eGazette - March 11, 2009

Principal's Piece

A Lenten Check-In...

We are well into our Lenten journey. It's been a treasure to hear the children try their best to hold to their promises: "I still didn't have Root Beer!" "I'm still trying to be nice to my brother!" In addition to "giving up", we continue to encourage "taking on". Our Parish Lenten boxes and Pennies for Patients boxes are available for us to fill with money saved from our Lenten promises. As a staff, we are holding to our commitment to daily prayer. It's been a source of power and comfort. Today, I offer you words of faith from one of our spirit-filled 8th graders.

(Thank you, Marissa, for allowing me to share.)

PRAYER AND WORSHIP
The type of prayer and worship that is the most meaningful to me is singing. I may not be the best person in the world or the next American Idol, but it's very important to me as a Catholic. And I was devastated when I got laryngitis this summer for three weeks and found that I had permanently damaged vocal chords. Like St. Augustine said about how singing is praying twice, I sing church songs all day long so if I sing every day... I'm covered.

You could say any prayer in the whole wide world but if you don't mean every single word you say, why bother. When you sing or pray to God, its not just memorized words, it's a conversation, feel free ad lib to make it your own. When you're praying at church instead of just saying "hail Mary full of grace the lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women but blessed is the fruit..." why don't you say something important and personal like "hail Mary full of grace please help my grandfather feel better, blessed art thou among women and blessed be my grandmother for staying so strong..."

The sincerity of talking to God is very important when praising God. And don't be afraid or embarrassed when praying, God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and is very busy and if you can't speak up, how is he going to hear you all the way up in heaven? You should never be afraid to speak your faith in front of anyone.

The feeling of warmth, peace and wellbeing always seems to flow through my body when I am in Mass. I feel comfortable and safe when I sit in the choir pews for all to see. The sweet smell of wisdom seems to float around the altar and the priests kindness and patience(even with that one little kid who watches a lot of TV and the little girl with the nice mom who helps her with her leg pimple.) makes me smile. This is home.

God doesn't care how we sing, but we are put on this earth for his praises. Just belt it out and feel good about it. After Mass I'm sure you will feel much better knowing you prayed doubly. Leaving your footprints as an eight grader will definitely leave an impression on younger kids... so why not make it a good one and show them how it's done in church.

Marissa's words remind us of our need to stay grounded: to keep focused on that which feeds our soul - Prayer. In this busy season of basketball tourneys, track practice, baseball practice, dance lessons, music lessons, pray. In this stressful time of financial uncertainty, pray. When you hear your children singing songs they've learned with Mr. Carlin, sing along and know you are praying twice, as St. Augustine suggested and Marissa reminded us.

Blessings for a continued reflective Lenten journey.

In Peace,
Nancy Jordan
Principal

We kicked off the month celebrating the birthday of Dr. Seuss by participating in the nationwide event, READ ACROSS AMERICA! Family Club helped with the fun by providing "One Fish, Two Fish...Goldfish crackers" as classroom snacks, as well as prizes for the students who won the Seuss trivia contests. Thank you to Mrs. Evans and Claudia Kalten for the fun ideas, and to the many teachers who got in on the fun! We especially loved those 2nd grade hats and a big congrats to first grade for winning the door decorating contest! Even Father Gordon joined in on the fun, and although he didn't wear his pajamas, he did don a Dr. Seuss hat and read books to many of the classes!

Used Uniform Sale
Monday, March 30, from 2:30-4:00 in the school parking lot. At this time, our closet is overflowing, so we are only accepting donations for the following: red/gray sweaters and sweatshirts w/o name embroidery, all shorts, skirts, jumpers, and all LandsEnd uniforms.

See's Candy Sales
Starts TODAY! See packet in Wednesday envelope for details! Pre-order your Easter treats, skip the lines at the See’s Store, and help our school! All proceeds will benefit the 8th grade graduation luncheon, Teacher Appreciation Week, as well as our continued assistance with the Art and Spanish programs.

Family Club meeting
Friday, April 3rd, 8:30 a.m. - We will be busy organizing See's orders; come help us!

