Let Your Light Shine Before Others

Fr. Ernie usually ends his homilies by giving his parishioners an assignment. I see these assignments as a challenge for us to live Matthew 5:16. "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works and give glorify to your Father who is in heaven."

At Mass last evening, Fr. Ernie talked about the need for hope and salvation, and how Rev. Billy Graham said those are two things we all need. We need to live our lives in such a way that we have hope in a salvation that there is more in store for us after our time here on Earth. Because of God's love for us, we received and continue to receive the gift of salvation through Jesus in the Eucharist. Life has little purpose and meaning if we do not have hope in salvation for eternal life.

Fr. Ernie then challenged us to live our Christianity. We are to model that hope in the way we live our lives, and that modeling is to begin the moment we leave Mass and encounter the world.

During his homily, I thought about the way I live my Christianity, and how I need to do a better job of living my faith. Those thoughts quickly turned to the many ways I see people living their faith through the school day. In my role at St. Ann, I am constantly on the move throughout the school doing my best to support the students, teachers, staff, volunteers, and parents. I try to not spend much time at my desk. Instead, I have the privilege of seeing "light shine before others" constantly.

During Mass, I whispered to my wife to please remind me that my next blog would be on how I see people live their Christianity every day. So, here is a list of thirty ways I see people living their faith at St. Ann Catholic School.

I see people living their Christianity when:

• May Young and George Dhuy volunteer every morning to work the carpool line no matter the weather condition. They greet each student and family with a helping hand and a smile.
• Jane Gillespie and Linda Garvey-Meisler are waiting at the classroom door at the end of the day to work with the Knowledge Bowl team.
• Kris Miller tells her 4th grade students the story during religion class about her conversion to Catholicism.
• Tricia Cooper's Kindergarteners sing Christian hymns as they do their seat work.
• Selina Trouy in a very motherly and loving way helps a student who is not feeling well or sternly yet compassionately deals with a student sent to the office for a much needed time out.
• I walk into the library and see Jim and MaryAnn Hall, Trena Kilp, Marilou Smith, Linda Sones, Jean Bedwell, Nancy Howland, and Marla Ferguson helping the students and teachers during library time.
• Annmarie Ghio organizes the monthly Rosary, St. Faustina Youth Society, and Eucharistic Ministers in promoting Catholic faith and charism.
• Angela de Jong goes the extra mile to organize the Band Trip, school play, Knowledge Bowl competition, and Pajama Drive for Catholic Charities.
• The Burns kids are piling out of their car with backpacks flying, a smile on their faces, and being fired up about school.
• Joner Tadrous and Amaya Bolton are walking together to their next class always laughing and full of life.
• The PK students are lined-up and greet me with a "Good Morning Mr. Aur."
• Savannah Bannister is the first student to enter the office each morning to turn on the lights and say good morning.
• Rocco Jimenez helps his little sister, Ivy, get out of their van and into the school building upon arrival.
• I get a high-five from the Petteys triplets.
• The middle schoolers escort the PK students to school Mass. Or, is it the PKers escorting the middle schoolers to school Mass?
• The Knights of Columbus put on extra fundraisers to help St. Ann families with much needed tuition assistance.
• Tony Mulrooney volunteers to help renovate the library, install security cameras, and build the set for the school play. Tony has many talents.
• Everyone in the carpool line gets a hug from Mahealani Siaulaiga.
• The 8th graders go to Ave Maria to spend time with the residents.
• My students sing in the youth choir on Sunday mornings.
• The school choir sings at the school Mass.
• The Knowledge Bowl team prays before each round of competition.
• 1st and 2nd graders answer Fr. Ernie's questions at Mass.
• So many of our 5th-8th graders are Altar Servers.
• Mariela Granados kneels to receive Communion.
• Stacey Griffith and Billy Gage serve as Godparents for an 8th grader being Baptized in preparation for First Communion and Confirmation.
• Teachers are in prayer before Mass.
• Enrique Montiel gives of his time, treasure, and talent to repair the kitchen equipment when needed.
• Abe Abuelouf and Anthony Maranise step in to team teach 8th grade Religion/Confirmation class.
• Parents sacrifice to be able to give their children a Catholic education. And, it is a sacrifice; a very worthwhile and important sacrifice.

