Mentorship and the 8th Graders

I have the privilege of greeting our 8th graders as they arrive to school each morning. I give them a few expectation reminders in our less than 5-second interaction. The expectation reminders consist of: "Be a positive leader, work hard, finish strong, and continue to be wonderful/awesome." Sometimes, I'll ask them about their grades, a recent athletic event, upcoming confirmation, or pending assignments and tests. With some of the students, I can hear their eyes roll when I greet them. Cannot say that I blame them. The good thing is that they all acknowledge my morning greeting. I expect nothing less because they are extremely polite and well-mannered.

Why do I do this? Because I genuinely care about my students and want them to all be positive leaders, work hard, finish strong, and continue to be wonderful/awesome. Also, the 8th graders don't realize they are setting an example for all the younger students. The younger students notice the 8th graders through their words and actions. I want them to set positive examples for the rest of the student body to emulate. If the 8th graders do set positive examples, they become mentors to the younger students.

We all need mentors, many mentors. Hate to think where I'd be without my mentors. Most of the time, our mentors have no idea they play this role in our lives. They just do the right things in their everyday lives and we learn from their expertise and examples. "The man of noble mind forms designs and stands firm in his nobility." Isaiah 32:8 That's how I view a mentor; standing firm in his or her nobility.

Our mentors change throughout our lives as we develop. Growing up, my mentors were mainly my parents, teachers, and coaches. Even though they helped shape my life and will forever be considered mentors, they are not necessarily my main mentors today. Our mentors change as we proceed in life and business. Tomorrow's mentors might be different than today's. But then again, some of my mentors have been the same for some time now.

I have many mentors and I'm thankful for the part they play in my life. Through their actions, time, guidance, and patience, these folks have helped me become the educational leader, more importantly, the person I have become. They each unknowingly mentor me in different areas of life. 

We have to keep in mind that we too are mentors to others. Just as my mentors really don't know they play this role in my life, we don't necessarily know who we mentor. This makes it even more important that we are positive leaders in our everyday lives. Our examples tell and show our story to those around us. We learn how to be from positive examples set by those who mentor us.

For our students their parents, teachers, and coaches are their main mentors. One day this will change, but for now we are their mentors and we need to be mindful of our role in their lives. It is up to us to show constant and positive leadership; to stand firm in our nobility. And, it is up to us to not make their lives easier, but to challenge them to work hard and be positive leaders themselves. When we are not setting high goals and expectations of our children/students, we are not being the mentors they need.

Our 8th graders will be leaving St. Ann on a high note. They are performing exceptionally well academically, near completion with confirmation preparation, have their high school plans set, and have helped to make St. Ann a better Catholic school. Even though we are excited that they are moving on to the next phase of their lives, they will be truly missed. For the final 7-weeks at St. Ann, we hope they continue to mentor our younger students and stand firm in their nobility.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

Previous Blog: https://didieraur.blogspot.com/2021/03/be-prepared.html

Be Prepared

On Tuesday of Spring Break, I biked the Delta Heritage Trail for the first time. Started the ride in Lexa, Arkansas, located near Helena, not far from the Mississippi River. The plan was to ride to Elaine, AR and back to Lexa for a total riding distance of 41 miles. This was supposed to be another of my many fun and carefree rides. I actually came up with the idea of making this ride the night before, and wanted it to be a great day of riding. How quickly I discovered that I was not prepared at all for this ride.

Unlike the trails I have been riding such as the Greenline and Gulf State Park, this was a gravel trail with lots of rocks and sand. There is a paved section of this trail, but that section is a short one. The trail blew out both my tires, but not until I was 18 miles into the ride. That's when the rear tire started leaking. Somehow, my patch kit wasn’t in my bike pouch. I have no idea where I had placed the kit. I decided to continue the ride to Elaine to see if maybe there was a store there where I could get some help to repair the tire. No such luck.

I had to pump up the rear tire every 2 miles. At the 28-mile mark, had to now pump up the rear tire every mile. Extremely difficult to pedal through gravel, sand, and rocks on deflated tires. At about the 39-mile mark of my ride, the rear tire finally gave out completely and the front tire started leaking air. Had to walk the bike the last mile and a half. There was no more riding and my ride became a walk.

I have a hybrid bike. It is a cross between a road and touring bike with thinner, smoother tires. The tires are not meant for rough trails. I needed better trail tires to make this ride. It is also a lighter bike than a trail bike. So, the bike gets beat up riding a rocky trail as does the rider.