The Family Club

Thank you for the tremendous response to all who have completed registration for returning students for the 2009/2010 school year! Your child(ren)'s placement is guaranteed. As of March 1, we are accepting applications for the many prospective families who are eager to join the St. John family.

We are asking the families who have not registered returning students to turn in the paperwork and fees as soon as possible. Please also let us know if your children will not be returning to St. John.

If you have any questions please contact Stephanie Saunders at 224-8388 x 101.

Science Fair

When: Monday, March 16, 2009

Where: Parish Hall

Time: 5pm - 7pm

Individual and class science projects on display.

We ask each family to bring a gift to the St. Joseph Table. Please bring cookies or pastries to school on the morning of Thursday, March 19.

The 5th Grade class will host a presentation and blessing in the Parish Hall. Please join us.

Classes will line up as usual at the morning bell, then proceed to the Hall after stopping in their classrooms.

Thank you to everyone who has responded with an RSVP to join the children for lunch, and those who have volunteered to help.
Please RSVP by March 16.

Lunch will be served in the Hall. Lunch times are as follows:

11:30 K & 1st
11:40 2nd & 3rd
11:50 4th & 6th
12:00 5th
12:15 7th & 8th

St__Joseph_2009.pdf

We will be painting with acrylics on stretched canvas this month. Express yourself with paints on March 25th from 12:30 to 2:30. Class cost is $20, grades 1-8 welcome. Please register by emailing or calling Susie (265-8951 or susie@europebyexperts.com) or Sandra (258-9258) sandrapaints@comcast.net

Spring Pictures - Free Dress Day

All students will be photographed unless instructed otherwise by parents/guardians. Send no money on picture day, view your portraits before you buy. Your finished portrait package will be sent home for your review. Simply return any un-used portrait sheets with your payment.

All students will be photographed using Pose 2 as shown on the Lifetouch flyer included in your Wednesday Envelope.

- 2009 Track & Field Team Photo - Friday, March 13

- Assistant Coaches Needed for April and May

- Track and Field Day is Sunday, May 17

We need assistant coaches to help with practices in April and May as well as volunteers for the day of the event. (Essentially, if your child is participating in the event, we will need you to volunteer during the meet.) If you are available to help coach students after school, please fill out the attached form and contact Paula Vlaming to discuss availability. We will do our best to set practices according to assistant coach availability and encourage all available parents to assist with practices.

The Track & Field Day for a Team Photo is Friday, March 13th. We will take the photo in the School yard at 3:00. Please wear your 2008 Track & Field T-shirt, St. John's Athletics T-shirt or Jog-a-thon T-shirt for the photo.

Student Track & Field Day Registration forms will be distributed at the end of March. In the meantime, we will continue Trail Tuesdays at Alston Park from 3:30-4:30.

For more information, please contact Paula Vlaming at 363-1046 or paula@focus501.com.

On Saturday, March 7th, Sarah B., Katarina G., Kelasea M., Liam V., Ryley D., Brandon L., Justin M., Tanja J., Shannon M., and Meghan M. competed in the Santa Rosa Diocese Academic Decathlon at Cardinal Newman High School.

The Team won Second Place in the Logic Quiz Section, placing ahead of St. Francis Solano and St. Apollinaris!

Students also earned places in six Individual Exams:

- Brandon L.: First Place in Science (Anatomy)
- Liam V.: First Place in Social Studies (The Civil War)
- Tanja J.: Second Place in Fine Arts and Music (American Art/Nat King Cole)
- Katarina G.: Third Place in Current Events
- Kelsea M.: Tie for Third Place in Literature (Elijah of Buxton)
- Ryley D.: Tie for Third Place in Religion (Vatican II)

Thank you, Mrs. Picard for joining the Team and cheering them on during the Super Quiz! The students also thank the Family Club for their beautifully engraved medals.

Congratulations to each student for their dedication and team effort resulting in a great performance on Saturday! Finally, thank you to the families for supporting the students throughout the year!

Mrs. Berube, Ms. Lee and Mrs. Wooly, Mrs. McClure and Mrs. Vlaming

2009_Decathlon_Team_Photo.pdf

It may seem hard to believe, but the Gala is just around the corner. The Gala will be held on Saturday, April 25th at 5:30 p.m. at the Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa. The event will feature hors d'oeuvres and 3-course dinner, a silent and live auction. So mark your calendars and talk to your friends, families and alumni about joining us for this fun evening. Gala invites will be sent out this week - Look for them in your mail.

