St. Ann January Update

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

Another Great Catholic Schools Week

Student/Faculty Volleyball Game

Catholic Schools Week 2020 has come to an end, and what an exciting event filled week  we had highlighted by a Mass celebration with Bishop David Talley con-celebrating with Fr. Ernie DeBlasio.  And, what a fantastic Mass that turned out to be with our 2nd graders in charge and doing an awesome job as ushers, gift bearers, and lectors. I'm extremely proud of my students; all of them.  Bishop David was not too bad himself. Loved the way he brought the families together at the front of the church in describing how faith begins with the family and supported by the Church and School. His message was right on the mark. Perfect!

Bishop Talley and the
Montiel Family

I forgot to mention that Thursday was also Grandparents' Day at St. Ann. So, we had a packed house for Mass with the regular daily communicants, the students, staff, parents, and grandparents attending. The reception at the school was also packed. Grandparents and students were spending special time together creating lasting memories. Besides the donuts, bagels, coffee, and juice, grandparents were able to tour the school, visit the classroom, and purchase lots of books at the Scholastic Book Fair.

Catholic Schools Week started with our Open House and ended with the faculty once again coming out victorious in the Student/Faculty Volleyball Game. Thanks to the great play of Deborah Harty (the game's MVP two-years running) and great coaching from Tracy Angotti, the faculty made quick work of the students.

Selfie with Bishop Talley

In between those events, we had the Geography Bee, which was won by Vincent Ho (two-years in a row); Pajama Day, which brought in about 100 pairs of pajamas for Catholic Charities; School Spirit Day; Red, White, and Blue Day; Favorite Team Jersey Day; Student Talent Show, which was won by Zoe Geronimo; Priest Appreciation Day; Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day; and the Scholastic Book Fair, which raised over $1,000 for the school and promoted reading with our students, which is the single most important academic skill.

New 1st Grade Desks

Thank you to all those who took part in Catholic Schools Week. A special
thank you to Selina Trouy and Jennifer Burnett who keep the school going throughout all these events, taking care of students' needs, answering what seemed like hundreds of daily phones calls and emails, assisting dozens of school visitors, and making sure everyone is where they need to be. The work they do is immense and the love they do it with is immeasurable. Also, thank you to all the parents who help make Grandparents' Day a wonderful and joyous day.

Bannister Family at
Grandparents' Day Mass

In the middle of all these activities, the new 1st and 2nd grade desks and chairs arrived from Knowledge Tree. Thank you once again to the Stuppy Family Foundation for purchasing the desks and chairs for our students. Last year, the Stuppy Family Foundation purchased new students lockers for our 8th graders. They have been very good to our students and school. If you would like some of the old desks, come on by and pick up a few. They are yours for the taking while they last.

Support St. Ann Catholic School

This week, we are back to business as usual. Hoping to be able to not add to my to-do list, but I know that isn't going to happen.

Have a great week everybody, and thank God for all the blessings He has
bestowed on St. Ann Church and School.

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

Catholic Schools Week: A Week of Celebration

Pajamas for Catholic Charities

I write my blog on Sunday evenings, and today being Super Bowl Sunday, I did the same thing today as I do every Super Bowl Sunday, I watched the last two minutes of the game. I do that every year, just the last two minutes. Evidently, that's about all I needed to watch this year. Congratulations to the New England Patriots and the Patriot fans out there.  Super Bowl Champions times VI!

Student Trivia Contest

This has been a great Catholic Schools Week for St. Ann filled with days of celebration. It started off with the school choir singing at Mass, and an extremely well attended St. Ann Preview Day last Sunday. Monday was Pajama Day. You wore your pajamas to school if you donated a new pair of pajamas to Catholic Charities. Well, Catholic Charities received a car load of pajamas to give to children needing pajamas to keep warm at night. Tuesday, we wore our favorite sports team jerseys. Cannot believe how many Steelers fans we have. I wore my São Paulo

My São Paulo Soccer Jersey!
But I'm Playing Volleyball.

Futebol Clube soccer jersey. São Paulo is my favorite soccer team from my hometown in Brazil. Yes Battle Boys, they are much better than Chelsea. And yes, Tottenham is also better than Chelsea. Just saying. Tuesday was also the Staff/Student Volleyball Game. The students put up a good fight, but they were no match for the likes of Deborah Harty, Tracy Angotti, Billy Gage, James Newell and Ryan Cooper. Just in case you didn't hear, Deborah Harty was voted the game's MVP for her total court domination, Wednesday was  Pep Rally Day and Red, White, and Blue Day. Everyone came to school dressed in Red, White, and Blue. USA! USA! Thursday was Career Day and Grandparents Day. This was probably the best day because of all the Grandparents who attended

7th Grade Student Ambassadors

Mass with their grandchild. There are few things in life as wonderful and special as a grandparent/grandchild relationship. Friday was School Spirit Day, Faculty Appreciate Day, and the Student Trivia Contest. As you can see, it was an action packed week for which I'm still trying to recover. Now, I'm hoping for a few days of nothing but normal school days just to try to get caught up. I'm adding a lot of Catholic Schools Week pictures to this blog.

