Education Changes Every Hour!

Another school year has begun, which happens to be my 35th year in education. You would think that by now, I would have a handle on education with all this experience. There is something you should know about educating our children. NO ONE HAS A HANDLE ON EDUCATION! NO ONE! Yes, the all caps means I'm screaming this.

Education doesn't change every year or even every day. Education changes every hour! The complexity of the human brain in conjunction with the ever evolving human emotional make-up, especially that of a middle schooler, makes every single hour of educating children a mystery. Education is like the 142 staircases at Hogwarts. One minute you are going up, the next down, and the next the whole staircase disappears. But then again, that's why I LOVE being an educator. No two hours are ever close to being the same.

When thinking about all the hourly changes taking place with education, don't forget to factor in the social-emotional and educational problems caused by the COVID-19 shutdown. Most of the students coming to us the past few years who were not in the classroom have been testing between one to four years below grade level. Now, it is up to our school to fix the harm that's been done.

Guess what? I love that challenge. And, I know we will succeed. I know this because I have faith in our work. "Do good and evil will not come your way." (Tobit 12:7) We are doing good!

It will take years to overcome what was deprived the students during the shutdown. It will take time, hard work, long hours, cooperation between parents and educators, patience, grit, compassion, love, and faith. My job in this process is to let the teachers work their magic and be there to support everyone. 

Our enrollment is up once again and we have added more classes. So, I know what we are doing works. Our admissions team is working harder than ever to make certain we can assist the new students. Our team is already making improvements to the admissions process for the 2024-25 school year. God, I love the folks I work with.

As for the 2023-24 school year, let's kick this pig and git 'er done! With lots of kindness, love, and doing good ahead of us, let the work begin. Like the Skyy song, Let Love Shine. Great throwback to the 80s.

God bless you and love!

Pleasure and Peace

While many folks don't look forward to attending Mass and come up with more excuses for skipping out than for attending Mass, I derive much pleasure and peace from attending Mass. I use the words pleasure and peace because I feel great and burdenless having participated in the Eucharistic celebration.

My favorites aren't the Easter or Christmas Mass celebrations. My favorites are the Friday all-school Masses when we come together as a community to celebrate. I love seeing our students participating and being an active part of the Mass celebration.

Each month during the school year, a different class takes charge of the Mass. The students of the class in charge serve as the greeters, altar servers, gift bearers, and lectors. The school choir leads the singing. Two of the 8th graders run the projection booth. The teachers serve as the eucharistic ministers. The younger students proudly sing the hymns while the older students are too cool to sing. The 8th graders and their PK3 Mass buddies become best friends and attend Mass together. Parents and grandparents attend with our students sitting with them. The priest's homilies are a short lesson of the day that quickly turn into a humorous and entertaining question and answer session. The younger students love participating in these Q&A sessions, while the older students try hiding under the pews so as not to get called on. At the end of Mass, the younger students are excited to greet the priest by the baptismal fountain. At the end of most Masses, there are awards to be presented to our students and educators. All of the pieces of the all-school Mass come together for a wonderful weekly Eucharistic celebration.

So yes, the all-school Mass is my favorite. This Mass more than any other gives me a sense of pleasure and peace. Our St. Ann families and friends are invited to join us for our weekly all-school Eucharistic Celebration and to hopefully experience that same pleasure and peace.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

A New Beginning

Taylor Swift said, "This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change." I like this quote, but I think I'll make a minor yet important "change" to her quote. Instead of "And things will change," I will say "And things will improve." As we continue to grow, the improvements we are introducing deal with the folks who join our Colts family. These folks will help make St. Ann a better and stronger school. Our people are our greatest asset.

The Ghio Girls

As we prepare for the 2023-24 school year, the first improvement is moving Annmarie Ghio from her role as a 3rd grade teacher to being our full-time assistant principal. Ms. Ghio participated in a two-year program at Loyola Marymount University where she earned a certification in Catholic School Administration. Ms. Ghio's main role is to serve as St. Ann's reading and writing specialist. Our testing shows that our students perform well above national and state norms in reading with just about all our students performing at or above grade-level. We want to keep improving and taking our students to a higher level of achievement. Thank you Ms. Ghio for saying "yes" to this administrative move.

