School Pillars

This blog is a continuation of the work performed by the St. Ann Values Committee. This committee was tasked with not only developing our purpose, mission, and vision statements but also forming pillars to help define our values. The values will help define who we are as a Catholic school.

Our four pillars are Pray, Learn, Respect, and Serve.

1. Always lead with prayer.
2. Always learn.
3. Respect everyone.
4. Serve your Community

The next step for the Values Committee was to define each of the pillars. The defining statements are there to support each pillar according to what they mean for St. Ann. You can see on the slides the defining statements of each pillar.

The Values Committee then went two steps farther by designating a Bible quote and a saint to correspond with each pillar. The quote and saint are on the pillar slides as well. The committee also wanted to have Bible quotes from the Old and New Testament which they were able to achieve.

As for the saints representing each pillar, the committee wanted saints from the Americas to better represent who we are. St. Katharine Drexel was selected for serve because she is the patron saint of philanthropy. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is the patron saint of Catholic Schools. St. Rose de Lima was known for her devotion to prayer. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas which goes hand-in-hand with our diversity at St. Ann. Also, Pope Francis said, "Guadalupe shows how faith is shared simply, with respect." Who better to teach us respect than the mother of God.

Next, we will be sharing our plan developed by our Behavior Committee. Have a great week.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

https://www.sascolts.org/

School Values

We have spent much time this past school year putting together our strategic plan, which we are incredibly pleased with the quality of work that has been produced. We developed four committees to start our strategic plan beginning in the 2024-25 school year.

The first committee is called our Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG - pronounce bee-hag) Committee. BHAG comes for the book Built to Last. These are the goals that are difficult to obtain but inspires everyone to give it their all to reach. From the work of this committee, we formed the Values, Behavior, and Advancement Committees.

I want to use today's blog to focus on part of the work of our Values Committee. Their work was to develop new purpose, mission, and vision statements for the school. These are important components of an organization's strategic framework that explain why the organization exists, how it will achieve its goals, and what it wants to achieve in the future.

The Values Committee met on December 11th at Our Lady Queen of Peace Retreat Center to spend a day brainstorming and developing these statements. Once these statements were written, they were presented to the BHAG Committee for review. Revisions were made and sent back to the Values Committee. The Values Committee reviewed these and did some more revising. Then, the statements were presented to the whole faculty and staff for review. Edits were made and final statements were completed. It was a lengthy process but well worth the time.

The Values Committee also developed a Student Mission Statement. They felt it is important for the students to have their own mission statement which focuses on student goals instead of school goals. The student mission statement is the one the students will recite every morning during morning announcements. 

It was a great process which took time and energy to develop. We are thankful for all those who contributed to developing the purpose, mission, and vision statements especially to our Values Committee.

The Values Committee was also responsible for developing the school pillars which will be presented next.

I do want to say that any planning is fantastic but of no use if there is not action behind the plans. These plans are not being put on a shelf somewhere as nice decorations. We are putting them into action. You will see this now and in the months to come. "Good thoughts are no better than good dreams if you don't follow through." - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

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

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

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

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

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

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

10 x 10 Colts Challenge

I finally figured out 2020! It has taken since March for this epiphany to take place, but it finally has. 2020 is just another level of Jumanji. Unfortunately, we have to get through this level to move forward in the game. I just hope the next level is much easier than this one. Between the Coronavirus and the elections (don't know which is worse), "We the People" are the ones who have to endure this level. We can endure this level. The thing is, we are going to have to do this together and be patient because we are still in the beginning stages of whatever level of Jumanji we are in.

Here is an interesting fact: "We the People" is the opening phrase of the Preamble of the US Constitution as well as the Constitution of India.  Thank you Sheldon Cooper.

What does this have to do with the 10 x 10 Colts Challenge? Actually, a lot. First, let me explain the 10 x 10 challenge and then give the whys.

We are calling all members of the St. Ann Family (parishioners, alumni, faculty and staff, parents, grandparents, and friends) to join together and participate in our first ever 10 x 10 Colts Challenge. Here's the way this challenge works. We are asking our St. Ann Families to donate $10 and pray a decade of the Rosary for St. Ann. Then, we also ask that you forward an email to 10 friends asking them to support St. Ann by donating $10.

The challenge will begin on November 9th and run until December 31st. We have created a page on our website specifically for the 10 x 10 Colts Challenge, which will be made available starting on November 9th.

Tomorrow's Monday Mail will give you more information on the challenge, and we will continue to send out information, including a sample email you can send to 10 friends, in the hopes of building enthusiasm behind the challenge.

Donor Board

Now the whys: The challenge is to help with unforeseen costs in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, such as hiring online teachers and extra substitute teachers, purchasing tools for meeting safety requirements and cleaning supplies, and lowering the number of students in each classroom.