St. Ann is a great Catholic School. Our students, families, and staff live their Christian faith daily. I see it in many more ways than these thirty ways. Every day I see it more and more. God continually blesses us in so many ways. It is up to all of us to thank him by letting our light shine and live our Christian faith.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

Previous Blog: https://didieraur.blogspot.com/2020/02/another-great-catholic-schools-week.html

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

Lots of Events. Lots of Thank Yous.

St. Ann Student Ambassadors at Preview Day

Sure is a lot going on at St. Ann these days. It seems as if one event ends and another begins. There is no slowing down. Actually, one event begins before another even comes to an end. There are some folks I would like to thank for their hard work to make all these events happen for St. Ann.

Last  weekend was the All-West band competition in Jackson, TN. I would like to congratulate Chloe Nguyen and Jonathan Clowney for being selected All-West two years in a row! Making All-West once is an incredible achievement. Making it twice is just unbelievable.

St. Ann All-West Band Members

I want to give John Baum a special shoutout for the time he gives to our students. He makes St. Ann a better school. His love of music, dedication to the students, and strong Christian faith are always front and center. As I said to the ladies in the front office, "John brings a lot of good to St. Ann."

While All-West was going on, so was the Allen Green Basketball Tournament. This tournament is an annual four-day tournament at St. Ann. Thank you to Tracy Angotti, St. Ann Athletic Director, for running such a big and awesome event. She gave her heart and soul to make sure the tournament was a success for all the teams, players, coaches, and families. If you have never run an event like the Allen Green Basketball Tournament, you have no idea how much time and effort it takes. It is pretty all-consuming running such a tournament.

Thank you to Lance Jolly for his leadership in being the tournament director. Thank you to Dawn

St. Ann 7/8 Grade Tournament Champions

Lewis for helping to run the tournament and being at the tournament the whole time. Thank you to Brian Kargauer for helping to run the gyms during the tournament. Thank you also to Emma Jolly, Beth Kargauer, Sarah Kargauer, Justin Wehmeyer, Mary Clowney, Emma Clowney, Maribel Green, Jason Lewis, and lots of SBA students for all the volunteer hours they gave to help make the Allen Green Basketball Tournament happen. A four-day basketball tournament takes many volunteers. A sincere thank you to all of the volunteers.

The next event was the Knights of Columbus Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser this past Wednesday in the school cafeteria. This was a fundraiser to help raise money for the K of C Scholarship Fund. The K of C Scholarship goes to help several St. Ann families with tuition assistance. It is a needs based scholarship and goes to help our parish families. Thank you to all who came out and supported the K of C and St. Ann School. Thank you Knights!

Our Knowledge Bowl team is gearing up for competition. Thank you to coaches Jane Gillespie and Linda Garvey Meisler for giving of their time and energy to lead our Knowledge Bowl team. They do great work in leading our students to higher academic learning. Knowledge Bowl is kind of like super-enrichment for our students.

Into the Woods, our spring musical, is in full practice mode. Thank you to Ryan Cooper as he leads our students and gets them ready for this production.

Putting on a play is not cheap. There are costs associated with anything worthwhile. We project it will cost roughly $4,000 to put on the musical. At this point, we are $600 short of our $4,000 goal. If you are interested in sponsoring Into The Woods, please contact me at didier.aur@sascolts.org or Angela de Jong at angela.dejong@sascolts.org. We would greatly appreciate your support in helping us reach our sponsorship goal.

I want to thank our sponsors who are making this production possible.  Thank you to Little Caesar's Pizza, Juice Plus, Boyle Investment Company, Fantastic Sams Germantown, Pendergrast Insurance Company, Michael & Silvia Hecht, and Jonathan & Brittany Aur. We cannot thank you enough for your support of our students and their work.

