V O L U M E 1, I S S U E 1 S E P T E M B E R

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1 Dates To Remember First Day: Sept.5 Opening Liturgy: Sept 10am Meet Your TA BBQ: Sept 5:30pm Outdoor Movie Night: 7pm Sept. 21 Lilian Osborne Sr. Volleyball Tournament: Sept. 22 ELAA Post Secondary Event 1:00-3:00pm Sept. 26 PD DAY NO SCHOOL: Sept. 29 Awards Night Oct. 4, 7pm I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : SAC Welcome 2 Parking 2 V O L U M E 1, I S S U E 1 We are Called to Live a Life Bigger Than Ourselves! I hope summer gave yourselves time to spend as a family enjoying the blessings of slow days and long nights. It is such a time of recharge and reconnection in our house. We spent time in awe of God s incredible creation. As I return to work, I am excited about the return to routine and the excitement of back to school. This year, we will be using the book The Artisan Soul by Erwin Raphael McManus as our guide. It is a wonderful read where we are asked essential questions like How are you crafting your life into a Work of Art? and What is God creating in you?. We will examine these and more themes throughout the year at staff meetings as well as during our Teacher Advisor sessions with our students. When we are able to look beyond ourselves at the life we are called to live, we embrace the call to service, the humility of living in community and the need to live a life of love. When parents come to visit and ask me how they can support their children, my answer is simple...love and listen. Working with high school students it becomes so clear that each student is working through a large transition. As they gain independence, let us not forget that as part of their village, we need to listen to their fears and challenges and celebrate their accomplishments. I know for so many of you, your children are your best master- Welcome to New Staff Members! S E P T E M B E R piece...they are the work of art that you are most proud of. I thank you for your continued support and entrusting these masterpiece to our community. Please know this is not a responsibility that we as a staff take lightly. I pray that God bless all of you this school year with abundant joy and great love. With a grateful heart, Heather Kaup Principal Lot D News 2 Chaplain Chatter 3 We are blessed to welcome many new staff to support student learning this year. They come to us with a great repertoire of experience and talents. Bohdan Szewczak: Athletic Director, Social Studies Anastacia Tonsi: Science/Math I have every confidence that they will serve our students with their abundant gifts. FSLW Welcome 4 ELAA 3 Marielle Poulin: Chemistry Maryanne MacDonald: ELL/Social Studies Welcome to MMM! AMA 4

2 P A G E 2 Welcome from SAC! We are so excited to host all our families with for our TA Welcome Back Students and Families of MMM! I hope your summers have been tremendous and provided a break and relaxation from the usual routines. School is upon us now and with that the MMM School Advisory Council will start up for another term. The MMM School Advisory Council (SAC) is a collaboration of students, parents and school staff aimed at enhancing the High School experience for all MMM stakeholders and maximizing student achievement. Our activities include: council meetings, MMM fundraising, information sessions and connecting with our community. Please consider participating in the MMM SAC by: attending meetings, bringing forward ideas, fundraising, or volunteering for one of the open council positions of Casino Chair or Vice-Chair. Your voice is important! The first MMM SAC of the 2017/2018 school year is scheduled for: MMM School Advisory Council Meeting October 2, 2017, 7:00-8:30 pm MMM Staff Room We hope to see you there! Best wishes for a great school year ahead, Monica Sawchyn, BBQ. This is your chance to meet the teachers!! September 14, 7pm PARKING! PARKING! There will be a new free program in LotD at the Terwillegar Rec Centre every Friday from 3:30-6pm. There will be food, games, sports and music. Come and Check it Our student population has grown to the point that we need to assign parking spots. There are new signs to be mindful of when you come into our parking lot. The back lot is strictly reserved for our school staff. Should you park in those spots, you will be ticketed and towed. Should you wish to apply for parking, please do so before September 8th. Applications are in the office. Student spots will be drawn by lottery and will be awarded by on a yearly basis. Should you have any questions, please feel free to call the office. Please be sure to use a slow speed when you are in and around our school. With so many students crossing to the Rec Centre, we want to make sure that everyone stays safe. Students who don t secure a parking pass may park on the city street of the West Lot of Terwillegar Rec Centre

3 V O L U M E 1, I S S U E 1 P A G E 3 Chaplain Chatter I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the new Chaplain at MMM for the school year. Every September brings new beginnings and I am excited to begin a journey of "Faith, Hope, and Love" with our students, staff, and community at MMM. I feel very blessed to be working with our students and local St. Thomas Moore Parish. I would like to invite all parents and community members to our Opening Celebration on September 7 at 10:00am in our gymnasium. All are welcome to come and share in some opening fellowship and learn about exciting things happening at MMM. Please feel free to drop by our school chapel with any questions or conversations. The door is always open. Looking forward to the upcoming school year. Mr. Kurt Otto Meet Your FSLW! My name is -China, and I will be the Family School Liaison Worker (FSLW) at Mother Margaret Mary school this year. Navigating the high school environment can be tricky for students as well as parents. An FSLW s job is to foster connections between the student, family, school and community, but what does that really mean for you? As an FSLW I provide support to students and families who may be experiencing challenges. I am here to listen as well as provide referrals to other resources either within the school system or the broader community. When students are facing difficulties and are not comfortable speaking to their parents or teachers I can help them to advocate their points. I also offer support and help problem solving when students are experiencing difficulties in many areas of their lives (school, family and peer relationships just to name a few). I can also help parents by connecting families with community programs or referrals. I bring with me a wealth of resources and once these resources have been accessed I often work as liaison between the families and the school or service provider and can even offer support at meetings and appointments. I am at the school Monday afternoons and Wednesday mornings and I am always happy to offer help and support.

