The Principal’s Page

Issue 8

Congratulations! This past weekend our second grade students made their First Holy Communion. I congratulate them and offer my prayers to all our students as they continue their journey of faith.

Grandparents’ Day: Last Friday we welcomed our Grandparents and special persons to Holy Family. The school was abuzz with fun festivities as our grandparents moved about the building. A special word of thanks goes out to Parents’ Club and especially to Grandparents’/Special Persons committee for all their hard work.

Teachers and Staff: We are so blessed to have such wonderful and dedicated teachers in our school. There is nothing they won’t do to ensure the success of your children. Staffing at a school of our size can

be a difficult task. All of our teachers are highly qualified to teach the level in which they are assigned. We are fortunate to have these wonderful people who care so much about the children and the continued success of our school.

New Teacher Search: As you know, we are conducting a search for our 2nd, 3rd and 7th grade teaching positions. We had posted the teacher openings on the Diocese of Cleveland website and had many wonderful applicants. For the Middle School position, we had a team comprised of myself, two teachers and a parent to help with the interviews. We asked the applicants to come prepared to teach a lesson to the team. After the lesson, we all asked various questions and posed scenarios for each of them to answer. At this time, we are ready to call back those candidates that we feel will be a good fit for our school. The next step in the process is to have these people meet with their potential colleagues and participate in a mock planning session. Once this is accomplished, we will be ready to hire a teacher for that particular assignment.

Our 2nd and 3rd grade interviews went a little bit differently. Here again, we had a multitude of wonderful applicants. We invited many of them to interview with me. After meeting with me, I assembled a team similar to the Middle School team and we had the candidates return to teach a lesson to the team. Moving forward, we are now ready to invite candidates back for the mock planning session with potential colleagues. That will be happening over the next two weeks.

Please be assured that we are doing our due diligence in choosing highly qualified, motivated and dedicated teachers.

Math: Our math committee will be meeting within the upcoming weeks to make a final decision in choosing our math series for next year. As soon as a decision is made we will let parents know.

Wow! Can you believe May is only a few days away. It seems like the year flew by and May is going to go by even faster. Looking ahead, our last day of school is May 25. Please refer to the online calendar as all activities for the month of May are listed.

God Bless,

Mrs. Fournier

Holy Family School Newsletter

April 26, 2017

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ISSUE 8 PAGE 3

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6th Graders’ Lenten Journey

Lent is a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. During this year’s Lenten season, our 6th grade students learned and lived these ideals each Friday in Religion class by participating in several different activities.

From sending cards of encouragement to several area children fighting life-threatening illnesses, to gathering items for their “Blessing Bags” for those less fortunate, these students were able to truly experience and understand their faith to the fullest. They also spent much time in prayer for those in need of healing and encouragement in our community.

The students also shared a small Lenten meal, prepared each Friday during Lent, by some of the sixth grade parents. Students took time to partake in the meatless meals while providing alms to friends and families in need. Students sampled meals from Puerto Rico, Mexico and Ethiopia from the recipes shared by Catholic Relief Services as part of their annual Rice Bowl campaign.

Many students shared that their unique Lenten journey had opened their eyes to so many different experiences that will help them to remain aware of their journey as disciples of Christ.

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This year’s American Heart Association’s Hoops for Hearts was an over-whelming success for the 5th graders at Holy Family School.

The event was more than just a physical activity for the students, as they also used their technology backgrounds and quest for good health to help make a difference in the lives of others. The kids also created their own personal AHA websites for the charity event and many people were able to directly donate to the cause online.

A month was spent organizing the event, creating student webpages, collect-ing online donations and learning about heart health. In their gym class the day of the Hoops for Hearts event, the students participated in a variety of physical activities that help to improve heart health.

The total amount raised for the American Heart Association was $5,153! The top money raisers were Joey Minichillo ($900), Alex Hanff ($285) and Zoe Testa ($250). We are so proud of these 5th grade students who spent so much time to help others.

Hoops for Hearts...Healthy Hearts in Action!

Christian Leaders BLAST out of this World!

Our school was founded on the Gospel teachings of Christ. Students are immersed in our faith throughout their day. Our

mission is to ensure that we provide a Christ-centered, loving environment so that students become disciples of Jesus. Just

as we, parents and faculty, serve as role models for our children, so too, do our children witness to others.

