of our K-8 Families on Monday. At the Prayer
Service, students and staff received blessings and all of
us recommitted ourselves to the higher calling of Catholic
Education. Tuesday was 8th Grade Teacher Day and an
assembly from Steve Mills. His presentation focused on
the virtue of Perseverance. Wednesday was Cougar
Cookies for students and lunch for staff followed by 8th
Grade vs. Staff Volleyball Game in the afternoon.
Thursday was our Day of Service. K-2 visited West Park,
3-5 visited Bayley Place and 6-8 went to Matthew 25. We
will end the week today with the 6-8 Science Fair in the
morning and All School Bingo in the afternoon.
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•Registration for 2016-2017
•THANK
Our registration packets for next school year will
be sent home during February. We are waiting for forms
from Ohio Ed Choice Scholarship Program
to be posted at the state level so that we can include all
pertinent forms in our packets.
YOU, Parent Volunteers
As always, I am overwhelmed by the response from
our parents when it comes to volunteering for special
school events. Many, Many Thanks to the 11 parents who
have volunteered for COSI on February 17 and the 6
families who have volunteered to host NET Ministers for
our Confirmation Retreat on February 26.
May God bless you for your generosity and hospitality.
All of you fabulous volunteers will be receiving
further details regarding these two events early next
week.
•Power of the Pen
Congratulations to Erin Driehaus, grade 8, for
placing 11th Place out of 120 students at the Power of the
Pen Competition last Saturday. Erin also won a medal for
Best of Round. This means that her essay was the best of
all the essays submitted for that round of competition.
Erin also received these same two awards last year as a
seventh grader in the Power of the Pen Competition. Well
done, Erin. And congratulations too to Erin’s parents, Joe
and Megan Driehaus. May the Lord bless and keep you,
Mary Ann Bernier
Principal
Recruiting Students for 2016-2017
How Every St C. Family Can Help
Our two Power of the Pen team members included:
Grade 8 Team
Grade 7 Team
Erin Driehaus
Emma Mastruserio
Peggy Spetz
Emily Horn
Jordan Sharp
Lainey Ryan
Vidya Sharma
Shania Stith
Lucia Villamagna
Grace Spieser
Maddie Murphy
Anna Hammann
Eva Wright
New Yard Signs
We are asking all of our school families to display a
Saint Catharine yard sign in their front yards during the
months of February and March this year. We have new
signs for every family this year and you should have picked
one up at the Pancake Breakfast last week. If you did not
receive one, please stop by the school office to pick
one up.
Many thanks to Dawn Melchers for designing our
new yard signs. They look really great and I think they will
draw a lot of positive attention on display in your yards.
•Power of the Pen Champion
Mrs. Carol Seitz, who teachers sixth and eighth
grade Language Arts at Saint Catharine, is the champion
of our Power of the Pen Team. She has worked with
student writers to prepare them for this competition for
many years. Her teams have done well in this competition
for many years. I want to commend Mrs. Seitz to the
hours of time she gives for weekly practice sessions with
students as well as her time on Saturdays for
competitions. Mrs. Seitz was assisted this year by our
sixth grade teacher, Ms. Maria Schmitz. Ms. Schmitz
attended the competition and served as a judge.
Business Cards
We are also asking each school family to use a new
business card that we created this year for neighborhood
recruiting efforts. These cards were designed by Mindy
Placke, our Technology Coordinator and Cougar Publisher.
Thanks, Mindy for your outstanding work.
Please give these cards out to a neighbor or friend
in the Westwood area as a personal invitation to come
learn more about Saint Catharine School. If you need
additional cards, please pick them up in the school
office.
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Kindergarten Recruitment
We have a plan in place to recruit at all of the area
preschools this year.
We will be visiting and leaving fliers for our kindergarten
at preschools on this side of town. We will also be
distributing fliers at Westwood Town Hall events and at
the Westwood Public Library.
If you know a child who will be five years old by
the end of September, 2016, please tell their parents
about our school program.
Track & Field Signups open
JAN 15 until our firm
deadline of midnight, February 22, 2015.
DON’T MISS OUT!
St. Catharine Track & Field Running Cougars
We are excited to offer track and field for students
in grades K-8 who love to run, jump and have fun. The goal
of this program is to keep our kids healthy and active in
the younger grades while fostering healthy competition in
the higher grades.
Practices are Mon. & Wed. at Elder’s PAC Facility on
Quebec Ave from 6:15 to 7:15 for K-4 grade athletes and
until 7:30 for 5-8 grade athletes. There are 6 Meets
which begin early April and run through mid May. Track is
also a great cross-training activity for off-season
athletes!
2015 Highlights
•
In 2015 we supported nearly 80 runners, jumpers
and throwers from 12 west side (neighboring)
schools.
•
Our 7th Annual ‘Track Gives Back’ program raised
over 600 food and personal care items which were
donated to WestFed Food Pantry and St Catharine
Food Pantry. This worthy effort served over 200
local families!
Kindergarten Tours – Pass the Word!
We have two tours scheduled for prospective
parents on Tuesday, February 23 at 1:00 PM and
Wednesday, March 2 at 9:30 AM.
