On Monday, May 21, Valley Catholic sixth-graders visited the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. This research facility features a Visitor Center with hands-on exhibits. Students were invited to touch a sea star and a flat fish, watch an octopus named Pearl, and learn about topics ranging from sea otters to tsunamis. Some of the students also took a class from center staff about plankton. They collected plankton samples and looked at them in the center’s lab.

The rain and wind did not dampen the enthusiasm of the students and parent chaperones as they discovered new things about a familiar environment.

The 2012 track and field seniors celebrate an excellent season. Back row, from left: Connor Garcia, Aidan McLeod, Dylan LeMay, AJ Bernards, Anthony Alfieri, Stephen Pierce, Jr., and Danny Hernandez. Front row: Jasmine Bush, Catherine Lo, Maddie Bernard, Rachel Feldhaus. Not pictured: Andy Holstrom. Photo by Catherine Lo.

Submitted by Track and Field Coach Tommy Manning

The Valiant boys’ and girls’ track and field teams returned home from Western Oregon University with some unexpected hardware.

The girls’ team captured a fourth place trophy thanks to some unexpected finishes throughout the course of Saturday’s events. The boys’ team, whose sole representative last year was (then junior) Andy Holstrom, brought seven other competitors to the meet this year and clinched its first state trophy in school history with a fourth place finish.

The Valiant boys’ team had some early momentum on Friday thanks in part to senior Reachana Chan’s jump of 12 feet in the pole vault. His jump tied his previous best and placed him third in state for pole vault. The 3,000 meters was an exciting one for Valiant fans. Seniors Andy Holstrom and Connor Garcia, along with sophomore Cooper Roach, were part of an early slow pace that soon gave way to a fast last 600 meters. Roach’s blazing 28-second last 200 placed him second, clocking 9:07. He finished alongside Holstrom who also ran 9:07 for 3rd. Garcia was sixth in 9:13. On Friday in the prelims of the the boys 4 x 400 relay, Aidan McLeod (senior), Cooper Roach, Andy Holstrom, and Josh Cole (sophomore) broke their own school record set last week, running 3:30.85 and easily advancing to the finals. Just before that, the girls 4×400 of Meg Rapp (junior), Addie Flemmer (sophomore), Maddie Bernard (senior), and Makenzee Cleveland (sophomore) surprised the skeptics by running 15 seconds faster than their district time, advancing the VC team into the finals. That same day in the finals of the long jump, Maddie Bernard popped a 15’ 9.5” in the long jump earning her sixthth place and scoring the team three points.

Saturday was perhaps the best day in Valley Catholic track & field history. Returning all participants to finals, the girls 4 x 100 of Claire McLoughlin (junior), Maddie Bernard, Mikaela Bernards (sophomore), and Makenzee Cleveland got things off to a strong start with a third-place showing, finishing within a second of league-rival Catlin Gabel and Santiam Christian. Mikaela would return to the track soon after for the 100 meters finals. Her improved start in the 100 finals placed her third in the state for that event. Makenzee Cleveland was back on the track for the 400 meter finals. In a dramatic finish, Cleveland was out-leaned for second place. Her time of 59.8 was one of only three sub-60 performances in the state this season. Rachel Feldhaus (senior) would also jump 7’ 6” in the pole vault for ninth. In the 100 hurdles, Maddie Bernard ran an almost flawless race, placing her in an unexpected third in 16.82. In her third event of the day, the 800 meters, Cleveland drafted off state leader Sarah Bennion of St. Mary’s Medford for the duration of the race. Cleveland’s 2:22 was the second fastest time run in the state this year and good enough for her second 2nd-place finish of the day.

In the girls’ team scoring, the Valiants’ 4 x 400 relay team needed to beat one team in the finals to secure a fourth-place trophy. Sure enough, Rapp, Flemmer, Bernards and Cleveland accepted the challenge, and sure enough, Cleveland passed Vale down the final stretch for seventh, enough to clinch fourth place. Their time of 4:17 was a two-second improvement from Friday’s time.

The Valiant boys’ team started the day with Andy Holstrom, Cooper Roach and Connor Garcia back in the 1500 meter finals. In a more strung-out race than the 3,000, Holstrom was the first Valiant across the finish line in 4:09, placing sixth. Roach was seventh in 4:14 and Garcia rounded out the scoring in eighth in 4:15. In the 400 meter finals, Josh Cole found himself in what would be one of the fastest 400 meter finals in state history. Cole’s time of 51.2 was just two tenths off his personal best, but good enough for fifth place in the 400 finals. Senior Dylan LeMay proved to be the dark horse of the meet. After sneaking into the state meet with a time-qualifier in the 110 hurdles, LeMay advanced to the finals on Friday. Like Maddie Bernard only 20 minutes earlier, LeMay ran perhaps a flawless race. His time of 16.03 was a lifetime best for the senior who would finish seventh and score two points for the team. LeMay’s hot streak would continue in the triple jump. Entering the state meet with the 22nd best mark for 3A, LeMay would leap 40’ 5”. That mark would be his personal best and earn him a podium appearance with eighth place. In the 800 meter finals, Anthony Alfieri (senior), another dark horse, ran perhaps the gutsiest race of any Valiant that day. Alfieri emerged from a bunched pack in an early lead. He pushed the pace, passing the 400 in 56 seconds. Alfieri’s time of 2:06 was his second fastest on record and would place him 9th overall.

In the team trophy hunt, the boys would find themselves in a similar situation as the girls. The boys, sitting in fourth place, would need to protect their score by running a strong 4 x 400 against Pleasant Hill in 5th place. In a dramatic final showing, Aiden McLeod (senior), Roach, Holstrom, and Cole placed fourth in a time of 3:32. The Valiant boys would tie Pleasant Hill for fourth-place team honors. The 41 points scored by the Valiant boys is the most scored by any VC boys’ team in history.

