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Lumen News – December 17, 2020

Important Upcoming Dates:

Jan 4: Semester Two Begins
Jan 18: MLK Day, No School
Jan 26th: PSAT testing for 9, 10, 11th grades
Jan 31-Feb 6: Celebrate Catholic Schools Week
Feb 2: 5th Annual State of the School, 7pm
Feb 6: Mardi Gras Gala
Feb 10-11: Parent Teacher Conferences
Feb 17: Ash Wednesday (Lent Begins)
Mar 5-14: Spring Break

Principal’s Update:

This week, our students finished up their final exams in person. This last week marks the 13th week out of 18 this semester that our students have been able to be in school face to face (behind a mask, of course!) with their teachers and fellow students. This is simply amazing and a testament to our mitigation plans, our dedicated teachers, and you, our wonderful families. We all look forward to a much needed Christmas break and plan to return refreshed, and in person, on Monday, January 4th.

At my Principal Parent Forum, a parent asked a question about staffing changes for the second semester. Fortunately, we have to only make one staffing change! I’m pleased to report to you that Mrs. Stacy Robertson will be returning to Lumen Christi part time to teach Period 5 (8th Grade A Cohort) Theology 8. For our new families, Mrs. Robertson had previously taught full time at Lumen for over a dozen years, before stepping away two years ago to begin a family. She is well versed in our Theology courses and is deeply respected by our older students, many of whom had her for Theology in junior high. Mrs. Mary Gore will continue to teach Period 6 (8th Grade B Cohort) Theology 8, just as she has done for this first semester. Reducing Mrs. Gore’s teaching load here at Lumen will allow her more time to focus on her full time job at the Archdiocese of Anchorage Juneau. We deeply appreciate the sacrifice that Mrs. Gore has made this semester to take our 8th graders through their faith journey and we look forward to having Mrs. Robertson join us back in the building.

From the entire school staff, and my family to yours, may you have a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year. See you in 2021!

Campus Ministry:

Virtue of the Week: Patience

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” Psalm 40:1

Happy and blessed birthday to 7th graders Lilly and Bryce next week!

Blessed Christmas to each of you and our prayer is for a healthy, loving, and prosperous 2021!
We are social by our nature; we need fellowship, and our youth, in particular, faces anxiety and depression from the isolation of the pandemic. Following are a couple of articles with information to help us parents out!
- Staying at Home During COVID-19: How to Help Teens Cope
- 5 steps to help your kids manage lockdown stress
- How to help your teenager with staying home during lockdown
- Please get outside in the fresh air and be together! Hike, sled, ski, take walks!

Prayer Spot

Please remember the following in your prayers this week:

For the repose of the soul of Manuela Nsaneoyr, grandmother of Nery Vargas-Botello
For a safe and blessed Christmas break
For Marissa, aunt of 8th graders Alli and Addi Nelson
For those experiencing homelessness and poverty as our winter approaches
For all medical workers and first responders

If you would like special intentions listed in Lumen News and Prayer Book of Intentions you can send them directly to Mrs. Loeffler or to the front office.

LUMENary Drive Update:

Heartfelt donations continue to arrive and we’re thankful and humbled by each and every one. There are always needs within the school community and rest assured that donations always go to address the greatest one(s). To date, $39,121 has been raised in support of our efforts from families, friends, St. Benedict’s parishioners and the community at large. Thank you so much for your ongoing support in these extraordinary times.

Front Office News:

26th Annual Mardi Gras Gala & Auction Fundraiser

Online Auction & “Live” Virtual Event – February 6th, 2021

As we close out the year and look forward to our first ever “virtual auction” in February, we’re so thankful for the support so many of our families have shown so far, in so many ways. Merry Christmas!

Last call for Drama

The Drama Club will start meeting in January to begin planing for our spring production. If your high school student (sorry Junior High’ers) is interested in participating, please let me know and I’ll get them (and you) connected up with Mrs. Robertson.

Cookie Drive

Thank you to everyone who brought cookies for the Homeless Shelter Cookie Drive. It was a very challenging morning for me being surrounded by all those sweets but I promise I didn’t touch a single one. Fr. Tom was left alone to transport the cookies from the school to the Parish kitchen to be re-boxed for distribution, let’s hope that he stayed out of them too. If he didn’t – well….Santa is watching Fr. Tom. That’s all I have to say.