Also, there is still time to become a sponsor. Join these family and business sponsors of One Heart at a Time, in celebrating St. John the Baptist Catholic School's 97 years. Your sponsorship plays an important role in the Gala success and we thank you.

DONATIONS STILL NEEDED

Thank you to all that have donated to our upcoming Gala event. Some of you may have thought of a donation you'd like to make, but you haven't turned in a donation form. Not to worry! There is still time to make donations. We still do need items for our silent auction tables.

If you need some ideas, please feel free to contact Elise Negueloua at anegueloua@aol.com.

Gala_Sponsor_Form_09.pdf
2009_Gala_Donation_Form.pdf
Sponsor_&_Auction_Donations_03_10_09.pdf

We're looking for volunteers who enjoy working as a team to help at the One Heart at a Time Gala on Saturday, April 25th.

Volunteers are needed for set up and Silent/Live Auction help. If you've already signed up, I thank you in advance and will be contacting you soon. If you haven't signed up, we'd love to have you join the fun.

Contact Trish Tortolani for more information, 310-1196 or tortolani@sbcglobal.net

Congratulations to everyone for your tremendous effort in turning in those box tops and soup labels. The box tops totals for the past few months are as follows:

November: 495
December: 520
January: 602
February: 210

We have earned $172.00 for our school since November for a grand total of $793.00 since the start of the school year!!! We continue to strive toward our goal or earning $1,000.00 through the Box Top Program this school year.

The Family Club was able to purchase some basketballs, volleyballs, soccer balls and playground balls for the school, in no small part, due to the success of our Box Top Program.

To get the school a "Standard Portable Ball Locker" for the playground is our goal for the Campbell's Soup Label Program. (Look for the picture of the cart on the Family Club bulletin board!) We started with 5300 points in our bank and have submitted another 1700 points for this school year to date. We need 8950 points to get the ball locker. Keep sending in those Campbell's Soup labels!!! Check out the Family Club Bulletin Board for a list of all the qualifying products.

A gentle reminder: please check your Box Tops to make sure they haven't passed their expiration date (yes, they do have expiration dates) and that the UPC codes are intact on your Campbell's labels. Box Tops without or passed their expiration dates and Campbell’s product labels without the UPC codes (bar code) cannot be submitted.

Thank you all for your support of the Box Tops for Education and Labels for Education programs at St. John. We couldn't do it without you!

Lee Tatsuguchi
Rebecca Griffin
Box Top Co-coordinators

Don't forget to check out the websites for ways to earn additional credit for St. John!
www.boxtops4education.com
www.labelsforeducation.com

While we are blessed to have a very active youth ministry for Spanish-speaking youth, coordinated by Luis Juarez, we are additionally blessed to announce that we will begin youth ministry for English-speaking youth later this spring. The coordinators for our new youth programs for Junior High and High School youth are Michele DiMarco and Milton Gallegos -both are faculty members of our St. John the Baptist Catholic School-what a great blessing. Michele and Milton (I call them M&M) will start the programs with an event they are planning around April or so-details to follow. They will include summer events as well. Please join me in congratulating Michele and Milton as they bless us in ministry and service to our youth and all of us in our parish!

Thanks be to God, Fr. Gordon

Michele DiMarco:

Michele is a Mom to sons Vincent and Gianni. Vincent (19) is studying Literature at UC Santa Barbara while Gianni (15) is a freshman at Vintage High School. Michele has worked at St. John the Baptist Catholic School as a physical education teacher for the last 7 years and as the junior high Family Life/Religion teacher for the last 3 years. She is a Catechist and loves the aspect of how spiritual music can be...especially to young people. Michele is pro-active in her belief that the character of a person is one of the most important things to cultivate and she has a steadfast role in the school's anti-bullying, peer support and Smart Kids/Safe Kids program and all based in her beliefs and witness of faith in Christ

Milton Gallegos:

