I am excited to announce the 2nd grade Teacher for the 2023-2024 school year is Mrs. Jessica Wunderlich! The Crusader Staff has been blessed to work with Mrs. Wunderlich the past couple of years in different capacities (Substitute Teacher, Kindergarten Classroom Aide, and now as a full time Teacher.) Mrs. Wunderlich has 6 years of classroom experience.

Below is a brief bio about Mrs. Wunderlich:
Hello! My name is Jessica Wunderlich. I am very excited to be the 2nd grade Teacher this year! My husband Kyle and I have been married for 16 years and we have two children, Kylie (6th grade) and Drew (4th grade). My family and I have been members of St. Francis De Sales for the past 9 years. We love the community and support we have at SFDS parish and school! Prior to having children, I used my Early Childhood Education degree and taught for five years as a Preschool and 3rd grade teacher. I have spent the last few years working as the Kindergarten Teacher Aide and substitute teaching at SFDS.

In my extra time, I enjoy spending time with my family, watching my kids participate in sports, gardening, coaching, and playing volleyball. I look forward to helping the SFDS students learn all that they can and spread the love of Jesus to them each day!

Please join me in welcoming Mrs. Wunderlich!

My name is Christina DeStefano, and I'm excited to be the new Kindergarten Aide at St. Francis.

My son Dominic, is in 4th grade and my daughter, Juliana, is in 1st grade at St. Francis.

I am a Lakota West and Miami University graduate. I have worked with kids since I was 18 years old and for the past 10 years I have been a stay-at-home mom.

I am excited to start this new journey. This is going to be a great school year!

Please join me in welcoming Mrs. DeStefano!

Whether as room parent, cafeteria, library, playground, coach, chaperone or committee member, our volunteers play a key role in the success of our school. Parent and grandparent volunteers have a first-hand opportunity to see their child’s daily activities and interactions, meet their teachers and friends, and have an active role in their child’s school environment.

St. Francis de Sales School, along with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, operates in full compliance with The Decree on Child Protection which requires Safe Parish training and electronic background checks for all volunteers.

1. To register for training, visit AoC Safe Parish (aocsafeenvironment.org) and click Register on the top right. The passcode is protectcincy.
2. Complete the online Selection.com background check.
3. Complete quarterly bulletins throughout the year. The bulletins will be sent to your email.

If the steps above are not complete, then the individual will be unable to volunteer within the school.

Lunch Volunteers Needed

Are you able to open fruit cups? Can you clean up spilled milk? Then we have the job for you! We are looking for lunchroom volunteers to aid our kids through the lunch line and while they eat.

Recess Volunteers Needed

Do you like watching children play? Do you want to help the teacher keep an eye on the children as they play on the playground and/or play kickball? We are looking for recess volunteers to aid the classroom teacher through recess supervision.

The dates and times for lunch and recess are listed below.

K-3 LUNCH: 12:00-12:25 p.m.

K-3 RECESS: 12:30-12:50 p.m.

Grades 4-8 LUNCH: 12:30-12:50

Grades 4-8 RECESS: 12:00-12:25 p.m.

Please contact Mallory Grau (mallory.lamb@yahoo.com or 513-850-3758) if you would like to sign up for lunch + recess supervision.

You may give her your specifics such as the following:

Preference for Lunch or Recess Supervision

Preference for Day of the Week

Preference for Grade Levels to Supervise

All volunteers do need to be Safe Parish trained prior to volunteering.

• Basketball: 3rd-8th grade (Boys and Girls). Possibly 2nd grade if there is enough interest.
• Cross-Country: 5th-8th grade (Boys and Girls)
• Golf: 4th-8th grade (Boys and Girls)
• Track: Kindergarten-8th grade (Boys and Girls)
• Volleyball: 3rd-8th grade (Boys and Girls)

Once the committees are formed, for each event, there will be a meeting scheduled with Mrs. Bitzer to schedule a date and go over the details.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to plan the fun school events for the students.

Our youth ministry program (grades 6-12) are undergoing some changes. Most significantly, we've split into two groups. Grades 6-8 are meeting Tuesday nights (6:30-8:30), while high school is meeting Wednesday nights (6:30-8:30). We are also alternating parish campuses every month. Currently in August, we are meeting at St. Francis. In September, we will meet at St. Philip, and we will continue to alternate the following months. Everyone in grades 6-12 are invited to participate in these programs; they don't have to be parishioners to come! So friends are always welcome. We are also introducing monthly special events in youth ministry. These are still going through last minute planning, but keep on the lookout for more info!

Registration Form

Unlike previous years, we are now using one registration form for all of our programs. This greatly simplifies the registration process on the office side of things, and hopefully will streamline things for families as well. If you haven't registered for PREP, PSR, or youth ministry yet, you can do so at this link: https://forms.fillout.com/t/mqjHFsjCGjus. Online payment (if applicable for your situation) is still done at our individual parish websites under the giving tabs. If you have any problems, please let me know.

Social Media

We're joining the world of social media! We've set up Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube accounts. Our Facebook page will mostly be a way to get information out to families, such as upcoming events, notification of a snow day, and the like. Instagram will have some of that, but will also be used to share spiritual reminders through the week. YouTube will be used to share the talks at youth ministry so kids who can't make it or families who are interested can keep up with what we're doing on the spiritual side of things. Here’s links to our social media accounts (they all are titled St. John Bosco Youth Ministry):

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094742367034

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sjbym242/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SJBYM

PJ Ehling
Director of Faith Formation
St. Philip the Apostle and St. Francis de Sales