December 13th Letter from Mr. Kelly
Memorial of Saint Lucy
Dear St. James/Seton Catholic School Community,
I do enjoy the Christmas season, and I’ll bet you do too! One of the important parts of Christmas is the traditions that go from year to year. Many of my favorite memories of Christmas come from the traditions my family observed when I was a boy. As this Christmas approaches we have an opportunity to create and celebrate meaningful traditions with our families. Very often, a simple practice or the display of an object that is meaningful to a family can easily become a custom or tradition. Family values are reflected in the way these traditions are consistently practiced, and these practices can become a lens through which family members view their lives and shape their opinions. Traditions also are an important way of handing down information, beliefs, and customs. I hope this Christmas season is a time for your family to develop new traditions that will be fun, and provide comfort and strength to your children well into their adult lives. We are blessed that the Catholic Church also has many traditions and rituals that provide a special sense of meaning for those who practice them. The Rosary, Stations of the Cross, and of course the liturgy are just a few of the rituals and rites that have been handed down to us. As the year progresses I hope these are an important part of your family’s faith life.
The end of the quarter is Friday the 20th of December. Please encourage your student to keep the focus and effort high both before and after Christmas break. The teachers will continue to teach and cover new material so the students will need to continue to put forth good effort.
As we make our way to the new calendar year here are a few reminders about the participation requirements at SJS. The job of making a school successful requires more than just teachers. It requires adults who are willing to give of themselves for the betterment of the school. Adults who are willing to surround our students with examples of faith, compassion, and dedication. At SJS each family (K-8) is required to perform 20 hours of volunteer work for the school or parish. Single-parent families are required to perform 10 hours. There are many benefits to this program: It provides incentive to get to know other families and parents, it helps to keep down school costs and tuition, and it also is a great selling point for our school. As I speak to new families I can tell them that our parents are so committed to SJS that our families volunteer over 10,000 hours a year. If you need to secure more parent participation hours before the end of the year, you can consider fish frys, sports teams, and volunteering in the church. If you have a skill that would be beneficial to the school please contact the office or rectory. I am very grateful for the continued generous nature of our school families, and thank you for all you do. If you have not logged in your hours, once you are done simply submit an email to- parentparticipation@sjsomaha.org that outlines how you completed your hours.
Don’t forget to pick up your Terra Nova results in the office, grades 3-8. Thanks for all you do.
Peace,
William Kelly
Principal
