Click here to read this story on the Foundation website.

Submitted by VCHS Math Dept. Chair and Teacher Kipp Johnson

Mathfest 2012 took place at the Rock Creek campus of Portland Community College on Saturday, April 21. The day began with a 50-minute written test for individuals at any of six math levels: Prealgebra, Algebra One, Geometry, Algebra Two, Precalculus, and Calculus. After the individual tests, students formed teams and competed in math-centered group activities. Awards were then given to the students in the top 20 percent on the individual test, and for the highest scoring groups.

Fifty (!) Valley Catholic students attended Mathfest 2012. (If they gave an award for highest school participation, we’d win hands down.) At the awards ceremony 48 students from local schools were honored, and Valley won 14 of those awards. Here are the details:

Algebra One:
1st: Austin Ketterer (8th Grade)
2nd: Adithya Srikanthan (8th Grade)
3rd: Jennah Curfman (8th Grade)
4th: Shankar Krishnakumar (8th Grade)
6th: Lakshya Bakshi  (7th Grade)
9th: Max Nepokroeff (8th Grade)
11th: Alex Zdanowicz (8th Grade)

Geometry:
5th place: Kathleen Shew (9th Grade)

Precalculus:
3rd: Andrew Linnemann (11th Grade)
4th: Ryan Ma (11th Grade)
5th: Wilfrid Gao (10th Grade)

Calculus:
4th: Tommy Liang (11th Grade)
9th: Jihoon Lee (12th Grade)
10th: Lethe Li (11th Grade)

Students winning awards on tests higher than Algebra One are invited to the OIMT (Oregon Invitational Math Tournament), which will be held in May at the University of Oregon. This is essentially the state championship for math students.

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.

Submitted by VCELS Principal Trish Roussel

Sunflower teacher Jessica Lopez joined the VCELS staff in August 2010 as a Teacher’s Assistant after school and continued with us working around her college classes.  When a short term, full-time position opened in Sunflowers, we were lucky to be able to offer it to “Ms. Jessica.”

As part of Aloha High School’s Little Warriors Program, Jessica found a passion for working with preschoolers and a great foundation in early childhood development and curriculum planning. Being at VCELS and having a two-year old brother helps give her real-life preparation for one of her life’s goals of working with young children in third world countries.

Jessica’s spare time finds her dancing and choreographing new dances, visiting with friends and family and searching for a new favorite restaurant.  She has travelled to the Philippines, Korea and Japan and would love to visit Greece one day. We appreciate Jessica’s ready smile and her bubbly personality which shows in the enthusiasm and joy she brings to every child in her care.

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

Submitted by VCES Principal Joe Manning

At this week’s VALOR meeting on April 24, our new chairs for the 2012-2013 school year were announced. Please thank VCES parents Laura Schultz and Jessica Senecal for stepping forward to lead VALOR. They replace Christine Elmgren and Meg Bishop who have done a great job leading the group in their time at the helm. Tony Nosack will continue as secretary, and Laura Kuhner will keep her role as treasurer. In the next couple months, they’ll be looking to find parent help to support the VALOR projects for the coming school year.

Speaking of help, we would love to have your support throughout the 2012-2013 school year! We’re looking for any and all parents who are interested in helping serve our school through the VCES VALOR Network (formerly the PTC) and support its volunteer and community-building programs.

We’re searching for 12 parents (two from each grade) to step up to serve as grade-level representatives. You’re probably wondering what a grade level representative is responsible for. The grade-level representative will attend monthly VCES VALOR Network meetings and team with another representative to help support and coordinate one of the following six areas:

• Religion & Outreach
• Parent/Child Events
• Volunteers
• School Events & School Support
• Art Literary & Parent Volunteer Room Coordination
• Parent & Family Socials

The grade-level representatives are supported by the VCES VALOR Network officers, including the president or co-presidents, treasurer, and secretary, as well as the school principal.

If you may be interested in serving our school community as a grade-level representative or want more information, please email one or both of the current co-chairs: Christine Elmgren and/or Meg Bishop.

Thanks, as always, for your support!