Liz Wehmeyer is our new 3rd grade teacher. Mrs. Wehmeyer comes to us from Bartlett City Schools where she taught at Alturia. Mrs. Wehmeyer is no stranger to St. Ann. Her son is a St. Ann graduate and her daughter is currently a student. She is also a techie and has been a technology professional development leader for our teachers for the past five year. She and Ms. Ghio are responsible for all the inspirational artwork throughout the walls of the school. They painted another one this summer. Welcome Mrs. Wehmeyer!

The 3rd grade has been growing to the point that we are adding a second class. Our very own Tina Ostrowski will teach that class. Ms. Ostrowski is coming out of retirement for a 3rd time. At St. Ann, she has taught just about every grade, with her last class being the 1st grade. At St. Michael, she was the 3rd grade teacher.  Thanks Coach O!

The Dooley Family

Dakota Dooley will be replacing John Baum as our band director. Mr. Dooley stepped in at the end of last year to take over for Mr. Baum and did a fantastic job. He will teach at both SBA and St. Ann. Thanks for being a Colt and an Eagle.

Looking forward to seeing all our personnel improvements in action.

Let's pray for all our educators everywhere. Being an educator gets tougher every year, and every year more and more people are leaving the teaching profession. I've been doing this for 35 years with every year bringing more expectations, demands, requirements, and challenges. I say, "Bring it on!" I love the challenge of being an educator and making a positive difference every day!

Painted by Wehmeyer and Ghio

"This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will improve." Time to listen to some Taylor Swift on Spotify.

God bless you and love!

What Do Educators Do In The Summer?

There's a misconception out there that educators have summers off. Wish that were the truth. Since most educators aren't independently wealthy, many have a 2nd job during the summer to help support their families. And, when not working, much of the summer is spent preparing for the coming school year.

Our educators have required work and professional development to complete in order to be prepared. Summer is a much needed time to relax but it also a time for becoming better at our craft. Lots of professional development takes place during the summer.

PK educators not only have to complete the diocesan required professional development hours but also have an added 30-hours of specified documented training for the Tennessee Department of Education. Because of the importance of early childhood literacy, 10 of those hours deal with developmentally appropriate literacy practices for pre-kindergarten students. 

All our educators are also required to have an additional 10-hours of documented Catholic religious professional development. Much is required of our educators annually, and even more is required of our PK educators.

On top of this, Catholic Mutual (our insurance company) requires annual active shooter training and the much dreaded bloodborne pathogens training. Cannot forget the first-aid and CPR training every two years. 

And yes, the principal has to go through all this training as well. This includes the 10-hours each of religious training and early childhood literacy. So far this summer, I have completed over 20 of the overall hours needed of professional development.

All the required professional development for our educators is not cheap. The school pays for the professional development. I'm always searching for free professional development opportunities. For certification purposes, many require payment. I get it! The people and organizations leading professional development sessions have to make a living.

13 of our educators will participate in The Bodine School's Structured Literacy Institute this summer. The cost is $50 per educators; inexpensive but adds up.

Educate LLC out of New York will host 2-days of professional development for the educators in our diocese. Just the cost to St. Ann for the 2-days is $4,020.

The required first-aid and CPR training isn't cheap either.

If you are looking to help St. Ann, donations to help pay for professional development are a great way to support our teachers and their work with the children. Your support is much appreciated.

Just know that many educators have been at school this summer working camps, administering screening assessments for new students, and getting their classrooms ready for the new school year. Summer is a time of renewal and re-energizing, but St. Ann educators are always available to do what needs to be done, and I love them for their dedication and passion.

Hope this gives you a better perspective of what educators do during the summer.  So, please help support your local Catholic School educator.

Help Support Our Teachers!

God bess you and love,

Didier Aur, Principal & Professional Development Specialist

Do Good!

Full Circle House

After another fantastic school year (my 35th as an educator), I'm on a West Coast family getaway to recharge and re-energize. We are enjoying the beauty of Santa Barbara County, and currently staying at Presqu'ile Winery in Santa Maria just relaxing amidst hundreds of acres of all kinds of grapes, berries, avocados, and the San Rafael Mountains. 

I look for opportunities to attend Mass when visiting other cities. This morning, I attended Mass at St. Louis de Montfort in Santa Maria. During the first reading, Tobit 12:7 caught my attention. "Do good, and evil will not find its way to you."

Presqu'ile Winery

That verse should be memorized by all of us. It should be plastered on billboards, buses, buildings, subways, magazines, websites...but it isn't. It is hidden nice and neat in Tobit 12:7 where most people have no idea it even exists. How many people have ever read the Book of Tobit? How many Catholics know it is part of the Apocrypha? I'm not judging because I have read the Book of Tobit and had totally forgot that little verse until I heard it at Mass today.