But if a family cannot attend one of these tours,
please be aware that we are always willing to tour a family
through the school. A prospective family is welcome to
call the school office anytime to set up a date and time
for a personalized school tour.
Cougar Concession Stand
St. Catharine Boys Basketball Tournament
We need at least 2 helpers (1 adult and 1 child) or 1 adult/
high school student. High school students are welcome to
help and earn service hours.
Please contact Laura Kamphaus at 513-481-5361 or sign up
online at
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/904084aaaae2f4stcatharine1
The schedule has been updated with all the tournament
games listed.
LOOKING FOR HELPERS FOR THE FOLLOWING
GAMES OF THE TOURNAMENT:
JAN. 30
4:30pm-8:00pm
JAN. 30
8:00pm-10:30pm
JAN. 31
12:30pm-3:00pm
JAN. 31
3:00pm-6:00pm
Shift can be split up if need to. Please let Laura
Kamphaus the times you can help.
Online Sign-up and Fee payment at
www.stc-athletics.org/track
Fees are $45 for the 2016 season. (We will retain last
years shirt design so Team T-shirts are only necessary for
new signups, or you may purchase new/additional shirts at
the cost of $7 each by contacting a coordinator.)
We look forward to another great track season in 2016! If
you have any questions, please contact: TRACK COORDINATORS: Andy Melchers
Christina Long
amelchers@fuse.net
christinamlong3@gmail.com
513-377-8947
513-652-6187
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NEED YOUR HELP -EASY FUNDRAISER $$$
Coming to the Auction
We have the opportunity to participate in research with
Procter & Gamble. This research includes online surveys,
product testing etc. Saint Catharine receives 100% of the
fundraisers - all you have to do is participate. THIS PARTICULAR research is a SURVEY - BUT it is FOR
FEMALES ONLY OVER 18 years of age. If you are a
female, 18 or older, please take 15 minutes to paste this
link into your browser and complete the survey. You may
only take the survey once. Saint Catharine gets $10 for
every survey completed up to a maximum of 100. Let's get
to 100! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/STCFUNDS
We are hoping to close the survey or reach 100 by
1/30/16, so don't delay! Lisa Roedig
513-780-6354
If you plan to attend the PTA Auction on Saturday,
February 6, please e-mail megandriehaus@aol.com with
your ticket order so we can get an accurate head count.
You can then send a check to Megan or you can pay at the
door. You can also buy raffle tickets in advance if you
would like to. Feel free to reach out to the auction
committee at stcatharinepta@gmail.org with any questions.
Concerts For Catholic Schools - Blue Highway
Saturday Jan. 30 at St. X
The Greater Cincinnati Performing Arts Society will
present the multi-Grammy nominated Bluegrass group Blue
Highway to the St. Xavier Performance Center Saturday
Jan. 30 at 7:30 PM. Blue Highway has earned 25 collective
IBMA Awards, 6 SPBGMA Awards, one Dove Award, and
two Grammy nominations as a band, plus three prestigious
Grammy Awards among its members. Tickets for the show are $35 in advance $40 day
of show. For tickets and information, go to
www.gcparts.org or call 513-570-0652. When you purchase
a ticket, you can designate $5 to go to the Catholic
elementary school tuition assistance program of you
choice. The Education Scholarship and Assistance Program
(ESAP) will match all donations so it turn into a $10 per
ticket donation. This is a great way to have an evening of
entertainment and support Catholic education at the same
time!
Auction News
PTA Auction Desserts! We are looking for volunteers to provide classy, elegant,
delicious desserts for the PTA Auction on Saturday,
February 6. Our plan for the Winter Masquerade dessert
table is to provide an assortment of bite-sized and mini
desserts. Any dessert donation can be homemade or store
bought! Just a few suggestions: cheesecake squares,
chocolate covered strawberries, Busken butter cookies,
chocolates of any kind, mini éclairs, brownie bites, peti
fours, baklava or whatever your dessert specialty may be! Desserts can be dropped off in the cafeteria on Friday,
February 5, or you are welcome to bring a dessert the
evening of the auction and drop it off in the cafeteria. Please contact Lynn Rullman at Lukenrullman.la@pg.com. Thank you to those who have already volunteered to bring
dessert!
It’s Not to Late to Donate!
It’s not to late to donate items to the Annual PTA Auction.
Items can be dropped off during school hours in the
parish meeting room or pick-up can be arranged by
contacting Kristina Arthur 513-858-5881. Your support is
greatly appreciated.
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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!
Visit SignUpGenius.com
to volunteer for the Auction
ANY AND ALL HELP
IS greatly appreciated
HERE’S HOW
WORKS....
To search for our Sign up, go to www.signupgenius.com
1. Click on “Find a Sign Up” at the top of the screen.
2.
In the “Search by Email” section, enter the PTA’s email address:
stcatharinepta@gmail.com
3.
Click on the Winter Masquerade Logo
AUCTION WEBSITE IS NOW LIVE!!
If you would like to:
VISIT
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www.charityauctionorganizer.com/auction/stcatharinepta
Be sure to check back often, we are always adding new items!!
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