Lumen News – September 3, 2020

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Tomorrow!! – Friday, Sept 4th: Virtual Back to School Mass, 9a – see below for details!
• Monday, September 7th: Labor Day – No School
• Tuesday, September 8th: School Picture Day

Principal’s Update:

Well, our first full week of school is almost complete!  Again, we appreciate all the parents and guardians and students who are self-screening before coming to school and staying home if warranted.  As cold and flu season sets in, this will be even more important to keep our community safe and sound.

This week, the seven members of our Class of 2021 are on retreat at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center.  The theme is Servant Leadership and Spiritual Warfare.  Although we could not go out to St. Therese’s Camp in Wasilla for an overnight as per our tradition, our Campus Minister, Mrs. Liz Loeffler, has scheduled a deeply thoughtful, reflective, and spiritual event for our Senior class.  Tomorrow–Friday–they will represent the school at our “Back to School” Mass and process the Light of Christ into our building (see details below).  This a beautiful and moving annual event that we are excited to be able to do, despite the school year already starting.   Even though most of our students will be watching the Mass from their Advisory classroom, tomorrow is still a Mass day, so we expect all our students to “dress up” with their oxford shirt, Lumen tie, and dress shoes.

We will also welcome Mr. Scott Gross, a local reporter from CBS5, who will be with us to do a story on how our first couple of weeks has gone.  I will let everyone know when we can expect his story to air.

There is no school on Monday, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back on Tuesday.  Start and end times for next week are the same, but we have modified our class meeting schedule to ensure all academic classes get sufficient classroom time.  Please see just below for class meeting days.

On behalf of my family and the school staff, we wish everyone a blessed, safe, and wonderful Labor Day weekend.

Front Office News:

Next week the school will be operating in YELLOW (7:45a-12:30p, all days on campus).

Schedule for Next Week:

Monday:  No School – Labor Day

Tuesday:  Periods 1, 3, 5

Wednesday:  Periods 2, 4, 6

Thursday:  Periods 1, 3, 5

Friday:  Periods 2, 4, 6 (with Mass at 9am – students need to be in their button down shirts and ties. And pants. Don’t forget the pants. Or a skirt.)

Back to School Mass – TOMORROW:

For new families: A ‘Back to School Mass” is how we kick off the ‘faith’ side of our year each fall. This year will be a bit different of course since we all can’t be in the church together, but with a combination of livestreaming and then Fr. Tom bringing the Eucharist (Holy Communion) back to the school, it will still be awesome.

Following the distribution of the Eucharist, Fr. Tom will bless individual classrooms, per tradition. While we normally encourage all parents to join us for this celebration, this year we invite you to log in to the St. Benedict’s Facebook Page to watch Mass live with us (you don’t need a FB account to watch); and then watch the school’s FB page for pictures of the “Light of Christ” candle procession (another annual tradition) and the classroom blessings!

Archangel Attic:

Students are welcome to begin volunteering at the Archangel Attic on Fridays after school. This is a great way for them to earn their “Faith in Action” hours and help the school while they’re at it. There are always 2 adults present who are there to keep them busy and on track; up to 3 students can sign up for the 12:30-2:30p shift. Have your student stop by the Office if they have questions or want to sign up.

School Picture Day: 

School photos will be taken on Tuesday, September 8th. Order forms went home last week, if you suspect that form is still wadded in the bottom of your student’s backpack and you want to order items, contact Fitzgerald Photo: http://fitzgeraldphotos.com/pre-order-schools-pictures/ Students are welcome to wear their polo shirts since it’s a Monday, or if you want them looking fancy – make them dress up with their shirt and tie.

 

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!