Congratulations to both teams on a great season. A special appreciation to our departing seniors who will be truly missed.

As many of you may have heard, today is a very special day at Valley Catholic as we welcome two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Mariel Zagunis ‘03 back to our campus. Mariel attended school on this campus for more than 12 years, graduating from the High School in 2003.

The all-school assembly that we have scheduled for 1:15 today in the Valiants’ Gym is significant for many reasons. First, it is always wonderful to welcome back to campus an alumna who has achieved such a high level of success. In addition, the event will serve as a great opportunity for our campus to come together and shower Mariel with support as she prepares to compete in this summer’s Olympic Games in London. Finally, as our school year nears its completion, it is always great to get all of our students together as a community, and this event provides that opportunity in a festive way.

For the past several weeks, many people on campus have been working together to make this event a success. I hope that many of our parents are able to join students from all across our campus at today’s assembly. The event will include music, cheers, a fencing demonstration, and a healthy dose of patriotism on display. High School Dean of Students Dale French has been honing his fencing skills in preparation for an exhibition with Mariel.

I am looking forward to meeting Mariel in person for the first time today. I have communicated with her on several occasions over the past two years. In helping put this event together, I have had the chance to ask many of our current teachers to describe Mariel from her days at Valley Catholic. They all recall her as a wonderful student who excelled in and out of the classroom in all areas. To learn more about Mariel and her quest for a third gold medal, please visit our special webpage supporting her valiant efforts.

As a teacher at Valley Catholic High School in the early 1990s, I had the opportunity to work with many students who are now making Valley Catholic proud in the greater community. Getting a chance to communicate, meet, and interact with our alumni is one of the best parts of my job. I enjoy letting our former students know about all the wonderful things happening on this campus and telling them about the exciting changes that have taken place since they graduated. On a few occasions this year, I have attended alumni events and I’m always pleased to find so many of our alumni interested in coming back to our campus and keeping in touch.

Our Foundation will host an alumni weekend this fall (Sept. 14-16) that will include a golf tournament, a home VC football game and barbeque, and an alumni Mass. This will be a great chance for many of our alums to come back and re-connect with the Valley Catholic community and campus. I encourage all of our alums to mark this weekend on their calendars and come out for some or all of the events as we look to continue to grow the connection we have with our Valley Catholic alumni.

In keeping with the patriotic theme, I want to take a moment to ask all of you to spend some time over this holiday weekend reflecting on the sacrifices made by the men and women who have sworn to protect and serve our country as we celebrate Memorial Day on Monday.

Enjoy the three-day weekend and thank you for your continued support.

Respectfully,

Bob Weber
President
Valley Catholic School

Seniors (from left) Senior Tait, Ben Stager, Andy Holstrom and Stephen Pierce, Jr. now have their names etched into the fine arts plaques in the high school lobby.

Compiled by Communications Specialist Danielle Tomich

As is the tradition at the high school’s fine arts awards, seniors were honored, special awards were given, and the fine arts instructors made remarks about their remarkable students. In addition, Drama Director Ginnie Sutfin made the announcement that was highly anticipated by the theater set: next year’s performance selections.  The fall production will be “Romeo, You Idiot,” a spoof on Romeo and Juliet, and spring musical will be “Bye Bye Birdie,” the Broadway sensation of the 1960s.

Below are the specific awards listed by program, with all seniors listed at the end, by program.  Congratulations to all the fine arts students who have poured their hearts and souls into every performance and made Valley proud.

Band Awards (Presented by Dan Schauffler, Band Director)

Freshmen
Kevin Alexander– Lettering in Pep Band. Letter & Music Patch
Nare Trobough – Lettering in Pep Band. Letter & Music Patch

Sophomores
Megan Co – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar.
Allyza Concepcion – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar.
Eli Gavett – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar
Sean Hilken – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar
Philip Lam – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar.
John Magenheimer – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar.
Esai Morales – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar
Elena Ramirez – Lettering in Pep Ban. Bar.
Gabe Schafman – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar.
Matthew Wanner – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar

Juniors
Matt Lawyer – 3 yr Band Pin
Yuening Li – Lettering in Pep Band. Letter & Music Patch
Andrew Linnemann – 3 yr Band Pin. Lettering in Pep Band. Letter and Music Patch
David Rogers – 3 yr Band Pin. Lettering in Pep Band. Bar.
Jay Saha – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar
Philip Seger – 3 yr Band Pin. Lettering in Pep Band. Bar

Seniors
Reachana Chan – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar. 4 yr. Band Pin with guard
Danika Douglas – 4 yr Band Pin with guard.
Andy Holstrom – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar. 4 Yr. Band Pin with guard
Ben Stager – Lettering in Pep Band. Bar.

Special Mention HS Librarian
Willis O’Leary

Most Improved
Eli Gavett
David Rogers

International Music Emissary Award
Philip Lam (Representing VC in Japan)

Performance Plaques (Band)
Danika Douglas
Andy Holstrom
Ben Stager

Performance Plaques (Jazz Band)
Andy Holstrom
Ben Stager

Senior Lanyards
Reachana Chan
Danika Douglas
Andy Holstrom
Mary Margaret Kelly
Ben Stager

Choir Awards (Presented by Fine Arts Chair and Choir Director Sr. M. Juliana Monti, SSMO)

Freshmen
Abe Betterman – Most improved male voice

Sophomores
Clara Kiss – Lettering in Women’s Ensemble; Handbells. Bar.
Annabelle Larson – Lettering in Women’s Ensemble. Bar.
Annabelle Larson – Most Improved Female Voice.
Alex Sundermeier – Letter in Kingsmen. Bar.
John Tran – Letter in Kingsmen. Bar.