Click on Image for CSW Events' Calendar

The Journalism Club has been working on getting the yearbook ready. Thank you to Angela de Jong and Jennifer Podesta for leading the Journalism Club.

The Student Council has put together Catholic Schools Week events and activities.  Thank you to Billy Gage for coordinating this week's events with the members of the Student Council.  Please check our Facebook page for a list of the events. I invite you to attend our school Mass with Bishop David Talley this Thursday at 8:15 am in celebration of Catholic Schools Week. Following the Mass, we will celebrate Grandparents' Day.  The Scholastic Book Fair takes place all week. Come by our library to support our Book Fair.

This is just part of what's going on at St. Ann Catholic School. Come join in on all the excitement. Great things happen when great people come together for the benefit of the children. Funny how that works.

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

Happy New Year St. Ann!

I remember back in my youth thinking that I would be 38 years old at the start of the 21st century. The year 2000 seems like yesterday. Actually, my youth seems like yesterday. At the same time, yesterday seems long ago. Time is funny like that. Now, it is 2020. Where did 2019 go?

I started 2020 by watching the documentary film Pope Francis- A Man of His Word. If you haven't watched this documentary, it is worth the time. I watched it on Netflix. Listen, smile, grow, and love. "We have so much to do and we must do it together." - Pope Francis

Kelley and I spent Christmas break in Orange Beach with family. Nice to get away from all the hustle and bustle of the holidays and just relax where the most important decision we had to make was where we were going to eat. Dining at The Gulf, Picnic Beach, The Steamer, and Fin & Fork makes vacation time easy.

Got a lot of reading in while at the beach. Reading, especially non-fiction, is one of my favorite things to do but it is hard to do during the school year because I spend most of my reading time reading articles and blogs on education. Go figure.

Our View of Orange Beach

I read Unlearning God by Philip Gulley, Rediscover the Saints by Matthew Kelly, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey (actually, I re-read this book for the study skills class), and currently reading Engaging Your Team by David Zanca. The next book on my list is Make Your Bed by Adm. William McRaven.

I want to take this time to say thank you to all the St. Ann families for the many, many, many Christmas gifts I received. You were much too kind and I appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity. I'm enjoying my time at St. Ann. I'm surrounded by wonderful people all day long. This includes the students, staff, and families. St. Ann is a blessing to us all, and I'm blessed to be here.

Sunset at Orange Beach

I have been able to share many of the gifts with those around me especially the food. I have chocolate especially chocolate covered cherries to last till Christmas 2020. I've worn my new U of Memphis cap everyday since receiving it. Have it on right now as I write this blog. Go Tigers! The Barnes & Noble gift card is going to the purchase of Make Your Bed. My wife confiscated my new throw blanket to stay warm. She thanks you. The Folk's Folly gift card went to purchase enough tuna salad, egg and olive, and chicken salad to feed us breakfast and lunch while at the beach. The Starbuck's gift cards will be used for some time to come. I want to use the Amazon gift cards to help purchase a bicycle. I love riding but haven't in a number of years because I need a bike! I live one block from the Greenline. Time to start riding again. Any food item I received was consumed at Christmas parties and on vacation. The blueberry pie was last night's dessert. The doggie treats I will share with my own puppies and the puppies in carpool line. The champagne? That's for me to know. The Visa card will go to a Friday Night Date Night with Kelley. I want to use my Subway gift card right now because I'm hungry, but I left it at home. The Buffalo Wild Wings gift card will be used soon enough. That might be a solo lunch date for me. The farm fresh eggs are the best. Kelley took those as well. Farm fresh eggs at the Aur house is more precious than silver and gold. The homemade raviolis and sauce were the best I have ever eaten. We had those with a pound of steamed shrimp from Blalock Seafood. That meal was a little bit of heaven.

Thank you once again for the Christmas gifts. I think the best part of receiving the gifts is seeing the expressions on the faces of the students when they give the gifts. They are smiling and happy. Where there is a smile, there is hope. Where there is hope, there is love. And, LOVE is what our faith is all about.