"Do good, and evil will not find its way to you." So simple and easy to follow but only if we can remember to do so. I try to do good but sin is quick to follow. I try to do good but am sometimes selfish. I try to do good but often forget to help those most in need.

St. Louis de Montfort

I tend to forget that the rest of Tobit 12 deals with helping others who need help. It is about alms giving. It is about loving our neighbors. It is about Raphael, one of the seven angels, interceding to help us. Raphael interceded for Tobit because he did good. He did what he was supposed to do in helping others. So God sent Raphael to help Tobit. God will do the same for us if we can just remember to "Do Good!"

Aurs at Presqu'ile

Today's Mass reading was a great reminder to do good. I want Tobit 12:7 to be a constant reminder to everyone of us as we prepare for the 2023-24 school year. I need to start by making a poster out of this and hanging it at the school entrance and in the school office.

Hey Annmarie Ghio and Liz Wehmeyer! How about this being painted in the school hallway this summer? Maybe in the middle school hallway? Middle schoolers could sure use a lot of "Do Good" reminders.

God bless you and love,

Didier Aur

2023 Band & Choir Competition

Just arrived from our 2023 Music in the Parks competition in St. Louis, MO. Two bus loads of students, chaperones, and parents left St. Ann this past Friday morning for the trip with many, many families following along.

The band competed in honor of their band director, John Baum, who is in Worthington, PA recovering from a major stroke. Through the work of Mr. Baum with help from Mr. Dakota Dooley (band director at SBA who is substituting for Mr. Baum), and Mr. Ryan Cooper, the band earned 1st place in the competition with their rendition of "The Thunderer" and "Scorpion."

The choir earned 3rd place in the competition with their rendition of "Sanctus" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."

Congratulations to the band and choir for the super performance. We are proud of you for your hard work and dedication to succeed together.

Sending out an extra special thank you to Mr. Cooper for directing both the band and choir in the competition.

All together, the St. Ann entourage consisted of about 150 good people who made the trek to St. Louis. Competition, pizza, swimming, games, Six Flags, food court, lots of bus travel, super crazy weather, and tons of drama made the trip an excellent adventure. Cannot be a middle school event without drama, even though most of the drama came from a parent or two who didn't even make the trip. Very bizarre how that happens. 

Want to thank all the chaperones for a fantastic St. Ann music trip to STL. The planning and organizing, travel, competition, torrential rains and tornado warnings, schedule changes, improvised plans, hotel guest complaints, and drama; but most importantly the shared support and friendships made this trip an extremely memorable one in a very good way for everyone involved. Love the great laughs we had. There’s no substitute for laughter. I appreciate all you did for the children and St. Ann. Looking forward to the next trip, but only after some much needed rest!

God bless you and love to all!

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Website

Previous Blog: Receiving the Sacraments

Receiving the Sacraments

One of the most rewarding events for Catholic school administrators is when our students receive the sacraments. For this school year, our 8th graders were Confirmed back in January.  In two weeks, our 2nd graders will receive First Communion. In the past couple of weeks, our 2nd through 8th graders participated in Reconciliation. In between, several of our students, some non-Catholic and some Catholic but new to St. Ann, have decided that they would like to become Catholic or receive the Sacraments they have missed. These students have now been Baptized, received First Communion, and/or Confirmed in the Catholic faith.

With some of our non-Catholic students becoming Catholic, they also bring their families into the Church through RCIA. I have to believe that a big reason this is happening is because we are setting a great example of our faith through our daily actions. I'm not talking just about the actions and faith of the faculty and staff, I'm talking about all who enter our building on a daily basis consisting of students, parents/grandparents, volunteers, and church staff including all who attend the Friday school Mass with the students. We all set a great example of faith through prayer and deeds to our work for the Catholic Church.

I would like to give a special shout-out to everyone on the church and school staff who make certain all students are prepared to receive the Sacraments. Thank you to Fr. Ernie, Kathy Schober, Melodee Pohl, Katie Dyer, Brittany Martinez, and Kelly Pettit at the church office for all the preparation in making the Sacramental events happen. Thank you to our teachers who work with our students in sacramental preparation; this includes all the teachers from PK3-8th grade who teach religion with a special shout-out to Carol Caesar for making sure all the middle schoolers preparing to receive the Sacraments are ready.

A final thank you goes out to all the parents who entrust us to teach our Catholic beliefs to the children in preparation of receiving the Sacraments.

