You'll Never Walk Alone

Our Friends from Missouri

In 1963, Gerry and the Pacemakers sang You'll Never Walk Alone. Liverpool F.C. adopted the song title as their club's motto. I'm thinking the Catholic Diocese of Memphis needs to also adopt this motto. Maybe we can expand on it a little to make our motto With God, You'll Never Walk Alone.

The Catholic community of our diocese is a pretty tight knit group of people. I've been told that we make up only about 5% of the population in the Memphis area. I would have never guessed that because everywhere I go, I am surrounded by my Catholic brothers and sisters. Even though we make up such a small percentage of the population, we are never far from our Catholic family. In good times and bad, our Catholic community is there together supporting each other.

Carla Bray

After leaving school last Friday, I drove straight over to Memorial Park for Carla Bray's visitation. I met Carla many years ago through her husband Mark. Mark Bray was one of my mentor teachers at CBHS starting back in 1992. Kathleen, their daughter, is a teacher at Resurrection Catholic School. Carla's visitation was a bit of a CBHS and Resurrection reunion. The line of people there to pay their respects was all the way down the hall almost to the door by the time I left. No, Carla and the Bray Family will never walk alone. The Catholic community was there walking together.

On Saturday, we celebrated Mardi Gras in Memphis. It was a crawfish festival at Memphis Catholic celebrating the Jubilee Schools. St. Ann was out there celebrating with the Jubilee Schools. Not only were we out there celebrating with our Jubilee brothers and sisters, we had the biggest turnout of any school. In my short time at St. Ann, I've quickly come to understand to never underestimate what the great folks at St. Ann are capable of getting done.

The St. Ann tent had about 36 lbs of crawfish, 10 lbs of grill wings, 5  lbs of Missouri sausage, 10 lbs of pork steaks, Brazilian caipirinha, and 20+ people enjoying a great time. This is not including all the people who came by to sample our food. By the way, we took 2nd place in the gumbo cookoff! Do you think the St. Ann Fall Fest folks will let us grill some wings at the next fall fest? I had leftover wings for dinner tonight.


I did something new and different today. We had friends from Missouri in town this weekend to attend Mardi Gras in Memphis together. We decided to go to Mass this morning at the Poor Clare's Monastery with Fr. David Knight. Then we attended Mass at St. Michael with Fr. Ben Bradshaw. After my friends left to return to Jefferson City, MO, Kelley and I attended Mass at St. Ann with Fr. Ernie. Don't think that I have ever attended Mass three times in one day. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and might have to do it more often. I was truly with my Catholic brothers and sisters all weekend.

We have a Knowledge Bowl team at St. Ann. They practice several times per week and compete against other schools. Ryan Cooper is the Knowledge Bowl moderator. He informed me that they are in need of a new buzzer system. The one we currently have is about 20 years old and having some problems working properly. Using the buzzer system, each team player has their own light and hand held unit. It makes it possible to easily identify the team and player who buzzes in to answer a question. The system we need is a Quik Pro Deluxe Q614 for 2 teams of 6 players each. The cost is $618 plus $23 for shipping. If you can help us purchase this buzzer system for the Knowledge Bowl team, we greatly need your help. Please and thank you. Here's the link to the site. http://quikprosystems.com/buzzers1.htm

Thank you to:
Susan Garts for donating the 20 headphones we requested last week for the computer labs. The headphones are scheduled to arrive this week. Anna Slattery and the students will be very happy.

Carol Fister and Thomas Lewis for their gift that enabled us to make the school security camera system a reality.

Student Shoutout:

Cadence Orban, Isabella Stuart, and Eriel Wilkins just finished their volleyball tournament in Bowling Green Kentucky. They played in the Vette City Challenge for their Memphis Metro volleyball teams. Way to go girls! Looking forward to watching next year's St. Ann Volleyball Team compete.

Grace Odum is no ordinary dancer. On Saturday evening, she had a late
night of dancing for her solo for the first time this year. She won platinum for her solo and was invited to New York for a dance intensive with the Rockettes. This is a Rockettes dance camp she will be participating in. We are proud of you Grace!

Please continue to pray for our students and staff as we continue to grow and move forward.
Praise God, from who all blessing flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen

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

Never an Uneventful Day

Fat Tuesday Alumni Party

One never experiences an uneventful day when working in schools. There is never a regular day where we can set our daily agenda and follow it. My daily agenda changes starting at 8:05 am. That's the time we usually finish the daily prayers and morning announcements. 9 out of 10 days somebody is waiting for me to discuss something, and you know that something is usually not about what a great job I'm doing.

