Our Lady of Mount Carmel School 10524-76 Avenue

Edmonton, Alberta T6E 1L3

Phone: (780) 433-1062 Fax: (780) 439-0105

Website: www.ourladyofmountcarmel.ecsd.net

October 2017 Newsletter

Administrator’s Message

We are grateful for a successful start to the 2017-18 school year! Our regular and academy programs are now in full swing and we are very confident that this will be a year filled with in-depth learning in mind, body, and spirit. As we venture forth, let us frequently reflect on our District theme: Rooted In Jesus...Hearts to Love, Hands to Serve. To complement our theme, each grade received an inspiring book, Beautiful Hands, written by Kathryn Otoshi and Bret Baumgarten. On your next visit to Mount Carmel, check out our front entrance area to see the art work which beautifully reflects our theme.

We extend a heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined us for our recent “Meet the Staff” night. Your strong presence indicates the commitment you have to quality Catholic education. It was wonderful to meet both new and continuing members of our school community.

We held our first School Council Meeting on October 3rd and it was well-attended. All positions have been filled for this school year but that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities for you to serve. Our Council spearheads many important initiatives in our school from the Casino (Dec 7th and 8th), to the Family Dance (Feb 2nd), to the delicious Shrove Tuesday Pancake Breakfast (Feb 13th). Volun-teers are needed for all these events so kindly consider where you might be able to pitch in. We all know that many hands make light work! Our next School Council Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday November 14th at 6:30 p.m. in our library. Hope to see you there!

We are now in the days of autumn and experiencing the blessings they bring. It truly is a time for family, sharing, and giving thanks. The staff at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School wish you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving.

Mr. Kevin S. McGoey Principal

Ms. Diane Bowers-O’Neill Assistant Principal

THANKSGIVING PRAYER

Loving God,

We turn our hearts to you on this

Day and give thanks, mindful of

Your many gifts.

For each one, we are grateful.

For each one, we are blessed.

For each one we are opened to the abundance of your love.

On this Thanksgiving Day, may we all act

As your hands and your heart, to do your work

Of reaching out to others

We ask this through Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Canteen News

PowerSchool Access for Parents

Parents and students of Our Lady of Mount Carmel have the ability to securely access attendance and student information, including assignment and exam marks, as well as pay for field trips or oth-ers charges. All you need to do is create an account and then use your unique Parent Access ID and Parent Access Password. Information on how to create an account as well as the Parent ID and Password was sent home with all students in mid-September. More information is included below for your ease of reference. If you are experiencing difficulties with your PowerSchool account, con-tact the school at 780-433-1062.

School Fees Invoicing & PowerSchool Passwords

The Junior High canteen is open four days a week offering many healthy choices such as quesadillas, carrot sticks & hummus, and burritos. Many thanks to Ms. Pilquil and her student team for their efforts.

Parents can check student progress, pay for school fees & bus passes, and do

other tasks all on PowerSchool:

1. https://powerschool.ecsd.net/public/

2. Enter your Username and Password in the Parent/Student Sign In

3. Click on Sign In

4. Continue to follow the links as you require.

Read-In Week October 2nd—6th

This year’s theme for Read-In week was: “I Read for Me”.

Through reading, we discover amazing stories that inspire

us to share our own. Of special note, our grade four stu-

dents will participate in a celebration of the biggest story

of our life as they prepare for their Bible Celebration on

Friday, October 13th at 11:30!

Visitors to the School/Parent Pick up

For safety reasons, we are asking that all parents picking up their

children during the school day to please come into the office to sign

them out. All visitors to the school must also sign in at the office.

We Day 2017

On November 1st, sixteen lucky Junior High Students will participate in the WE Day activ-

ities being held in Calgary. WE Day is an exciting event in which motivational guests in-

cluding celebrities and speakers share a positive message with thousands of students from

all over Alberta. The focus is on Social Justice, Hearts to Love and Hands to Serve, and

how each person and school community can reach out, help others, and make a differ-

ence. The intent of WE Day is for the students to bring ideas back to our Mt. Carmel Fami-

ly and provide leadership in Social Justice programs.

