Submitted by VCES Parent Laura Kuhner

The scrip team is accepting this month’s orders until Monday, April 30th at 8 a.m.

Order your McMenamins gift cards through Scrip to use at the VCS Family Dine-Out on Monday, May 7 at the McMenamins on Murray and Allen and you will give back twice to VCS!

Columbia Sportswear promo is back! Purchase a Columbia $50 gift card and you’ll receive ONE pass to the Columbia Sportswear employee store. It is good for the buyer and four family members or friends—PLUS a PIN # for online purchases. Passes are good for one visit any time until Sept 2012. The $50 gift cards may be used at: the flagship store in downtown Portland; PDX; outlet locations; at their online store; and at their employee store.

Scrip orders will be delivered to your child by Friday, May 4. Deliveries will be made to all three school buildings; please include the delivery information on the order form. Drop your completed forms, including payment, at the VCEMS office or email your order to scrip@valleycatholic.org. Download the new 2012 VCS Scrip Form here or pick one up in the VCEMS office.

Thank you so much for your continued support to the scrip fundraising program!
The Scrip Team

Submitted by VCES VALOR Family Dine-Out Chair Jennifer Bly

Mark your calendar for May 7 and plan to eat at the McMenamins on Murray and Allen anytime between the hours of 5 and 11 p.m. This will be our third “Family and Friends Night” with McMenamins in as many years!

The location is 6179 S.W. Murray Blvd., Beaverton 97005 (in the plaza that shares the same parking lot with Shari’s). Food, beer, and wine are also available to go. Phone 503-644-4562 for takeout.

Why should you make time to eat out? McMenamins will be donating 50 percent of the proceeds from the ENTIRE evening to VCES. Yes, unbelievable! This is one event that your family, friends, co-workers, etc. should not miss. We are also working with the restaurant to try and get some additional staff to more better accommodate what is expected to be a healthy crowd.

BONUS POINTS! Buy McMenamins Scrip and use it to pay on May 7 and VCES will receive an extra 12 cents for every dollar you spend. Do the math:  VCES will receive at total of 62 cents for every dollar spent – and all you have to do is show up and eat. WOW!

Please direct questions, comments, or suggestions to Jennifer Bly, 503-319-2224.

Submitted by Fifth-Grade Teacher Connie Heger

On April 13, students, parents and grandparents at Valley Catholic Elementary School were able to take a trip around the United States without leaving the cafeteria.

My fifth grade class held a “State Fair,” the culmination of a unit studying the states. The work began in November when students started their work researching the states to create a brochure. Each student created a state brochure by the end of January.

In March, the students began working on display boards using information from their brochures and from all their research notes. They creatively put together their display boards and gathered postcards, maps, products, pamphlets, postcards, artifacts, plants, state flags, souvenirs and more to represent their state.

Finally, the students shared all they had learned about their states with the rest of the school, teachers, parents and grandparents. The project also included an oral presentation to the class by each student telling about their board and all the items they had displayed. After each presentation, students had the opportunity to tell the presenter some of the things they liked about their display and to give compliments about their presentation. This incorporates skills in public speaking and presenting. My class told me that they enjoyed this project and that it was one of their favorite activities this year. They expressed how much they had learned about the states by listening to each other give their presentations. They feel like they know a lot about their states and are eager to answer questions that people might have about the state they researched.

Can’t view the slideshow? Click here.

Submitted by Director of Campus Life Mary Donovan with Communications Speciallist Danielle Tomich; Photos by SSMO Ministries Communications Photographer Casey Braunger

Thursday, April 26 marked Fr. John Kerns’ last Mass for Valley Catholic High School. Father Kerns has been assigned to a new parish, Our Lady of the Lake in Lake Oswego, beginning July 1. His new parish has a K-8 school that will preclude him from ministering at Valley Catholic School. For the past nine years, Fr. Kerns has been ministering to parishioners of St. Juan Diego, a parish established in 2002 that does not have a parochial school.

In many ways, Father Kerns “adopted” Valley Catholic School; he has been an important part of many events here. He has been celebrating Masses with us for many years and has always been a ready advisor to be sure that our Masses are conducted according to Church instructions. There have been many, many Penance Services that he has taken part in over the years and he has been very giving of his time for our Junior Encounters by giving up Friday nights a couple of times a year to drive all the way out to the Molalla Retreat Center to be there for reconciliation. He always ended those nights with a special song that he teaches the retreatants. This song has become a time-honored tradition for encounter. Valley Catholic High School students have come to love and respect Father Kerns and look forward to his visits to campus and their encounters.

In past years he has even been instrumental in fundraising for our school, by donating his musical talents to us in the way of auction items.

Father Kerns has been a constant source of inspiration and enthusiasm for our students and staff, and he will be greatly missed in our community.  He will hold one more Mass on our campus, for the elementary school, on June 13.

We wish him many blessings in his new parish.

Can’t view this slideshow?  Click here.

Submitted by SSMO Ministries Communications Photographer Casey Braunger

Please enjoy the below photos taken at the Elementary School Spring Concert on April 17.

Submitted by VCES Music Teacher Sr. Denise Klaas, SSMO

The 2012 Campus Music Jamboree will be held Friday, May 4, at 7 p.m. in the Valiants’ Gym.

The Campus Music Jamboree is an evening of wonderful music featuring the music ensembles of Valley Catholic Elementary School, Valley Catholic Middle School, and Valley Catholic High School.  It’s a great opportunity to experience the progression of music in all three schools on campus.

The VCES Youth Orchestra, Hand Bell Team 5, Marian Singers, and Fourth Grade Violin classes will also be participating.