Eisenhower Matrix

This makes me think of the Eisenhower Matrix of time management where I'm suppose to focus my time on the urgent and important versus the non-urgent and non-important. What the Eisenhower Matrix doesn't address is who determines what is important and urgent. What is important and urgent to my students, teachers, and parents is not always important and urgent to me. But, my job is to do the best I can for my students, teachers, and parents. So, starting at 8:05 am, I change my role from school principal to school fireman, and I do my best to put out fires. This week, the week before Spring Break, was definitely a firefighting week. Just glad this past week is behind us, and I can focus during Spring Break week on my list of urgent and important. In lieu of a raise for next year, maybe I'll ask Fr. Ernie for a fireman's helmet. :)

With Patrick Norman, St. Ann Grad

Just an FYI, I do enjoy putting out fires most of the time, and I don't mind dealing with unpleasant situations. I don't look forward to dealing with the unpleasant. It is just that I've been doing this for so long I know that it is a part of the job. And unfortunately, not everyone agrees with my methods or decisions of how I deal with the unpleasant or putting out fires. Not every day nor decision is rosy, but I do wear rose-colored glasses. So, I have that going for me.

With Virginia Norman, St. Ann Grad

Since last fall, we have been planning the Alumni Fat Tuesday Party. We had about 60 alumni RSVP and we were excited for such a great turnout. Our decorating committee, mainly made up of St. Ann alum, did a great job of decorating the gym. The Knights of Columbus stepped up as usual and took care of the food. Special thanks to Jack and Stacey Griffith for leading the charge getting the food ready. In the end, about 40 people attended the party. I am not a St. Ann graduate, but I had a great time, and do look forward to the next St. Ann alumni get-together.

Fat Tuesday Alumni Party

Parents and Students! Time for Colt Star Award nominations. The Colt Star Award recognizes faculty and staff members at St. Ann who exhibit leadership, participate in school and community projects, and foster good citizenship and high academic achievement at St. Ann.  CLICK HERE to download the Colt Star Award nomination form.

On Saturday, March 23rd, St. Ann will have a tent at the Jubilee Schools' Mardi Gras In Memphis Crawfish Boil and ETW 5K. We have a Memphis Catholic intern working at St. Ann every day. In return for their support, we are going to support the Crawfish Boil and 5K. Several of our St. Ann friends and alumni are also Memphis Catholic Chargers.

I am inviting all St. Ann folks to come out for a day of fun at Memphis Catholic. Bring your chairs and join us at the St. Ann tent. Admission is $5 with children 5 and under free. There will be live music, bouncy castles, face painting, and corn hole games included with admission. There will be food and drink available for purchase. A box of crawfish will be available for $10. My wing cooking friend from Jefferson City, Philip Schulte, will be grilling his "Soon to be World Famous Wings" and Mid-Missouri homemade sausage. We had a good St. Ann crowd at the Wings of Jubilee last fall. Let's have a great turnout for the Crawfish Boil and 5K.

Wiring for Security Cameras

The school security camera system is almost complete. When everyone returns from Spring Break, they will see our cameras covering every hallway, cafeteria, and gym. We are already working on installing speakers in the hallway. The final step will be the door locks. I might have to take a locksmithing class to get this done, but we need to replace the door locks throughout the campus.

Lastly for this week, the computer labs are being used more this year than ever before. Many of the computer programs such as IXL, ReadWorks, easyCBM, and Spelling Words used by the students require headphones. Many of the head phones we currently use need replacing. Amazon is running a special on the Califone headphones we use. We can purchase a set of 10 Califone headphones for $94.26. We are in need of two of these sets. Purchasing the headphones individually is roughly $13 a piece. If you can help purchase two sets of 10 Califone headphones for our students, we greatly appreciate your help.

Have a great Spring Break. I will be at St. Ann most of the week

Support St. Ann

working on summer camps. Hopefully, the fires will be few but know there will always be fires.

God bless you,
Didier Aur, Principal

Wings, Wings, and More Wings of Jubilee!

Teams Setting Up for Competition

Nineteen teams competed for the title of Holiest Hot Wings in Memphis at the 2017 Wings of Jubilee.

