“Learn to build your home and help others to build theirs, but

always remember, God is the architect.”       A.E. Ward, Author

 

March 3, 2010

 

Dear Parents,

 

Our celebration for the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes was held on Friday, February 12th.  We had a beautiful liturgy with Father John as the school day began.  I was most impressed with our eighth graders for their active participation in this Mass.  Mrs. Vicki Rutkowski worked with a group of eighth grade girls to do a liturgical movement at the offertory.  It was performed with reverence and grace.  I want to thank Mrs. Rutkowski and the girls for taking their recess periods to prepare for this religious activity.  At the same time, I want to thank the entire eighth grade class for the song they sang as our song of praise after communion.  Special thanks should go to Mr. Ben Tomczak for his assistance with this hymn.

 

After Mass we held our third annual OLL Spelling Bee for students in grades 3-5.  All students in these grades plus parents and second graders joined the finalists in the gym to watch this spelling bee.  Mrs. Nancy Cooley and Mrs. Susan Liles were moderators; Mrs. Angela Finn and Mrs. Susie Getter were the judges.    All finalists received a certificate of participation, and the winner took home the bumble bee trophy.    I want to thank Mrs. Cooley and Mrs. Liles for their willingness to organize this spelling bee for our students.  It was a big success!

 

At lunch all students and staff received cake for dessert for our feast day.  Then it was time to play our favorite game—bingo—in the Fallon Center.  All students and staff came together for an exciting and enjoyable hour of bingo.  I called eight games of bingo as Mrs. Susie Getter assisted me as our “Vanna White.”  Bingo winners won ten dollar TRIP certificates.  We had a couple games with more than one winner.  I would like to thank the Our Lady of Lourdes Feast Day Committee for their assistance with a successful day:  Ms. Terri Green, Mrs. Vicki Rutkowski, Mr. Ben Tomczak, and Mrs. Patrice Yanoschak.  I also want to thank the many parent volunteers who served the cake at lunch and assisted with the all school bingo.

 

During the course of our feast day, the faculty and students had several surprises for me as I prepared to celebrate my “40th” birthday.  I want to thank everyone who had a part in making Friday also a special day for me, from wearing a Mrs. Kim Ridge birthday hat to a special luncheon shared with my mother, sister-in-law and godson, from faculty wearing Dr. Bob buttons to students wearing Dr. Bob ties at bingo.  I left the school that afternoon eternally grateful to everyone and ready for my Hawaiian vacation.  Unfortunately, God had other plans for me.  We never made it to Hawaii because of the snow that hit Raleigh and Atlanta.  Yes, we thought we would have a better shot of getting to Hawaii by flying through Atlanta instead of Chicago.  Of course, the Atlanta airport closed on Saturday due to the weather.  To make a long story short, I spent a week in Waikiki-Fayetteville instead of Honolulu.  My mother and I have rescheduled our trip for July.  I guess this is another travel story for my book!

 

Allow me to close this week’s letter with the following announcements.  First of all, we have the chance to have Mr. Peter Ahearn, an FBI agent, speak to our 5-8 students this Friday on internet safety in the Fallon Center at 9:30 a.m.  Mr. Ahearn’s presentation will include such topics as social networking sites, cell phone texting and emailing.  Mr. Ahearn has spoken successfully at other Catholic schools in the Diocese of Raleigh.  It has been several years since we have had such a speaker.  Since this was the date that was best for both the speaker and the school, we will have this educational assembly instead of our regular middle school electives.  Second, I want to congratulate two of our third grade students whose writing won on the local level for the Raleigh-Wake Chapter of the International Reading Association and now has won on the state level—Isabella Boone and Abigail Jenkins.  There will be a recognition ceremony in May at Meymandi Hall.  Also, during National Catholic Schools Week, our third and fourth graders enjoyed the expertise of Mrs. Suzanne Newton, our writer-in-residence.  I want to thank HASA for its generous funding of this writing program.  Finally, I hope you will have a chance to stop by our media center beginning this Sunday for our annual Scholastic Book Fair.  Please remember that the profits made from this book fair go directly back into the media center to purchase new materials that will be enjoyed by all our students and staff.

 

Blessings,

 

 

 

Robert B. Scripko, Ph.D.

Principal