Juniors
Julia Anderson – 3 yr Pin.
Ria DeLa Rosa – 3 yr Pin. Lettering in Handbells. Bar
Kimi Howell – 3 yr Pin.
Waileia Larson – 3 yr Pin
Estefania Morales – 3 yr Pin. Lettering in Women’s Ensemble. Bar.
Alexandra Wilson – 3 yr Pin.

Seniors
Genie Genetiano – 4 yr. Pin with guard
Mary Margaret Kelly – 3 yr Pin
Catherine Lo – 4 yr Pin with guard
Evan Tait – 4 yr Pin with guard. Lettering in Kingsmen. Bar.
Madeleine Tomich – 4 yr Pin with guard.

Senior Lanyards
Genie Genetiano
Mary Margaret Kelly
Arthur Kim
Meerae Lee
Monica Vinson
Kelsey Keeler
Sarah Heally
Catherine Lo
Evan Tait
Madeleine Tomich

Plaque:
Evan Tait

Drama Awards (Presented by Drama Director and Teacher Ginnie Sutfin)

Freshmen
Connell Morantte – Lettering in Drama. Letter & Drama Patch.
Katy Motta – Lettering in Drama. Letter & Drama Patch
Ravi Nayyar – Lettering in Drama. Letter & Drama Patch

Sophomores
Josh Curfman – Lettering in Drama. Letter & Drama Patch
Michael Dombrowski – Lettering in Drama. Bar
Angela Dunham – Lettering in Drama. Letter & Drama Patch.
Eli Gavett – Lettering in Drama. Letter & Drama Patch
Anika Holstrom – Lettering in Drama. Drama Patch
Anna Hornal – Lettering in Drama. Letter & Drama Patch
Clara Kiss – Lettering in Drama. Bar
Annabelle Larson – Lettering in Drama. Bar.
Grace Mannen – Lettering in Drama. Bar.
Ceilidh McCallum – Lettering in Drama. Bar
Collin Pierce – Lettering in Drama. Bar.
Elena Ramirez – Lettering in Drama. Bar.
Hannah Wilson – Lettering in Drama. Bar.

Juniors
Ria DelaRosa – Lettering in Drama. Bar
Helen Purdy – Lettering in Drama. Letter & Drama Patch
Elizabeth Woodruff – Lettering in Drama. Bar

Seniors
Anna Corazza – Lettering in Drama. Bar
Mary Margaret Kelly – Lettering in Drama. Bar.
Katherine Kraemer – Lettering in Drama. Bar.
Stephen Pierce Jr.– Lettering in Drama. Bar.
Lavanya Sridharan – Lettering in Drama. Bar.
Evan Tait – Lettering in Drama. Bar.
Madeleine Tomich – Lettering in Drama. Letter & Drama Patch.
Monica Vinson – Lettering in Drama. Bar
Shawna Vrvilo – Lettering in Drama. Bar.
Evan Tait – 4 yr Pin w/guard

Senior Lanyards
Erin Coffman
Anna Corazza
Mollie Henkelman
Andy Holstrom
Mary Margaret Kelly
Katherine Kraemer
Meerae Lee
Stephen Pierce Jr.
JP Rivera
Jason Sage
Lavanya Sridharan
Evan Tait
Madeleine Tomich
Monica Vinson
Shawna Vrvilo

Plaques:
Stephan Pierce Jr. & Evan Tait

Orchestra Awards (Presented by Orchestra Director and Teacher Travis Hatton)

Freshmen
Richard Yates – Lettering in String Ensemble. Letter & Music Patch

Sophomores
Kelli Hoang – Lettering in String Ensemble. Letter & Music Patch
Anna Hornal – Lettering in String Ensemble. Music Patch & Bar. (Letter in Drama)

Juniors
Julia Anderson – 3 yr Pin
Josephine Chau – 3 yr Pin
Sophia Chau – 3 yr Pin
Fernando Mengis – 3 yr pin
David Rogers – 3 yr Pin
Jordan Runstein – Lettering in String Ensemble. Bar. 3 yr Pin.
Elizabeth Woodruff – 3 yr Pin.

Seniors
Mary Margaret Kelly – 4 yr Pin with guard.
Stephen Pierce Jr .– 4 yr. Pin with guard.
Ben Stager – Lettering in String Ensemble-Bar. 4 yr Pin with guard.

OMEA – David Rogers - 3rd Place in Bassoon

OSAA State Participation – David Rogers

Senior Lanyards
Callum Hamilton
Mary Margaret Kelly
Stephen Pierce Jr.
Ben Stager

Fine Arts Seniors

Orchestra
Callum Hamilton
Mary Margaret Kelly
Stephen Pierce Jr.
Ben Stager

Drama
Erin Coffman
Anna Corazza
Mollie Henkelman
Andy Holstrom
Mary Margaret Kelly
Katherine Kraemer
Meerae Lee
Stephen Pierce Jr.
JP Rivera
Jason Sage
Lavanya Sridharan
Evan Tait
Madeleine Tomich
Monica Vinson
Shawna Vrvilo

Band
Reachana Chan
Danika Douglas
Andy Holstrom
Mary Margaret Kelly
Ben Stager

Choir
Genie Genetiano
Mary Margaret Kelly
Arthur Kim
Meerae Lee
Monica Vinson
Kelsey Keeler
Sarah Healy
Catherine Lo
Evan Tait
Madeleine Tomich

Art (Presented by Art and English Teacher Marty Karlin)

Anthony Alfieri
A.J. Bernards
Carlos Catibayan
Leo Chien
Autumn Davis
Katrina Espey
Garrett Fabris
Bryan Gardner
Tori Kemper
Leah Klaas
Nicole Kopka
Katherine Kraemer
Dylan Lemay
Aryana Motahari
Jackson Neff
Jake Olsen
Audrey Osswald
Connor Picken
Maddi Schumacher
Anna Corazza

Flanked by their leaders Jessica Senecal (left) and Julie Frankovic, the Bronze Award recipients are (left to right): Lauren Senecal, Caitlynn Kokos, Kate MacNaughton, Hannah Frankovic, Marie Agostinelli, and Hannah Park. Not picutred: Kate Harvey and Sarah Jones.

