Posted January 26, 2015

As part of Catholic Schools Week, St. Christopher School in Philadelphia will be honoring local firefighters and police for their service to our community on Wednesday, Jan. 28 from 9 to 10 a.m. in Holy Family Hall.  Police from the 7th District and nearby firehouse, and parents of St. Christopher students who are also firefighters and police officers, will be welcomed by Student Council members and honored with a video tribute by St. Christopher students.

The theme of Catholic Schools Week at Our Mother of Consolation School in Philadelphia is “At OMC, We Are Family.” The school will host a variety of activities this week, including Our School Family Day on Monday, Class Family Game Day on Tuesday, Mission Day on Wednesday, Class Culture Day on Thursday, and Service Day on Friday.

Catholic Schools Week activities at Nativity of Our Lord School in Warminster include a day for students to “travel” around the world with a passport and tour all the classrooms which will highlight a specific country; ice cream treats, a Mini-THON service project, and a prayer service. The Mini-THON starts Thursday, Jan. 29 at 9 a.m. Students will dance, play games, and have other activities to entertain while hearing about how the Four Diamonds Fund supports patients and families of the Penn State Medical Center at Hershey in the fight against pediatric cancer. The school’s fundraising goal is $8,000.

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St. Joseph/St. Robert School in Warrington will be hosting an open house for interested families on Wednesday, Jan. 28 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. For more information, call 215-343-5100 or visit www.stjstr.org.  Other activities include a service project where students will contribute snack items and create snack bags for St. Cyprian’s Food Pantry; a book fair; a Family Pizza Lunch and an afternoon of Buddy Board Games; and a student assembly featuring “The Brain Show,” an interactive educational trivia game.

A family Mass and open house kicked off Catholic Schools Week on Sunday, Jan. 25 at St. Francis de Sales School in Lenni. The school will host Catholic Schools Week activities with a “World Meeting of Families” theme, including family craft projects, Country Patron Saint activities, writing letters of thanks to local civil servants, an assembly program, a student-teacher trivia contest, and outreach projects.  The week will culminate with Family Bingo on Friday, Jan. 30.

Other events include:

Almost 70 seventh grade students at Holy Cross Regional School in Collegeville will perform a Living Wax Museum Jan. 27 from 8 to 11:15 a.m. in the school gymnasium for teachers, fellow students and parents. The seventh graders have researched a famous person and will dress in costume. The student will then remain motionless until “activated” at which time they will deliver a speech as the figure they chose.

Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood and eight officers from the Upper Darby Police Department will join students, faculty and staff of St. Laurence School in Upper Darby Jan. 27 at 9:15 a.m. for a prayer service in the parish church in honor of the police officers’ service to the school and community. During the prayer service Chitwood and the officers will be presented with cards made by students at the school.

St. Bernadette School, Drexel Hill, will host a Community Appreciation Day in O’Brien Hall (church basement) Jan. 27 at 10:30 a.m. Several WWII veterans from will be welcomed at the event, which will include “Thank You” presentations from the students in lower grades, and older students will be able to meet one-on-one with the veterans. Last summer, students participated in “Send a Letter to WWII Veterans,” as WWII is part of the upper grade curriculum. The letters were filled with sincere thanks and recognition of the bravery these veterans had shown. In addition, members of the Upper Darby Police and Fire Department will also attend in appreciation for their service to St. Bernadette school community.

In early December the kindergarten class at St. Pio Regional Catholic School, Philadelphia, received a donation of 25 Apple iPad Minis from the Connelly Foundation that will travel with them through eighth grade. The kindergarteners will show technology in action with a demonstration Jan. 27 of what they’ve learned since receiving their iPads.

In anticipation of the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September, St. Andrew School in Newtown will hold a liturgy at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28 in the gymnasium featuring multicultural influences. Students will dress in native costume, a hymn will be sung in Spanish and the Prayer of the Faithful will be read in various languages by native speakers. Immediately following the school liturgy, each grade, from pre-K through eight, will display maps, saints, flags and cultural information from countries around the world on their classroom bulletin boards. Students in grades kindergarten to fifth grade will receive “passports,” which they will carry with them to classrooms throughout the school as they visit each grade’s assigned country.

