Lumen News – January 7, 2021

Important Upcoming Dates:

• 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:

What a joy and a blessing it is to once again take staff and student temperatures every morning!  One of the best parts of my day, this means our school is operating in person, with smiles, laughter and learning taking place in our hallway and classrooms.   I can tell the students are a bit “groggy” this first week as their biological clocks reset from Christmas break sleep-ins to spring semester early wake-ups.  But I always enjoy engaging them first thing in the morning (I’m not sure all of them feel the same way)!  With our enrollment at 91 students, we have, once again, the largest student body in our school’s proud 25 year history.

This month, we turn our focus to the start of our high school basketball season, celebrating Catholic Schools with the rest of the nation, and our annual Gala auction.  We deeply appreciate those working hard to ensure the auction will be a success!

During this time of turmoil and strife, please continue to keep our nation in your prayers.  As Pope Francis suggested simply, “I’m praying more because I feel I should.”  I agree wholeheartedly–let’s all commit to praying more this year!

Campus Ministry:

Virtue of the Week: Respect

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.Romans 12:10

Happy and blessed birthdays to 7th grader Noah and 8th grader Isabella this week!

• Happy New Year! It is wonderful to be in person this first week back from Christmas break.

• We strive to teach our children and students to solve differences through peaceful means. Experiencing the unrest of the past many months of protest and violence can be unsettling to our kids and sometimes it is hard to know what to say to them. Following is an article on talking to your kids about yesterday’s protest that turned volatile in DC. I am suggesting this particular article because it is not politically charged, and gives practical suggestions.

  • https://fox59.com/news/kids-are-going-to-remember-this-experts-give-advice-on-how-to-talk-with-children-about-dc-riots/

• Following are resources for online service hours in the greater community

  • https://blog.collegevine.com/online-community-service-for-high-schoolers/

  • https://www.collegetransitions.com/blog/virtual-volunteer-opportunities-for-high-school-students/

  • https://www.pointsoflight.org/virtual-volunteering-opportunities/

  • https://blog.volunteercrowd.com/student-volunteering-in-the-age-of-coronavirus/

• 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:

• Peace and unity for our nation

• Integrity in our political leaders

• 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:

Gads – thanks to some extraordinary generosity over the Christmas break, our LUMENary Drive total jumped by nearly $17,000, reaching a grand total of $55,951. Thirty four Lumen families have contributed $15,090 of that total, with friends & family of Lumen families contributing an additional $8,065, for a total of $23,155 or 41% of the total giving.  As always, we remain grateful for every donation, large and small. Together in this 25th Anniversary year of the school we will reach our goal of $100,000!

Archangel Sports:

The High School basketball season kicks off next week, January 11th. If you have a high school student who wants to play and has not yet connected with their team, let Coach Warren know ASAP and he’ll get them pointed in the right direction! athletics@lumenchristiak.org

High School practice times are as follows:

Boys Girls

M & T = 2:30p – 4:30p M = 4:30p – 6:30p

W, Th, F = 5p-7p T = 5p – 7p

W, Th, F = 3p – 5p

The Junior High basketball teams will begin practicing the following week. Both teams will practice  Mondays & Wednesdays from 1p-2:30p.  (Note Monday the 18th is MLK day/no school, so practice will begin Wednesday the 20th.) Jr. Highers can either be picked up at 12:30 and dash out for a quick lunch, or may bring a sack lunch (no microwaves) and eat socially distanced in the gym bleachers, before practice.   Please email Coach athletics@lumenchristiak.org if your student is interested in playing this year.

Coached by Mr. Ross, the Rifle Team will start up on January 19th with practices on Tuesday & Thursday from 1p-2:30p.  Riflery is co-ed and open to Jr. High & High School students alike. Let Ms. Gore in the Front Office lchs@lumenchristiak.org know if your student is interested.   Mr. Ross will be limiting participation to five students each day, so if interested, please sign up quickly!

Front Office News:

 

26th Annual Mardi Gras Gala & Auction Fundraiser Online Auction & “Live” Virtual Event – February 6th, 2021

4 WEEKS!  That’s right, our gala/auction is 4 weeks from this Saturday!!  Hopefully you received your invitation by mail and an electronic invite is attached.   It is time to register for bidding and purchase your meal to enjoy during our “live” virtual event on Saturday, February 6th @ 7 pm.

We recently learned that we are not eligible for a Wine Auction Permit.  This means that we can’t sell or raffle wine or alcohol of any type during our gala/auction fundraiser. Please keep this in mind when you are donating auction items or basket items.  You can include a gift card for a location that sells wine/alcohol, but we can’t have the actual bottle of alcohol featured in the donation.  If you have donated wine for the mystery wine pull, you will still receive share hours and donation credit and The Bridge will be giving a complimentary bottle of wine with a purchase of 2 or more meals.  WIN-WIN for our dinner “guests”! The night should be filled with eating good food, drinking fine wine, and letting the good bids roll!

HOW TO GET INVOLVED:

• REGISTER for bidding and PURCHASE your meal at https://lchsak2021.ggo.bid

• LIKE, LOVE, INVITE, SHARE our event on our Lumen Christi Facebook Page- https://www.facebook.com/events/289289672526674

• SHARE our electronic invite attached to today’s Lumen News

• DONATE: Items and/or Gift Cards from our Wish List- Now is the time!!! SignUp Link: https://signup.com/go/HbuYQJt

• A few parent volunteer spots will be added to the SignUp soon for 2/6, 2/11 & 2/13

• Questions?  Contact the Gala Team – gala@lumenchristiak.org /273-1530

Last call for Drama

The Drama Club will start meeting in this month to begin planning 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.

 

Have a great rest of week and weekend!