Sts. Peter & Paul School, 1115 Young St. PO Box 160, Nauvoo, IL 62354

Upcoming Events

May 4 - Fine Arts Night

May 6 - First Communion

May 10 - Spring Blood Drive

June 3 - 19th Annual God’s

Portion Day Auction

stspeterpaul.org SPRING 2018

Each Child Matters

When we ask parents what they like about Sts. Peter and Paul, they often answer: “The small class sizes.” To be sure, at least for now, our class sizes ARE smaller than those of local public schools, but why does that matter? It allows us to focus our attention on each child in our school family. We all know that there is no such thing as a “generic child.” Certainly, there are commonalities in all of humanity and essential elements in being a boy and a girl, but God doesn’t use a cookie cutter in creating us. He makes us as individuals, with particular gifts and talents, and areas where we are strong…and not so strong.

Here at Sts. Peter and Paul, we do our best to recognize that reality and act accordingly. We know well that some children need more attention than others, some need encouragement, and some need a challenge. Our teachers know the importance of asking “what does this child need?” and looking for an answer that is specific to that child. We want each child to become the best version of themselves, and the formation one child needs may be different than what another needs.

Because of our focus on each child, we have found ourselves in a little bit of a space dilemma – we don’t have enough of it! We recognize that this is a new problem – not one that was seen in previous years…because our tools for evaluating children 50 years ago are different than they are today. We also know that this is a good problem to have, since it shows that parents believe that we care about each child for who they are…and not a generic version of what a child is.

-Contributed by Fr. Thomas Szydlik

Children ages 3-

K i n d e r g a r t e n

a tt e nd ed ou r

a n n u a l O o e y

Gooey Fun Night

in April. Lots of

ooey gooey fun,

while learning

skills in science

and art!

Are you an alum of SPPS?

We would love to hear from

you!

Please send your name, contact

information, and SPPS graduation

year to:

development@stspeterpaul.org

Alumni & Friends Newsletter

With the help of God’s grace, we form the mind, body, and spirit of each child

within our school family; we form children to be

Leaders for Christ.

From the Principal’s Desk… According to Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, mission statements “capture what you want to be and what you want to do… and the principles upon which being and doing are based.” Here at SPPS, we use our mission statement to define our purpose as a Catholic school: “With the help of God’s grace, we form the mind, body, and spirit of each child within our school family; we form children to be Leaders for Christ.” When making decisions about our students and school, we always ask, “Does this support our mission statement? Is it mission driven?” Three years ago we asked these questions and made some difficult decisions

regarding the space at SPPS. Now we are finding that the temporary solutions we developed are stretched to the max; our growing need for space is a significant problem for us. Enrollment has continued to increase; we currently have 93 students, which is great news to share. However, every room in the building is in use and we are still lacking space to meet all of our students’ needs; this is not optimal learning. If we are to be true to our mission, we must make this a priority, for the students’ needs as well as the needs of the parish. Our mission is lived daily in the classrooms of SPPS and we are proud to be Leaders for Christ! As always, I appreciate your prayers and support of the school. May God Bless You! Lisa Gray, Principal

Lain

ey

Sulli

van,

4th

For Sale: Vintage SPPS Athletic Wear

(Pieces for sale are pictured. Quantities are limited for each piece.)

Cost: Make a donation to SPPS.

Please contact the school office or development@stspeterpaul.org for more

information. Old storage trunks (4) also available (not pictured).

Touching the

Future Update

We are halfway through the 2017-

18 Touching the Future campaign

year-with a goal of raising

$75,000. To date, over $50,000

has been collected. As members

of our SPPS family, we depend

on your support to continue

forming SPPS students into

Leaders for Christ. We are proud

of what we have built over the

years with your help and support,

and will continue to grow and

improve as you join in our

mission.

Please consider a donation to our

Touching the Future campaign.

Please contact the school, mail

donation to the school address or

online donations are also

accepted on the SPPS website,

www.stspeterpaul.org, under

SPPS Giving.

SAVE THE DATE! The 19th Annual God’s Portion Day

auction will be Sunday, June 3, 2018

in the SPPS gym. This is our largest

fundraiser-please mark your calendar

to attend!

Brunch from 8:30-10:30 a.m.

Auction begins at 10:30 a.m.

Kid Zone from 12-2 p.m.

We are currently seeking donations

for the auction. Please contact the

school office, 217-453-2511, or email

gpd@stspeterpaul.org, if you are

willing to donate.

Thank you for your

continued support!

The Wheatley family (Adelyn and Hay-

den are SPPS students) recently re-

turned from their Make-A-Wish trip to

Walt Disney World and the beach. Be-

fore they departed, students and staff

sent them off in style and revealed a

new total amount raised for the Make-

A-Wish Foundation-$6,928! Students

raised money for the Make-A-Wish

Foundation, as part of the Catholic

Schools Week service project in Janu-

ary.

Thank You Mrs. Lake!

After 35 years of teaching, Mrs. Connie Lake will

be retiring at the end of the 2017-18 school year.

She has taught 3rd & 4th grade, 5th & 6th grade

and was principal for a time - all at SPPS.

This year, she was also given the Diocese of

Peoria’s Distinguished Teacher Award! Mrs. Lake

is a piece of this school and will be greatly

missed!

During our Lenten journey, we collected

items for the Nauvoo Food Pantry. Our

goal was:

100 items per week X 5 weeks of Lent =

500 items.

We greatly exceeded that goal! The 5th

& 6th graders (pictured at right) proudly

delivered over 900 items to the Nauvoo

Food Pantry!

5th and 6th grade students participated

in Living Stations during Lent. ARK (Acts of Random Kindness) shirts were handed out for March recipients: Maci Haas, Scarlett Yuskis, Julie Schott and Grady Henson.

1115 Young Street

P.O. Box 160

Nauvoo, IL 62354

www.stspeterpaul.org

We form children to be Leaders for Christ!

Stay Connected with Us!

www.stspeterpaul.org

@sppskids1

Look inside to see what’s new at

Sts. Peter & Paul School!