Because this went from a 3-hour bike ride to an over 5-hour bike ride, I didn’t have enough water to make it to the end. The temperature was 85 degrees, which required even more water. I rode 41 miles, saw no one on the trail, and there was nowhere to stop for help. My one choice was to suck it up and ride. That's what I did.

What did I learn from this ride? Be prepared! I need to be better prepared especially in dealing with the unknown.

I should have learned from our planning for the reopening of the school during this pandemic. We were so ready and so prepared for the unknown that nothing was going to go wrong. Nothing! And, nothing did go wrong. Everything went better than expected. 

I am so proud of everyone who helped plan for the 2020-21 school year. They were all a Godsend with positive, problem-solving attitudes. No one sat back and waited for others to plan. Everyone stepping up and joined-in to make this school year happen. Because of these forward thinking and acting folks, we were ready and prepared. This has turned out to be a fantastic school year. When you think of all that has taken place, I think this has been the best school year of my 31-years as an educator.

In the words of Paul Harvey: "Now for the rest of the story." If you are too young to know Paul Harvey, look him up. He was one of the greatest news personalities this country has ever seen.

At the 12-mile mark is the city of Lake View. There is a nice trail rest stop in Lake View. That's where I was when I received a text from Andrew Post, Layla Post's husband, notifying me of the birth of their son, Andrew Cyrus Post. I took a short break from riding to forward his text to the St. Ann staff members because we had all been awaiting the news. The birth announcement was one of the highlights of the ride.

The other highlight happened just before the 18-mile mark. That's when I started my prayers. I like to pray when I ride. I apologized to God for not praying as often as I should. That's when I felt the rear tire starting to go flat. If you pray, this next part makes sense. In feeling the rear tire going flat, I didn't question, I didn't complain. I just said, "I get it." For the rest of the long and painful bike ride, I thanked God for giving us this opportunity and extra time to spend together in prayer. So, instead of being upset about not preparing properly for this ride, I recognized my need to spend more time in prayer. So, I used this time to pray. What turned out to be one of the most physically demanding and painful things I have ever done also turned out to be a blessing in allowing me time to pray.

My lack of preparation turned into something good and great. On that ride, I learned about the arrival of the newest member to our St. Ann family, and I spent several hours of uninterrupted prayer time. Even though it took me several days to recover physically, I'm glad my Delta Heritage Trail ride took place. On the ride, God used that time to remind me the importance of and the need to appreciate both life and prayer.

Congratulations to Andrew and Layla Post on the arrival of their son. And, thank you God for your many blessings.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

Previous Blog: https://didieraur.blogspot.com/2021/03/is-that-light-we-are-seeing.html

Is That a Light We Are Seeing?

Is that a light we are seeing at the end of the narrow COVID-19 tunnel; the light we have been anticipating since last March? I do believe it is! The end of the tunnel is getting closer. The problem is the end is still far away. Yet, the tunnel is no longer quite narrow. Due to the work of our incredible scientists, researchers, chemists, medical professionals, volunteers..., the tunnel is growing wider, allowing more light to shine through giving us a much needed sense of hope that we are getting closer to the end of the tunnel. If we do not continue to do the things we need to do to keep us safe, the tunnel will continue to widen, but the end will be no nearer.

The wider tunnel is an optical illusion giving us a somewhat mythical sense of security. I do not desire to use the term "false sense of security" because we are moving in the right direction safely in opening up society to what we consider normal. The issue is that we can very quickly and easily fall back to the high pandemic transmission levels especially with the new variants of Coronavirus if we let our guard down.

The big step taking place for all schools is with teachers and staff having received the 1st dose (and for some the 2nd dose) of the vaccine. Most everyone at St. Ann will receive the 2nd dose during the Spring Break.

The CDC just announced this morning that fully vaccinated adults can now gather without masks, but asks that we continue to follow COVID-19 protocol in social distancing, hand-washing, and wearing masks. To me, this is good news giving us another opportunity of hope that the light we are seeing at the end of the tunnel is real.

As for children under 12 years of age, there is no timeline for their vaccination. I just read an article in the NY Times about vaccinating children. The part that stood out with me is that "moving below 12 years of age will require a new study and potentially a modified formulation or dose schedule." A vaccine for children under 12 isn't going to happen for awhile. The current vaccines are considered safe for 16 and above. Trials are now taking place for children 12-15 years of age.