Submitted by VCS Parent and GS Leader Jessica Senecal

This past week, eight of the Valley Catholic fifth-grade Junior Girl Scouts were awarded the Bronze Award, the highest award that a Junior Girl Scout can earn.

Earning this award took them two years. In the first year they had to focus and learn about energy, conservation and green building. This went hand-in-hand with our new Elementary & Middle School building. They were able to meet with the builders, get a sneak peek of the building and its use of the green technology they had learned about and were able to perform an energy audit on the building.

The second year of their work involved a service project of the girls’ choosing. In one of their meetings to choose a project, one of the girls said, “Why don’t we serve like the Sisters do?” The sentiment took hold, and soon they had a plan to serve in the Sisters of St Mary of Oregon Ministries. They each served a minimum of 20 hours in an assortment of ministries:

• Helped deliver school supplies and set up classrooms before the first day of school in the new building last September;
• Removed all the ground cover in front of VCELS (on a hot afternoon in August);
• Planned and ran the canned soup drive that coincided with the Soup’s On Event and collected nearly 1,000 cans of soup for the Oregon Food Bank;
• Visited Maryville on many Sunday afternoons and helped with bingo;
• Had a work day helping prepare the garden at Camp Howard;
• Learned to knit and made several lap blankets for the residents of Maryville

Their troop leaders, Julie Frankovic and Jessica Senecal, are very proud of their efforts and how they took this opportunity to work together and serve.

Congratulations to Bronze Award recipients Lauren Senecal, Hannah Frankovic, Marie Agostinelli, Sarah Jones, Caitlynn Kokos, Kate Harvey, Kate MacNaughton, and Hannah Park.

Nathaniel Trobough (freshman) gets his award for placing second in the state in geometry. The other VCS winner, not pictured, was Ryan Ma (junior), who placed third in the Open I division.

Submitted by VCHS Math Teacher Kipp Johnson

The Oregon Invitational Mathematics Tournament was held on Saturday in Eugene. We took 11 students, and won two of the twelve top awards.  www.oimt.uoregon.edu

There are two ways to get an opportunity to compete at the Oregon Invitational Mathematics Tournament—either receive a high score at the regional
qualifying competitions (ours was at PCC about a month ago), or on the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) test given in February.  The AMC test is a national test.

There were about 200 students at the OIMT last Saturday, May 19, and they all took difficult two-and-a-half hour exams in geometry, algebra two, Open I (essentially pre-calculus level), or Open II (calculus and above).  Interestingly, the Open II exam for calculus students contained no calculus questions.  All four exams stressed creative problem solving, not just algorithmic approaches to problems.

Three awards were given at each of the four levels.  Valley Catholic was the only high school in the state with more than a single winner out of those 12 students.  (Two middle schools, however, Stoller and Meadow Park, both Summa schools, had multiple winners.)

The VCS OIMT team with their coach, Kipp Johnson. From left to right: Nathaniel Trobough, Kathleen Shew, Megan Co, Ryan Ma, Andrew Linnemann, Wilfrid Gao, Craig Fan, Jihoon Lee, and Tommy Liang. Not pictured: Lethe Li and Fanyi Kong

Kelly Alfieri, CYO’s Outstanding Athletic Director Award winner

—Compiled by Communications Specialist Danielle Tomich

Kelly Alfieri, Valley Catholic School’s CYO Athletic Director, was recently named Outstanding Athletic Director of the year by the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) for her service and outstanding contributions. Alfieri was chosen from athletic directors at over 40 other schools.

Each spring CYO holds an appreciation dinner—the Spirit of CYO Awards—at the University of Portland to honor and award people who are involved with the organization.

This is not the first time a CYO Athletic Director from Valley Catholic has received this award. Two previous VCS employees have also won the award: Herb Lommen in 2000 and Jim Hanson in 2006. Lommen still works for Valley Catholic School, now the physical education and health department chair for the high school and a teacher at the middle school. Kelly gives Lommen credit for her award; “He’s been my mentor,” she says.

About Alfieri, Valley Catholic High School Principal Ross Thomas remarked, “Kelly has organized and supervised and overall done the lion’s share of the work for I can’t tell you how many dozen long days for what must be thousands of CYO kids here this year.”

The following speech was given by Jolie Phanton, Director of Communications for CYO Camp Howard, on the evening of the awards:

Along with being an outstanding athletic director, Kelly Alfieri has a distinguished athletic career of her own. She was a 3-sport varsity athlete at Hillsboro High School, earning four letters in cross country and track and two in basketball. She was an All-State athlete in track and still holds records for the 400 and 300 m hurdles. At her high school graduation she was named athlete of the year and scholar athlete. She earned an athletic scholarship to OSU for track and qualified for the Pac-l0 Championships.

She has been a member of Valley Catholic since 1997 when her first of 6 children began attending school there. At school she was on the PTC, co-chaired the auction classroom projects for three years and devoted most of her efforts founding and then chairing the very successful jog-a-thon for nine years.

Kelly Alfieri took over as CYO athletic director for Valley Catholic in November of 2008 during the middle of basketball registration. She did an amazing job at jumping in and organizing one of the biggest sports of the season and building the program from there.

In July of 2011, she was asked to also take on the position of Valley Catholic High School’s Assistant Athletic Director. For CYO, not only has she been Valley’s AD, she’s also coached track, is currently on the CYO Track Commission and has helped out at our summer basketball camps. Kelly is so detail oriented, organized, friendly and works so hard. She’s at the gym every weekend from open till close, including evenings during the Championships.

