Dear St. Dominic School Families,

We are now fully in the season of Lent, which began with a beautiful Ash Wednesday Mass and continues with our popsicle stick activity. Students are praying, fasting, and giving alms in so many different ways each day. We are living the art of Lent at SDS. Please send in paper towels for the L'Arche Home, if you can, before March 19.

Now that all Mustard Seed money has been collected, I'm excited to announce that we have collected $10,000! That is unbelievable. The student who ran the most laps is Dominic Longmeier in 6th grade. The student who collected the most money is Juli Crespo in 6th grade. And the class with the highest participation is 5th grade. They will get extra game time in the gym with Miss Kennedy. Thank you to everyone who supported our runners. If you ever get a chance to travel to El Salvador with the parish, as I have, you will see first-hand how impactful a college education is on our sister community in Chultiapain. On behalf of Jeffrey and the other ESSOC Scholars, thank you.

There are lots of events coming up in March, so be sure to read the Week Ahead. You may have noticed that we added a Wednesday Mass to the calendar on March 8. That day, five men from the El Salvador program will be visiting our school. Oscar, Jesus, Raoul, Herbert, and Aristedes will join us for Mass, visit classrooms, and enjoy a lunch with rectory and school staff. We're excited to welcome them to St. Dominic School.

God bless you,

Mrs. Maureen Covington

Each month, this space will include the students who are recognized for being leaders at St. Dominic School. After our Friday masses, Mrs. Covington announces the names of all the student leaders who have been recognized. She will then bring them a bracelet that says "I am a leader at St. Dominic School" and take their picture. Pictures are displayed on the bulletin board off the main entrance area.

Teachers, parents, and fellow students are encouraged to identify students who lead in worshipping, learning, serving, and connecting. These are students who go above and beyond by giving of their time, recognizing a need, and putting others ahead of themselves.

A huge ‘thank you’ to all families that came out for the Pancake Breakfast. It seemed everyone really enjoyed themselves while supporting our kids. It was so fun to watch everyone catch their breakfast!

Spring is almost here which means we’re right around the corner for the annual St. Dominic Show. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year and really depends on volunteers to make this show run smoothly. Please take the time to open the Sign Up Genius and see what opportunities we have for you to get involved. We are calling for all handymen and handywomen! We have a HUGE need for adults to help build sets with the stage crew. We also have slots available for ushers on the night of the show, costume coordinators for different classrooms and dressers for the night of the show. If you have any questions about a position you might be interested in but want more information please contact me at ksislak@stdominicschool.net.

Do you own a business? Wouldn’t it be great to advertise your business to a captive audience for an extremely reasonable price? Please consider placing either a business or family ad in the St. Dominic Show program. Contact Pantshia Gardner at pantshia28@yahoo.com for business ads. For any parent ads wishing your child “good luck” in the performance please contact Meredith Manning at mmanning@stdominicschool.net. Order forms for the program will go home soon.

FEA supports our teachers and our students. Every bus we have to rent for a field trip is $400-$500! Please help our largest fundraiser be our most successful one yet by volunteering and/or placing ads in the program.

The Bulldog Club wants to extend a huge THANK YOU to Mark Pecot for leading this year's St. Dominic Basketball Tournament, as well as all the volunteers that made it a great event! Kudos also to all the players for their efforts and sportsmanship and to the parents, family and friends that came out to cheer on the 7th and 8th grade teams! In the Championship games, our 8th grade St. Dominic boys team were runners up to St. Stanislaus. Our 7th grade St. Dominic boys (Team Hillmon) won against St. Paschal.

Additionally, spring sports will be starting up in the very near future. We will be hosting Rugrats Track (grades K-2) and CYO Track (grades 3-8). For sports that St. Dominic will not be hosting teams (ex. Lacrosse, Volleyball), kids may be able to participate with other local area schools. If you have any questions or concerns, contact athletic director Treye Johnson at st.dominic.bulldogs@gmail.com. Additionally, Dave Dahnert will once again be offering tennis clinics for 3-8 grade students. Interested families can register directly with him at ddahnert@stdominicschool.net.

Recent research has shown that schools that promote social and emotional development were the most effective at supporting long-term student success, as students in these schools had fewer absences, and more students graduated and went on to college.

At St. Dominic School, teachers at all grade levels incorporate components of social-emotional learning (SEL) during their day. These include concepts regarding self-awareness and relationship skills, just to name two. 5th-8th grade students, however, meet weekly for a 30-minute Advisory Class, during which various SEL lessons are covered. Some of the topics have included community-building, goal-setting, conflict resolution, and negative vs positive thinking. We also just completed some sessions about gratitude. After learning how gratitude is associated with greater happiness, improved health, and stronger relationships, students reflected about sources of gratitude in their own lives, specifically in regard to St. Dominic School. The 3 minute video below is a compilation of their answers.

"The limit would increase to 400% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, which would be $111,000 for a family of four, under DeWine’s proposal."

Download and use the Boxtops for Education app. Scan your purchases and a portion of your purchases will go toward St. Dominic School. Read more here: https://www.boxtops4education.com/s/get-the-app

Thank you so much!

We have a digital calendar for school families, which you can synch to your devices. Here is the link for Google calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=info%40stdominicschool.net&ctz=America%2FNew_York

Here is the link for ical: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/info%40stdominicschool.net/public/basic.ics

Tomorrow's Leaders Start Here

Email: info@stdominicschool.net
Website: www.stdominicschool.net
Location: 3455 Norwood Road, Shaker Heights, OH, USA
Phone: (216)561-4400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stdominicschool/?ref=bookmarks
Twitter: @StDomShaker