May God's blessings always be upon you. And, may all of us continue to share our blessings with others. If we grow a little poorer by helping others, let that be a sign of our love. Wish you much love and happiness for 2020!

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

Continuous Improvement

Work life sure would be simple if we had no desire for continuous improvement. Imagine showing up for work and going through the motions just making sure everything ran smoothly.

Oh, how we could eliminate stress and all the extra hours spent planning, implementing, analyzing, and revising. Teachers wouldn't have to spend so much time in professional development, learning new programs, creating daily lesson plans, and attending to the needs of their classes as well as the individual students. As an administrator, maybe I could work an 8 hour day instead of 10-12 hours, take a normal lunch break, and not work on the weekends and holidays.

Since life isn't simple, since we live in an extremely competitive environment, and since good isn't good enough, continuous improvement is a necessity if we want to survive. We have to be at our best and offer our best if we hope to improve. We either improve or we die. The choice is ours.

My choice is for continuous improvement, 10-12 hour work days, working on the weekends, and having lunch with my students and teachers.

The latest project in continuous improvement is our new study skills class. We have a number of middle school students who we felt could benefit from having a study skills class. Since we didn't have a study skills class, we had to figure out how to create, design, and implement a study skills class at the almost halfway point of the school year. This has been a middle school team project. The team consists of Billy Gage, Stacey Griffith, Leslie Harden, Tina Ostrowski, and me.

By the way, this team meets everyday for about 15-minutes during lunch. When needed, we also meet after school in Mrs. Hardin's office. All the middle school teachers were either hired last year or this year. We want to make sure we are doing the best we can for our students, and we want St. Ann to have an outstanding middle school for our students.

We selected 13 middle school students to participate in this class and created a supervision schedule for the team members. The class is split between study skills lessons and study hall to allow the students more study and homework time.

We introduced the class by teaching organizational skills. The first step in organization was to clean out their lockers and organize their books and notebooks. We have also focused on character development and creating better study habits. We hope to have the students better prepared for the December exams.

Starting in January, we will be using The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey. I read this book several years ago after reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey Sean's father. I also participated in two 7 Habits week-long trainings when I was the president of Helias Catholic High School in Missouri. I am currently reading the updated version of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, which we will use for the study skills class.

This is a new venture for us at St. Ann. If successful, our hope is that we can develop a study skills class for all our middle schoolers. Study skills is also about character development and learning to live a better life. Coupled with our religion classes, this should help in the development of the people we would want all of our children to become.

I look forward to seeing what the study skills class becomes for our students and the outcome created for each student.

As always, would love to receive feedback from my readers. And, don't forget to support St. Ann Catholic School. We do great work and our students and teachers are fantastic. Without the financial support of our alumni, families, and friends, we couldn't do what we do for our students. Thank you.

If you haven't read last week's blog, please CLICK HERE to do so.

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

What I Hope to be Thankful For!

Considering it is Thanksgiving Break, one would assume I would write a customary "What I'm Thankful For" blog. Since it isn't like me to do the expected or usual thing, I decided to make this a "What I Hope to be Thankful For" blog. My reasoning for this change is we work so hard today in order to obtain certain positive outcomes tomorrow. Today we sow; tomorrow we reap, especially for the sake of our children.

We envision a thriving school for all children that will provide a premier education in the Catholic tradition. As our vision statement looks to the future, I'm future-casting my thankfulness.

