Tiger News
February 17, 2023
INTRODUCING INCOMING HEADMASTER: MR. ANTHONY 'TONY' HENELY!
St. Joseph Catholic Community,
It is with the greatest pleasure that I write to you as the incoming headmaster of St. Joseph Catholic Academy (SJCA) effective in April 2023. It is my privilege to become a part of the SJCA family and community. I have only had limited interactions with the faculty and parents thus far but I can already tell that this is a unique and special ministry that I am happy to become a part of.
I come to you with 12 years of professional experience as a Soldier; however I do have an academic background in physical education and leadership. I used these skills to train and educate thousands of men and women in uniform. Most recently I served as a leader here at Fort Hood and the local community. I serve at both St. Joseph and St. Stephen Catholic Church: as an officer at St. Stephen Council Knights of Columbus and an adult catechist. I am also a men's fellowship leader at St. Joseph Catholic Church.
I have spent the past month working with Ms. Alvarez to ensure that we have a smooth transition. I will continue to get to know our community, and familiarize myself with the unique needs of our school. I believe that every student deserves a quality Catholic education and that only happens when our educators and our families work together for the best interests of our children. With that in mind, I am calling on all of our faculty, staff, and parents to be witnesses to Christ so that we can best serve our students.
I believe my main responsibility is to set the example and equip teachers to be the best walking, talking, breathing examples of the gospel. They will, in turn, set a fire in our students' hearts; a fire for our Lord and His mission.
To be clear, my priorities for our school are:
#1) to continue fostering a culture of strong Catholic identity
AND
#2) to continue building a community that believes in our school's mission.
I look forward to meeting all of you and please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions, concerns, or ideas you would like to share.
Ite ad Ioseph,
Tony Henely
Incoming Headmaster
St. Joseph Catholic Academy
ADMISSIONS
Tuition for the 2023-2024 Academic School Year
St. Joseph Catholic Academy strives to provide an outstanding classical education while keeping costs to our families as low as possible. The last year has been difficult for many, including our Academy and those in our programs. This has been a difficult decision, yet we feel that to maintain our quality of education, and offer our qualified staff a competitive wage, a tuition increase is necessary. On average, the increase is approximately $9.23 a week on the 10-month plan and approximately $8.39 a week on the 11-month plan. As enrollment opens for our current families on February 13, 2023, for the upcoming school year the following tuition increases will be effective:
Pre-K3 and Pre-K4: $6,930 yearly tuition
Kinder-8th Grade: $6,363 yearly tuition
High School: $9,975 yearly tuition
I would like to thank all the parents who have been meeting all school expenses on time. Thank you in advance for your kind cooperation and continued support as we strive to maintain our quality of education and offer competitive wages to our qualified staff.
God Bless,
L. Monica Alvarez
Interim Headmaster
Scholarships
ACE SCHOLARSHIP
The ACE Scholarship application will open on February 6, 2023, and close April 18, 2023, at 11:59 PM EST.
Click HERE to apply!
FOLDS OF HONOR
Parents/Guardians,
It is that time of year! If you are receiving this email, I have you as a previous or eligible recipient of the Folds of Honor scholarship for your students tuition. Scholarships are $5,000 per student per academic school year. The funds may be used to cover tuition expenses or private professional tutoring. The scholarship is for Kindergarten aged children through university studies. Eligibility is determined by being a child of a veteran service member who has a current disability rating of 90% or greater or blue star family.
Applications for the 23/24 school year will open on Wednesday, February 1st until March 31st. Scholarships are awarded on a First Come First Served basis, so please complete and submit your full application as soon as possible. Remember you will need a verification letter for your application from the school. As soon as the portal opens on Wednesday, and I am able to fill out the school portion of the Private School Verification Form, I will prepare a stock form and make it available to you at the business office. Please be sure to sign out a form so I am able to track families for scholarship agreements for the 23/24 tuition contracts.