God bless you and Happy Easter,

Didier Aur, Principal

Vocation with Love

Pope Francis once wrote, "There is a kind of beauty, one that is unrelated to appearances or fashion, in men and women who pursue their personal vocation with love, who act selflessly for their community, for their nation, who work hard at building a happy family, who advance social harmony with selfless and unrecognized efforts."

When I read this, I thought of the educators I work with every day. St. Ann is fortunate to have many outstanding educators who give their heart and soul to educate our youth. They live out their vocation with love daily.

My favorite responsibility as principal is to perform classroom observations because I get to see the educators and learners in action. This is probably the least favorite part of my teachers' day. It is a contrast of opposites.

Not sure who I'm amazed by more, the educators or the learners. They all do incredible work, both appear to live their vocation. They also take pride in doing great work; outcome is important to both groups. Doing well is an expectation.

Here is a quick review of the great classroom activities I witnessed this past week while performing classroom observation.

Ms. Seller's PK3 class, the students were learning how to write the letter Q.

Ms. Farm's PK4 class, the students were learning about insects using the Scholastic Big World magazine.

Coach Angotti's PE class, the PK3 students were doing yoga.

Mrs. Morgan's PK4 class, the students were working on shapes and sorting using coins, legos, Play-doh, blocks, drawings, and IXL.

Ms. Green's art class, the PK4 students were working on shamrock pictures getting ready for St. Patrick's Day.

Mrs. Jolly's kindergarten class, the students were writing a story on what they can do on a rainy day. Kindergarten students writing a story is pretty awesome.

Ms. Scarlett's art class, the 2nd graders were working on creating water color paintings about Spring time.

Mrs. Thomas' LIFE class, the 3rd graders were working on math, adding 3 double-digit numbers from word problems.

Mrs. Miller's 4th grade class, the students were working on book reports, Amira, IXL, writing, and math problems all at the same time with all students super-focused and getting the job done!

Mrs. Wendenon's SPARKS class, the 4th graders were working with robots.

Mrs. Langford's 6th grade math class, the students were working on converting fractions to decimals and decimals to fractions.

Ms. Caesar's 7th grade social studies class, the students were learning about U.S. geography and competing on naming the states.

There is no substitute for our vocation with love, which includes hard work, passion, dedication, and faith. That's what all these teachers have in common. What a great common denominator to have in those who are helping to shape the future.

I began with a Pope Francis quote, so I'll end with a Pope Francis quote. "Nothing exists by chance. Our relationship with God is what makes us great, it is our enthronement. By nature, we are practically nothing, by vocation, by calling, we are the children of the great King!"

God bless you and love to all,

Didier Aur

Previous blog: Linkin Galdonez: Caught in the Crossfire

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

8th Grade Confirmation

My favorite part of the school day is when I remove the administrator's hat to enter the classroom as an educator. For one class period per day, I can fulfill the reason why I got into education in the first place; to teach.

My teaching assignment is predicated by need; I teach the class and subject where we would have to hire a teacher to teach just one class period. This year, I am teaching 8th grade religion. Whatever I teach, I spend the summer before the new school year prepping for that class. Since most of my outside reading is religion/faith based, prepping was something I looked forward to.

The focus of 8th grade religion is Confirmation prep. What is cool about Confirmation prep is that it is so much more than being "sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit." It is also about being "strengthened for service to the Body of Christ."

With Confirmation only two weeks away, my students have led several service projects (Catholic Charities and Dorothy Day House), studied the Sacraments and the Mysteries of the Rosary, learned the purpose of patron saints and sponsors, discussed the Sunday gospel readings, and spent every class period reflecting and writing. Most importantly, the students are focusing on God's love for them and their love for themselves.

As we learn everyday in class, we cannot take care of others until we can take care of ourselves first. And, we cannot love others until we love ourselves first. If I am not the person I want to be, it is up to me to become that person.

Our hope isn't just for the Sacrament of Confirmation, it is for a lifetime of service to the Church. As Fr. Dexter said in his homily at Mass yesterday, "Our duty as Christians is to lead others to God." As we continue preparation for Confirmation, your prayers and support are much appreciated. 

Enjoy your week, and see you on January 27th for Confirmation.

God bless you, Didier Aur

https://www.sascolts.org/

The Good We Do

This blog is a thank you to all the incredible people I work with who give and give and don't hesitate to throw themselves into their work especially when things get tougher and tougher as they have these past 18-months. These are the folks who see the beauty in the purposeful work God created them to do. They truly honor God by participating in their faith. 

