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St. Mary’s School
Despite snow days, February an eventful month
By Kathy Ayette
It seems Mother Nature was running a little late last month. Catholic
Schools Week was the final week of January, and it is a running joke
around school that the best part of the week is the snow days. We are
lucky if we have three of the five days without a delay or snow day,
which is expected when you plan anything the last week of January. This
year however was different. We enjoyed all five days of the week with
our specially invited guests and activities. The following week was
another story. We began our first week in February with two snow days.
Although a short month, minus two snow days, this February is shaping
up to be an extremely eventful month.
On February 3, the staff and students received the traditional blessing
of throats in memory of St. Blaise. Catholics every year on his feast
day ask St. Blaise to ask God to preserve us from diseases of the
throat and winter colds. For me, the blessing was a bit late. I was
just recovering from a rather bad cold and had been the cantor at
several Masses the previous week. I am afraid my singing was a little
more “froggy” than I would have liked.
This month the students and staff collected items for a care package
for the service men and women deployed in Iraq. The son of one of our
teachers, Mrs. Pierri is stationed there. Among the items collected
were hard candy, lip balm, and reading material. We wanted to show our
appreciation for the sacrifices made by these brave men and women.
On February 11 the fifth through eighth grades attended the Northern
Area Catholic Schools Mass in Sidney. The Archdiocese of Cincinnati
covers a rather large area and we are in the part of the archdiocese
north of Dayton. During Catholic Schools Week a special Mass was
celebrated in Cincinnati at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral. Every year
due to the distance and weather conditions, most of the schools in the
Northern Area are unable to attend, so they gather for a special Mass
later. After this year’s Northern Area Mass the students stayed for a
program given by the Damascus missionaries and hosted by Sidney Lehman
High School.
The preschool through fourth grades enjoyed Valentine’s Day last
Friday, February 14. After lunch the children passed out valentines to
their classmates and had parties afterwards. Judging from the festive
cacophony on the upper level of the building, I would say everyone had
a great time. Our principal, whose office is on our floor, said he
thought the children were more excited about Valentine’s Day than they
were for Halloween. (That’s pretty darned excited!) I had to admire
Mrs. Hadden our preschool teacher. She teaches both the Caterpillar and
Butterfly classes, so that meant she had not one, but two Valentine’s
Day parties. (One reason not to teach preschool!) She was a real
trooper.
On the following Wednesday, we had two special visitors to our school,
Spirit the red-tailed hawk and Pip the screech owl. Oh yes, they
brought along two helpers from the Darke County Park District, Mitchell
Pence and Mandi Martin. The students and staff were fascinated by the
two birds and we all learned many things about these beautiful
creatures. Their visit was sponsored by Mr. Ben Randall and Randall
Insurance. Mr. Randall’s son and daughter, Jersee and Jaxson, are
students at St. Mary’s.
Grades five through eight will go to Victoria Theater on February 20 to
see Newton’s Apple. Earlier this year the younger students went to the
theater to see Lyle the Crocodile.
Next Monday, February 24, representatives from COSI will be at school
presenting hands-on STEM activities .This presentation is part of the
STEM education movement which encourages students to explore careers in
science, technology, engineering, and math. There will be three
hour-long programs. The first session, Junior Engineer will be for the
preschoolers and kindergarteners, the second, Gadgets to Go for the
first through fourth grades, and the final session, Catapults and
Trebuchets for grades five through eight.
Mardi Gras is Tuesday, February 25. As is our custom, we will celebrate
during the day with King Cake (a teacher’s nightmare—sweet bread,
frosted with confectioner’s icing and sprinkled with lots of sugar!) At
the end of the day we will bury Alleluia banners that were made by each
class, to symbolize our putting aside joyful things to concentrate on
the serious and somber season of Lent. The next day of course is Ash
Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. The students and staff will attend
Mass in the morning and receive ashes as a sign of repentance.
It is hard to believe that February is almost over. Can spring be far behind? We can only hope!
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