Winning Volleyball Team!

Now, for all the updates, and we have lots of them.

Volunteer Tutors: We have a whole bunch of wonderful people volunteering to tutor our students who need extra help. Now, we have a group of students from CBHS and SBA who want to perform their service hours tutoring our students after school. What better way to use service hours than by helping other students: Students Helping Students! Teresa Ferrante and Annmarie Ghio are in charge of scheduling the tutors with the St. Ann students. We are in constant need of volunteers. So, let us know if you are willing and able to help.

4th Grade PJ Day

I have asked Sally Fillion and Tracy Angotti to put together a St. Ann Bowling Team. They have followed through on this request, and they formed a St. Ann team with 17 students having signed up! I think more students will sign up as word spreads about the team. I encouraged forming a bowling team because bowling is a lifetime sport. I believe lifetime sports are very important. I play a lifetime sport in soccer. I'm 57 and still play. Not very well nor very fast, but my friends and I still play.

3rd Grade PJ Day

The next activity I want our students to participate in is in skeet and trap shooting. I want to form a St. Ann Shot Gun Team. The high schools have them. This would help our students make their high school shot gun team. The problem is, we need some coaches to teach our students. I might have to get the Bartlett Police Department involved somehow. Hey Captain Sones, I need your help on this one.

The Chess Club is coming together nicely. The Club now has nine members! My hope is that the Chess Club will also continue to grow as students learn more about Chess. I might be the worse chess player in the world, so it would be best if I just stay away when they are playing.

Band at Pep Rally

The next Extracurricular Exploration classes will start in a couple of weeks. We've come up with new EEs with the first being a tutoring EE. It is not for students who need to be tutored. It is for our middle school students who would like to help tutor the younger students at St. Ann. This is another form of Students Helping Students! We are also considering an IXL/Khan Academy EE for students who would like the opportunity to advance their studies. We have academic EEs, athletic EEs, and fine arts EEs. The middle school students are getting a lot of choices in doing different things outside of their regular class time.

One of Our Trivia Teams

I think we need a Hunger Games EE. No, we are not going to hunt each other down in the Arena developed by the Gamemakers. This would be a Hunger Games Book Club. Or, we could have a Harry Potter Book Club. Quidditch anyone? Accio! If you've read Harry Potter, this would make sense.

We are going to have a Gardening EE for the next two EE sessions. Mr. Gage will lead this EE. If you are interested in helping with the Gardening EE, please contact the school office. We sure could use some master gardeners or just some regular green thumb type people.

Students at the Pep Rally

We have some great St. Ann folks who have stepped up to donate the $2,098 we need for the security cameras. I plan to get together with Susan Hunt to get the project moving forward. Another item I want to add to the security system is speakers in the hallways. The intercom messages cannot be heard in the hallway. If there is an emergency, students and staff in the hallways need to know what's going on. When we asked for the speaker donations for the classrooms, we received more speakers than we needed. Now, we can use those speakers in the hallways (I hope). We will have to wire them to the existing audio system. I'm then going to buy an Amazon Echo, and have Alexa play classical music throughout the whole school all day long. I'm just kidding. Maybe. Once the cameras are in, the door locks will be next.

Student/Staff Volleyball Game

St. Ann Trivia Night is coming up on Saturday, March 2nd. I hope to have a room full of St. Ann supporters answering all kinds of crazy questions. Now that Catholic Schools Week is over, I'm going to focus on maxing out our trivia night. The Aur Family is entering a team. Our goal is not to finish last. We don't have very high expectations. We just want to support St. Ann and have fun.

If you would like to sponsor trivia night, please get in touch with me for sponsorship opportunities. All proceeds go to the Sr. Connie Scholarship Fund. This scholarship fund goes to St. Ann parishioners who need financial assistance to attend the school. This is a great way to make the school more affordable for families in our parish.

Click To Support St. Ann

Hey St. Ann alumni! We need you. Please put a team together for trivia night, and don't forget to attend our Fat Tuesday Alumni Party on Tuesday, March 5th. Yes, it is a weeknight. Come out anyway. St. Ann is a great place, and we want you to be a part of it.

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