St. Mary s Catholic School

St. Mary s Catholic School 1019 South 7 th Street, Temple, Texas 76504 254-778-8141 St Mary s, Moving Forward and Renewing Our Commitment to Quality Catholic Education Falcon s Pride A weekly newsletter of the current events at St. Mary s Catholic School Dear Parents and Guardians, November 24, 2015 Issue 53 www.stmarys-temple.org Thank you for joining us for our Thanksgiving feast last Thursday. What a wonderful day. A huge thanks goes out to so many who made this day possible. Thank you to our teachers and students for your beautiful decorations. Thank you to our parents and students who helped set up, serve and clean up. Thank you to our cooks, Mr. Broadwater, Mrs. Broadwater and Veronica Olson. And thank you to our families who took the time out of their busy day to come and enjoy good food and great company. It was a day to give thanks for all we have at St. Mary s Catholic School. If you were able to join us for our Annual Casino Night on Saturday you surely had a fantastic time. The artwork created by Mrs. Shadburn, parents and students was gallery class. Thank you to St. Mary s Catholic School Trust fund for your tireless work on this event. Thank you to Mrs. Vargas and her crew for the delicious food. And last but certainly not least, thank you to all who attended and helped raise money for the Trust Fund. The funds raised at our Casino Night went to the purchase of the new chiller we bought in August. Only a few people have signed up for our Fall Clean-Up Day. Have you? Mrs. Nauman, mother of Joshua in grade one has organized our Fall clean-up day. As you know, St. Mary's is surrounded by beautiful trees but those trees sure do make a mess. Let's help keep our campus looking great by picking up those leaves and other debris from around the school. Join us on December 12th starting at 9:00 a.m. Please sign up below and bring your favorite rake and gloves! If you aren't able to make it to the clean up, please consider lending us your rake or donating some heavy trash bags (see Sign Up Genius for details of what is needed). Thanks so much and we hope to see you all there! Beautification Committee and SMCS Student Council http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0449a8ae2ba7f49-signup

As I explained in last week s newsletter, although the new school fencing is not quite finished, we will now be closing gates in all areas during the day. In consultation with the Diocese and the Fire Marshall we will lock all gates during the day except the front gate. This will take place after the 8:00 a.m. bell rings. All gates will be locked at night. Please remember that if you arrive after 8:00 a.m. you must walk your child into school and sign the tardy slip. If a child arrives after 8:00 without a parent to sign him/her in the child will remain in the office until the parent returns to sign the child in. Remember our first priority is the safety of your child. Our Christmas Pageant will be here so soon. Please note the costumes for your child s grade at the end of this newsletter. Mr. Bridges asks that on the day of the performance, all students will meet at the Temple College Mary Alice Marshall Performing Arts Center at 6:00 pm. Students should come fully dressed in costume. There will not be any supervision by the teachers before 6:00 pm. We will meet in the hallways outside of the auditorium and line up by grade. The performance will begin at 6:30 pm. On behalf of St. Mary s Faculty and Staff I would like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. I am very thankful for y all. I thank God each day for guiding me to St. Mary s and Texas God Bless, Mrs. Wyles Please do your online shopping at smile.amazon.com and choose St. Mary's Catholic School as your charity. Thank you :) NEWS AND INFORMATION PSIA Information Music Memory Practice begins Monday, December 7 th from 4:30-5:15. The Giving Tree If you are not familiar with this project, it is a way for us to give to those less fortunate at Christmas time. We have a Christmas tree outside the office and on this tree are paper ornaments. Each ornament has written upon it the details of the Christmas wishes of a person in our community who is less fortunate. If you would like to help one of these people, simply take an ornament, record with Mrs. Vargas or myself which ornament you have selected, and bring a wrapped gift back to school by Dec. 11 th using the ideas on the ornament. Attach the ornament to the wrapped gift so it can be given

to the correct person. If you have questions please ask. There are many ornaments left. Let s clear the tree. Christmas Cards for our Veterans Mason McHugh, grade 7, is collecting blank Christmas cards to present to our Veterans at the VA Hospital in Temple this holiday season. If you have a few cards you could donate please drop them off at the office for Mason. What a nice way to say Merry Christmas. Alumni Planning Meeting There will be an alumni planning meeting, Renee has set a meeting to invite alumni members to a planning meeting on Sunday, Dec. 6 th, 1:00 p.m. at Mikeska s. Forensics News Eighth-grader Samuel Mosmeyer competed with the Holy Trinity Forensics Team at Yoe High School in Cameron on Saturday and advanced to the semifinals of Novice LD Debate. Samuel and the rest of the team placed first overall out of 13 schools. Chris Mosmeyer English, Forensics, Social Studies Thanksgiving Food Drive During the third week of November, The National Junior Honor Society of St. Mary s Catholic School held a Thanksgiving Food Drive. Students in grades Pre-K through 8 th grade brought donations of nonperishable food to help those in need. We are excited to share with you that our students bought in over 1000 pounds of food, which was given to Helping Hands Ministry in Belton. What a wonderful example of our mission to serve others. Thanks to all who helped support those in need. Congrats to the top classes who will receive a cupcake party: 8 th grade who collected 328 pounds and 4 th grade who collected 192 pounds. Master Gardener/Naturalist Service Hours Opportunity Mary Ann Everett, from St. Mary s Parish, is a member of the Master Gardeners. She and a green thumbed group of parishioners work tirelessly on the gardens, flowers and greens of the parish and school. Mrs. Everett is extending an invitation to our students and parents to help. Because she will need to know how many will help she does ask that you RSVP if you will be attending one of the planned times (254-721-0931). If it is easier for you to email you may send your RSVP to Mrs. Wyles and let her know what day you will be here. There are work days the first and third Mondays of the month, from 7:30-9:30 a.m. Meet in the church parking lot for the next opportunity for school students on:

