Dear Parents:
This past Saturday, the 2nd grade class was part of a beautiful ceremony marking their First Holy Communion. A big thank you to their teacher, Claudia Heikel for preparing such a prayerful and respectful ceremony. All 2nd grade students will get to wear their beautiful first communion outfits again when we celebrate the May crowning at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, May 5th.
When children receive confirmation, the third sacrament of initiation, they are showing that they areresponsible, prepared individuals who are ready to become full-fledged members of the Catholic faith. They renew the vows their sponsors made for them when they were baptized. The bishop anoints the confirmandi with chrism accompanied by the words "Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit". This reaffirms the graces of the Holy Spirit conferred on the child at baptism. We offer our congratulations to the following candidates who will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation Friday evening at 5:00pm: Natasha Alvarado, Lorenzo Bello, Mark Bickle, Nicole Binza, Nathan Candler, Carlos Colom, Andre Corrales, Peter Cuddihy, Collin Cuff, Anthony D’Aura, Jerrimay De Leon, Melina Diaz, Ricardo Duarte, Matthew Embry, Joshua Esteron, Christian Gabon, Riley Mihelich, Chloe Novillos, Gian Karla Ocampo, Janelle Paredes, Tianna Ramos, Nicole Rubino, Brandon Santos, Kaiulani Schelstrate, Chloe Sullivan, Krystelle Chloe Sunga, Sean Taylor, Andrew Triunfo, Ricardo Vila. Giselle Bacigalupi, Gina Iampietro, Agnes Li, Evan Prasadi, and Austin Segarra will be receiving a special blessing.
Congratulations also to students from the RCIC program and the Brazillian community of STM church will be joining our school candidates for a total of 47 Confirmation candidates.
Thank you to all who attended the parent mandatory meeting last Thursday night. Congratulations to the Custodio Family, the winners of the brick raffle. It was a very productive evening and we have received a lot of positive feedback about the four topics we covered. The Powerpoint presentations are available on our website if you wish to review them once more.
STEM: Beginning in the fall, we will be offering elective courses to our middle school students (Grades 6-8). These elective classes will enhance STM's academic program by focusing on the STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). To learn more about STEM at STM, click here.
At this time, we are asking all parents (PK-8) to please take a few minutes to complete a STEM electives survey. Your feedback is valuable to us and will help our middle school teachers narrow down the courses that will be offered at STM. Please click here to complete the short survey. Students in 5th through 7th grade will also have the opportunity to take a survey to show their interest.
YOLO, A 6th grade opera: This coming Monday, April 29th, at 1:15pm in Carroll Hall, 6th grade are ready to present the opera they have written – YOLO. Please consider joining us for this wonderful musical extravaganza on which the students have worked so hard.
Parent Agreement and Participation Requirements: Please remember that the deadline for returning the “lavender” Parent Agreement-Parent Participation forms is this Friday, April 26th. By returning that form, we will know how you plan to pay your tuition and that you acknowledge your Parent Participation Requirements for the coming year. As a reminder, tuition payments may be mailed or given to your child to deliver to the school office via their Wednesday Envelope. Also, please consider mailing all tuition payments during the summer months as our office hours vary and we can’t guarantee that the office will be open during regular business hours.
Hoop-a-thon: Thank you for your support at the hoop-a-thon for the 4th through 8th graders last week. This Friday, April 26th the kindergarten through third graders will have their turn. We will begin the hoop-a-thon at 12:45pm sharp. We’d love to see you there to cheer on your children!
From the Parents’ Club: Family Bingo ‘Cinco de Mayo’ Night is set for Saturday, May 4th. Reservation forms were sent home in your envelope last week. We hope to see you there. The Father-Daughter Dance is scheduled for Saturday, May 11th. This is always a well-attended event for dad’s and their daughters. Reservations are still being accepted. Check out the flyer you are receiving today.
Dance Festival: Save the date! This year, our Dance Festival will be held on Thursday night, May 23rd. This is the most popular event of the year and is always very well attended. All students, preschool through 8th grade, will have a part in this performance.
Asian Week Raffle: The Asian Heritage Street Celebration School Raffle Program is a community based project which provides a no-risk fundraiser opportunity for schools, enhances our children’s learning and extracurricular activities, and familiarizes students at an early age with the concepts of giving and raising funds for community purposes. Raffle tickets are only $3 each with $2 from every ticket being donated directly back to STM. Last year we made $256 from this raffle! Let’s double, or triple that this year! Fill in the raffle tickets you are receiving today and send in your money and the tickets to the STM school office in an envelope marked Asian Week Raffle by Wednesday, May 8th. Please let us know if you would like more tickets and they will be sent home with your oldest child. Good Luck!
PM Extended Care: Please note that beginning Monday, May 20th, parents who use the after schoolExtended Care program will need to either pre-pay or pay-by-the-day. Prepayments may be made in the office or when you pick up your child from extended care. The cost is $4.00 per hour or fraction-thereof. Any unused balance from a pre-payment will be applied to next years’ billing.
And finally, just a small word of caution: one of our maintenance personnel recently spotted a small snake in the bushes by the front of the school. For the safety of your children, we ask that they do not play or linger by these areas. In order to give our flowers and plants an opportunity to grow and thrive, children are not permitted to play in the planted area at any time. We are also aware that we have some raccoons who are calling the wooded areas around STM home. We remind you that these are wild animals and children should let an adult know immediately if they see one.
Sincerely,
Marie Fitzpatrick
Principal