In an effort to recognize those students who consistently display the Christian qualities of trustworthiness, respect, responsi-

bility, fairness, love and kindness, citizenship and service to others, we will award one student from each homeroom each

quarter the Principal’s Award for Christian Leadership.

The students recognized for Christian Leadership in the

fourth quarter are:

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Christian Leadership Awards

Lillian Angerstien KA Elise Kimmich 1A Jack Haag 1B Oliver Huff 2A Sophia Siladie 2B A.J. Skinner 3A Brayden Thompson 3B Conner Williams 4A Anna Korecki 4B

Delphine Crabiel 5A Zoe Testa 5B Gavin Anthony 6A Clare Rodgers 6B Sean Collins 7A Madison Kilway 7B Jack Houck 8A Krista McDowell 8B

Recycle! Think Spring!

Your children may qualify for a FREE or REDUCED-PRICE

LUNCH! Applications are available through the school office at

any time during the school year.

Holy Family School’s annual Lenten Canned Food Drive was a huge success!

We were able to donate more than 725 canned food items to the Blessed Trinity Food Pantry

on Tallmadge Avenue in Akron.

Thank you so much for your generous donations!

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Bring ALL RECYCLABLE paper from spring cleaning to the Holy Family School recycle bins!

Catalogs & Magazines

Newspapers

Junk Mail

Hardbound or Softbound Books

Notebooks

Scrap Paper

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Treats for Troops

Fifteen of our students and faculty members were recognized for performing random acts of kindness in April. We thank them for their willingness to offer a helping hand to others. Each person’s name will be printed on a star cut-out and posted in the hallway of the school. Our hope is that by June our halls will be lined with stars!

* indicates student received two notifications

** indicates student received three notifications

Good Samaritans Recognized

Lillian Angerstien KA Mrs. Bernard Cerafina Corley 8A Colin Coyne 6A Jack Haag 1B

Josephine Haag 6B Alexander Hanff 5A Jimmy Incorvati 3A Mrs. Michaels ** Gabrielle Minick 6A

Natalie Morton 5B Gabrielle Price 4B Jacob Tokash 6A Emme Weisenburger 4A Jeremy Williams 1B

“Tanks” so much to each family who donated to our “Treats for Troops” collection in March! Your generosity provided us with 574 multi-count packages of snack items equaling approximately 2,800 individual snacks. The donations ranged from packages of gums and candies, cracker sandwiches and granola bars to Cracker Jacks and jerky. The children also colored and signed notes expressing appreciation to the soldiers for so bravely serving our country.

Thanks to the help of the Northern Ohio USO chapter, our donations will be shipped world wide to the troops serving our country ~ specifically those originating from our very own state ~ OHIO!

A USO representative expressed extreme gratitude for our thoughtfulness and the comfort our donations will provide for the troops.

“TANKS”again for all of your support ~ The Retreat Committee

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Forming Intentional Disciples by drawing them to Christ in the Eucharist

Empowering them to joyfully use their gifts and talents to build the Kingdom of God

Strengthening the bonds of friendship within the parish family with love and acceptance

Mass @ 11:30 am

Life Teen for high school teens

12:30-2pm Sunday’s

Life Teen Lounge (aka rooms ¾ in the lower church hall)

(September 11, 2016-April 30, 2017)

Friday, March 24 – Stations of the Cross presented by teens 7pm in the church

Sunday, March 26 – Life Teen Social

Sunday, April 2 – Life Teen Service – Palm Braiding in the lower church hall rooms3/4

Teens, Adults & Families are welcome to braid palms to decorate the church on

Palm Sunday! Instructors available 8:30am-noon

Sunday, April 9– Life Teen

Sunday, April 23 – Life Teen

Sunday, April 30 – Life Teen

Teens, Adults & Families are welcome to braid palms to decorate the church on Palm

Sunday! Instructors available 8:30am-noon

For more information contact Barbie Byrne 330 688-6412x271 or

byrne@holyfamilystow.org Visit the parish website www.holyfamilystow.org click on the

ministry tab, then youth ministry for complete schedule.

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