Janet joined the VCELS Administrative Team in October 2005. Janet is responsible for everything curriculum including development and overseeing implementation. Always willing to help, you can often find Janet meeting with teachers, observing in classrooms, as well as organizing and leading special events.

Janet is Mom to three daughters- Abbi, Lannie and Natalie. You’ll often hear that she, her husband and anyone else willing to tag along, are heading out to enjoy the sun at a summer park concert. And whenever they can, Janet and Frank head to Hawaii for even more sun!

Every bone in Janet’s body is a creative one. Whether she is making Incredibles t-shirts for staff or dressed as a Princess, Janet creates fun all around her. The children and staff love it when it’s Janet’s turn to lead our daily prayer time. Her fun songs and innovative stories always engage us while gently telling of God’s Word. We are so blessed to have her talents and ideas as part of our experiential learning as well as being a true example of Jesus’ love.

Submitted by VCELS Principal Trish Roussel

The first Princess Party Brunch was held on Saturday, June 4, 2011 from 9:30-11:30 a.m. in the main ballroom at VC Early Learning School. Princesses dressed in beautiful attire enjoyed special activities and a magnificent brunch in an event designed to support the VCS Auction. It was so much fun that Princesses throughout the land are already planning to attend next year’s event. There were a few jealous brothers in the kingdom so preparations are being made to add a Pirate Party Brunch to the slate of events next year!

Submitted by VCELS Principal Trish Roussel

Every year, VCELS faculty and staff nominate someone for the VCELS Spirit Award. This award is given to a VCELS employee whose service to the children and families we serve exemplifies the charism and mission of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon. We are excited to announce that this year’s recipient of the VCELS Spirit Award is Kelly Risser. Here are some of the comments given with her nominations.

• “She is so tender and loving to the babies, families and co-workers.”
• “She has a quiet, calm and nurturing way with the babies.”
• “She is a positive and nurturing presence in her room. She loves the babies with all her heart and it shows. Her positive outlook and warm smile is a bright spot in our day.”
• “For her consistent love, patience and care of our precious babies, Kelly deserves this! Congratulations Kelly! Thank you for your commitment to “enhancing the lives of young children through creative teaching, nurturing guidance and being a caring example of Jesus’ love.”

Submitted by VCELS Principal Trish Roussel

We now have an exciting and new way to support Valley Catholic School doing something many of you are already doing — shopping online! For the last several months, we have been working with representatives from the Patron Company to customize an online shopping site specifically designed to bring in funds for our school called the Valley Catholic Patron Store. Read the rest of this entry »

Each year Valley Catholic is pleased to have several foreign exchange students on our campus. Having these students among us adds depth and quality to our school community. One of the organizations we work with is called American Education & Exchange Association (AEEA). This group is currently looking to hire a parent in the Valley Catholic community to work as a liaison between their organization and Valley Catholic School for the upcoming year.

This paid position would include such duties as finding host families for our visiting students, meeting with the students on a regular basis during the school year, and communicating with the school and AEEA organization on the progress of the foreign exchange students.

Although students in the program are only at the high school level, this position could be filled by any interested parent. AEEA is the group offering the job and they would be responsible for hiring and paying the person. If you are interested in applying for this position with AEEA, please send an initial email to VCS President Bob Weber.

Below are the descriptions for the job which has two roles:

A copy of the Student Liaison job description from AEEA can be found here.

A copy of the Happy Homestay Coordinator position from AEEA can be found here

Jordan - The Sisters' first convent, church and farm buildings

The Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon cordially invite you to take part in their pilgrimage to Jordan and Sublimity, Oregon to celebrate the Sisters 125th Anniversary. This is only one of the many events held throughout the year for this wonderful celebratory year.

This trip is open to all parents and students who wish to go. The event is scheduled to happen on August 16. There is a fee of $20 to cover transportation costs and lunch. The bus will depart the SSMO Convent at 9 a.m. sharp, and arrive back on campus around 5:00 p.m.

The Sisters will first visit Jordan, where there will be a presentation about the first Catholic Settlement. The bus will then travel to Sublimity, where the group will enjoy lunch, and then visit St. Boniface Parish Museum, and attend a short prayer service in the parish church.

Contact Sr. Catherine Hertel to reserve your seat today!

Congratulations to the Bemis family, whose name was drawn this week to win a $500 in VCS tuition credit. For every five raffle tickets a family sold, they got one chance in the drawing. The VCS raffle grossed $31,825.00 and the prize, a trip to Maui, was won by VCS first grade teacher Nancy Fallin, who will take the trip over Christmas break with her husband and two college-age sons. Special thanks to Amy Ware and Jennifer Farrenkopf, raffle co-chairs, for the many hours spent on making this raffle possible.

The auction continues to be an important source of revenue for the school’s operating budget. The auction committee is pleased to announce that as of June 1 the total revenue for the event was $254,759, and the net revenue was $165,829 (not including in-kind donations). Some of the areas that saw increases over last year were sponsorships, admission, matching gifts, golden ticket sales, class basket sales, and class portrait sales. Thanks to the hard work of our chairs and some generous donations, our overall expenses decreased by over 7% and underwriting expenses decreased by over 60%.

The event itself was a huge success, with 60 more guests in attendance over last year. The decorations committee, lead by Laura and Keller Kuhner, transformed the Valiant Gym into an academy award-themed dining room; two giant Oscar statues flanked the stage and the whole room was draped with red curtains. New this year was an opportunity for guests to ham it up for photos using Hollywood props. (See the photos here.) The food was terrific, the wine was flowing, and the crowd had a lot of fun while raising money for Valley Catholic School.

The auction committee, lead by Laura Schultz and Ron Quiring, would like to give a standing ovation to those who volunteered, attended the event, and donated to the auction. Bravo!

On Tuesday, May 31, Valley Catholic School President Bob Weber gave the first annual “State of the School Address” to a group of 100 people including parents, employees and Sisters.

Mr. Weber covered a number of topics including his goals when he began his post last summer of Communication, Community and Customer Service. He also discussed the opening of the new Elementary and Middle School, areas of focus for VCS in 2011-12 and opportunities for how to get involved.

The event was filmed and is now available to view for those who were unable to attend. Thank you to Sr. Krista von Borstel who did the taping for us.

Watch the video here.

As you may have observed over the last year, our school has been using Tandem for Schools to manage all school calendars and events. This is THE place for you to find all school event information. You’ll be pleased to know that you can now see many dates filled in for the 2011-12 school year. Browse through the months as you would normally by clicking on the calendar icon on the home page of www.valleycatholic.org or by going to the full calendar.

However, to really make the calendar work for you and to use its full functionality, go to the Sign In link at the top of the school calendar page from our website and sign up for a free Tandem account to get these great benefits:

• Find all the calendar information you need in one place
• Integrate the school calendar with other tools like Cozi, Outlook, Google or iCal based on the groups you specify
• Get RSS Feeds
• And so much more!

Click this video link to see a 3-minute video of how Tandem for Schools works, and then click the calendar link to get started!

Please note that the video was made using an older version of the Tandem calendar; however, navigation should be fairly similar. We appreciate your patience as Tandem updates this and other video tutorials.

Enjoy!

If you have any questions about the accuracy or completeness of any data on the calendar for the 2011-12 school year, contact the following people for clarification.

• VCELS: Trish Roussel, Principal
• VCES & VCMS: Dede Morris, Secretary
• VCHS: Dale French, Dean of Students