Below are some helpful links for you to begin preparing your application:
VA Verification Instruction Letter: Must be current letter
FOH Application Portal: Open February 1st - March 31st
In Christ,
Mary Garcia
Director of Relationships
ATHLETICS
Archery
4th Grade:
Joshua Long
Catherine Mallory
Marley Morel
Mia Thomas
5th Grade
Carmela Freed
Jacob Roeder
Valerie Urieta
6th Grade
Cameron Barnes
Ashley Campbell
Sophia Hale
Rachel Minges
Rachel Pettigrew
Robert Taylor
7th Grade:
Hailey Dodge
Amelia Garcia
Elizabeth McBride
Elisabeth Molina
Alexander Roeder
Aiden Trandem
8th Grade
Eden Balingit
Emily McBride
Danica Sauter
Submitted by Mary Garcia
ADVISORY BOARD FOR THE SJCA
Mr. Ned Ewart
Dr. John Idoux, Ph.D.
John Idoux was raised and reared in Houston. He received his Bachelor degree from the University of St. Thomas and went to graduate school at Texas A&M University where he received his Ph.D. in Chemistry.
For 55+ years he has had the privilege to serve at five different universities as a Professor, Researcher, Dean, Vice President and President. He was blessed with a wonderful wife who God called home several years ago, and with a caring, loving family of 4 children and 12 grandchildren. More recently, God blessed him with a new wife, Maria Garcia-Idoux.
It has been John's honor to be an active member of St. Paul Chong Hasang, as an Acolyte, Lector and Eucharistic Minister. He is thrilled to be serving as a member of the Board at St. Joseph's Catholic Academy.
Mrs. Leah McGee
Leah McGee grew up in Dalhart, TX and received her bachelor degree in English Literature from Texas A&M University.
Leah has worked at the Event Center, Messina Hof Winery and Resort, and the Ferrari-Carano Vineyards and Winery. She owned her own business consulting with vineyards and restaurants and is currently the business owner of State Farm in Harker Heights.
She wed her husband Patrick in 2007. Together they have three children: Patrick (13), Liam (10), and Taryn (8).
Leah and her family are active parishioners at St. Paul Chong Hasang in Harker Heights. In April 2017, Leah joined the St Joseph Catholic Academy Board where she has served as the Fundraising Committee Chair and Board Secretary.
Mrs. Minerva Trujillo
Minerva Trujillo began as a teacher and served as principal at three schools and a board member for more than a decade! Ms. Trujillo received her Bachelor's Degree in Education from Eastern New Mexico University and Master's Degree in Education (Spanish) from Auburn University.
Ms. Trujillo taught in Kentucky, Kansas, and New Mexico before she settled into Texas. Here she found a home with the Killeen Independent School District where she taught from 1980-1985.
Afterward, she held the role of Assistant Principal at Nolan, Manor, Smith Middle School. In 1993, she began holding role of Principal at the following schools: Willow Springs Elementary, Maxdale Elementary, and Audie Murphy Middle School. Following her retirement in 2009, Ms. Trujillo served on KISD School District board of Trustees until 2021.
Dr. Stephen Vitucci, Ph.D.
After serving at in the military for 20 years, Dr. Vitucci went on to serve as a Program Coordinator, Dean, Professor, Director of the MBA Program and the Director of Military Programs at the Central Texas A&M College.
Mr. Matthew Yowell
Matt Yowell was born and raised in Killeen, Texas. He is the Co-Owner & Investor of Flintrock Builders. His philosophy is that you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. Matt is a 10-year veteran of the K.I.S.D. Technology Services Department as an analyst and project manager. While also managing his home ranch, Matt works hard every day so that his family can be proud of what he does.
Mr. Yowell joined the board in the Summer 2022 and will be heading the School's Building Committee.
BOOSTERS
The St. Nicholas Christmas Store
THANK YOU to all of our staff, students, parents and volunteers who help make our St. Nicholas Christmas Store a huge success! We had such an overwhelming demand that we needed to resupply our store not only once, but twice! Your efforts helped us to raise just over $1,000 in profits! This money will go toward all students in an effort to alleviate the cost of classroom field trips.