Friday, December 4, 3:30-5:00 p.m. Sports News Our first basketball games were last Thursday in Westphalia the JV boy's won their game. The Varsity boy's and girl's played a hard game as well as the JV girl's. Then on Saturday the girl's traveled to McGregor for a tournament where they played some good games. The Varsity girl's came from behind to win their last game against McGregor. The JV team played some good games they are looking better each game. Our next games for basketball are December 3, in Waco against St. Louis. Game times are girl's at 5 & 6 and the boy's at 7 & 8. The boy's will be in the McGregor tournament on Dec 5th game times to be announced. December 12th the KC's will be hosting their Free Throw here at St. Mary's Gym starting at 9:00 AM. Please fill out the form and please make sure you have a copy of your birth certificate or some other proof of birth date. -- Nita Bigon St. Mary's Catholic School nbigon@stmarys-temple.org PTC News Special thanks to Martin and Tanna Araiza, Jeannette Compean, Janie Rodriguez & Jessica Rodriguez for making the Enchilada Casserole plates, and to Leigh Barton for serving and Mrs. Wyles for manning our ticket orders, and to Mr. Broadwater for allowing us the use of his kitchen! We appreciate their time and hard work. Without them we wouldn't have had such a great and successful event! Happy Thanksgiving!! Thank you for your continued support, St. Mary s PTC Our All American Cheerleaders are on their way to Houston! Five of our very own St. Mary s Catholic School Cheerleaders are traveling together today, to Houston, TX to perform in the 66th H-E-B Holiday Parade in Houston, TX. As the largest holiday parade in Texas, the Houston Thanksgiving Day Parade attracts crowds of more than 200,000. The event is televised in the Houston area, and is syndicated throughout the Southwest. This is only the second year in the history of St. Mary s Catholic School to have cheerleaders selected as All-American Cheerleaders. Bridgette Burdine, Emily Gist, Francesca Higgins, Abby Lucksinger and Victoria Maldonado are all in the 8 th grade at St Mary s Catholic School. These amazing young ladies have many other academic and athletic achievements, including varsity volleyball, varsity basketball, school and select soccer leagues, band, dance, National Junior

Honor Society, God Squad (school-sponsored community service organization), and church ministries (Altar Servers/Lectors). The girls are very active in their school, their churches, and their community. They were thrilled to have the opportunity to represent their school and the community of Temple, TX at this big event. This was a huge honor for the girls and for St. Mary s Catholic School. Please do your online shopping at smile.amazon.com and choose St. Mary's Catholic School as your charity. Thank you :) A thank you letter from the girls: We want to express our sincere gratitude to our St. Mary s parish and school families for your support in helping us to be able to attend this event! We earned $487.00 towards the overall cost of our trip on the bake sale that we had after Mass in October. Thank you to Father Steve for allowing us to have the bake sale AND thank you ALL for your generosity and support. We are so lucky to be a part of the St. Mary s community! We love St. Mary s!! Please keep us in your prayers over the break! We are proud to get to represent our school and we will tell you all about our trip when we get back. Thank you again!! God Squad News I want to send out a special THANK YOU to the following students (and now official members of the God Squad) who stepped up to help at the Stoney Brook Assisted Living Center to serve at their Thanksgiving Meal! Maddie Hawkins, Trent Lockhart, Mason McHugh, and Volodomyr Ploskanych. Alina Tavernier and Bridgette Burdine (veteran God Squad members) also attended and worked the event. Thank you to the parents who stayed and helped as well. It was a beautiful event and we made great new friends. We have some wonderful elders in our Temple/Belton area and I think we are always more blessed by them than they are by us! Thank you to Stoney Brook for having us! Cheer Coach and God Squad Help Needed As most of you know, my daughter is an 8th grader and in her last year of cheer. As she moves on to high school, my focus will have to shift as well. I will be splitting my attention between my two children still at St. Mary s and my oldest at her new school. With that said, I also have a 3rd grade daughter who will want to cheer when she is in JH. There will be a two year period from the time my oldest moves on until my youngest cheers, at which point I plan to step back into coaching full time. During this two year gap, I am hoping someone can help keep this program alive and well! I know we have many girls that are looking forward to joining this team and I feel that it teaches these girls some very valuable life lessons! Leadership, confidence, service to others and the list