The next step for us is to see how well we can control the spread of COVID-19 during Spring Break. Even though our numbers have been declining, will we see another spike with people gathering as they did during Thanksgiving and Christmas? Will we let down our guard and push COVID-19 protocol aside? The answers totally depend on us and our behavior during Spring Break. It is in our hands.

I am fully confident we at St. Ann will remain a safe haven for students, see the vaccination process through for our staff, follow all protocol set by the CDC and our own COVID-19 task force, and continue to see our virtual students return. With only 5% of our students on virtual learning, this is a great sign we are doing the right thing.

As we move forward, the parents of our virtual students are feeling better about their child(ren) returning to school in-person. Last week, we had two students return with two more returning after Spring Break. There are several others weighing the return to the in-person school option. And, I'm looking forward to the day virtual learning comes to an end and we have all our students attending school in-person.

Children aren't meant to sit at home learning in front of a computer. They need the interaction that comes from being with their classmates all day long. Educationally, they might do okay through virtual learning, but virtual learning doesn't help the social, emotional, or physical development of a child. Unfortunately, virtual learning is the only option many children have been afforded. Now that the tunnel is wider with more light shining through, attending school in-person is an option and a very good option at that.

As we head into Spring Break, let's enjoy the family time together and the warming weather while being mindful that we are still in the tunnel.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

Only 4-Months Left

There are only 4-months left of this epic school year; the year of the Coronavirus. In a month and a half, we will reach the one-year anniversary of the March 16th switch to virtual learning for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. On this year's first anniversary, I hope to be enjoying Spring Break 2021 since Spring Break 2020 was pretty much non-existent. That break was spent preparing for virtual learning. For me, March 16th is a day to be remembered like 9/11. Unlike 9/11, March 16th has many positives to go along with it like our staff successfully implementing virtual learning; something we had no idea how to do five days before then.

Since the start of the pandemic, the world has experienced 2.23 million COVID-19 deaths. The United States has had 439K deaths. I, like everyone else, have lost friends and loved ones during this pandemic. Many families that have lost a loved one recently are having to wait up to a week or so to even meet with funeral home directors to plan a funeral.

I heard this simile today. "Life is like a fog, it appears, quickly dissipates and goes away." What a terrible, yet so accurate way of describing our lives on earth. I want to be more than a fog, at least to myself and my family anyway. That's why I love to wake early and get to work each day because even though my life, like the fog, will quickly dissipate and go away, I want to make a positive difference (too much negative out there already) while I'm still here. If I can first make a positive difference in my own life, maybe that will rub off on others, and help make the lives of those around me just a little bit better. As St. Teresa of Calcutta once said, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love."

During this pandemic, depression and anxiety have run rampant throughout the world. We have seen it at St. Ann with the students, but mainly when the school year started back in August. With the staff, the anxiety was present just before March 16th during the conversion from live to virtual learning. Since then, things have gotten better and the school year has been running smoothly with a few speed bumps along the way to slow things down. Anxiety still exists, but at a much lower level. I feel this is the case because our students and staff are present and our education has been live. For the few who are online, their education has been extremely individualized because of the work of our three online teachers. This has greatly reduced anxiety and increased learning levels.

We have learned many lessons along the way. A number of the changes we have made will be permanent changes simply because they are better. During this time, I have learned more than ever before about education, and it appears our teachers have learned how to educate our students in better ways. With the implementation of a new Math and Language Arts curriculum and the great work of our teachers with the students, we have seen tremendous results in the winter easyCBM scores. The improvements we have seen especially in math are incredible. There was an increase, with some very substantial increases, in both math assessments for all grades Kinder-8th! Just a reminder that math was the hardest hit subject during virtual learning.

With the new strain of COVID-19 approaching and expected to hit us in March (I'm starting to dislike March), and the lack of vaccines available, we will continue with all the current precautions in place.  This isn't the time to let up, but instead to reinforce procedures to keep everyone safe.

There are a lot of things happening in our world. It is up to us to decide if those happenings are negative or positive. I think you know me well enough by now to know that I'm going to put on my rose-colored glasses and look for all the good that I can. Bad things happen and tragedies occur. That's part of life. They aren't fun, but we have to deal with them. Longfellow once wrote, "Into each life some rain must fall." I'm glad I like the rain.

Let us find the positives in our lives and enjoy the fog while it is here.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

St. Ann January Update

Lots going on at St. Ann, and if we are going to continue improving our school, there is no slowing down. So, here are a few of the activities and improvements taking place.