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6 V O L U M E 1, I S S U E 1 6 Happy New School Year Welcome to the School Year. In the Eastern Catholic Churches (Byzantine Rite) the liturgical year has a formally designated beginning on September 1st, rather than the first Sunday of Advent (Roman Rite). What a blessing it is that we are starting a New School Year at the same time as the Eastern Christians are starting a New Church Year. We read in St. Paul's letter to the Colossians, Make the best possible use of your time (Colossians 4:5). The key word in this statement by St. Paul is the word "time." New Testament writers use two Greek words for time: chronos and kairos. Chronos time is chronological time, calendar time, time that moves along moment by moment, day by day, year by year. But kairos time is another kind of time, a special kind of time; time which is crucial; time which determines history. Jesus lived a life of kairos time. He never ignored a single moment or opportunity for doing good, for serving, for healing. He used time to the fullest: teaching, comforting, loving, preaching. Even when He was alone, He spent His time in prayer, communicating with God as to how best use the time that was left in His life. The Lord gave us chronos time, calendar time, that we may turn it into kairos time, salvation time, time filled with opportunities for us to respond to God's gracious invitation to the Kingdom; time for bearing in our lives the fruit of faith, hope and love. The principal meaning of the word kairos in the New Testament is: the right time, the ripe time, the proper time, the opportune time for salvation. It is in this sense that St. Paul uses the word kairos in the second letter to the Corinthians: "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (II Corinthians 6:2). Because the Church does not want us to lose the kingdom, it takes chronos, calendar time, and turns it into kairos, salvation time. It does this through the liturgical year which we also call the church year or the church calendar. Every day in the liturgical calendar is dedicated to the memory of some event or saint in the history of salvation. The Church has taken the Bible and placed it, planted it into the chronos or calendar time in order to turn the calendar into the kairos of our salvation. So let us live out our salvation by taking the words of the theme for this school year Rooted in Jesus... Hearts to Love, Hands to Serve and make them into actions filled with opportunities to respond to God's gracious invitation to serve and to love Him, our students, and one another. Have a Blessed School Year! Fr. Julian Bilyj

7 August-September 2017 Welcome to the School Year! Our theme for this year is Rooted in Jesus Hearts to Love and Hands to Serve. This beautiful motif illuminates the mission of Catholic education, to lead our students to come to know that they are members of the Body of Christ who are called to serve one another. St. Teresa of Ávila, the great mystic and Doctor of the Church, provides us with a beautiful vision of our Christian calling to serve the world: Christ has no body but yours, no hands, no feet on Earth but yours. It is empowering for our students to know that they are Jesus hands, feet, and heart in the world today. On August 31, our staff gathered as a community to renew their commitment to Catholic education and to celebrate the Eucharist together. This special way of beginning each school year declares to all that Christ is the reason for our being, and that he is our model and teacher as we help our children to reach their God-given potential. As we fulfill our mission to provide a Catholic education that inspires students to learn and that prepares them to live fully and to serve God in one another, we have established our District Plan for Continuous Growth ( ) to guide our work. This year, we begin with a District goal that is grounded in our special foundations and identity as a Catholic jurisdiction, followed by five goals that focus on teaching, learning, and student experiences. We have also included the measures and targets that we will use to assess our work to add clarity and focus. I invite you to visit our website to learn more about our goals and the key strategies that we will be implementing to achieve them at -for-continuous-growth.aspx. District Goal Live and enhance the distinctiveness of Catholic education Goal One ECSD students are successful Goal Two The achievement gap between First Nations, Métis, and Inuit students and all other students is eliminated Goal Three ECSD is an inclusive school district Goal Four ECSD has excellent teachers, school and school district leaders Goal Five ECSD is well governed and managed Edmonton Catholic Schools will see unprecedented expansion this year. We are delighted to be opening 5 new schools this fall and to be re-opening St. Margaret School to meet the increasing demand for Catholic education in the City of Edmonton. We welcome Bishop David Motiuk, Christ the King, Corpus Christi, Father Michael Mireau, and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Elementary/Junior High Schools to our District. It is a testament to the amazing Catholic educational experiences that we are providing to families to see flourishing enrolments in our new schools as they open their doors to serve their communities! Pope Francis offered uplifting words of encouragement to those gathered at his first World Youth Day, and they resonate deeply with our theme. If you follow these three ideas (go, do not be afraid, and serve), you will experience that the one who evangelizes is evangelized, the one who transmits the joy of faith receives joy (July 28, 2013). This is what we aspire to for our students, that they go fearlessly into the world to serve God and each other, building a better future for all. I wish everyone an incredible year of learning and growth, deeply rooted in the love of Christ! Sincerely, Joan Carr Superintendent