The Valley Catholic
catholic schools
CATHOLIC EDUCATION INSPIRES
May 27, 2014
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New ‘face’ of Queen of Apostles School
Sacred Heart, Saratoga students help keep creek clean, care for environment.
Sacred Heart students take care of environment
Students at Sacred Heart School,
Saratoga have a creek running alongside their school campus. Saratoga
Creek offers a continuing opportunity for students to demonstrate their
commitment to the environment by
collecting garbage and debris found
in the creek.
Students from third through eighth
grades dedicated an afternoon loading
bags of debris. Andrea, a sixth grader,
said, “I never thought I would find so
much garbage in our creek. It felt good
to help clean it.”
Sacred Heart students are familiar
with the environment and being an
“Environmental Caretaker” is one of
their 7 “SPECIAL” Learning Expectations. The SPECIAL acronym describes
the qualities of what students strive for
year-round.
This project was led by Sacred
Heart’s upper science teacher, Ms. Rachel Pleis, in conjunction with the West
Valley Clean Water Program which
sponsors the program.
Saint Simon Parish School places 7th
in World VEX Robotics tournament
When St. Simon Parish School (Los
Altos) students started their first robotics team at the beginning of the school
year, they never imagined it would
take them to the Anaheim Convention
Center and the VEX Robotics World
Championship in April.
During their four-day stay, they
and 15,000 other participants from 27
countries competed in challenges demonstrating their Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math (STEM) skills,
going head-to-head with custom built
and programmed robots.
St. Simon Principal Steve Rummell
said, “As we enrich our programs to
highlight STEM skills, I am excited that
our school community has embraced
the new robotics program. Parent
volunteers helped our kids understand
the fundamentals of technology, how
to work together as a team, and most
of all, how to have fun.
“It was amazing to see the excitement of our students, and the breadth
of experience by 760 of the world’s
best student-run robotics teams at this
tournament. I was incredibly proud
to have them represent Saint Simon,
and it was especially exciting to have
one of our teams advance to the World
Championship Finals and finish 7th
Place in the World.”
St. Simon VEX Robotics team members in grades 4-8 include Kirk Baranowski, Michael Carbone, Philip
Christiansen, Nikhil D’Souza, Andres
Ibarra, Carolyn Jeung, Matthias Lai,
Tommy Lawler, Gianni Magarelli, Iker
Mendiburu-Perez, Xavi MendiburuPerez, Devon Montgomery-Eder, Rafael
Pierry, Hanna Ready, Atila Schrieber,
Sam Sherrill, and Dipashreya Sur.
Carolyn Jeung of St. Simon Parish School
participates in VEX Robotics tournament.
The VEX Robotics Tournament
represented some of the world’s best
student-run robotics teams, ranging in
ages from 8-18. Different competitions
included: VEX IQ Challenge Elementary School World Championship (ages
8-10); VEX IQ Challenge Middle School
World Championship (ages 11-14); VRC
Middle School World Championship
(ages 11-14); VRC High School World
Championship (ages 15-18), and VEX
U (ages 18+).
VEX Robotics is a leading provider
of educational and competitive robotics
products to schools, universities and
robotics teams. The company partners
with the non-profit Robotics Education
& Competition Foundation to support
the world’s largest and fastest growing
competitive robotics program for elementary schools, middle schools, high
schools and colleges around the world.
Queen of Apostles School, San Jose,
continues to celebrate 50 years of Catholic education this year by giving their
school logo a new look. “The new logo
which replaces the Eagle (the school’s
sport mascot) is a better representation
of the school and Church’s doctrine,”
explained Martin Chargin, principal.
The logo is entitled “The Shield
of Faith.” Its four main components
include the image of a shield (against
evil) encasing a cross (what each person
carries for the intentions of the Heavenly Father) and 12 stars (12 Apostles,
teachers in Christ). The shield is topped
by a crown representing Mother Mary.
The Shield of Faith logo will be
transitioned into the school uniform
beginning school year 2014-2015.
Queen of Apostles second grade students
Pria Chandarana and Hannah Manning
model polo shirts featuring the new school
logo.
FIRST EUCHARIST RETREAT (r)-- Second
graders at St. Mary School in Gilroy took
part in a half-day retreat in preparation of
celebrating the Sacrament of First Eucharist.
With help from teachers and parents, they
wrote a letter to Jesus, decorated an altar
cloth and glasses, and created mosaic
crosses.
MAY CROWNING (below)--Students at
St. Mary School in Gilroy honored Blessed
Mother on May 1 by bringing her flowers
(statue at rear) during a special ceremony
that is a longstanding tradition at the school.
Join us!
•
Learn!
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Have Fun!
Cool Kids Zone Summer Day Camp
St Clare School • Santa Clara
Weekdays • June 16 to August 8, 2014 • 7:30am to 6:00pm
Academics and Kindergarten Readiness
Traditional Day Camp Activities
Arts • Crafts • Weekly Field Trips
Water & Wheels Days • Campfire Nights
Cooking • Science • Sports
Games • Swimming • Hiking
One of the most popular,
longest running Summer Camp
Experiences in the area!
For registration information, contact Valerye Moore, Camp Di ɕ