Enrollment: Early Bird registration is from February 1st-16th. You can log-in to your FACTS Family Portal to access your re-enrollment packets. And, if you refer another family and they enroll, there will be a discount on your tuition. Please read Monday Mail for more information regarding enrollment and referring families. Contact Sara Westrich at sara.westrich@sascolts.org or (901) 386-3328 for more information. For our Hispanic families, Mrs. Westrich is fluent in Spanish.

WiFi: After several years in use, the WiFi system final gave out, which means we had to replace our WiFi system. Since our firewall is Meraki, we purchased a Cisco Meraki WiFi system. We purchased it on Wednesday and it arrived on Thursday. Our IT director, Mike Green, installed it that same day and our WiFi is up-and-running. The new Cisco Meraki system should take us to 2030 before having to be replaced.

A special thank you to the P.K. Seidman Foundation for funding the purchase of the new WiFi system. The cost of replacing the WiFi system was over $19K. 

Bandwidth: Since St. Ann is 1-to-1 with tablet technology, we have been working for several months now to increase the current bandwidth from 100 Mbps (Megabits per second) to 250 Mbps. This is taking so long because AT&T is not being very helpful. They have sent us three servers so far that don't work. The first one was dead on arrival and the other two were misconfigured. My guess is that they are so big that one school is not important to them. Unfortunately, because of E-Rate (government funding for connectivity), we have no choice but to go with AT&T.

Catholic Schools Week (CSW): This year's CSW will take place January 31st through February 6th. The theme is "Faith. Excellence. Service." It goes along well with the St. Ann mission statement. Angela de Jong has created the schedule of activities for the week and will share it at our staff meeting this week. Later this week, we will publish the schedule on our website and social media.

COVID-19 Vaccination: Our faculty and staff have signed up for the COVID-19 vaccination. We were hoping to receive it this past week, but Shelby County is already experiencing a shortage on vaccines. We are hoping it happens this week. We are getting closer and closer to putting an end to this pandemic. 

COVID-19 Transmission: I cannot stress this enough, our parents are the key to keeping COVID-19 out of St. Ann. And, our parents have been AWESOME! The communication between our parents and the school office has been fantastic. Parents aren't taking any chances. A headache, runny nose, stomach, low-grade fever, or just not feeling good and our parents have been keeping their child(ren) home. Even if there is someone at home not feeling well, parents are keeping their child(ren) home. Thank you parents! Because of you and the great work by the faculty, staff, and volunteers, we have created a safe and COVID-free environment for our students.

Fundraising: Hopefully, you know by now, one of my main goals is to keep St. Ann affordable and not raise tuition unless absolutely necessary. Angela de Jong and I are constantly in advancement mode in fundraising for the school so that we don't have to raise tuition. The more support we receive, the more funds we have available to help families afford St. Ann.

On this fundraising note, we have received yet another $10,000 matching challenge. If we raise $10,000, it will be matched. So, as part of Catholic Schools Week we plan to kick-off yet another St. Ann challenge. So, please be ready to help us meet our match.

If you haven't heard, we surpassed our fundraising goal in the 10 x 10 Colts Challenge. I said in a previous blog that I hope to proclaim Nike, Nike for a successful 10 x 10 Colts Challenge. So, here it is. Nike, Nike! Thank you to everyone who donated, spread the word, and prayed a decade of the Rosary. Click here to read that blog.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

Beyond Our Comfort Zone

My good friend and great American philosopher, Dennis Myers once said, "In order to grow, you have to be willing to go through some type of transformation. And, you cannot go through any type of transformation if you aren't willing to venture outside your comfort zone." In 2020, individuals and businesses alike, in order to grow and for some just to survive, have had to recreate themselves by venturing outside their comfort zone to lengths previously unimagined.

The Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Memphis have ventured beyond any type of comfort zone and continue "to go where no one has gone before" as we advance in our journey through transformative changes to grow and frankly, stay alive. Each Catholic School has had to recreate themselves into institutions of education never imagined before, and we will probably never go back to where we were.

With 2020 coming to an end (Happy New Year!), even though we thought things would get better in 2021, the hardest part of educating our students and surviving this pandemic is yet to come. With COVID-19 continuing to spread and hospitals being at capacity, we are all going to have to double-down to do all in our power to keep the children and school staff safe.

According to Dr. Bruce Randolph, Health Officer of the Shelby County Health Department, COVID-19 transmission is not taking place in schools. Transmission is taking place at family gatherings and social events.