As St. Teresa of Åvila writes,

“Christ has no body but yours,

no hands, no feet buy yours.”

Sincerely,

Brendan Leonard

Rooted in Jesus, Hearts to Love, Hands to Serve Terry Fox and Marathon of Hope-

On Thursday, September 28th, our school par-

ticipated in the Terry Fox run. The students’

enthusiasm was contagious and the support

for this special cause, as evidenced by the

honking of many passing cars, was fantastic.

A huge thanks to the Stanton Family and Run-

ning Room for their extraordinary support of

this event again this year! Having music, an

inflatable finish line, and hundreds of baseball

hats (or better yet “running hats”) made all the

difference in the world! Mr. Leason even came

out of retirement to join us! This great event

helps us build spirit by joining together and

supporting a great cause. What a beautiful

way to start off our ‘Hands to Serve’ school

year.

Boys Soccer

The Senior Boys soccer team was placed in the Premier Division after winning a Cham-

pionship last year to put up yet another banner in Mount Carmel’s gym. Playoffs began

last week and the boys put in a solid effort to secure victory.

The semi-finals are here on Tuesday Oct 10 at 4:00 p.m. If you can, please come out

and cheer them on to the Finals!

Presenting our boys Soccer team… Grade 9 Grade 8 Grade 7 Francesco G. (C) Juan V. Sebastian W. Luca M. Stefano M. Jacob S. Ashton C. Yale B. Zac D. Koen W. Evan G. Julian B. Nathan P. Hayden S. Brayden L. Jevon-Tae R. Mateusz L. Jacob L. Sam R. Good luck to the boys! John Tadic Our Lady of Mount Carmel Phone: (780) 433-1062

Soccer Coach

Boys Soccer

We Are Family

The Mount Carmel Chronicles Your Student Newspaper

Welcome Back Students & Parents

Welcome back readers! Our paper will be even more entertaining and interesting this year

because we have recruited additional writers who will add their unique perspectives.

Watch out for pieces from Connor T, Luke C, Orion HM, Nadia J, Hudson N, Neve B, and

Jessica M. The variety of topics we will cover in the Chronicle will include the latest news

about world events, sports, news, student life, and arts & culture. We will be posting every

other week, so stay tuned!

By: Evan G.

We would like to welcome all the new and returning students and par-

ents to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Soccer Academy. The Soccer

Academy has had an excellent start to the fall outdoor season despite

the suspect weather we’ve experienced. Our Academy players look

amazing in their new apparel! Each player has commenced the new

year with a keen focus and hardworking ethic which establishes an

enormous potential for success and positive results! We look forward to supporting each of our

Academy players as they experience continued growth in their skill sets and knowledge of the

game. The indoor portion of our Soccer Academy will begin in November. Well done players!

Sincerely,

Dawn Poulin-Biro

Mount Carmel Soccer Academy

Director-Instructor 10524—76 Ave.

Edmonton, Alberta

Phone: (780) 433-1062

Recreation Academy

Soccer Academy

Recreation Academy

The Recreation Academy students

have had a lot of fun participating in

a variety of activities in September

from Team Building to golf, to ca-

noeing to running.

We look forward to next month when

we will focus on Volleyball and

Aquatic activities.

Your Recreation Academy Team

Mrs. Belous, Mr. Leonard, Mr. Tadic

Welcome to October with Mt. Carmel Performing Arts!

September was an amazing month of getting to know each other and exploring the Arts! All PA students are already busy delving in to learn our two shows: A Charlie

Brown Christmas and Willy Wonka!

Rapidfire Theatre joined our group again this year to teach us improv, and the JH

students toured the TransAlta Arts Barns.

October presents many fun activities! To begin with, our elementary academy

students performed a heartfelt choreography at the conclusion of our Thanksgiving Mass on October 5 at St. Anthony’s Church. Their performance brought tears to many

eyes.

Choreography and vocal coach Mhairi Berg has again joined our team to help get our shows up and running. This month she helped us with the performance at the Thanksgiving celebration and will do the same for our Remembrance Day Commemo-

rative Service. We also attended the Pixar exhibit at Telus World of Science, will be learning about characterization and body movement, and will practice our make-up skills with some Halloween gore! Finally, the Jr. High students will take a tour of

Strathcona library to research our productions and then go to Save On Foods for a

healthy eating tour.

