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Our Lady of Mount Carmel School
Crusader Connection
March 2014
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FACTS Deadline
March 1
New and returning families who apply for financial aid have a deadline of March 1st. All applications, along with required supporting documents, must be completed online at FACTS Grant and Aid. For more information and/or guidance please contact Joyce Kiser in the Business Office. We are unable to grant extensions to this deadline as financial aid is allocated and distributed in view of all families applying for aid.
Home and School Chili & Cake Cook-Off
On the first Saturday of March the Home and School hosts a chili and cake cook off in the school cafeteria. It is conveniently scheduled to begin at 6:00, following the 5:00 vigil Mass at the parish. Crock pots and cakes can be dropped off prior to Mass. All who have secret family recipes or just like to cook are invited to bring a crock or container of chili for many to sample and vote. A cake contest takes place simultaneously. Board games are typically set out on cafeteria tables for children and families. There is no supervision for children other than their parents so we ask that they not go into the gym or outside without a designated parent supervisor who will remain with the children at all times. All are invited to make or taste chili, bake or sample cakes! A cake raffle allows the lucky winner to take home winning cakes.
Ash Wednesday
Each year the liturgical season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. One major aspect of formation for the students and families at Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the deep living of the faith through the liturgical year. Therefore an all school Mass is held and all students and faculty attend on Ash Wednesday. This will be very similar to the Friday Masses inasmuch as it is a parish Mass and all are welcome.
Lenten Fasting and Abstinence
March 5th - April 18th
During the season of Lent the Church requires particular fasting and abstinence for those who are physically able, and of age, to participate. Many families practice these fasts each year so many of our students participate in these fasts even from a young age. While mortification and fasting is an important part of the Christian life, we do emphasize that children need to eat enough food for their growing bodies. The Church Fasts are as follows:
1. Abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays during Lent. This includes the use of meats such as beef, pork, ham, chicken, deer, etc, but does not exclude eggs or milk products. The fast is required of Catholics aged 14 and older.
2. Fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday - the only required fast days in the entire year. The "Church Fast" consists in limiting oneself to one full meal plus two lighter meals, the sum of the two not quite equal to the full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted - this can be a difficulty for the American lifestyle, but there is something deeper going on here than a challenge. This is required of Catholics who are 18-59 years old.
3. All are obliged to do some penance during the entire season of Lent. In addition to the fasts, this can take on the practice of prayer, good works, almsgiving, self-denial, or other acts of charity.
Stations of the Cross
A common way to enter into the season of Lent is to pray the Stations of the Cross individually or with a community. This year, the pk-5th grade classes will pray together on Fridays in Lent beginning at 2:10. Middle school classes which are unable to participate on Friday afternoon, will pray as individual classes during the week. Families are welcome to attend the Stations with the school or are encouraged to attend the Soup Suppers and Stations as a family on Friday evenings at the parish.
Foreign Language Week
March 3-7
During this week of awareness for languages other than English, students are invited to accompany morning announcements with a prayer or special announcement in another tongue. Additionally, the teachers of foreign languages decorate the school and build lessons to enrich the awareness and appreciation for various languages and cultures.
With the first week of of March this year, we turn the corner into the third trimester. Report cards for all grades K-8 will come home on March 12th. It is a good time to encourage the children to finish strong and let the hard work of the year, and the hours spent learning and reviewing to really culminate at the end of May. Any concerns a teacher has with regard to sufficient preparedness for the rising grade will be communicated in writing and will require a conference.
Emergency Response Drills
March 11
Each year in March, the State of Virginia enacts a tornado drill in the public schools, and invites private schools to participate. These are generally unannounced to teachers and students so that we have authentic information on how quickly we respond to the alert and how prepared we are to react in an emergency situation. Additionally the school performs required monthly fire drills as well as regular lock down drills. It is helpful that the Newport News Police frequent our street to catch those speeding on Harpersville Road, and are often visible in our parking lot. The police have also worked to increase their awareness of our school, its layout, and our emergency responses.
Virginia Beach Shamrock Marathon
March 16
This year's Shamrock Marathon finds a special place in the heart of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School. One of the school's young parents asked if he could train and run this marathon to benefit Our Lady of Mount Carmel School. Craig Politte has been training for nearly a year, and will run the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach on Sunday, March 16th. A group of supporters will go down to cheer him on. He is raising funds to support a new recreational athletic club at OLMC School. Information has come home in Wednesday folders, in the OLW, and can be found on the FB page Miles4MountCarmel. Thanks for supporting by prayers for Craig, or even by attending race day!
Spring Performance
March 18 and 20
Students in grades 4 and 5 are preparing a spring program which will be held March 18th as a school assembly, dress rehearsal with the final performance on the evening of March 22nd at 6:30 pm in the school gym.
This spring's theme is showcasing "Through the Decades" beginning with the decade that OLMC School opened (the 50's). Music, and the hope of artistic backdrop from each decade, will provide a trip down memory lane.
Medieval Times School Auction
March 22
The School Auction is the biggest gala and most important fundraiser for the school each year. It takes the tremendous commitment of everyone at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, and takes 7-10 months to pull together. The Auction is supported by a minimum of two family donations as well as dozens and dozens of community partners and friends. Each year the school selects a fund-an-item toward which everyone is invited to contribute - an item which will serve to support instruction for all children at the school. In the past, our fund-an-item has paid for LCD projectors in every classroom, a gym floor, playground improvements and renovations, and more. This year's fund an item is to update the computer lab whose equipment and software is over a decade old. An IT committee has spent the past year researching the needs of the school and best purchases for our use.
March 21, the Friday before the event, all are invited to help prepare the Hall for the fabulous Knight to Remember.
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