Linkin Galdonez: Caught in the Crossfire

On February 5th, Linkin Galdonez, St. Ann Class of '17, was driving home from work at FedEx when two car loads of criminals decided it was time to start shooting at each other on I-240 near Perkins. Linkin was caught in the crossfire.

WREG.com has a news release about this incident including an interview with Linkin.

A bullet struck Linkin between the eyes and penetrated between two lobes of his brain. The operative word here is "between" and not through two lobes, which is a miracle in itself. Somehow, he survived, is making progress, and is able to tell the story of what took place. Sounds as if he is going to be okay but is not out of danger. Doctors have removed part of his skull and don't plan on replacing it until late spring. As of now, the bullet will remain in his head because removing it might cause more damage. Lots of rehab in Linkin's future.

Linkin Being
Transported Home

Sorry that Linkin and the Galdonez family are having to go through this. Unfortunately, bad things happen to good people.

His parents have started a GoFundMe page to help with expenses. Fortunately, the family is "planning on his future and not his funeral."

You can follow his father's Instagram page for updates on Linkin's progress. Lots of prayers and support are needed for Linkin.

Linkin's little sister, Izzy, is a current St. Ann student.

God bless you and love to all, Didier Aur

Recent Blog: Catholicity of St. Ann

Catholicity of St. Ann

Library Council

Seeing St. Ann in action this week made me thing about our school's Catholicity in action, virtue, and demeanor. Without trying to be all holier-than-thou and high and mighty, which I'm definitely not, thought I'd use this week's blog to highlight some of the Catholic things that take place at the school, which probably most people aren't aware of. Parents know about these and that's one of the many reasons they send their children to our school. What we do isn't exclusive to St. Ann, these are things done in just about every Catholic school. All Catholic schools do these but with their own little twist.

Here are a few of the things we do because we are a Catholic school.

We frequently receive prayer requests from St. Ann families. So, we pray for families in need of prayer.

Library Council

We have an unofficial faculty prayer warrior team. Whenever prayers are needed, a prayer warrior will text the rest of the group to ask for prayers.

St. Faustina Youth Society (SFYS) meets once a month after school to pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy. They also participate in service projects throughout the year. My personal favorite is the teacher prayer gift. They are also great supporters of Room in the Inn (RITI).

Last week, the 8th graders went to Ave Maria to play BINGO with the residents.

For the past couple of years, we have teamed up with Catholic Charities (CC) to assemble hygiene kits for distribution to those needing basic hygiene supplies. Every class is assigned a different hygiene product (tooth brush, tooth paste, soap, shampoo....) to bring in for the kits. There is usually a surplus of hygiene supplies that we will send to RITI.

Our students in the Library Council collect books and set up a library space for the children at RITI.

BINGO at Ave Maria

We host an annual Thanksgiving food drive for Dorothy Day House (DDH). Every class is assigned a certain food item to bring in so that we can assemble and deliver food baskets to the DDH families.

For our faculty religious retreat day this year, we spent that day split into three groups serving at DDH, CC, and RITI.

Throughout the year, we will have clothing drives for CC.

CC contacted us in the fall to say they were running short on peanut butter for the hundreds of families who come to them weekly for food. So, our 8th graders led a school-wide peanut butter drive as one of their Confirmation projects to benefit CC.

Every year, we host a candy cane sale to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Just like most every business, organization, church, and school in Memphis, St. Ann has a deep and personal connection with St. Jude.

Once a month, we pray an all-school Rosary together in the church. Every month, a different grade leads the Rosary. The February Rosary will be led by the 7th graders. This is for all students K-8.

Every morning and afternoon, we have student led school-wide prayer over the intercom system. The prayers include the WIT prayer (from Fr. David Knight), Act of Contrition, and Hail Holy Queen. The students of SFYS take turns leading the afternoon prayer.

On Fridays, we have our weekly all-school Mass attended by all students. Our January and February Masses have been led by our 5th graders. They serve as the readers, altar servers, gift bearers, and greeters.

Fr. Ernie has been leading our altar server training. So far, every 5th-8th graders has participated in the training. The 4th graders are next on the alter server training list.

Mass Buddies

This next event is one of my favorite things we do. For our weekly all-school Mass, the PK3 and 8th grade students partner up and are Mass buddies. The 8th graders go to the PK3 classroom to get their Mass buddies and they head off to Mass. They sit together at Mass and the 8th graders teach their PK3 buddies about the Holy Water, Sign of the Cross, genuflecting, kneeling, praying, and generally how to behave during Mass. It also helps the 8th graders behave properly at Mass because they have to set an example for their Mass buddies.

At our weekly all-school Mass, our school choir is in action leading our student body in singing the hymns. Well, they are leading the younger students in singing the hymns. The older students have somehow forgotten how to sing during Mass. It is some type of middle school disease.

At the beginning of the school year, the Knights of Columbus lead the annual Prayer Walk. We join together in prayer as we walk through the school asking for God's help and intervention for a wonderful and safe school year.

BINGO at Ave Maria

We have added two awards this year to recognize our students for being excellent examples of Christ-like behavior. The first is the St. Veronica Kindness Award. St. Veronica is the patron saint of kindness. This award is presented monthly to one student from each class for showing outstanding kindness towards his or her classmates. The other award is the St. James Good Deed Award. St. James the Lesser is the patron saint of good deeds. This is given at anytime for a student going above and beyond in performing a good deed. Students can be nominated by any faculty/staff member.

For many years now, we have presented the Fr. Oglesby Character Award. This award is presented to students who exhibit Christ-like characteristics such as kindness, thoughtfulness, and a caring attitude towards their teachers and fellow students.

