NEW START DATE: OCTOBER 8 — All Academy parents are encouraged to consider attending “Foundations of Parenting,” a six-week class presented by Margaret Bommarito of the Office of Laity and Family Life, Archdiocese of St. Louis. The class will meet in the Griesedieck Conference Room on six Tuesday evenings beginning Oct. 8. Click here for further information and registration details.
Today’s First Friday Mass of the Holy Spirit celebrates the opening of the new school year.
Sister Shirley Miller shares the RSCJ monthly reflection https://rscj.org/first-friday-reflection-september-2013
The Memorial Mass for Patricia Steppe, RSCJ, will be held Sunday, December 1, 2013 at 3 p.m. in the Shrine of St. Philippine Duchesne.
Sister Patricia Steppe, former Headmistress of the Academy of the Sacred Heart, passed into God’s Loving and Gracious Arms Sept. 4 in Atherton, Calif.
In a message to faculty and staff, Sister Maureen Glavin explained that Sister Steppe’s “claim to fame is that she saved this school from closure. If it were not for Sister Steppe, this school would not even be here today! We owe her a great debt of gratitude.”
In a draft of the school’s history to be published for our bicentennial, Jane Cannon writes, “The carpeted staircase that leads from the parlor hallway to the Primary classrooms on the second floor was named The Steppe Stairs in 2004 in honor of Sister Steppe, who served as Headmistress from 1972 to 1984 and returned to the Academy in 1994 as Academic Assistant. It was the desire of the administration to recognize the woman who had taken on the challenge of preserving the school in the wake of the high school’s closure, effecting a new high level of academic excellence for the grade school and opening the school to boys.
“A quintessential teacher herself, she bettered the skills of her faculty and found creative ways to teach the most ordinary subjects. ‘Learn by the Month’ programs and spring musicals were her specialties, and she ensured that end-of-year awards recognized the uniqueness of each child in the school. In an era when frugality was de rigueur, she expanded the minds of the children and bought for their school a new reputation of achievement. In 2007 Sister Steppe retired to the Oakwood Community in Atherton, Calif.”
May she rest in peace.
Born: March 27, 1928
Entered: August 14, 1960
First Vows: March 20, 1963
Final Profession: May 11. 1969 – Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, St. Charles, Missouri
Read more at rscj.org.
Sister Anna Mae Marheineke, Sister Marie Louise Fitz-William and Sister Patricia Steppe at a track meet at Saint Louis Priory School in 1980
This evening is a key parental moment in the creation of our year-long collaboration and partnership:
THE LOWER SCHOOL PARENT MEETING
You will meet the creators of our new Parent Portal, you will have an opportunity to hear from Mrs. Renken, the Lower School Principal, and, perhaps most importantly, you will hear from your child’s teacher about all of the wonderful plans, hopes, dreams and learning aspirations for the year. Equally as essential, you will hear some of the steps the teachers will be taking to support their students in achieving these learning goals. We share both the goals and our methodology with the secure knowledge that the more we communicate with each other, the more we can work together to support our children in their growth, development and maturation on every level.
The evening’s presentation will begin at 7 p.m. in the Rauch Memorial Gym and conclude in your child’s classroom.
Opening Prayer
Sister Glavin
Highlights of the New Parent Portal Space
Mr. Will Yates
Safety and Security Update
Sister Glavin
Lower School Life, Loves and Light
and
Introduction of the Lower School Faculty
Mrs. Marcia Renken
Proceed to the Classrooms
All Lower School Teachers and Parents
Those of you who have Middle School students, we will see you NEXT Thursday!
Also, please feel free to join us tomorrow in spirit and in The Spirit as we launch our year in a formal way with our traditional Mass of the Holy Spirit. We will be inviting God’s Spirit to fill us, to enliven us, to inspire us and to transform us as we ALL continue to grow into God’s Heart and Hands in our classrooms, homes, offices, communities and in our world!
United in God’s Great Love,
Maureen Glavin, rscj
Please pray for Sister Patricia Steppe who is now in hospice care at Oakwood, the RSCJ retirement home in Atherton, Calif. Sister Steppe was the headmistress at the Academy from 1972-1984. Her leadership during the transition of welcoming boys to the Academy has been felt for decades. We pray for her continued peace as she journeys to heaven.
Behavioral pediatrician Dr. Tim Jordan is offering a presentation for parents interested in learning more about preteen and teenage girls. “DO THIS, NOT THAT … Advice for Parents of Adolescent Girls” will be held on Tuesday evening, October 1 from 7 p.m. at the West County YMCA Auditorium. Cost is just $10 per person. Call 636-530-1833.
