The St. Columba Shepherd - 1/5/24

READ THE SHEPHERD

FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 2024

The

ST. COLUMBA SHEPHERD GUIDANCE FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

EACH WEEK THE ST. COLUMBA SHEPHERD provides all the information you need to know and links to things that you might need to cross off your list. Stay organized by reading it every week and making sure that you add events and deadlines to your calendar!

LET'S DO IT!

DATES TO REMEMBER 1/10 - School Mass - 7th Grade Leading Liturgy - 8:15 1/12 - No School Pre-8th - End of 2nd Qtr/Teacher Professional Development 1/15 - No School - Martin Luther King Jr Day 1/17 - School Mass - 1st Grade Leading Liturgy - 8:15 1/19 - Middle School Dance - 6:30 1/24 - School Mass - 4th Grade Leading Liturgy - 8:15 1/27-2/3 - Catholic Schools Week 1/29 - School Mass - 2nd Grade Leading Liturgy - 8:15 (Mass on Monday this week) 1/30 - Talent Show - 1:00 1/31 - St. Columba School Day of Giving 2/1 - Prayer & Praise Assembly / 2nd Quarter Honor Roll - 8:15 2/1 - 6-8 Adoration 2/3 - CSW Mass & Carnival - 5:00 2/7 - School Mass - 8th Grade Leading Liturgy - 8:15 2/13 - Burning of the Palms - 10:00 2/14 - School Mass - 5th Grade Leading Liturgy - 8:15 Ash Wednesday 2/19 - No School - Presidents Day

WWW.STCOLUMBASCHOOLDURANGO.ORG/

970-247-5527

End of 2nd Quarter It’s hard to believe that there is only one week left in the quarter. Please check Blackbaud for any grade concerns. Remember that there is no school for Preschool-8th Grade on Friday, January 12th, as faculty will be working on grades and comments as well as having professional development. .

WINTER WEATHER & SCHOOL CLOSURE In the event of significant snowfall or other winter weather, please remember that we will be following Durango 9R school closures.

As you all are probably aware, listening to local radio in the morning after a snowstorm can be the best way to learn of local school closures. However, here are specific guidelines for St. Columba School closure: If Durango 9R schools are CLOSED for the day, St Columba School will be CLOSED. If Durango 9R schools are DELAYED until a specified time of day, St. Columba School will be OPEN at the regular start time.

Also, please remember to check your email and our website. In the event that St. Columba School is closed for any reason, you will receive an email to inform you of the school closure. The message will also include any details and further instructions you may need for upcoming school days. You will also receive a notification from the St. Columba School app if you have those enabled on your devices.

Please remember, we will be getting our information from 9R as well, so you will receive closure information as promptly as possible.

SAVE THE DATE: ST. COLUMBA DAY OF GIVING, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2024 Our Annual Day of Giving is a historic day of collective generosity for our community. This special 24-hour online event will be an opportunity for parents, alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends of St. Columba to come together to make a powerful impact on the 287 students growing and learning at our school each day. Gifts given during this 24-hour appeal will be put to immediate use to support a myriad of needs. Your donation dollars will go directly toward compensation and professional development for our faculty, bolstering classroom equipment, updating technology, and maintaining infrastructure. Funds impact students directly by providing supplies and books, tuition assistance, extracurricular activities, and ensuring our school maintains academic excellence by enhancing programs like visual and performing arts, STEM, Spanish, and a self-awareness and social emotional intelligence curriculum.

We have set a goal of raising $250,000. We need your help and hope you will join our mission in raising funds for this year's Day of Giving . We continue to be humbled by your generosity and the success of St. Columba's Day of Giving 2023, during which over 500 supportive donors came together to raise over $245,000. This is a true testament to you, our wonderful community members, and your commitment to our mission.

Let's join together and support everything we love about St. Columba on January 31st!

TALENT SHOW We've got talent, yes we do! We've got talent, how about you? We know our school is FULL of talent and we would love for you to share it with us! The talent show will be Tuesday, January 30th at 1:00. Tryouts will be held after school on Monday, January 8 and Wednesday, January 10. The deadline to sign up has been extended. You can find the sign up form here, please return this form

by Monday, January 8. Email Mrs. Bowman at kbowman@stcolumbaschooldurang o.org with any questions.

VOA Gently Used Donation Drive!

For our Catholic Schools Week service project, the fifth grade is hosting a gently used items donation drive. Items can be dropped off outside the front office anytime before Friday, January 26. Your donations will help our local Durango VOA. Contact Mrs. Bowman with questions. kbowman@stcolumbaschooldurango.org Gently used: gloves, backpacks, tents, sleeping pads, yoga mats, sleeping bags, reusable water bottles, blankets, winter hats, coats, clothes: MENS ONLY No women’s or children’s clothes please.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK (CSW) JANUARY 28-FEBRUARY 3 Since 1974, National Catholic Schools Week is the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States. We celebrate CSW with Mass and activities throughout the week including themed dress-up days and a talent show! Students, families, parishioners, and community members attend these events.

The focus throughout these events is always on the value Catholic education provides our students and its contributions to our church, our communities and our nation. More details to come.

Elementary After School STEAM on Tuesdays!

Join our After School Winter LEGO League STEAM Enrichment offering for students grades 1-3. More details and sign-up info coming next week.

History Day Judges Needed!

This year, there is no Regional Science Fair, so all of our middle school students are participating in History Day. This will require a large team of judges. While there are quite a few people in engineering or the medical fields, there are very few who would list their career as historians. However, anyone who has done a research paper can judge a History Day project. There are well defined criteria that make it pretty straight forward.

Would you consider helping out with this event? It will be on Friday, February 23, from 8:00 until about noon. If you are able to assist, please let the office know.

THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS

HTTPS://WWW.STCOLUMBASCHOOLDURANGO.ORG/ OFFICE@STCOLUMBASCHOOLDURANGO.ORG ATTENDANCE LINE: 970-828-9356 SCHOOL OFFICE: 970-247-5527

Enjoy the weekend!