Students are asked to be in the Valiants’ Gym at 6:30 p.m.

**After the concert, students and parents are needed to transport all equipment and instruments to the VCES Music Room. Thank you for your help and assistance.

If there are any questions, please contact Sister Denise.

Sumitted by VCES Principal Joe Manning
Photos by SSMO Ministries Communications Photographer Casey Braunger

Our Elementary School students took part in our annual Career Day this Thursday. Students had the opportunity to hear from presenters who hold a variety of different jobs, and they were able to ask plenty of questions of the presenters.

This year’s Career Day featured presentations from a truck engineer, a helicopter pilot instructor, a baker, an artist, a shoe designer, and a golf professional.

Career Day was organized by Sr. Barbara Rose Sohler, one of our third grade teachers. Thank you to Sr. Barbara Rose and all of our presenters: Robert Linderman, Brad McBride, Barbara Hertel, Randy DeBortoli, Myron Moraes, and Ryan Clemens.

First Graders Elias Tazo and Emma Buckner checking out a semi-truck on Career Day. 

Having trouble viewing the slideshow? Click here.

Mother-Son bowling is back! This is one of those rare opportunities that you have to take advantage of before the boys grow up.

Mother-Son Bowling
Sunset Lanes
Sunday, May 20
1:30-3:30p.m.

It will take place May 20th at Sunset Lanes at Cedar Hills (12770 SW Walker Road in Beaverton). The event starts at 1:30 and lasts until 3:30. It is $10.00 per person. Shoe rental, soft drinks, and snacks are included. Remember to bring your cameras. Please click here for the reservation slip. If there are any questions please contact Meg Bishop.

Valley Catholic prepares for its 12th Annual Locks of Love Assembly!

Locks of Love is a nonprofit organization formed in 1997 which provides wigs to children across the country who suffer from long-term medical hair loss. This hair loss can be a result of many things, from radiation therapy to a currently incurable condition in which a patient loses their hair for no known reason. Wigs cost at least $3,000, and are unobtainable for many children. But thanks to Locks of Love and the support of people like you, over 2,000 children have received the custom-fitted hairpieces they need, free of charge.

In the past nine years, Valley Catholic students and adults have donated over 4,000 inches of hair and close to $9,000 to Locks of Love.

Participants must give at least six inches of hair. Locks of Love sells hair 6 – 10 inches to doll companies to raise funds and they use any hair over 10 inches to make the actual wigs for children.

Parents will need to be available to walk grade school participants to the Valiants’ Gym for an 11:05 a.m. assembly on Friday, May 11.

Thank you for your help with this very worthwhile event.

Dear VCES Community,

In the second week of May, we will celebrate our school’s teachers as part of the annual Teacher Appreciation Week (May 7-11). I mention it to you this week because I want to let you know how appreciative I am of the effort that they pour into this school and in helping our students succeed. This past week—with our parent-teacher conferences and a number of other teacher commitments—served as a great reminder of all that they do. No matter when I stop by the school in the evenings or on the weekends, I almost always find one or two teachers in their classrooms or the workrooms setting up the next day’s lessons, working on planning, or entering grades into their computers or grade books. Throughout this year, my first in the Elementary School, I find myself so very grateful for their willingness to go the extra mile and put in the extra time to help our students succeed. Just this evening I received an unexpected note from one of the parents in our community telling me of the appreciation she has for one of our teachers, and receiving a note like that is what makes my day. It allows me to see that others are seeing some of the same things I see. That they, too, appreciate and value what our school’s teachers do. The approaching Teacher Appreciation Week is an opportunity to show that appreciation!

This past week also provided me the opportunity to reflect again on the important role our parents play in the education that students receive in our school. Catholic education, and our school in particular, thrives on the parent-teacher partnership. This partnership is a central component of Catholic education – the parents and teachers work together to educate the child, with the parents serving as the primary educators. Serving in this role takes great sacrifice. It requires time, effort, money—all things that are not endless. Being present at conferences, supporting your children with their studies, driving them to and from school, listening, loving, and keeping up on what is happening at school all require a commitment. Please know, you, too, are deeply appreciated by all of us at VCES.

Before I sign off for the week, I want to thank a few parents specifically for their support. Meg Bishop and Christine Elmgren have served as the co-chairs of our parent group, the VCES VALOR Network, throughout this year, and at the end of this school year their term will end. Laura Schultz and Jessica Senecal have graciously come forward to serve as the co-chairs for our next school year. Thank you to all of them—Meg, Christine, Laura, and Jessica – for their generous commitment of time and talent. Laura and Jessica may be reaching out to you in the weeks ahead to shore up support for our school’s VALOR activities that are coming this next school year. For more information, see this week’s posting on VALOR here.

Thanks for all you do, and keep fighting the good fight.

Joe Manning
Principal

THE WEEK AHEAD:

Monday
Recess Supervisors: Maria Cober & Kristine Burton

Tuesday
Early Dismissal – 2:05 p.m.
Recess Supervisors: Sarah Spiering & Loc Nguyen

Wednesday
Fourth Grade Field Trip
All-Campus Initial Called to Protect Training – HS Library – 6 p.m.
Mass (1K) – Convent Chapel – 9:35 a.m.
Recess Supervisors: Rajendran M., Annie Jensen, & Ken Mann

Thursday
Parent Prayer Service – Student Chapel – 8 a.m.
Recess Supervisors: Stephanie Matthews & Joanna Beale

Friday
All-Campus Music Jamboree – Valiants’ Gym – 7 p.m.
Recess Supervisors: Ivo Peev & Nirusha LeMouel