Soccer practices on Thursday, August 29 will take place as scheduled. Because of the heat, extra caution will be exercised and additional breaks for water and rest will be allowed.
Walking through our hallways and classrooms during this past week, I have seen and experienced an environment suffused with joy! It certainly appears to me that we have begun well on this year’s journey of awakening minds and nurturing hearts!
As we journey together, we do so most effectively when we have good lines of information sharing. The key to our partnership is communication! In that spirit, I want to say a word about some upgrades to two of our regular communication vehicles.
THURSDAY MAIL: Thursday Mail is an ‘all school’ weekly publication created by Joan Runge, our Director of Communication and a member of the Advancement Office. In it you will find news about upcoming school events, important dates, and information essential for parents. Today you are experiencing Thursday Mail in its newest form. It has a clean look and can be read more easily from all web browsers and most mobile devices.
PARENT PORTAL: Our parent portal is a private web space which provides parents with a myriad of information, from static content to ongoing classroom updates. Our new portal frees parents from the issue of multiple log-in verification requests. It too will be easier to use on mobile devices. Most importantly, our new Parent Portal will allow you to access curricular information, which had been in class newsletters, in a more timely manner, while allowing simpler access to handbooks, lunch information, health forms, athletic news and school forms. Each parent will have his/her own username and password to access the site. Parents can change their usernames and passwords to one that is more easily remembered. And, if anyone forgets their login, there will be a quick ‘forgot your password’ link with immediate e-mail feedback, thus allowing instant password reset.
An e-mail with YOUR initial password to the Parent Portal will be sent to you Friday morning.
A demonstration of the Parent Portal will occur at both the Lower School and Middle School parent meetings (Sept. 5 and 12 at 7 p.m.).
The Academy strives to be diligent with parent communication while, simultaneously, hoping not to overwhelm you with too much information. (Too much can be as unhelpful as not enough!) Your feedback regarding your experience of how we manage that delicate balance is always helpful.
I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming September parent meetings!
Maureen Glavin, rscj
Soccer practices on Wednesday, August 28 will take place as scheduled. Because of the heat, extra caution will be exercised and additional breaks for water and rest will be allowed.
Welcome to the 2013-2014 school year!
This morning’s first day with our Primary friends added nothing but joy to what was already a beautiful beginning of a year of love and learning. Lots of happy faces (both children’s and adults’) are lighting up our hallowed halls.
Just to provide for you a taste of our day yesterday, besides learning procedures and reviewing routines, our students got acquainted with their teachers, spaces and schedules. Additionally, I had the pleasure of welcoming everyone back (or for the first time) when we met with the whole school community in Rauch Memorial Gym for an opening of the school year prayer assembly.
In the spirit of Sacred Heart education, we launched the assembly by learning some information about Janet Erskine Stuart, rscj. You may be interested to know that the Sacred Heart family worldwide is celebrating the centenary of Mother Stuart’s death throughout the course of this school year. Interestingly, two schools in our Network are named after her: Stuart Country Day School in Princeton, N.J., and Stuart Hall, the high school for boys which is part of Schools of the Sacred Heart, San Francisco. Though we are not named after Mother Stuart, one of our buildings is― the Stuart Center, adjoining the library and home of our Seventh and Eighth Class students. We feel a special connection to Mother Stuart because in 1898 she visited St. Charles in order to begin collecting materials for Mother Duchesne’s canonization process.
So, with Philippine Duchesne, Madeleine Sophie Barat, Janet Erskine Stuart, and Anna Mae Marheineke*, I place this year, our students, our faculty, our staff and our parents in the Hands and Heart of God:
May the courage and fervor of Philippine
fill each of our souls.
May the clarity and wisdom of Sophie
fill each of our minds.
May the earnest pursuit of truth and beauty of Janet
fill each of our hearts.
And, may the passion for the education of children of Anna Mae
fill our classrooms and offices and hallways.
Let this be our prayer for this school year, with a joyful and heartfelt AMEN!
Again, welcome back with affection and joy,
Maureen Glavin, rscj
Academy students in Classes 1-8 returned on Wednesday, August 21, followed by Primary students the following day. On Monday, we’ll welcome our youngest students in Pre-Primary.
In a letter to school parents, Sister Glavin wrote: “So, with Philippine Duchesne, Madeleine Sophie Barat, Janet Erskine Stuart and Anna Mae Marheineke, I place this year, our students, our faculty, our staff and our parents in the Hands and Heart of God with the following prayer:
May the courage and fervor of Philippine
fill each of our souls.
May the clarity and wisdom of Sophie
fill each of our minds.
May the earnest pursuit of truth and beauty of Janet
fill each of our hearts.
And, may the passion for the education of children of Anna Mae
fill our classrooms and offices and hallways.
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