The Northwestern Mutual team led by Bill Drennan took home the top prize. I have a feeling the good folks at NM are going to enter a few more wings contest now that they have won the Wings of Jubilee. Rumor has it that Drennan is going to cook wings full-time.

Frank & Teddi Niedzwiedz with Team Skrydetka Kurczaka (Polish for chicken wings) came in second.  I noticed Frank eyeing the specialized cookers from some of the other teams (especially the Fat Head BBQ cooker). I believe next year, he will use his engineering and computer skills to design and build his own specialized wing/bbq cooking trailer. That will raise their game a notch or two.

Philip Schulte

Craig Blondis and Central BBQ, the big boys in the competition, came home in third. Who doesn't love Central BBQ wings! Central BBQ had the largest cooking trailer in the competition. Very impressive.

Most importantly, Team Blue Streak (my team), under the guidance of grill master Philip Schulte, took fourth place! Team Blue Streak was so happy not to finish in last place again. Schulte has been perfecting his special dry rub ever since last year's last place finish. He came all the way from Jefferson City, MO to help Blue Streak compete. Wouldn't surprise me if he started bottling his secret dry rub and we see Blue Streak Dry Rub in grocery stores.

Here' a little about each of the competing teams:

Coach/Chef Wood

-Ryan Trimm from Sweet Grass prepared wings with blue cheese. Doesn't get much better than that.

Mike Callahan

-James Shelton, principal at Resurrection, had the hottest wings in the competition. He claims they weren't hot but boy were they ever hot.
-Coach/Chef James Wood, representing Memphis Catholic, claims his wings were so good that they were all consumed before the judges got to sample.
-Mike Callahan was representing the cooking talents of all the Callahans with his secret Purple Haze sauce.
-The Knights of Columbus showed up in full force representing the area Catholics. Amen!
-901Q brought their monster mobile cooker/kitchen (a tiny house on steroids) representing Arlington.

901Q

New Wing Order

-Duncan Williams, led by grill master Kyle Gowen, had the best party area set-up. This wasn't their first rodeo.
-The youngest team to compete was led by Jonathan & Brittany Aur and Dustin & Kelly Jones. Their wings didn't quite make it to the top of the list, but they had the biggest/best party including a game of beer pong. Oh to be young again.
-New Wing Order was one of the new teams competing this year. Don't know much about them except they had the best shirts and banner.
-Mariko and Tiffany Wiley from Riko's Kickin Chicken (they serve up my favorite at their restaurant: Jerk Chicken with a side of broccoli and cheese) made the WOJ their first wings competition. Bet you it won't be their last. Their restaurant is located at 1329 Madison. It is worth the visit.
- Wings of Fire were a first time entry into the Wings of Jubilee. Thank you for your support.
-Neil's Music Room entered a team as well. Neil Heins is a graduate of Memphis Catholic and a fantastic supporter of all things Memphis Catholic.

Riko's Kickin Chicken

-R.J. Young, last year's winner, participated for a second year in a row. They had to defend their title and glad they did so.

Fat Head BBQ

-Wingy Dingy is another two time entry.  We hope to have them as a three time entry next year.
-Fat Head BBQ was the last team to enter the competition. It was great having them participate in the WOJ. I also want a cooker just like theirs.

A special thank you to our main sponsor for the second year in a row, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. We had three new sponsors as well: Christian Brothers High School, Paulo and Jeanne Aur, and Reynolds Bone & Griesbeck. Thank you to all the sponsors for investing in the Jubilee Schools.

Our in-kind sponsors were Little Caesars Pizza Pizza (donated pizzas, of course), Ledbetter Meats (donated hamburgers), Jonathan and Brittany Aur (donated beer for the VIP tent), Central BBQ (donated food for the VIP tent), and Jeremy Park & cityCURRENT (advertised the event). Thanks for helping to make Wings of Jubilee a success.

Bishop Emeritus J. Terry Steib

Everyone was thrilled to see Bishop Emeritus J. Terry Steib. Not only did he make an appearance, he also visited all the tents. Bishop Steib created the vision of the Jubilee Schools and we thank him for his dedication to the students of the Jubilee Schools.

Br. Chris Englert

Br. Chris Englert, president of CBHS, was also present. The Christian Brothers are huge supporters of the Jubilee Schools and sponsor De La Salle at Blessed Sacrament, the Jubilee School in Binghampton. We thank the Christian Brothers for their support and the thousands of volunteer hours CBHS students perform at the Jubilee Schools every year.