It was a glorious start to the year opening our hearts to love and hands to serve!

Sincerely,

Anna Paquin Performing Arts Director

Performing Arts Academy

We Are Family

Hockey Academy

We welcome all returning and new students/parents to the Mount Carmel Hockey Academy for the 2017-18 school year. We look forward to another great ten months with a few new staff, events, and activities. We are very pleased that Ja-son Strudwick, Mykenzie Mykietyshyn, Mikolas Mykietyshyn, Paul Manning, Darryl Rosser, & Jared Crooks are all returning and welcome Scott Pungor & Ryan Anderson to our team. We are al-so happy that Brett Kirkland and Thad Siu from First Line Training (off-ice) and ATC Goaltending will be with us again this year.

You will be kept fully informed of all events concerning our Acade-my through email. It is also the best way for you to contact us. If you know an MTC Hockey parent who is not receiving our emails, kindly have them email me at Andrew.Zvonkovic@ecsd.net so we can add them to our list.

We anticipate another fantastic year of learning, skill development and fun at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Hockey Academy. Thank you for choosing us!

Sincerely,

Andrew Zvonkovic Mount Carmel Hockey Academy Program Coordinator-Head Instructor 10524—76 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta Phone: (780) 433-1062 Fax: (780) 439-0105 www.ourladyofmountcarmel.ecsd.net

Our K–3 students headed to the nearby George Hughes/Southside ice rink to lace

up their skates on Tuesday, October 3rd. Another five lessons will

take place at the same site between now and November 14th.

K– 3 Skating

Picture Day Retakes

Thursday, October 26th will be Picture Day retakes.

SMILE!

School Council & School Fundraising Society News

Calling all Parents!!!

The first meeting for the 2017-18 school year was on Tuesday October 3rd. It was our Annual

General Meeting and we filled all positions! Please come to our next meeting on Tuesday Nov

14 at 6:30 in the school library.

This is a casino year and our dates are Dec 7th and 8th at the Argyll location. We have the opportunity to bring in between $60,000-$90,000 for just two nights of volunteer work! The

funds raised through the casino support very important school initiatives. If you wish to help

out, please use the link below to sign up:

https://goo.gl/forms/fKIQgkDz8pKy3gTG2

Feel free to invite extended family members and even friends to volunteer at the Casino; all

are more than welcome!

Sincerely,

Erin Blazey

OLMC School Council Chairperson

The Chaplain’s Corner

Blessings Mount Carmel Families,

On behalf of Our Lady of Mount Carmel school, I wish to extend a big welcome back to all of our students and members of our Mount Carmel family. We, the staff, hope you had a wonderful summer break and a successful beginning to the new school year! As always, this time of year is very exciting, particularly as we con-sider the journey ahead of us – one that offers a promising array of possibilities and occasions for growth. September provided us with opportunities for renewal, be it spiritual or academic, as well as mo-ments to reflect upon those gifts that have been so generously be-stowed upon us by our loving God. Going forward, our theme at Edmonton Catholic Schools will be Rooted in Jesus....Hearts to Love, Hands to Serve. At our first school celebration on September 13, students were encour-aged to focus upon their many talents and to consider how in sharing these gifts and in serving oth-ers they are fulfilling the word and the spirit of God. As we journey together, we hope these words will inspire joy, well-being, harmony, and love. Over the years, Our Lady of Mount Carmel has been ex-tremely blessed with incredible students, staff, and volunteers who have so selflessly contributed their many talents. Sacramental preparation will again be made available for those students who wish to receive their First Com-munion or Confirmation. For those parents who have children in Grades 2 and 6, an information package has been sent home. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or your child's homeroom teacher.

This year, we will continue with our beautiful morning prayers that have been written by our stu-dents. If you are here in the morning dropping your child off at school, please pause in the hallway and join us in prayer. Our Thanksgiving Mass at the nearby St. Anthony Church (107 Street and Whyte Ave) on October 5 was a great success. You are of course very welcome to attend any of our Masses (Jan 9-Christmas, Feb 14-Ash Wednesday, April 5-Easter, & June 12-Year End). They all begin at 9:30. May Christ's peace be with you always!