Her peers have said this about her:

• “She is honest and has integrity and so much energy. She is always on the go and hasn’t slowed down since her high school running days.”
• “She would volunteer all the time if she could.”
• “Her apparent love for the children shines through in everything she does.”
• “She would do anything she could to help out.”

Kelly is a joy to work with and I am very honored to present her with the Spirit of CYO Outstanding AD of the year award for 2012.

Congratulations to Kelly from the students and staff at Valley Catholic for this well-deserved award!

At the VALOR meeting on April 24, our new chairs for the 2012-2013 school year were announced. Please thank VCES parents Laura Schultz and Jessica Senecal for stepping forward to lead VALOR. They replace Christine Elmgren and Meg Bishop who have done a great job leading the group in their time at the helm. Tony Nosack will continue as secretary, and Laura Kuhner will keep her role as treasurer. In the next couple months, they’ll be looking to find parent help to support the VALOR projects for the coming school year.

Speaking of help, we would love to have your support throughout the 2012-2013 school year! We’re looking for any and all parents who are interested in helping serve our school through the VCES VALOR Network (formerly the PTC) and support its volunteer and community-building programs.

We’re searching for 12 parents (two from each grade) to step up to serve as grade-level representatives. You’re probably wondering what a grade level representative is responsible for. The grade-level representative will attend monthly VCES VALOR Network meetings and team with another representative to help support and coordinate one of the following six areas:

• Religion & Outreach
• Parent/Child Events
• Volunteers
• School Events & School Support
• Art Literary & Parent Volunteer Room Coordination
• Parent & Family Socials

The grade-level representatives are supported by the VCES VALOR Network officers, including the president or co-presidents, treasurer, and secretary, as well as the school principal.

If you may be interested in serving our school community as a grade-level representative or want more information, please email one or both of the current co-chairs: Christine Elmgren and/or Meg Bishop.

Thanks, as always, for your support!

The VCES VALOR Network

Seniors John Boileau and Mary Margaret Kelly, both in Erin Cole’s Enviornmental Science Class, were two of the presenters at the SOLVE Green Team Summit.

Submitted by VCHS Science Teacher Erin Cole

The second annual SOLVE Green Team Student Summit was held at Valley Catholic High School Wednesday, May 23 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Green Teams do restoration work and service learning activities on a nearby natural area to help improve the local environment and explore science topics. At the Summit, schools who have worked with SOLVE in Washington County this year, including Valley Catholic, Deer Park Academy, Forest Grove HS, Glencoe HS, Rachel Carson MS, and Mountain View MS gave presentations about an environmental topic they worked on this year with SOLVE.

Valley’s senior Environmental Science class presented on Carbon Sequestration in Campus Conifers, which summarizes the capacity of these trees to use and store carbon dioxide from the air in their trunks and leaves. This ties into our class study about energy and climate change, as well as into our work with SOLVE because of our efforts in planting conifers in the forest area on campus this year.  The presenters in our class were Mary Margaret Kelly and John Boileau.

For further reading on the SOLVE Green Team Summit, see the story on the SOLVE website.

Students from VCS participated in cultural presentations, for which they wore traditional costumes.

Submitted by VCS Parent and International Festival Chairperson Analizza Lambino

The Second Annual International Festival, a new VCS tradition, continued this year with about 25 percent more attendees than last year. Last Saturday, May 19, approximately 350 people gathered to celebrate our school’s cultural diversity.

With participants from the Elementary, Middle, and High schools and well as the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon, the festival was indeed a campus-wide community-building event! Those who attended also came from a variety of campus entities, including many Sisters as well as administrators.

The multicultural prayer service was touching, with prayers of celebration and praise given in a variety of languages by participants.

We more than doubled the amount of tabletop presentations from last year. Countries or cultures represented included: China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos/Thailand/Dominican Republic, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Slovakia, Thailand and Vietnam. The Sisters also hosted a table called “Culture of Religious Life.”

Students had a lot of fun going around the tabletop presentations with their “Passports to the World,” which awarded them cool prizes including bandanas.

Cultural presentations from India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Philippines, and United States were very entertaining and the reports on France/India/Italy/Scotland by Sr. Denise Klaas’ Middle School Music Appreciation Class were very informative.

Our emcees, seniors Nick Konen & Greg Ong, made the event lively, and even did a dance performance!

The potluck was again a big hit, with delicious cuisines from various cultures.

Thanks to all who came out to enjoy the event! To all the participating communities, chairs/leads, and all volunteers, thank you for supporting the event and for sharing your cultural heritage with extreme generosity and passion. We look forward to your continued support.

To the Sisters and our school administrators, thank you for giving us the opportunity to put on the International Festival. We will continue to work on areas for improvement to make this a fun and sustainable community-building event.

Thanks to Madeleine Tomich ’12 for the photos!

Submitted by VCHS Dean of Students Dale French

As the end of the school year rapidly approaches, so does what I consider one of the best trips of the year—the Sophomore Raft Trip. This year’s trip will take place on Thursday and Friday, June 14-15, 2012. It is a great way for the students of the Class of 2014 to celebrate the completion of half their high school careers here at VC. Each year 80-85 students and 10-12 faculty and coaches take part in this fantastic experience that involves two days of whitewater rafting on the Deschutes river, sleeping under the stars and sharing many meals together.

You will find detailed information and necessary forms with the below links. By clicking “summary,” you will find a trip overview and the do’s and don’ts of packing. The other three documents are to be printed and signed by both you and your student; the last one, “Delegation of Duty” allows us to seek medical attention for your student should anything happen during the trip and must be notarized.

Summary
Standards-of-Conduct
RiverDrifters Release
Delegation of Duty (must be notarized)

I will be hosting an informative evening about the raft trip on May 29 at 7 p.m. in the VCHS library. I will go into more detail about the trip, such as where we stay, the sleeping arrangements, and the companies we do business with during the trip. I will show videos of some of the rapids and answer any specific questions you have about the upcoming adventure.