The poem "As Kingfishers Catch Fire" makes me think about the good we do.  Am I the person God created me to be in doing His work? In this poem, there are two lines in particular that have me asking this question. The lines are "What I do is me: for that I came" and "Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is."

The way I interpret these two lines is if I am truly a participant in my faith, then I am to be the person God created me to be. Since God created me for a purpose and gave me certain talents, shouldn't I put those talents to good use by serving Him in doing His work? Am I to be seen in God's eye as He sees Christ?

The key is not to be an observer in my faith. Instead, I am to get knee-deep in my faith by putting my heart in the work I do. Christ taught us to participate in our faith by being doers of God's will and not observers. In Mark 7:6-7, Jesus recounted Isaiah's prophesy about the hypocrites who honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. Maya Angelou said, "Life is going to give you just what you put into it. Put your whole heart in everything you do."

This is also how I view James 2:26: "As the body without spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." I can have faith, but if I don't participate in that faith, isn't that a waste of who God created me to be? The good we do is our purpose. "What I do is me, for that I came."

Daily, I witness selfless people participate in their faith by spending countless hours and energy working to better those entrusted to our care. Being Catholic school educators is our ministry. The folks I work with definitely live their faith through the work they do, and get an A+ for participation. God has chosen us to do His work, and it is our responsibility to do our part to help build up the Kingdom of God in the hearts of our students.

Thank you and much love to the faculty and staff of St. Ann Catholic School. The good we do brings our students closer to heaven. You "fulfill your ministry with the affection of your heart." - St. John Baptist de La Salle

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

Previous Blog:

https://didieraur.blogspot.com/2021/08/love-your-neighbor-as-yourself.html

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

In this day and age, most everyone is willing to work together especially when things are going their way. When they don't, there's a growing number of people who become angry and uncooperative; many times even belligerent. I've watched some of the videos from the Williamson County School Board meetings. People getting a bit too cra-cra! Wonder what those people think when they go back and see themselves on YouTube? In the words of Sheldon Cooper, "For shame!" 

Nothing wrong with disagreeing; just need to disagree agreeably. That's how we compromise and find solutions to our disagreements. My way or the highway isn't a good managerial or relational strategy.

This morning's gospel reading was from Matthew 22 where the Pharisees tested Jesus on the greatest commandment. His response is what we should always be doing as children of God. "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Unfortunately, we don't love God the way we should. And, we definitely don't come close to loving our neighbor as ourself. For many, hating our neighbor is probably more common than loving our neighbor especially if they don't think the way we do. Jesus never said for us to love our neighbor unless our neighbor does not look, act, or think the way we do. Sometimes, I'm as guilty as the next person, but I actually do try to follow the greatest commandment.

Loving God and our neighbor does not mean we are supposed to make everyone happy. Actually, trying to make everyone happy is a recipe for disaster and should not be our goal because it will never work. If our actions and decisions are made out of love, yet some people aren't happy with our actions and decisions, then so be it. We aren't all going to be happy, but we should all get along. Here's a great quote to follow: "Stop trying to make everyone happy. You are not tequila!"

Winston Churchill once said, "Never let a good crisis go to waste." We are approaching 630,000 COVID deaths in this country and 4.4 million world-wide. Don't know about you, but I would categorize this as a crisis. During this crisis, it might be a good time to learn to love God, our neighbor, and ourself.

We should all work together for the common good. Br. Joel McGraw (one of my favorite people on this earth), once told me, "In a disagreement, put on your velvet gloves and kill them with kindness." That was his way of loving his neighbor as himself. Let's be a lot like Jesus and Br. Joel by using this crisis to look for ways to love our neighbor.

I will end with some great advice from St. Teresa of Calcutta: “People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

God bless you, Didier Aur

When is Han Solo Going to Slow Down the Millennium Falcon?

If you are a Star Wars fan, you know Han Solo used the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon to make the jump to light speed. I feel like we are on the Millennium Falcon with the hyperdrive fully engaged, going light speed, and not being able to slow down to enjoy the ride. When is Han Solo going to slow down the Millennium Falcon?

After experiencing the most exhausting of all years, this summer leading up to the 21-22 school year has been even more exhausting. If anything, time has accelerated, and we only have one more week to prepare for teacher in-service and the new year. Wow!

