St. Mary’s School...
May: Final Newsletter of the School Year  
May 21, 2012 

The “Great Countdown” has begun! There are only eight school days, or for the purists among us, eleven days left until summer vacation. Not that any of my students have noticed! I am sure that they would be willing to go at least another month, and if you buy that, I have a bridge that I am offering for sale. 

May is the month of Mary. On May 4, after Mass, the school honored the Blessed Mother with a May Crowning. The sixth and seventh graders formed the honor guard. Attended by her fellow eighth graders, Alexis Kreusch placed the crown on the statue of Mary. The fourth and fifth graders led the Litany of Mary and the children from preschool through the third grade placed flowers on Mary’s altar. 

The fourth graders went to the Garst Museum on May 3 as part of their Ohio History class. They learned some of the history of our area and the important role played by the early settlers in our country’s history. The fifth and sixth graders attended the Health Fair presented by Wayne Health Care. On May 14 Diane Barga of the Darke County Extension Office presented a lesson on nutrition to the third and fourth graders. On May 16, the seventh and eighth graders traveled to Covington, KY to see Eureka!, a play about math and great mathematicians such as Pascal and Einstein. 

Throughout the year, I have written about the many fundraisers the eighth graders had in order to fund their class trip. All their hard work paid off with a trip to Houston and Galveston on May 7 through May 11. They spent the first day touring Houston. They visited NASA. They also toured the battleship Texas. They stopped at the La Jacinta Monument which commemorates Texas’ independence from Mexico. 

In Galveston the class visited the Moody Gardens which contains the Three Pyramids. The pyramids are actually museums. The class visited two of the pyramids, the Rain Forest museum and the aquarium. They toured a federal facility that works to save the sea turtles. Besides caring for the young turtles, the researchers are working on turtle safe shrimp nets. They learned about the “Great Storm”, the hurricane of 1900 that destroyed so much of Galveston. They went to Mass at St. Patrick’s and the Franciscan friar told them about all the damage that the church has suffered from not only the “Great Storm”, but other hurricanes. In keeping with the storm theme, the class also viewed an IMAX presentation about tornadoes. Some of the other activities enjoyed by the students were a DUCK tour of Galveston, a paddle wheel boat ride, a Segway tour, and a visit to the Gulf of Mexico. 

One of the eighth graders’ biggest fund raisers is the Mulch Sale. Thank you to all who supported the class by buying mulch. Thank you also to the eighth grade class who not only 

donated 13 bags of mulch for the front of the school, but also spread the mulch. The front of the school looks great. 

In our Catholic tradition, one means of enriching our faith lives is to go on retreats. A retreat is a time of prayer and reflection. Some retreats are a simple day of prayer, while others are for a longer period of time. As part of our religious education program, we offer many different types of prayer experiences to help enhance our students’ spiritual development. The fourth graders had an in house retreat at school on May 16. The retreat was led by a team from Maria Stein. The retreat was structured for the spiritual development of nine and ten year olds. The seventh and eighth graders will have their retreat at Bergamo on May 23. During their retreat, the students will reflect upon their own individual spirituality and their response to God in their lives. 

As I mentioned at the beginning of this letter, the school year is quickly coming to an end. On May 25, the students will enjoy their end of the year field trip to the Troy Water Park. We have gone for several years and the students always have a great time. On May 29, the eighth graders will graduate with a special graduation Mass and reception. They next day, as is our tradition, the students will gather in the upper hall to “clap out” the class as they leave for their final field trip as the St. Mary’s class of 2012. We wish Alexis, Ryan, Hannah and Jose the best of luck as they enter the next phase of their education. They will always be in our hearts and we hope that they will not be strangers. The final day of school for the remaining students will be May 31.