None of this would have been possible if it were not for the leadership of Angela Fox. Angela is the director of marketing and events for the Jubilee Schools. The Wings of Jubilee is her brain-child and she works tirelessly to make sure all Jubilee events are a success.  Thank you Angela for your leadership and strength. You have a special touch and I'm thrilled to be able to work with you.

Thank you to the many, many, many volunteers, including the students of Memphis Catholic and Jubilee School staff members, who gave of their time and energy to make this happen. A special shout out to Richard Jones, Lolita Miller, David Justice, Jeff Justice, Joe Fox, Philip Schulte, Mercedes Durham, and Kelley Aur for going above and beyond in setting up, working the event, and breaking down after the event was over. These folks are the super-volunteers we cannot do without. They did the same thing last year at the Wings of Jubilee and earlier this spring at the Tails of Jubilee. These events just don't happen and it takes a lot of effort to make the events fantastic.

We are already working on 2018 Wings of Jubilee. Our goal is to have forty wing teams competing for the title of Holiest Hot Wings in Memphis.

Our next event is the Memphis Catholic/Education That Works Golf Tournament on Friday, September 29th at Greens of Irene with a shotgun start at 8:00 am.  If you are interested in participating, volunteering, or sponsoring, please call me at 901-373-1226 or click on http://www.memphiscatholic.org/news-events/golf/ to sign up.

God bless you,
Didier Aur

Join The Fun: 2017 Wings of Jubilee

Until last year, I had never been a part of any cooking contest. Even though I was a cook at The Loft Restaurant during my high school years, entering a cooking contest never entered my mind until last year when I entered a team in the 2016 Wings of Jubilee.

I am fully committed to the mission of the Jubilee Schools and the philanthropic work of the Blue Streak Scholarship Fund. When Blue Streak decided to hold a hot wings cooking contest (Wings of Jubilee), I decided that I would enter a team not in an attempt to win a trophy but to support the Jubilee Schools and join the fun.

Had I ever cooked chicken wings before? No. Do I enjoy eating chicken wings? Yes, but not hot wings. I like mild wings with just a little bit of dry rub and not the dripping wet use a roll of paper towels type wings.

I hoodwinked my good friend, Philip Schulte, from Jefferson City, MO to come down and help me cook. He had never cooked wings before so it was all new to him as well.

The first time we cooked chicken wings was for last year's Wings of Jubilee. Philip and I concocted our secret recipe the night before the Wings of Jubilee. The sauce was created on a trial and error basis. We had no idea how most people even cooked wings. We marinated the chicken wings all night in our newly created secret sauce hoping we had created something good to share the next day.

Come the morning of the Wings of Jubilee, we set up our team tent with lots of food and drink. We fired up our grill and started cooking chicken wings for the first time ever. We had a lot of fun and our team tent was full through much of the day with lots of friends and family. With several live bands and lots of kids games, the place was hopping.

With the 2017 Wings of Jubilee rapidly approaching, Philip and I decided to enter our team once again. We helped raise money for the Jubilee Schools while having a great time supporting another Blue Streak event. This FUN-raiser was well worth it and we are ready to go again.

We stepped out of our comfort zone and ended up having a great time! It didn't matter that we had no idea what we were doing. We just said "YES" and had lots of fun.

We challenge all Jubilee and Blue Streak supporters to do the same for this year's Wings of Jubilee. Enter a team and invite your friends and family to come out for a day of fun. Enter a team from work and use this opportunity to treat your employees and clients to a fun day out and also as a thank you for being a part of your organization.

Here is a partial list of teams already entered:
Blue Streak
Rytech
Duncan William Asset Management
Skrydetka Kurczaka (Polish for chicken wings)
Northwestern Mutual
R.J. Young
Peggy & Mike Callahan
Wingy Dingy
Wing Dingers
Ray Fracchia
Neil's Music Room
Knights of Columbus (Matt Sorg)
Riko's Kickin' Chicken
Central BBQ
New Wing Order
Jonathan & Brittany Aur
901Q
Wing of Fire: T.J. Mulligan/Pinch
Memphis Catholic

Click here for the Wings of Jubilee website.

Click here to register a wings cooking team.

Click here if you would like to sponsor the Wings of Jubilee.

It is about having lots of fun with friends and family while supporting the Jubilee Schools. It is also about trying something new. Glad I did last year and looking forward to it again this year. Hope to see you out there having fun.

God bless you,
Didier Aur