Milton is a 5th year junior high math and science teacher at St. John the Baptist Catholic School. His family came to the Napa Valley from Mexico 47 years ago. His mother is from El Salvador and his father has been in the vineyard business for as many years as a laborer and an owner of a small vineyard. Both of Milton's parents are strongly involved with the Catholic Church and have been leaders in youth ministry and adult couples groups. Raised with these beliefs, Milton has a strong connection to the same. Educated at a Christian college, he realized a great discovery of the Bible in his life. He loves teaching, but those who know him knows he has a great passion as well for coaching soccer, and has been a coach for 14 years and a high school coach for 10. Milton also has an ongoing commitment to our youth with a desire to help special needs youth as well. He will be great to help in re-creating our youth group. Another life changing experience will for Milton when he marries his fiance, Jayme, in August here at St. Johns.

Gallegos_DiMarco_Youth_Ministry.pdf

At our first Generations of Faith meeting, we asked people to come up with what they were giving up or taking on for Lent in "Walking with Jesus". Our children had their own time together and when the large group reformed, one of our children stated that she was going to give up candy and walk with Jesus.

Last week she asked her mom, "..when is Jesus going to come, so I can walk with him and give him candy?"

Our next Generations of Faith encounter is Sunday, March 22 at 11:15 following the 10:00AM Mass English; and 1:15 PM following the Noon Mass Spanish. All are welcome, child care and food are provided. The theme is Holy Week, a wonderful opportunity to come together and focus on the holiest of weeks in our Church year.

When you sacrifice your "alms" for our Lenten outreach with the use of your Bank, the funds will help thousands of people. How? Bishop Dufour, of Montego Bay Jamaica visited our parish and appealed for our help two years ago after a number of hurricanes devastated a large part of his Diocese. Along with homes, a number of churches were destroyed. In addition to funds greatly needed for repair-rebuilding, priests were not paid for quite some time. You have sent over $12,000.00 in aid to the Diocese over the past two years. The money helped rebuild a church and provide the salary for a priest to remain in serving the parish. Whatever we are able to send will make a huge difference in the Catholic life on this poverty stricken island.

Puertas Abiertas Family Resource Center, (SUN, INC.) rents our property across the street from our school and throughout the year helps hundreds of families-adults and children in need with medical and dental support, social services, counseling, and wellness programs. The majority of those receiving aid are classified as "working poor" -not a favorite term-but describes the difficulties that many face especially in light of today's economy.

The Lenten Bank is a wonderful way for us to reach out to those who are less fortunate and share our blessings. Please bring your banks to Mass on Palm Sunday or at our Seder Meal, Wednesday night of Holy Week.

Joyous giving, Fr. Gordon

March 18th from 7-8:30pm in the Justin-Siena High School Library

With Tom Brown

Free for Parents - Sponsored by JSHS Campus Ministry

In our world it is more difficult than ever to be a parent. It is also more difficult than ever to be a high school student. How do we manage parent stress, student stress, societal pressure, and still have students succeed with integrity? How do we do this well as Justin-Siena High School parents in the context of a Catholic, Lasallian education? These are challenging questions for the 21st century parent.

Come spend an engaging evening with other parents to have a meaningful and important conversation. Tom Brown is a St. Helena resident and St. Helena Star Columnist who served as Dean of Academic Advising at Saint Mary's College of California for 27 years. He currently is a consultant and speaker at colleges and universities that are seeking to keep more of the students they enroll.

RSVP to Mr. Andy Hodges by March 16th
hodgesa@justin-siena.org or call 707-255-0950 x 521

Synergy, A Medical Fitness Center
Queen of the Valley Medical Center

This program is a fun way to keep kids active in organized activities. This program is designed to promote an active healthy lifestyle, and to develop both essential and sport specific movement patterns to increase performance as they participate to different activities.

Dates: April 13 - April 17

Campers Ages: 6yrs - 12yrs

Time: 9:00am - 3:00pm

Activities: Fun games, physical fitness activities, and swimming

Cost:
Members $175/week - $125 second child
Non-Members $225/week - $175 second child

Campers will need to bring their own lunch and water bottles. A morning snack will be provided.

For more information, contact Scott Blunt, Youth Fitness Programs Supervisor at 252-4411 x 3888 or scott.blunt@stjoe.org.