Charger Check-In
March 28, 2024
A Note from Ms. Owens
Easter Break is underway at St. Catherine! We have done a great deal of preparation for this holiest of seasons in our shared Christian faith. Back in February, many classes had students "Bury the Alleluia" as we entered into Lent. Students made Lenten promises in the classes. Some classes posted those promises on their lockers. Our Student Council elicited written Lenten prayers from students and strung them around the school building. Our K-8 students experienced Stations of the Cross accompanied by beautiful music from Mr. Caffee, our choir and our chimers. Our 8th graders presented a moving Living Stations with seriousness and respect. Today, our NJHS presented a Holy Thursday prayer service to our K-8 students. In what has become one of my favorite traditions, Ms. Hanrahan and I were honored to wash the feet of two of our students. I hope your family has a blessed Easter and a restful break.
Thank you to our wonderful FSA for treating the students and staff to delicious Italian ice from Nicky V's on Tuesday at lunch! With the rainy and windy weather, we had to pivot away from Nicky V's sending their food truck. Instead, a crew of FSA moms came in to scoop and distribute the treats. We had lots of blue tongues and lips from all the blue raspberry ice that was consumed and students who chose lemon were excited when they found a piece of lemon in their cup. This treat was a thank you to our students for all of the support and participation they showed to St. Baldrick's. And it was a thank you to Nick V's for donating so many food items to our St. Baldrick's/St. Patrick's event.
We have less than three weeks until we pull the winning tickets for this year's Dream Raffle. And we have 750 tickets left to sell. As the graphic below states, this is the largest fundraiser for the school and church, and this effort helps keep our school tuition as low as possible. The winning tickets will be pulled on Sunday, April 14 which is just one week after we return from Easter Break!
A Bit More News...
- On Tuesday, April 16, Ms. Hess, one of our extraordinary 2nd grade teachers, is hosting an evening of SEL Activities for Young Children. The event will start at 6PM. Click on the link to register your family.
- Tickets are on sale for our FSA's Second Annual Derby Fundraiser. The event is set for Saturday, May 4!
- FSA's Annual Flower Sale as well as the Second Annual Charger Market are set for Saturday, May 11 from 9AM-1PM.
- If you know of an SCA family who owns a small business that we can publicize here to help support them, please reach out to me via email. Scroll down to see local businesses we can support.
Partial Solar Eclipse on April 8
Anticipation is growing for the partial solar eclipse that will be visible to Chicagoland on Monday, April 8. To make things more interesting, of course, this will be our first day back in school following Easter Break! Several of our teachers are excited to share this experience with their students. The school has purchased 500 eclipse viewing glasses from Lunt Solar Systems. The eclipse glasses sold by Lunt have passed all requirements of the ISO 12312-2 standards.
In full transparency, these glasses were manufacutured for an earlier eclipse, but they are brand new and absolutely safe to use. This information from the American Astronomical Society explains that these glasses are safe.
If you have already purchased glasses for your child and would prefer they use those, please send them to school with your child.
If you do NOT want your child to participate in viewing the eclipse, please complete this brief Google Form. The form will close on Monday, March 8 at 9AM.
SCA Athletics to Live-Stream Court Sports
The St. Catherine Athletic Board is excited to share they are working with Hudl, a company that helps schools and other athletic organizations stream and record athletic games. We know this will bring smiles to many people's faces as they will be able to watch games when they can't be at SCA and family members who don't llive in the area will be able to see their loved one play. We also know that this will raise concerns of online safety for other families.
Please know that St. Catherine has worked closely with the legal department from the Archdiocese to ensure we are following the necessary steps to protect the privacy of our students and to protect the school from any potential liability. Here is an overview of the steps St. Catherine will take to protect our students' privacy while also allowing games to be viewed by Charger fans who can't be in the Alexandria Center.
- While Hudl offers a plethora of options, at St. Catherine, we will only be live-streaming games. Games will not be available on-demand. We will not be creating highlight reels for individual student-athletes.
- SCA home games will be available only on Hudl, not on YouTube. Those who want to watch the live-stream will need to create a free account on Hudl. (More information for this will follow at a later date.)