These COVID-19 expenses were not budgeted because we had no idea how to budget for education through a pandemic. If we have another pandemic in the near future, we will be better able to develop a more accurate budget.

The hiring of online teachers and extra substitution teachers will add an extra $25,000 to our salary expense line from August to December. If this continues through the end of May, we will add another $25,000 in salaries on top of that.

Supplies to keep everyone as safe as we possibly can steadily increases on a weekly basis. The State of Tennessee and a grant from the Buckman Foundation have been a tremendous help to the school with safety gear and hand sanitizers. The rest, we have to purchase or build ourselves.

Limiting the number of students in each classroom hurts in oh so many ways. Because of this, we have limited our enrollment. This in turn, lowers the amount of tuition revenue. Ouch! Instead of having up to 25 students in those classrooms, we basically have 20 students. We have closed enrollment to PK4, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade. That means we have a waiting list for those grades, which in turn means we are turning families away from receiving a Catholic education. If we turn a family away because of space, those families will find other schools and not St. Ann.

And, don't forget the amount of financial assistance we have given to support families experiencing financial difficulties due to COVID-19. The financial assistance amount jumped from $77,000 last year to $133,000 this year. That a $56,000 difference we have to make-up for in our budget.

These are the whys of the 10 x 10 Colts Challenge. For these reasons, we would greatly appreciate your support. Please consider becoming a part of the 10 x 10 Colts Challenge and help us get to the next level of Jumanji.

God bless you, 

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

The Beauty of Broken Mirrors

 

The Beauty of Broken Mirrors

By Anthony Maranise, Obl.S.B.

 

In the hectic bustle and scurrying that can be our lives sometimes, we have the tendency to overlook certain luxuries. Many of us, I would venture to guess, likely take for granted the common mirror. Yes, the mirror is a luxury in that we do not need it to ‘get by’ in this world or this life, though it helps tremendously. Imagine how much more difficult driving would be without that polished reflective glass there to be of assistance. But I digress. Most of us use or rely on mirrors within our homes— whether they be decorative or for personal grooming, dressing, etc. They are a common luxury; this much we know.

NEEDTOBREATHE

Some months ago, a loved one (who most unfortunately has ‘fallen away’) and I were discussing our mutual enjoyment of the contemporary rock and Christian music group known as ‘NeedToBreathe’. One of their newer songs is entitled, “Banks”, and has a beautiful lyrical verse within it. Truth be told, this verse alone inspired the composition of this article with a bit of prayerful reflection with the song itself. The verse intones, “If you ever feel like you’re not enough, I’m going to break all your mirrors.”

Now, “why”, I thought, “would someone break another’s mirrors because they felt like they weren’t (good) enough?” I stayed with this thought for a while not primarily because of the question it evoked within me, but instead because of how the verse resonated with my own soul and ‘interior disposition.’ I often feel like I am not (good) enough – whether that be for my colleagues, my principal, my doctoral studies professors, my friends, my parents, my girlfriends over the years, and most importantly of all, for God Himself. While I would like to believe I am not alone in feeling this way, I wonder if perhaps I do not, for some reason, feel this inadequacy more often than others. Alas, that is something I will take with me into further spiritual direction.

 

During the recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy one afternoon, accompanied in prayer by my seventh-grade scholars, the answer to the question finally ‘dawned’ on me. Why would someone break another’s mirrors because they felt like they weren’t (good) enough?

 

Because mirrors show us only our external reflections. Designed to provide a clear and full reflection, they can, at best, only ever accomplish half their intended purpose. Mirrors cannot show us the most authentic, real, affirming, and beautiful reflection of all, namely, the ways in which we reflect the imago Dei in which we have been created (cf. Genesis 1:27)!

 

Thus, if we stare into our external reflections alone and for long enough, we will begin to believe what we see in those reflections. We might, for example, see one whose hair has begun to grey; one whose face is distorted by stress wrinkles; whose torso bears the marks of surgeries, injuries, or even ‘stretch-marks’ from weight gain. If we focus too intently on our external appearances, we run two risks of excess: (1) either we begin to see ourselves as inadequate and grotesque or (2) we begin to see ourselves in a rather narcissistically positive lens, forgetting that though we are created in the image and likeness of God, we are still sinners “in need of God’s mercy in which we ought never lose hope” (Rule of Saint Benedict, 4.74).

I might content that insofar as mirrors only show us ‘the lesser half’ of our true selves (the external), they are all somewhat ‘broken.’ Yet, here is the beauty of it all (and the simultaneous beauty of these ‘broken’ mirrors):

We were and are, moment-by-moment, loved into existence by the One who, at our creation, looked at us and proclaimed what we will hope to hear again as we enter into ‘eternal Easter’, namely, these phrases: “Very good!” (Genesis 1:31) and “It is I who have fearfully and wonderfully made you!” (Psalms 139:14).