We look forward to seeing you all again when we reopen our store in November!
Should you wish to provide any feedback, please email volunteering@sjc-academy.org.
March Spirit Snacks!
To order a Spirit Snack(s), please scan the QR code or click here!
We would absolutely love for you to join us on Friday, March 10th from 8:30AM-11:00AM to help make and deliver the snacks. Please do not feel the need to arrange childcare-we welcome your little ones.
To sign-up as a volunteer, please click here!
March Booster Meeting
CAMPUS MINISTRY
What is Eucharistic Adoration?
Do you know what Eucharistic Adoration is? It is a time to spend intimate time with the Lord where we can speak to him in our hearts face to face in the Holy Eucharist.
We have Adoration from 9am-9pm every Friday in the church, and we encourage all of you to take a little moment out of the busyness of your day.
Come and spend some time with Our Blessed Lord!
Submitted by: Fr. Chris Downey
9th Grade Attends DCYC
Grace McKenna, Montserrat Hernandez, Addie Garcia, and Jameson Seim recently had the opportunity to attend the Austin Diocese Catholic Youth Conference (DCYC) from February 3-5! At the heart of DCYC is an opportunity for young people to encounter the person of Christ. All weekend there were moments of prayer and joyful celebrations of the Sacraments. We are thrilled that our youth were provided with such an incredible experience that helped them grow closer with God.
Submitted by: Mary Garcia
NEW School Mass Schedule
Wednesday @ 8:15 AM: Elementary (PK3-5th Grades)
Thursday @ 8:15 AM: MS/HS (6th-10th Grades)
Separating the Elementary Students from the middle and high school students will allow Fr. Chis to tailor his homilies to the children's level of maturity. He is excited to be able to break-down the readings to the younger children and provide more in-depth teachings to our older children.
Please join us at 8:15 AM to celebrate the Mass as a school family on Wednesdays and Thursdays!
CLASSICAL CORNER
Why Latin?
It's a dead language! It's not practical! Children should be learning a language in which they can converse! We've all heard these statements. Perhaps we have even made these same statements. So, why Latin? Let's delve in a bit further.
The main goal of a Classical Education is to educate every facet of a child's mind. This means that children should not solely be educated in Language Arts and Mathematics, but also Art, History, Science, Gymnasium, and Music. In educating every facet, we are able to provide them with the highest possible level of education so that they may do the work of God himself through their lives.
Training a child’s mind to understand Latin is equivalent to handing them a giant key to unlock all the romance languages and develop a better understanding of the English language. Rather than providing the ability to converse in only one language, Latin provides so much more:
- Latin was the language used by theologians and philosophers for the majority of Western history. Learning Latin allows students to engage with works fundamental to the Western canon without having to rely on a potentially inaccurate or misleading translation. This exposure allows students to truly engage with a work as it is meant to be read.
- Because languages tend to simplify, an ancient language like Latin is relatively complex and systematic, and learning it makes students more conscious of the structure of their own language and therefore able to express themselves more precisely.
- About 80 percent of the vocabulary of the five Romantic languages (French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian) comes from Latin. These languages are actually forms of Latin that have evolved over the centuries in various regions with some interaction from other local tongues. To learn Latin is the beginning of a study of six languages at once.
- Studying Latin aids students in mastering English. Because over 50 percent of all English words are derived from Latin—along with 80 to 90 percent of all polysyllabic words—students will greatly expand their vocabulary. The regular grammar of Latin is ideal for learning English grammar as well as the grammar of many other languages.
- For professional careers like law and medicine, Latin provides yet another bonus. Because these fields require precision in language, Latin is typically their base for technical terms and names. It will also be helpful for fields including science, music, theology, philosophy, art and literature.
- Learning Latin has an educational virtue as it is an ongoing practice in linguistic puzzle-solving that generally helps students to become close and thoughtful readers and writers. Many scholars believe it also hones the mental faculties, cultivating careful analysis and attention.
Latin is very much alive and it's roots are prevalent in our lives today!
