It has been a great week listening to the middle school students tell of their experiences. Thank you to the teachers and chaperones who made them possible. The younger students are still out and about. The fifth grade is learning about how to appreciate and care for the environment as they hike Tiger Mountain, and the third grade will attend the Bishop Blanchet musical tomorrow.
These are busy weeks. Teachers are studying the MAP data and analyzing student growth, ensuring that the students have mastered the standards and preparing end-of-the-year activities. As we do that we are also looking forward to next year.
Faculty news: We are delighted to welcome Brent Stinebrickner as the new fifth-grade teacher at St. John. Mr. Stinebrickner currently teaches math at St. Alphonsus School and already knows some of our students as he has coached many St. John/St. Al teams. He possesses more than 25 years of diverse teaching experience in grades one through eight, and has had many varied experiences as a volunteer. He was a Jesuit Volunteer in Medford, Oregon working with diverse cultures informing them of health-care issues. He taught primary phonics, reading, and basic math and high school physical education in Bridgeport, Jamaica with the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. Through the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur volunteer program, he lived and taught on the Navajo and Jicarilla Apache Reservation in New Mexico. A year in Americorps enabled him to teach in an SBD classroom in the Seattle Public Schools. Mr. Stinebrickner told me that it is his “lifelong commitment to social justice and helping those less fortunate that has helped define who I am today.” Please join me in welcoming him to our community.
Interviews for the fourth grade position continue.
Enjoy the long weekend. On Memorial Day, pray for all the men and women who died while serving in the US Armed Forces. Our eighth grade students were very moved by their visit to Arlington. The rows and rows of white crosses remind us of the sacrifices so many have made for our country.
God Bless,
Bernadette O’Leary