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Lansdale Catholic High School’s Class of 2015 will paint “legacy tiles” Jan. 28, through which students will leave a lasting impression on the school and as a fundraiser for a senior class gift upon graduation. Home & School Association members will meet with seniors in the cafeteria during first and second periods with instructions and painting supplies. Students are encouraged to design their tile in a manner that represents the best of his or her high school experience. After students have painted the tiles, they will be kiln fired at a local Color Me Mine pottery store and returned at a later date for display in the first floor hallway of the school.

During Religious and Clergy Appreciation Day, students, faculty and staff will gather for the dedication of Msgr. Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast High School’s Frederico Gymnasium. The main gymnasium at Bonner-Prendie is being dedicated to Dominic Frederico, alum of the Msgr. Bonner Class of 1970. The dedication will take place following the 8:05 a.m. Mass on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at approximately 9:15 a.m. Father James Olson, school president, will bless and dedicate the gym, and Frederico and his family and friends will attend.

John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls’ High School has a special visual and performing arts and group discussion day planned for students on Thursday, Jan. 29 around the theme of Hallahan being “No Place for Hate,” a program of the Anti-Defamation League. Hallahan will receive a banner from the organization designating the school as an official member of the program.  Students will be given a personal mini-trashcan at the beginning of the week to be placed above each of their lockers and to be used for throwing away any “hate” on a piece of paper such as gossip, self-hate, negative stereotypes, etc.

During the program students will gather to watch selections from the Hallahan and Roman Catholic High School for Boys production of “The Wizard of Oz” appropriate to the day’s theme of “No Hate.” In addition, students from Hallahan’s Dance Team will perform “flash mob” style dances throughout classrooms and hallways around the school. At the end of the school day all students, faculty and staff will come together for a presentation by representatives from the Anti-Defamation League. Students will collectively throw away their “hate” messages.

Eighth grade students at Mother of Providence Regional Catholic School, Wallingford, film a weekly news program that is broadcast to students, faculty, and staff throughout the school. The students will film a special Catholic Schools Week news report Jan. 29 in the school’s art studio in front of a painted green screen. The 11:15 a.m. newscast will include a replay of the Catholic Schools Week events that took place earlier in the week including: an open house, book fair and BLOCS scholarship check presentation. Eighth graders are responsible for the entire newscast including writing the scripts, filming, and editing.

Students in grades one to seven at St. Isidore School in Quakertown will participate in the American Heart Association’s “Jump Rope for Heart” Jan. 29 during Catholic Schools Week. Students will be led by the physical education teacher and eighth grade students through a series of jump rope and hula hoop activities in the school gymnasium. The students have received jump sponsors through friends and family and all proceeds will go to the American Heart Association. To date, students from Pre-K through seventh grade have raised more than $800.

Seventh and eighth grade students of St. Ephrem School, Bensalem, have been researching and experimenting in preparation for the annual school Science Fair, which is held each year during Catholic Schools Week in the school hall and this year from 7 to 8 p.m. Jan. 29. Students select topics to be explored and work independently. Projects will be judged by faculty from the Science Department at Archbishop Ryan High School. This year’s topics include water bending, rock salt alternatives, chromatography and electromagnets.

Pope John Paul II High School will hold its annual Catholic Schools Week “Student Talent Show” Friday, Jan. 30 at the school in Royersford. It will showcase various talents including bands, dance groups, solo dancers, monologues, vocalists, singer-songwriters and martial arts demonstrations. International students currently taking classes at Pope John Paul II High School will also participate in the talent show. Faculty judges and student audience participation will help to determine the best acts.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Doylestown will hold a Dance-a-Thon for grades five to eight on Friday, Jan. 30 from 12:45 to 3 p.m. The event was organized by Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s eighth grade students as part of their confirmation service project. All funds raised from the dance will benefit Our Lady of Confidence School in Willow Grove, a school of special education in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for students with intellectual disabilities or developmental delays, ages 3 to 21.