The VCES VALOR Network

This week marked the start of the 100-day countdown until the opening of this summer’s Olympic Games in London.

Valley Catholic alumna Mariel Zagunis ’03, the two-time defending gold medalist in women’s sabre fencing, was one of a handful of athletes who were honored with a billboard in New York’s Times Square yesterday.

TD Ameritrade is one of Mariel’s sponsors and they sponsored the large billboard. We are excited about the upcoming Olympics and look forward to cheering on our own Valiant as she strives to earn a third gold medal this summer.

Next week the high school science club is promoting Earth Day by sponsoring an “Alternative Transportation Day” on Tuesday, April 24. There will be a table set up behind the Athletic Center from 7:15 – 8:40 a.m. They will be giving out free Starbucks coffee, hot chocolate, tea, muffins, scones, fruit, and orange juice to students who take an alternative form of transportation to school that day.

Students may walk to school, ride a bike or skateboard, take the bus or MAX (bring a transfer or a receipt), or drive in a carpool. Carpools should pull into the athletic center parking lot with at least three people who are attending school or working here. You can get a ticket for your free breakfast so that you can park and then come back if you need to. Thanks for considering taking one of these forms of transportation in honor of Earth Day!

Dear Valley Catholic Families:

Now that my week is almost complete, I can say with confidence that I am nearly caught up from being out of the office last week. It is always amazing to me how much time it can take to catch up on meetings, phone calls, and emails in such a short amount of time.

I want to extend my gratitude to all of the people involved with our auction this past weekend. It was an enjoyable evening and a strong show of support for Valley Catholic School. An event the size of our auction doesn’t happen without the talent, dedication, and effort of many people and I want to thank all the parents, students, teachers, and staff members for their commitment to Valley Catholic School. Many of the individuals who put on our auction this year are new to our community and their enthusiasm and creativity played a big role in the success of the evening. Finally, thank you to all of the attendees at the event. Your willingness to give up time in your busy schedule and spend money in support of our school is significant.

As some of you may have heard, Sr. M. Juliana Monti has announced that she will be retiring from her teaching position at our Middle and High School at the conclusion of the school year. For the past 41 years, Sr. Juliana has made a tremendous contribution to the success of our music program and our entire school. She has served in a variety of roles during her tenure and will continue on as the administrator of the Valley Catholic Music School on campus. Her presence will definitely be missed in the classroom and at our concerts. Thank you to Sr. Juliana for all of years of service to this community. The details of how we plan on celebrating her and her long ministry to Valley Catholic are still being finalized and will be shared with our community shortly.

Finally, I wanted to share an interesting story from yesterday’s news cycle. Yesterday marked the start of the 100-day countdown until the opening of this summer’s Olympic Games in London. Valley Catholic alumna Mariel Zagunis ’03, the two-time defending gold medalist in women’s sabre fencing, was one of a handful of athletes who were honored with a billboard in New York’s Times Square yesterday. TD Ameritrade is one of Mariel’s sponsors and they sponsored the large billboard. We are excited about the upcoming Olympics and look forward to cheering on our own Valiant as she strives to earn a third gold medal this summer.

Each week I keep hoping that I can end my letter by writing, “It looks like the good weather is finally here!” Once again this week, I’m not sure we are quite there yet. Enjoy the forecasted sunshine this weekend we’ll see how long the rain can hold off.

Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

Bob Weber
President
Valley Catholic School

After the middle and high school concert last Sunday, Sr. M. Juliana Monti, SSMO, announced that she will be retiring from Valley Catholic School at the end of this school year.  Although she will retire from her positions as Fine Arts Chair and Choir Director for the high school, she will continue her duties as Director of Valley Catholic Music School.

Sister Juliana has served in many capacities at Valley Catholic School for the past 41 years.  Among them, she has taught at all grade levels, developed the K-12 music curriculum, initiated both a middle school band program and a fourth-grade violin program, and served as the Fine Arts Chair.

Look for a more comprehensive story of Sr. Juliana’s service to VCS in the next issue of Spirit magazine mailed out in June.

Preparations for a special presentation and reception for Sr. Juliana is being planned; an invitation and more information will be provided soon.