Principal’s Letter

I have spent much of the last week reflecting on the legacy of Pope Francis; his faithful commitment to extending human dignity, loving our neighbor, and caring for the most vulnerable is beautifully expressed in this quote:

“Openness to God makes us open towards the marginalized of this world, and gives us the courage to leave the confines of our own security and comfort to become bruised, hurting and dirty as we joyfully approach the suffering other in a spirit of solidarity.” Pope Francis

This openness is a form of saying yes, yes to the call, yes to caring for others, and yes to getting down in the trenches to help our sisters and brothers in need. Tomorrow in Mass we celebrate the crowning of Mary, who exemplified this openness Pope Francis spoke of, this saying ‘yes’. During this Mass, we will also be celebrating two members of the St. John community who live out this humble openness to say ‘yes’ to serving others: Father Crispin and former principal, Bernadette O’Leary. Our ambassador elective students, guided by elective teacher, Jonna Skokan, and parent volunteers, Nick and Aleah Valley, will be leading our community in a special dedication service followed by a revealing of the generous going-away gifts procured by our St. John family last year. Join us for mass at 9am, followed by the unveiling of Father Crispin’s Jambo Bench and Ms. O’Leary’s Soaring Eagle, in the courtyard. Reminder, this is a Dress Uniform day for all students. We look forward to seeing you there.

This afternoon, progress reports were sent home with students in grades 3-8. I encourage you to go over these with your student and help them set goals for the remaining weeks of the trimester. Spring fever is in the air, and these progress reports are often a helpful tool to encourage students to dig deep and focus so they can show their best selves and their best work while here at school.

Over the break, five of our 8th-grade students participated in the State competition for National History Day. There were over 550 competitors! Congratulations to Elle G. and Maise K. for their 5^th place win in the documentary category and a huge shout-out to Noelle K., Lizah M., and Mila W., who took 1^st place in the group performance category; they will be presenting their historical dramatic performance about Sister Helen Prejean’s work to abolish the death penalty at the National competition in June. This is a tremendous accomplishment, and you should all feel very proud of your hard work and perseverance. Way to go!

These next several weeks are full of activities, like Faith Formation’s Parents’ Night Out (this Saturday!), American Heart Association Kids Heart Challenge, Grand Day, Grs. K-2, Skipping School for Sundaes, class field trips, and so much more. Please be sure to check the school calendar and read the weekly emails from teachers to ensure you don’t miss anything.

Good luck to our track team this weekend as they participate in their first preliminary meet. Thank you coaches and volunteers!

We are all God’s masterpiece; let’s continue to say ‘yes’ and do the good work God has prepared for us to do.

Principal Mansfield