Our parents have been fantastic and really the first line of defense in keeping everyone safe. Parents have been keeping the school well informed if any family member has been exposed to or tested positive for COVID-19,  and they have immediately pulled their child from school until tested and served the necessary quarantine time. If a child comes to the office not feeling well, parents have promptly come to school to take their child home. And, parents have not sent their child to school if they aren't feeling well. In the past, parents would say things like “it’s nothing” or "you'll be fine." That is no longer acceptable and parents have been fantastic about keeping everyone safe.

Even though the CDC has reversed their original theory on COVID-19 and contact surfaces, we are not going to take cleaning lightly. The students and staff have done an outstanding job of cleaning and sanitizing. We will spend the first couple of days back from the Christmas break reviewing the COVID-19 cleaning rules and procedures.

We will still take temperatures of anyone entering the building. The faculty workroom will continue to serve as the COVID room for any student not feeling well. We will continue to limit non-school personnel access to the school building. We will continue to have lunch in the classroom or outside when weather permits. We will continue to encourage teachers to take the students outdoors when possible. We will continue to run the same drop-off and pick-up procedure because it is working and keeping the students separated. We will continue to enforce the face mask/shield policy. We will continue to follow the PAA guidelines in limiting contact sports. We will continue to contact parents who fail to contact us when their child not be in school. And, we will continue to rack our brains to figure out things we never thought about before in keeping our students and staff safe. That's tough to do.

Also, Fr. Ernie and I decided that for the first couple of weeks back, our students will not attend daily Mass.

This leads me to family gatherings and travel. If your child participated in family Christmas gatherings with family members not in the same household, please make sure no one at that gathering tested positive for COVID-19 or have had symptoms. We have a number of students who traveled to Mexico for the break. Those students will quarantine and go to virtual learning until they are tested and/or serve the recommended quarantine time.

We all did a great job of keeping everyone safe during the first semester. The biggest safety test is upon us. We will have to work together to continue to keep everyone safe. As Bishop David Talley said in his meeting with the pastors and principals, "Schools may be the safest place for our children to be because we shelter and protect them."

Thank you St. Ann parents and staff for working so diligently to put everyone's safety, especially the students', first. Please continue to communicate with school office personnel regarding household exposure and positive testing that could possibly affect our students' health and safety.

And, until May 28th, we will continue to live way beyond our comfort zone so transformation can take place and everyone can continue to grow.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

Nike, Nike!

Pheidippides Arrives in Athens

When Pheidippides raced back to Athens and died from exhaustion right after proclaiming "Nike, Nike," for the Greek victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon, he unknowingly became immortal. It is not likely that any of us will become immortal or die from exhaustion, even though we might from all the extra work we are having to do during this pandemic.

Through the support of many wonderful and generous people, we have just about met our goal of raising $10,000 to help offset unexpected COVID-19 expenses. We are currently at $9,260 with over 150 donations. I know we will reach and surpass our goal, and probably sooner than later. Once we reach our goal, we will continue the challenge until December 31st as planned.

While reaching our goal, I am hoping we increase the number of donors to 200. It appears that 80 of the donors so far are first time donors to St. Ann. That is a great sign when adding so many new donors. It is important to have more and more alumni participate in any fundraising effort as well.

Many of our alumni and friends who have contributed have also stepped up with offers to help spread the word about the 10 x 10 Colts Challenge. We do need everyone to ask 10 friends to contribute to the challenge. We also need our alumni to spread the word with their St. Ann classmates.

Statue of Pheidippides

Yes, I know people are tired of challenges, campaigns, fundraising, and giving. Hey, that’s the nature of all non-profits. If we don’t ask, we don’t receive. If we don't receive, we don't exist. And, I’m not asking for myself. I’m asking for every student, future student, family, and staff member at St. Ann.

At St. Ann, we have to constantly ask for help so we can provide our students and teachers with what they need and also in order to keep tuition as low as possible. Keeping tuition low is a HUGE passion of mine. Catholic education needs to be affordable to all. This is one of the many things I learned from the teachings of St. John Baptist de La Salle: "direct service to the poor." That means keeping tuition as low as possible.

St. Ann is not an elite school for elite students. It is a wonderful, inclusive Catholic school with incredible teachers for fantastic students.

To those of you who have contributed: Thanks.

To those who spread the word on our behalf: Blessings.

To those who pray for us: Amen!

At the end of the 10 x 10 Colts Challenge, like Pheidippides, we hope to proclaim “Nike, Nike”!

God bless you and Merry Christmas,

Didier Aur, Principal - St. Ann Catholic School

P.S. According to Greek mythology, Nike was the goddess of victory.