The workload for the administrative team is heaviest during the summer. Preparing for the new school year takes place in a two-month span; June and July. The to-do list for getting the school ready has been longer and more involved than any of my previous 33 years in education. The long list isn't just for me; it is for the administrative staff, IT, teachers, maintenance, custodians, fall fest, PRE, and Home & School. Everyone has more on their plate than ever before and busting their tails making sure we are ready.

Life is sure going by quickly, and I don't have the energy I once did. Yet, the workload and number of hours spent at St. Ann continue to increase. Because of this, my hobbies have taken a back seat. Haven't spent nearly as much time on the soccer field or on my bicycle as I wish I had.  After an extra hard day at work, it is sometimes difficult finding the time and energy for either. My trip to ride the Cowboy Trail in Nebraska never did materialize. Disappointing, but glad I live .2 miles from the Greenline, and able to go for a quick ride now and then.

I'm not complaining by any means because I actually enjoy going to work every day. I am thankful to be at St. Ann and work with the most wonderful people. I am thrilled the whole team is on board to make St. Ann the best and continue to build such an incredible culture for our students and families. Our team will walk through fire for each other and the children. For those who might take our school for granted, the grass at St. Ann is a beautiful, lush, deep green.

This year is going to be a mix of pre-COVID and COVID times. It is almost as if we are reinventing education once again. That's why all the extra work. Planning last summer was a monster. We have had to almost completely revise our plans all over again this summer. When we just about have everything figured out, here comes the Delta variant. Yay! This yay is followed with an eye roll, sigh, head shake, and a few expletives. Here we go again.

We successfully and safely made it through last year. We will do it again together this year. Keep calm and persevere. 

If St. Ann is not on your prayer list, please add us. If you normally don't pray, please start. If you already pray for St. Ann, thank you.

Dear God, please give us the faith, strength, fortitude, wisdom, humility, and passion needed to continue to move St. Ann forward, and keep our people safe. Bless us all. Amen.

Hey Han Solo, how about you slowing the Millennium Falcon down a bit! Much appreciate you doing that.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

We Did It!

Class of 2021

Only a few days left of the 2020-21 school year, and then we can say, "We did it!" We made it through the year of the Coronavirus when schools all over the world shutdown to in-person learning. We didn't shut down. We stayed true to our families; touching the hearts and teaching the minds of our students. We followed the advice of the medical experts, planned fiendishly for the unknown, took precaution after precaution, all while demonstrating fortitude. 

No one could have predicted what would happen, but we didn't back down in fear. We did what was best and the results speak for themselves in high test scores, back-to-basics education, with advanced learning, all while participating in Mass and other religious activities, and providing our community with service. To me, the most wonderful part was St. Ann witnessing a substantial number of students (and several with their families) in all grades coming into the Catholic faith through Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation. This has been an incredibly beautiful and challenging school year. Faith, science, planning, precaution, and courage prevailed.

Dr. Colleen Butterick is the head of counseling for the Catholic Schools of our diocese. This weekend, she shared a letter with the Catholic School principals. With her permission, I am sharing this letter with you, our Catholic School families, because Dr. Butterick hit the nail on the head with this letter.

Dear All,

When we began this journey together in March, 2020 we collectively decided that our main goal was to educate the children in our Catholic Schools.  We set forth a plan and steadfastly followed that plan, resulting in providing a full and solid academic year for our students.  While we have always been supportive of one another, this year has stood out as one where we were true colleagues in every sense of the word.  We supported one another, helped one another with decision making, and approached our decisions with every school's best interest in mind.  I have always been proud to be a part of this leadership team, but never as proud as I have been this year. You have been true educators and leaders.

There has been some discussion nationally that students have suffered due to this pandemic.  But, quite frankly, I think they have gained enormous emotional strength and emotional intelligence throughout this year.  Our students witnessed a devastating experience but they also witnessed all of us banding together and overcoming fears and conflicts to survive and carry-on.  Our children learned that when difficulties happen the answer is to have faith, tenacity, optimism and cooperation, and situations will improve.  They observed their parents, teachers, administrators and their friends collectively working together towards the common goal of keeping our schools open.  I believe that these students will be able, throughout their lives, to draw upon this experience and put in place what they have learned as they are faced with other life crises.  

Thank you for your leadership, dedication and selflessness throughout this year.  We did it!!

Thank you Dr. Butterick. We came together and prevailed! We (students, parents, volunteers, teachers, staff, and administrators) did it!

Have a great summer, and let's get ready for the 2021-22 school year!

God bless you and with much love,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School