- Recordings of the games will be archived. Coaches will be able to access the recordings to help with skills development. Recordings will not be available to the public.
- St. Catherine will not be sharing any student information with Hudl which means we will NOT be uploading team rosters.
- The parents/guardians of student-athletes playing a court sport will need to sign a consent form regarding live-streaming of their child's image. All members of a team must have signed consent forms in order for that team's games to be live-streamed.
- Signage will be posted prominently in the gym to alert those attending games that the games will be live-streamed.
Additional Information
- The installation process has begun. The Athletic Board hopes to begin live-streaming boys volleyball games this season. (Consent forms will go home to families with boys playing volleyball soon.)
- A contract for the remainder of this school year and the next two school years has been signed with Hudl. The Men's Club will be paying for the contract. The cost for this 2+ year contract is $8,600.
- If you have questions about this decision, please contact the Athletic Board.
Academic Eligibility Pause at Start of Trimester - Dates Adjusted as of 3.28
Our third trimester began on Monday, March 4. In accordance with the policy listed in the Parent-Student Handbook, we will pause academic eligibility for the first three weeks of the trimester. The rationale for this is because, at the start of any marking period, a student who misses a single assignment or who earns a low grade on a single assignment can end up with a failing grade.
- We will resume reviewing grades for academic eligibility on Thursday, March 28 which is Holy Thursday.
- Because we will be on Easter Break until Monday, April 8 and students will not have the opportunity to improve any low grades, we will continue to review grades on Thursday, April 11.
- At that time, any students in 4th-8th grades , along with their parents, earning an F will be notified of their probationary status.
- If that failing grade is still in place on Thursday, April 18, the student will be ineligible to participate in any and all extra-curricular activities until the following Thursday.
Holy Week - Easter Liturgy Schedule 2024
March 28: HOLY THURSDAY
- 8:30am Morning Prayer
- 7:00pm MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
- Exposition of the BLESSED SACRAMENT
- After the Mass of the Lord’s Supper until Midnight; Closing Prayers are at 11:45pm
March 29: GOOD FRIDAY
- 8:30am Morning Prayer
- 3:00pm STATIONS OF THE CROSS
- 7:00pm THE PASSION OF THE LORD
March 30: HOLY SATURDAY
- 8:30am Morning Prayer
- 1:00pm Blessing of Easter Baskets
- 7:30pm EASTER VIGIL MASS
March 31: EASTER SUNDAY MASSES
- 8:00am, 9:30am, 11:30am
- No 6:00pm Mass on Easter Sunday
March 25 - 27: Adoration Chapel - open 3:15pm to 6:15pm
Confession Schedule
- Every Saturday: 3:00pm to 3:45pm
- Good Friday: March 29, 4:00pm to 5:00pm
- No Confessions on Holy Saturday
How to Print Your Year-End Statment from Blackbaud
As tax time approaches, school families can access and print their year-end tuition statements directly from your Blackbaud accounts.
- Please log into your account on the Blackbaud parent site.
- On the homepage, find the "Related Links" section.
- Look for "Family or Student Year-End Statement."
If you have any questions, please email Mary Omiecinski.
The Sunday Collection
Visit the link below to set up your recurring contribution. Donors can change the amount of the contribution or pause it at any time.
Ways to Support Our Local Small Businesses
If you know of an SCA family who owns a small business that we can publicize here to help support them, please reach out to me via email.
This law firm is owned, in part, by an SCA family.
This residential/commercial landscaping and commercial snow removal company is owned by an SCA family.
This small business offers individual basketball training and skill development and is owned by an SCA family.
So Many On-going Ways to Support St. Catherine!
Upcoming Events
Friday, March 29
- Good Friday
- Start of Easter Break
Sunday, March 31
- Easter Sunday
Monday, April 8
- School resumes
- Partial Solar Eclipse
About us
Website: www.scaoaklawn.org
Location: 10621 South Kedvale Avenue, Oak Lawn, IL, USA
Phone: 708-425-5547
Facebook: facebook.com/scaoaklawn/