Mr. Steven Cormier Chaplain, Our Lady of Mount Carmel School

Matthew 25:35-40

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘ Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? ‘ And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

We Are Family Our Lady of Mount Carmel School

10524-76 Ave

Edmonton, AB

T6E 1L3

Edmonton Catholic Schools

Phone: 780-433-1062

Fax: 780-439-0105

Email: 8205web@ecsd.net

October 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 Read-In Week

3 Div 1 Skating School Council Meeting 6:30 p.m.

4 5 Thanksgiving Mass

@ St. Anthony

9:30 a.m.

6

7

8

9 THANKSGIVING DAY NO SCHOOL

10 Div 1 Skating

11 12

13 G4 Bible Celebra-

tion 11:30

14

15 16 17 Div 1 Skating

18 No Kindergarten

19

20 21

22 23 24 Div 1 Skating

25 26 Picture Retakes

27 28

29 30 31 Halloween

ECSD Parent Newsletter Form Bishop David

Edmonton Catholic School District

Parent Newsletters

“F’s,” Report Cards, Faith and Pearls

When I was going to school, when it came time for report cards at the end of the year, I confess that I never ever got an “F.” But I wished I had. Let me explain.

Not that long ago, I was asked to share a few words to a graduating Grade 12 class. I started by telling these young women and men that I was privileged to have had a “sneak peek” at their re-port cards. And they all got “F’s.” Needless to say, they were shocked. I had some quick explain-ing to do before one of them passed out.

Look, I get it that report cards are meant to give students and parents an idea of how the stu-dents are doing in their studies – what they’re doing well and where more work is required – in reading, writing and math, and the sort.

Yet, in a Catholic School, a report card is meant to tell us even more. Yes, we all want our stu-dents to do well in their academic achievements; and I might add that in Catholic Schools they do very well! The “even more” part of report cards are the “F’s.”

Faith. Family. Friends.

The big picture of what a Catholic School does is to help prepare our children for success in life by grounding them in their faith. Faith in a God who created us, who cares for us, and who loves us. And to help our children, in turn, share their faith with family and friends.

Another way of putting this is by asking ourselves “What do we value most in life?” Faith. Family. Friends.

Let’s look at how Catholic Schools accomplish the “even more” by revisiting the “Parable of the Pearl Buyer” in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus is asking his disciples and followers what the King-dom of God is like? He uses a number of examples to convince us that the Kingdom, that is, eter-nal life with God in heaven, is something so beautiful and so precious that we would want to do everything to acquire it.

So the “Parable of the Pearl Buyer” tells us that when someone “finds one that is unusually fine, he goes and sells everything he has, and buys that pearl” (Mt 13: 46).

Pearls are especially beautiful and precious. And rare to come by.

Do you know how pearls are formed?

Well, if I understand well, an oyster feeds by filtering out food that it captures when parti-cles are drawn into its mantle cavity. However, sometimes a piece of sand gets stuck in the flesh of an oyster and the oyster is unable to rid itself of this “irritant.” So instead the oyster secretes a milky solution which layer by layer covers the piece of sand. Eventually a pearl is formed. What was once an irritant has become smooth and round, a precious gem.

Pearls are produced by life, a life which has overcome death.

Jesus is the Pearl of Great Faith. He willingly endured his passion and death upon the

cross. In doing so, he took upon himself the “irritants” of our sins, overcame death, and

granted us salvation and eternal life.

We too experience irritants in life. (Just ask my priests; many might say that their bishop is

one of their biggest irritants!). Struggles. Health issues. Family problems. Arguments with

friends. Difficulties in accepting myself the way I am.

Yet, God gives us the grace to overcome whatever irritants life sends our way so that, lay-

er by layer, the irritants become smooth and acceptable. Pearls in the making!

Friends, that’s why I love Catholic Schools. They journey with our children each day, form-

ing them in the precious gift of faith, preparing them for true success in life.

Faith. Friends. Family.

God bless!

Bishop David

ECSD Parent Newsletter Form Bishop David continued