Please RSVP by emailing me as soon as you know if your student will or will not be attending the trip. We ask that all the forms be turned into the VCHS main office by Friday, June 1. This will allow all the proper arrangements to be made.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about the raft trip.

Thank you.

Dale French
Dean of Students
Valley Catholic High School
503-520-4702

We’ve had great interest in this year’s reformatted Variety Show. This year, students in Grades 3-5 will have the opportunity to entertain the school with their unique talents at this special event in the High School auditorium.

Auditions will take place on Thursday, May 31, and Friday, June 1 after school until approximately 4:30 in the school’s cafeteria.

For more information on this event, please see the following:
Variety Show Poster & Entry Form
Variety Show Overview & Guidelines

We look forward to seeing the great God-given talents that our students possess!

If you haven’t yet fulfilled your service hour commitment or logged your hours, please take advantage of the take advantage of the next couple weeks to complete this important task. To see the opportunity list, register for volunteering, or track your hours, please visit the volunteer site here.

We will need all service hours completed by and logged into the online website by Friday, June 8.

For more information on service hours, here is the following from page 38 in the Parent/Student Handbook:

Each family is expected to provide up to 30 service hours each year. Single parents commit to 15 hours. Parents help us keep operating costs down by performing volunteer tasks. Hiring additional personnel directly affects the cost of tuition. In that regard, we consider service hours to be part of our tuition structure. Volunteering also gives parents an opportunity to become actively involved and feel more a part of our school community. It’s a great way to get acquainted with other families!

Since service hours are part of our tuition structure, these hours must be served working in direct support of Valley Catholic Elementary School. They cannot be accumulated by coaching athletic teams outside of our own school community, or leading or assisting with a broader community-based Girl or Boy Scout troop, 4H club, or the like. However, an exception is allowed if the teams, troops, or clubs are primarily comprised of current Valley Catholic Elementary School students. They usually are not given for attending school events or meetings, like ―”Curriculum Night,” evening music programs, or parent/teacher conferences. They are not given for volunteering in your own church or other charitable,
non-profit service organizations or events. Also, donated goods cannot count toward service hours. However, service hours will be given for volunteering to help with our own school community’s extra-curricular activities, fundraising and social events, the auction, classroom activities, the elementary school VALOR Network Executive Council and various VALOR Network committees, lunchroom or playground supervision, room parents, field day, field trips, or wherever an unanticipated need for volunteer help might arise during the year. A link to a listing of volunteer opportunities is located online in the Elementary School’s Parent Guide. We also have an agreement with the middle school to allow you to earn volunteer service hour credit for assisting with their speech tournament, science fair, CYO athletic teams, and the Beaverton Celebration Parade. However, at this time, these are the only campus events outside the elementary school that may count for service hours.

Service hours in excess of the 15 or 30 expected of each family each year may not be carried over to the next year. However, check with your employer to see if they have a volunteer grant program. Many companies give grants to schools where their employees volunteer. Often there is no limit to the number of volunteer hours employees may perform.

The VCES branch of the VALOR Network coordinates and keeps an accounting of all volunteer service hours. Once you have established an account on the VCS Volunteer Website, you can log your time and request approval of your volunteer hours. The link to the site is found in the Elementary School’s Parent Guide available from the Elementary School’s main page.

Please understand that service hours are part of the elementary school’s tuition structure. If the hours are not served, or if a family does not make the initial decision to pay a $500 fee in lieu of performing service hours, unserved hours will be billed at a rate of $17 per hour at the end of the school year. Also be aware that if this bill is not paid, admission for the coming school year may be denied.

Do you remember when your family first came to Valley Catholic?  You were new, maybe felt uncomfortable, didn’t know anyone, didn’t know who to ask about uniforms or parking. I remember, and I also remember the first time someone asked if they could help me!  I was so relieved!  It made things so much easier for me and my family. Well, we would like to make it easy for the newest members of our school community too.

We are looking for ES families that would be interested in being a “Mentor Family”.  Your job (should you choose to accept this mission…) is to simply be available for and welcome new families.  I’m sure they would appreciate our community reaching out to them and offering assistance.

For more information, please contact the VCES VALOR Network with your name, current email address, and phone number.  As we get the names of the new families, we will match you up with a family whose children are closest in age to your children.  That’s it!  Then you will contact them, offer assistance, answer questions, etc.  If you do not know an answer, just contact us and we can get you the right answer!

This is a great opportunity to meet and make new friends! Contact us at diggie@frontier.com or jmsenecal@mac.com.

As I’ve made my way to a variety of different events in the past week, many conversations with different families have reached the same conclusion—May is a very busy month. I would have to agree with what I’m hearing from all of you, and life within the school is no exception. It seems that at the end of every year in a school there is some staffing news, but this year, we seem to have quite a bit of news to share on this front. We have a number of people who will be moving on from Valley Catholic after years of service here, and we will certainly miss them and all of what they’ve shared with our school. At the same time, we’re also thrilled with the people who will be joining us going forward. So it is with mixed emotions that I share the following set of staffing announcements with you:

• Mary Kiefer, who has been on a leave of absence this school year, will not return to her first-grade teaching position next year. Monique Duong-Tran, who has been teaching in Mary’s place this year in first grade, will fill Mary’s vacancy.
• Janet Rabe, our math specialist and enrichment coordinator, has been splitting time between our school and a school in the Hillsboro School District. She has made the decision to accept an exciting new opportunity with the Hillsboro School District that will allow her to do something she’s been interested in doing for a few years now. Read here for more info from Janet.
• Barbara Taylor, who has headed up technology support and computer instruction within our school, has decided to move on from technology and try other things at the end of the year.
• Mike Segerdahl, who has supported Eric Holstrom with our PE program and worked behind the scenes on so much of what goes on at our school, will be joining the Middle School next year and teaching some of their PE classes.
• Sarah Zinzer, our science specialist who split time this year between the Elementary School and Middle School, will be joining the Middle School full-time next year. She enjoyed teaching fourth- and fifth-grade science classes this year, but the opportunity to work on one school’s schedule teaching full-time science was too attractive for her to pass up.
• June Poling, who currently teaches eighth-grade science and supports the Middle School as Vice Principal, will be taking on a full-time administrator role with Valley Catholic next year. She will support both the Elementary School and the Middle School in the role of Vice Principal. Sue Yockey, who up until this school year had a title of Vice Principal/Counselor, will continue serving the school in the role of counselor.
• Sally Delplanche, a name that’s recognizable to many of you, has served our community as one of our substitute teachers throughout the past few years, and, just last week, she accepted the position of Spanish teacher for the next school year. Sally will teach Spanish twice weekly to each class, and she’ll also be supporting some of our students with individualized and small-group instruction.

We are grateful for the service of the teachers who will be doing something new next year, and we are committed to finding the right people to follow in their footsteps. We are in the process of finding qualified candidates and interviewing them to fill the the vacancies for the next school year, and we look to have more news to share with you as hiring decisions are made.

Before I sign off for the week, I want to offer a special thank you to Analizza Lambino, our International Festival chair, and the dedicated crew of volunteers who supported the International Festival this past weekend. I know our families enjoyed the event, seeing the diversity on this campus and learning from the different cultures showcased at the event. Thank you to all of you who participated in some way.

I also want to thank Meg Bishop and Christine Elmgren for their organization of the Mother-Son Bowling event that also took place this past weekend. We had more families join us this year than in previous years, and it was great to see so many moms and sons enjoying time together bowling strikes and getting spares! Our community is blessed to be alive with so much activity and so much parent support to sustain it!

Enjoy the three-day weekend, and if you’re traveling, stay safe!

God’s blessings,

Joe Manning
Principal

THE WEEK AHEAD:

Monday
No School – Memorial Day

Tuesday
Early Dismissal – 2:05 p.m.
Free Dress for $1 Day to Support the Oregon Humane Society
Recess Supervisors: Janice Harman and Loc Nguyen

Wednesday
Mass & Reception to Celebrate First Holy Communion (2C & 2G) – Eagles’ Gym – 9:35 a.m.
Recess Supervisors: Ken Mann and Kristine Burton

Thursday
First & Second Grade Field Trips
VCES Variety Show Auditions for Grades 4 & 5 – Cafeteria – after-school until approximately 4:30 p.m.
Recess Supervisors: Joanna Beale and Mei Po Chiu

Friday
VCES Variety Show Auditions for Grade 3 – Cafeteria – after-school until approximately 4:30 p.m.
Recess Supervisors: Darien Curl, Ivo Peev, and Valerie Stecher

Last Chance to Purchase Scrip Before Summer!

It’s your last chance to purchase Scrip before the summer! So load up for summer on gift cards for your groceries, restaurants, movies, coffee house cards, and much, much more! The Scrip team is accepting this month’s orders until Tuesday, May 29th at 8 a.m.

Columbia Sportswear promo is back! Purchase a Columbia $50 gift card and you’ll receive ONE pass to the Columbia Sportswear employee store. It is good for the buyer and four family members or friends—PLUS a PIN # for online purchases. Passes are good for one visit any time until Sept 2012. The $50 gift cards may be used at: the flagship store in downtown Portland; PDX; outlet locations; at their online store; and at their employee store.

Scrip orders will be delivered to your child by Friday, June 1st. Deliveries will be made to all three school buildings; please include the delivery information on the order form. Drop your completed forms, including payment, at the VCEMS office or email your order to scrip@valleycatholic.org.

Download the new 2012 VCS Scrip Form here or pick one up in the VCEMS office.
Thank you so much for your continued support to the scrip fundraising program!

The Scrip Team

The fifth-grade first-place team shows off their medals with their teacher, Janet Rabe. Left to right: Anish Peruri, Claire Abraham, and Divya Amirtharaj (not pictured: Charlie Law). Divya is also the state winner of the essay contest for elementary students.

Submitted by VCES/MS Advanced Math Teacher Janet Rabe

Investing time in learning about the stock market is a part of the experience of fifth- and sixth-graders in Mrs. Rabe’s math classes. This spring student teams invested a virtual $100,000 over a 10-week period as they studied the math and problem solving involved in the stock market. Students also wrote essays about what they learned from playing the Stock Market Game, a simulation put on by the Oregon Council on Economic Education. The best ten essays were entered in the Investwrite Essay Competition. A team of seventh-graders that worked with Mrs. Rabe in past years also took part in the competition.

Results were excellent! Our fifth-grade team of Anish Peruri, Claire Abraham, Charlie Law, and Divya Amirtharaj took first place in Oregon Elementary Schools category with a total portfolio value of $108,775.87. These students were recognized at an Award Banquet held Saturday, May 19 at the Portland Marriot. Our seventh-grade team was also recognized for their fall game endeavors. Ben Quiring, Lakshya Bakshi, and Victor Agostinelli took third place in the Middle School category with $99,853.84.

Valley Catholic also had two state-wide essay winners. Divya Amirtharaj earned first place in the Elementary Division and Alex Wan took first place in the Middle School Division. These two essayists placed in the top ten in the nation!

Team advisor, Janet Rabe, had this to share, “The Stock Market Game showcases many of the strengths of our Valley Catholic students. As active problem solvers they are ready to take on the challenge of working with the Stock Market. They are able to communicate effectively in their written work as evidenced by their success in the essay contest. Students spoke eloquently at the awards banquet when asked to share their insights with the audience. I am very proud of their achievements!”