goes on. Please, if you are willing to step in and help keep this program going for our girls, contact me so we can talk about what is needed and at what level I can still help. I would like to have someone join me in the Spring, so I can begin the training process. We have built a very strong program and I want to see it live on. Thank you for your consideration! I know we all have a lot on our plates and it takes a village to provide opportunities for enrichment and growth for our students. Please consider this opportunity! Tamara Burdine 325-650-3300 Important Dates to Remember Wed. Nov. 25 th Sun. Dec. 6 th Mon. Dec. 7 th Tues. Dec. 8 th Fri. Dec. 11 th Mon. Dec. 14 th Tues. Dec. 15 th Wed. Dec. 16 th Thurs. Dec. 17 th Fri. Dec. 18 th Mon. Jan 4 th *Thanksgiving Vacation begins *Family Mass at Christ the King 10:30 a.m. *Christmas Parade *Feast of the Immaculate Conception: All School Mass 8:15 a.m. *Christmas Program Temple College 6:30 *All School Mass 8:15 a.m. *Semester Exams 4 th - 8 th Grades *Semester Exams 4 th - 8 th Grades *Semester Exams 4 th - 8 th Grades *Semester Exams 4 th - 8 th Grades *Spirit Day: Popcorn *Christmas Concert 6:30 in gym *All School Mass 8:15 a.m. *2 nd Quarter ends *Noon dismissal: Christmas Vacation begins *School reopens: 3 rd Quarter begins Christmas Program Students have begun practicing for our annual Christmas Program at Temple College. Our performance will be on Tuesday, December 8 th (time TBD). Our Drama club will be performing The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with songs from all grades interspersed throughout. Students will be asked to dress up to match their song. Mr. Bridges and the teachers have chosen the songs and costumes for each grade. Listed below are the details. Please talk to your teacher about your child s costume as they may be supplying part or all of it.

Christmas Pageant Songs & Costumes Pre K Pajamas Pajamas must have sleeves, nightgowns must have shorts underneath, and robes are okay to wear. Please wear tennis shoes or your school shoes. No slippers as the stage and risers will be slippery. Kindergarten Manger Animals 1 st Grade Bell Ringers Black pants/skirt and long sleeved white shirt or blouse. Students will be given a red vest to wear. 2 nd Grade Angels An oversized white t-shirt or an all white dress (with sleeves) would be appropriate along with angel wings. 3 rd Grade Shepherds 4 th Grade Sunday s best 5 th Grade King costumes 6 th,7 th,8 th - who are not in the Drama Club. Boys - Black pants and a white dress shirt with a tie. Christmas ties would be nice. Girls - Wear black pants/skirt (to the knee) and a white top. First Sunday of Advent, Cycle C November 29, 2015 This Sunday's Readings First Reading Jeremiah 33:14-16 The Lord will fulfill his promises to Israel and Judah. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 25:4-5,8-9,10,14 The Lord will teach us his paths. Second Reading 1 Thessalonians 3:12 4:2 Paul encourages the Thessalonians to be holy and to please God. Gospel Reading Luke 21:25-28,34-36 Jesus teaches his disciples to be vigilant so that they will be ready when the Son of Man comes in glory. Background on the Gospel Reading Today is the first Sunday of Advent, which is also the first Sunday of the new liturgical year. The Advent season includes the four Sundays that precede Christmas. Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of the Lord. In this season, we recall two central elements of our faith: the final

coming of the Lord in glory and the incarnation of the Lord in the birth of Jesus. The key themes of the Advent season are watchful waiting, preparation, and justice. In this new liturgical year, the Gospel of Luke will be the primary Gospel proclaimed (Lectionary Cycle C). Today's Gospel is taken from the last chapter before the passion narrative in which Jesus is teaching in the Temple. We hear Jesus speak to his disciples about the need for vigilance and prayer as they wait for the coming of the Son of Man in glory. This passage marks the conclusion of a lengthy dialogue in which Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, warns about the persecution and tribulations to follow, and identifies the signs that will signal the coming of the Son of Man in glory. The community for whom Luke wrote his Gospel may have believed that they were already experiencing some of the events Jesus described. Most scholars believe that Luke's Gospel was written after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. At the time, many Christians interpreted this event as an indication that Jesus' second coming was near. Though Jesus predicts a time of destruction and fear, Jesus indicates that others will be frightened; Jesus' disciples are not to fear, but are to stand tall. Yet Jesus does not promise deliverance from anxiety or tribulations. He encourages his disciples to pray for strength. The early Christian communities did not find consolation in the promise of a utopia, nor should we. Instead, we find in our Christian faith the means by which we witness to God's unfailing love for us in all circumstances. Jesus' predictions about the end times may sound dire, but in the next paragraph Luke tells us that people woke early to listen to Jesus' teaching in the Temple area. In his person and in his message, those who heard Jesus found strength and consolation. Like the first Christians, we may encounter events and circumstances that could lead us to despair. Through prayer, however, we find strength and consolation in Jesus' words and in his continuing presence with us to endure all things and to witness to the action of God in our world.