With that being said, I hope to be thankful for (in no particular order):

• our students to continue to grow and succeed in faith, service, and love.
• the continued improvement of the education we offer.
• student enrollment to continue to climb.
• being able to keep our incredible faculty and staff together.
• teachers who continue to look for opportunities for the students to learn, grow and experience the world outside of the classroom setting.
• teachers who continue to use innovative classroom lessons if they believe it will help students succeed.
• having the resources to provide our teachers with the training necessary to better serve students.
• the increase of alumni giving back to St. Ann in order to help current families with tuition assistance.
• our friends to continue to support through in-kind giving and helping to fulfill our wish list.
• the growth of our annual giving campaign to the point we can actually decrease tuition.
• St. Ann Church and School to be seen as one.
• the growth of St. Ann Church and School together.
• adding two sections of every grade.
• being 1-to-1 in technology in all grades.
• providing our students with more individualized learning opportunities.
• all students to participate in SPARKS.
• all students having more opportunities for project-based learning.
• having the resources to provide our teachers with the training necessary to better serve students with dyslexia.
• having the resources to provide our teachers with the training necessary to better serve students on the autism spectrum.
• an increase in Title I funding for professional development.
• having two plays each year that involve more students and are funded through sponsorships.
• all students participating in extra-curricular activities.
• an increase in tutoring opportunities for our students.
• the new HVAC system for the classrooms still on the boiler system.
• for continued parental involvement especially in being the students' first teacher.
• some of our families to be able to use Education Savings Accounts (ESA) to attend St. Ann.
• expanding service opportunities to include parents, alumni, and parishioners.
• expanding service opportunities with Ave Marie, Catholic Charities, and Room in the Inn.
• a week-long vacation to the Cayman Islands for the school principal.

Of course, there's a lot more I hope to be thankful for.

The faculty, staff, parents, volunteers, and supporters work hard every day to make St. Ann a great school for our children. We are life-long learners and want our children to be life-long learners. The work we put in now will have an impact on the future; their future. So, let's work hard together to make these and many more "hope to be thankful for" a reality.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

Thank You Fall Fest!

St. Ann Fall Fest 2019 has come to a close. Fall Fest is like no other parish fun-raising event anywhere. In just its second year under the leadership of Jamie Coggins, Stephanie Nichols, and Kathy Schiavone, this event has grown from a 3-day, 1 weekend event to an 8-day, 3 weekend celebration.

I want to thank Jamie, Stephanie, and Kathy for their work on making Fall Fest an incredible event for our parish. I attended every event; opening ceremony, Italian dinner, outdoor festival, vendor fair, food truck fair, concerts, and basketball, golf and bowling tournaments. I had a great time at all the events.

By the way, I hadn't bowled in about twenty years, and it definitely showed. But, I was with a great team consisting of Seth Nichols, Ethan Nichols and Corbin Kirkland. They more than made up for my lack of bowling anything. Ethan even took time to give me some pointers, which led to a few spares and strikes. Thanks Ethan. Time for some bowling lessons and practice before next year's tournament.

Putting on the Fall Fest is no easy chore. These ladies put their heart and soul into making Fall Fest a success for the parish. Fall Fest helps the school keep tuition as low as possible. Their work helps families struggling to pay tuition, which is probably about 90% of our families. Paying Catholic School tuition is no easy feat and takes sacrifice; family sacrifice. Boy, do I know.

Fall Fest is the main fundraiser for the parish but it is much more than that. It is an opportunity for St. Ann to show the community what a great parish we are. It gives us the chance to put our best foot forward. It is a golden moment for us to evangelize to those who may be looking for a church home. The Fall Fest is the occasion we need for all of us to say "We are St. Ann! Come join us!"

I bet most of you never thought about Fall Fest this way. If you were to look at Fall Fest as the parishes' great opportunity to help others, would you be more likely to volunteer, donate, and participate?

I'm looking forward to St. Ann Fall Fest 2020. I look forward to working with these three incredible women. I look forward to car raffle tickets, golf, basketball, bowling, eating Italian food, listening to great music, volunteering, donating, and the many other things that will be asked of all of us by the Fall Fest committee.

Most of all, I look forward to showing everyone what a great parish we have at St. Ann. And, I pray that through our actions others find a home at St. Ann. "Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father." - Matthew 5:16

Jamie, Stephanie, and Kathy, you are ANGELS. Thank you for helping to make St. Ann a great place to be. Your work is a ministry and you are God's hands and feet.

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

Click here to read previous blog.