CLASSROOM HAPPENINGS
PRE-K & KINDER CHINESE NEW YEAR PARADE
Pre-K & Kinder Chinese New Year Parade
Children paraded around the hallways of the Academy!
Mr. Scott Looks onward at the parade of students.
Why is our Catholic school teaching about Chinese culture?
Providing our children with a comprehensive education encourages excellent discussions, some of which will be difficult. The ultimate goal of the classical model is to provide a solid foundation where they will grow stronger in the Catholic faith and better able to defend it to the world.
Celebrating the Chinese New Year is a cultural tradition-not a religious one.
5th Grade Field Trip to Camp Kappe
5th Grade Spends a Week at Camp Kappe
Water Analysis
Dissection
SPIRIT SHIRTS FOR MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOLERS (6-10TH GRADES)
These designs are available for your child to purchase through Saturday, February 25!
*Please note that these Spirit Shirt designs are available for MS/HS students only. There are t-shirts available for elementary students in the SJCA Business Office.
9th Grade Field Trip to CTC
9th & 10th graders stand outside Central Texas College Duck Pond.
Students enjoyed a tour at CTC.
Dr. Mumphrey addressing students on their recent visit to CTC.
School Personnel News
Congratulations to Mary Garcia, Director of Relations!
Mrs. Garcia can be reached at mary.garcia@sjc-academy.org.
Welcome William Shook, Interim Athletic Coach!
Mr. Shook can be reached at will.shook@sjc-academy.org.
Welcome Sofia Abarca Soza, Art Teacher!
Ms. Abarca joins the SJCA team as the Art Teacher! She has hit the ground running and is excited for students to learn about art history, color theory, elements of art, and how to work around these fields while having the creative freedom to express themselves and create their own narratives!
Ms. Abarca can be reached at sofia.abarcasoza@sjc-academy.org.
Sending Well Wishes
Calendar Highlights
- 2/13-2/24: NWEA Testing
- 2/14: Soccer Practice & Season Begins
- 2/18: Casino Night!
- 2/20: President's Day (No School)
- 2/22-2/27: Engineer Week (Partnership with Fort Hood's Charlie Team's, 3-393 BEB)
- 2/25: Archery IBO Competition
- 3/2 & 3/3: Parent Teacher Conferences
- 3/10: Start of Spring Break (Early Out)
- 3/13-3/20: Spring Break
- 3/21: 4th Quarter Begins
- 3/22-3/23: Archery NASP Tournament
- 4/4: 7th Grade Field Trip (Chocolate Factory in Bryan, TX)
- 4/5: Start of Easter Break (Early Out)
- 4/6-4/10: Easter Break
- 4/17-4/28: NWEA Testing
- 5/8-5/12: Teacher Appreciation Week
- 5/25: Last Day of School (Early Out)
JOIN US FOR OUR ANNUAL CASINO NIGHT!
Thank you for understanding that we are unable to accept children not toilet trained due to liability.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Need volunteer hours?! Join our team to help make Casino Night a success!
We have a fantastic volunteer opportunity next weekend!
EIM is NOT required at the actual Casino Night , as this is an adult-only function!
EIM will be required for those volunteering to babysit.
Click HERE to sign-up!
Spirit Snacks: March 10
To sign-up as a volunteer, please click here!
About Us:
Ms. L. Monica Alvarez
Interim Headmaster
Dr. Priscilla Mumphrey
Interim Assistant Headmaster
Student/Teacher Relations
priscilla.mumphrey@sjc-academy.org
Dr. Lora Van Arsdell
School Counselor
lora.vanarsdell@sjc-academy.org
Mrs. Mary Garcia
Director of Relations
Newsletter Submissions may be sent to volunteering@sjc-academy.org.
All articles will be reviewed by the Headmaster prior to publication.
Website: https://www.sjc-academy.org/
Location: 2901 East Rancier Avenue, Killeen, TX, USA
Phone: 254-634-7272
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sjcskilleen
Compiled by Stephanie Long