Therefore, next time you gaze into your reflection in a mirror, I encourage you to remember these three things: (1) You are using a ‘broken’ instrument to provide you with a less than full reflection of who you truly are, (2) Who you truly are is God’s child and as such you are created in His own dazzling image and likeness, and (3) As a result of that creation alone, you are more than (good) enough!

 

About the Author

 

Anthony Maranise, Obl.S.B. is the middle school religion instructor at St. Ann Catholic School of Bartlett (TN) and is a doctoral scholar in the Ed.D. program for interdisciplinary leadership at Creighton University (Omaha, NE). Apart from these roles, Anthony is the author of five books, a New Memphis Institute research and leadership fellow, a certified chaplain, and an oblate of the Order of Saint Benedict associated with St. Bernard Abbey (Cullman, AL). You may learn more about him by visiting his personal website at: amaranis.wix.com/amjm or by visiting his LinkedIn profile at: www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-maranise.

 

There is No Finish Line

Learning About Saints

The original title of this blog post was "Preparing to Go Virtual Again." But, doesn't that title give you a sick feeling? The sad thing is we ARE preparing to go virtual again. We spent so much time since the spring shutdown getting ready for school to reopen that we have not spent but a minute planning for another shutdown. Not planning for a future shutdown as of now has completely changed. We were super-well prepared for the last shutdown, but we plan to be even more for a next possible shutdown. So, if you are wondering what fills our days at St. Ann besides the usual, everyday, procedural-laden, Covid-19 form of education; well, getting ready for a shutdown is what we are doing.

Reading Time

So, why did I change the title of this blog post? In our virtual principals' meeting yesterday, one of the principals talked about how everything we do in education typically has a finish line. With this pandemic, there is no finish line. Not having a finish line causes stress and anxiety with many folks. Nationally, quite a few teachers are experiencing these in big ways, which is leading to an educational exodus that will have negative affects on learning for generations to come.

People can endure just about anything if they know where the finish line is. With what's happening, there is no finish line. The finish line might be this fall. Many have heard it said that this will all end on Election Day. I am not a conspiracy theorist, at least not yet. So, I don't buy that. The finish line might be the fall of 2021. No one knows. And, this is going to increase stress and anxiety levels. Bottom line is there is no finish line. There is no end in sight. How many of you keep forgetting what day it is? Some folks have to remind themselves we are nearing the end of July, I mean August. 

Writing Time

So, we are preparing for what we can prepare for and putting the finish line in God's hands. We are going to put our stress and anxiety in His hands as well. Personally, I'm going to not question so much. I'm not going to cause others more stress and anxiety by questioning everything.

I mentioned in my blog post "Honey in My Lemonade" that this has been one of the best summers of my life. The best summers of my life were the summers my family spent on Santos Beach in Brazil, my native country. My plan is to have one of the best autumns of my life in 2020. Every day will be me enjoying Santos Beach. Instead of seeing the end of this pandemic as the finish line, my finish line is going to be the end of every day when I go naninha (Portuguese for night-night). The race will start again the next morning. 

Peaceful Protest

Here's how we are planning for a possible shutdown. Led by Annmarie Ghio, every teacher is designing a shutdown plan. Yes, they are putting their plans in writing because we want to be ready to distribute the shutdown plans if it happens. Their plans will list all the websites we will be using (FACTS, blogs, IXL, ReadWorks, Be My Disciple, Google Classroom, Seesaw and about ten more) and where to find your child's passwords to log-in to these sites. The plans will even have a daily academic schedule for your child to follow.

We have spent the last few days getting all students and educators registered with Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt's Journeys for English Language Arts (ELA). This is the new ELA curriculum we purchased with online components in case of the dreaded shutdown. The online components of Sadlier Math have already been put into use. This is the updated Math curriculum we purchased for virtual learning. We have added science and social studies to IXL language arts and math. We are currently exploring other programs such as BrainPOP that teachers can utilize to help students.

Learning About Saints

It is bizarre to think that while the school year moves forward in-person for 90% of the students (10% of the students are virtual), we are preparing to go 100% virtual just in case. I am hoping that all the preparation for virtual learning is done for naught. If we are able to go live all year without a shutdown, think we will have to throw a massive end of the school year party for everyone at St. Ann. If that were to happen, then that massive party will be our finish line. Until then, I'm just going to jog and not sprint to the finish line because we are only in week three of thirty-seven.

Will we be prepared if we go 100% virtual again? There is no doubt we will be prepared academically. Mentally will any of us be prepared? Hopefully, we will never have to answer that question.

God bless you,
Didier Aur, Principal
St. Ann Catholic School