Thought I'd share these with you so that you can learn a little more about the Catholicity of St. Ann and our students. Just like everyone else, we stumble and fall, but we do our best to stand up, dust off, learn from our mistakes, ask for forgiveness, and move forward.

Wishing you a fantastic week!

God bless you and love, Didier Aur

Previous Blogs:

Finally, An 8th Grade Volleyball Victory

Confirmation! Check!

Patience and Compassion

8th Grade Confirmation

Begin Again

Finally, An 8th Grade Volleyball Victory

8th Grade Winners, plus a Photo Bomber

A string of countless victories in a row by the St. Ann faculty over the students in the Student-Faculty Volleyball game has come to an end. So as not to be a biased reporter of the circumstances that led to this monumental faculty defeat, I have asked the PK3 students to be this week's guest blogger, and give their version of what took place on the court. Please keep in mind that the PK3 and the 8th graders are Mass buddies and reading partners, so they know each other pretty well. Here is the volleyball wrap up from their perspective. The PK3 students reported as one unified voice.

Best Volleyball Fans Ever!

As PK3 students, what we saw today was a fun and spirited match, even though the faculty performance was lacking. But, let's begin with the positives. The 8th graders won because they were more skillful, fitter, and mentally tougher. They were better organized in positioning and tactics. They utilized their 3-2-3 formation to their advantage by wearing down the faculty in the first game and a half. Coach Jennifer Podesta, the Bill Belichick of volleyball, had the 8th graders primed and ready for this victory.

Next Year's Opponents

Volleyball rookie sensation Kyle Lim was by far the best player on the court. He made the faculty look foolish and scared them with his powerful serves and pinpoint accuracy. The faculty was no match for what he had to offer. At one point, the other 8th graders watched in amazement as faculty members were falling all over themselves trying to get out of the way of his serves. Even though he never smiled, Kyle Lim was our hands-down MVP.

Rylee Hubbard, while playing with a broken knee and wearing a brace, was the heart and soul leader of the 8th grade team. She never once complained about the pain as she controlled the game from the middle. She was the PK3's MVP runner-up.

Coach Podesta Leading the Team

The combination of Huong Nguyen, Alison Winkelmann, and Abby Sones at the net was pure genius. They intimidated the faculty with their size, speed, and strength. With the faculty already on their heals, Coach Podesta expertly subbed in Andrea Romero, Brissa Suarez, and Victoria Paramo (aka Las Tres Amigas) to replace the front line and help put an end to the faculty members they faced. By communicating in both Spanish and Pig Latin, they totally confused their opponents. Custer had a better chance of surviving the Battle of Little Bighorn than the faculty did the 8th graders today.

Every 8th grader received five stars out of five rating from the PK3 students for their incredible performance. There was not one weakness on the team. Now, we see how and why our volleyball team went undefeated winning both the regular season and tournament championship.

Our favorite play of the match was Drew Battle's kick save and winner. Who needs hands in volleyball?! Our favorite player was Jacob Perez with his chest pounding and faculty taunting antics. Even though he couldn't see the ball because of his hair, he still managed to produce several points for his team.

For the faculty, Mrs. Jolly was their best player. We cannot wait to have her as our teacher. We are considering petitioning Principal Aur to let us skip PK4 and be promoted straight to kindergarten next year so she can be our teacher. She showed spunk, determination, grit, and poise out on the court with her incredible serving prowess and artful return of serve. She was the Carli Lloyd of volleyball. We need and want her as our teacher and leader.

Focused Determination

Now, for the weak spots. Where to begin? In the opinion of the PK3 students, we aren't sure what Coach Angotti was thinking when she put Mr. Gage and Principal Aur on the court at the same time. They both should have been benched before the game even started. We also feel that two-time MVP Mrs. Harty did not have her usual stellar game, and don't believe she has completely recovered from her recent tug-of-war injury. The dynamic duo of volleyball phenoms Farm and Ostrowski were not able to back their claim of a "guaranteed victory." We love Mr. Cooper but think that he should stick to singing and piano playing. Poor coaching and player execution, lack of leadership, and total unenthusiastic attitudes helped to bring about defeat. Beside Mrs. Jolly receiving a 4 out of 5 rating, the rest of the faculty team scored a 3 or lower. We would have given some of the faculty team members negative scores but having a pulse and breathing on your own gives a player at least a 1 star rating.

In all fairness, the battle was nip and tuck till the end. The faculty did win the first game rather handily behind the service game of Mrs. Jolly. They were leading the second game 15-10 when their overconfidence, lack of fitness, and the 8th graders' killer instincts kicked in. With the faculty thinking they had the game and match all wrapped up, that's when the 8th graders reeled off eight straight points and never looked back. In the tie-break game to 10, the faculty took a quick 4-1 lead. This is when MVP Kyle Lim stepped up and won the game with nine serves in a row. And, history was made.

Is This Really Happening?

As PK3 students, we observed that the faculty keeps getting older but the 8th graders are the same age every year. We look forward to dishing out the same type of punishment on the faculty nine years from now. So, Principal Aur might want to considering hiring some young guns to give us a challenge. 

Congratulations to the 8th graders for being the better team, fantastic Mass buddies, and wonderful reading partners. You earned the victory, and we love you!

Thank you for inviting us to be guest bloggers this week.

God bless you and love, the PK3 Students (aka Sellers' Stellar Scholars!)

Previous blogs:

Confirmation! Check!

Patience and Compassion

8th Grade Confirmation

Begin Again