Sixth-grader Noelle Mannen was a meet champion in the Turbo Jav.

Submitted by VCS CYO Director Kelly Alfieri

Congratulations to our Valley Catholic CYO Track & Field team athletes!

The Meet of Champions was held this past weekend and 31 of our fifth- through eighth-grade team members qualified to compete in this meet. There were over 600 athletes representing 23 teams. Our Valley athletes finished the  season strong with 72 percent of the performances being personal best times or marks.

Congratulations to our one Meet Champion, sixth-grade student Noelle Mannen, in the Turbo Jav. She set a new team record this season with a personal best throw of 98’9”.

Below are the top Valley finishers for the meet who were honored on the award podium for placing in finals:

Relays

• Cub Boys 4 x 100m Relay: 7th place (Cameron Sprigg, Christian Richards, Teddy Senecal, Jason Baek)
• Cub Boys 4 x 400m Relay: 7th place (Nathan Silenzi, Luke Stream, Matt Ierardi, Teddy Senecal)
• Cadet Girls 4 x 100m Relay: 6th place (Olivia Jackson, Maddie Russel, Ellen Koukel, Elizabeth Gibson)
• Cadet Boys 4 x 100m Relay: 6th place (Jason Baek, Michael Boss, Trevor Baek, Michael Alfieri)
• Cadet Boys 4 x 400m Relay: 5th place (Matt Biggi, Michael Boss, Michael Alfieri, Trevor Baek)

Individual Finalists

Cub Girls (5th-6th Grade)
Noelle Mannen: Turbo Jav (1st place) – Meet Champion
Kate MacNaughton: High Jump, (6th place)

Cub Boys (5th-6th Grade)
Nathan Silenzi: 800m (6th place), 3000m (7th place), 4 x 400 relay (7th place)
Jason Baek: 100m (7th place), relays

Cadet Girls (7th-8th)
Martyna Adamiec: High Jump (4th place)
McCall Phillips: 800m (5th place)
Rachael Frankovic: Shot Put (5th place)
Mariel Shoemaker: Turbo Jav (4th place)
Olivia Jackson: Turbo Jav (5th place)

Cadet Boys (7th -8th)
Trevor Baek: 400m (7th place)

Click here for full results of all our individual athletes and relays.

Join us for our Track Awards Dessert this Wednesday, May 23  at 7:00 p.m. in the VCHS Cafeteria!

http://valleycatholic.tandemcal.com/index.php?type=view&action=event&id=16464

Charisma casting call!
Dancer Evaluations
June 2, 2012, 12:30 to 4 p.m.
Valiants’ Gym

Coach Jessica, Coach Megan and the State Champion Charisma dancers
invite you to join them for Season 2012-2013
as we go for a fourth consecutive State Championship.
We look forward to meeting you!

About Dancer Evaluations: The award-winning Valley Catholic Charisma dance team is currently looking for new and returning members to form Team 2012-2013. Previous formal dance training is not required for membership. If you are “coachable,” committed, and willing to work hard at practice sessions and on your own, you can become a member of the Charisma. Our dance evaluation process is low-key—we want an opportunity to meet you, give you an opportunity to meet us and to get a feel for what dance team is like. The Dancer Evaluations are just that—evaluations of individual dance skill levels.  We need this information so we can place dancers in appropriate classes at dance camp (should they attend), and we need to have an idea of everyone’s skill level so we can start designing our dance routines for next season.

Eighth-graders who will be incoming freshman and all Valley Catholic high school students are welcome to participate. Team size is only limited by participation numbers. We have many open spots available—one of them can be yours! We look forward to seeing you at our Dancer Evaluations on June 2, 2012, 12:30 to 4 p.m. in the Valiants’ Gym.

Sign Up for Dancer Evaluations: Please email Coach Jessica or contact her via her Facebook page to let her know of your interest. Information packets are available at the school office, or can be sent to you via email. Information is also available on the Charisma Facebook page.

About the Charisma: While we do perform at football and basketball games and promote school spirit, we are not cheerleaders or a rally squad. We are a two-season sport that competes during fall and winter terms. The three-time defending State Champion Charisma Dance Team is a competitive athletic team that participates in sanctioned state-wide competitions leading up to the OSAA State Dance/Drill championships in March.  The Charisma dancers have earned three consecutive 3A/2A/1A State Championships: 2010, 2011, and 2012. We have placed in the top two at State for the last five years.

To receive the most up to-date Charisma news, “like” The Valley Catholic Charisma Dance Team on Facebook.

Thunderbird Dance Camp July 10-13: The Charisma dance team is attending Thunderbird Dance Camp July 10-13, 2012 at the University of Portland. If you are considering joining the Charisma, dance camp is a very good place to start. You will learn basic skills, some fun dance routines, try drill down, and get a feel for what dance team is all about. Thunderbird offers classes for all skill levels and a fun camp experience. For more information, check out the Thunderbird Dance Camp website. Please email Coach Jessica as soon as possible if you are interested in attending camp as we need to provide a preliminary head count.

Missed the Spring Evaluations?  Can’t Go to Camp? Don’t worry if you miss out on our spring dancer evaluations, or if you can’t make it to camp. There will be another opportunity to join us in the fall. If you participate in another fall sport, you can still join the Charisma after your fall sport or activity completes. If this is your situation, please discuss this with the coaches in advance.

Talk to us! Please don’t be afraid to ask questions. We want you to understand what being a member of the Charisma means. We want you to be informed. We want you to understand the commitments. We want you to enjoy your dance team experience!

How to Contact Us:
Email Coach Jessica
Visit Coach Jessica’s Facebook Page
Visit and “like” the Charisma Facebook Page

Last week I wrote about Teacher Appreciation Week on our campus and what a great opportunity it presented to thank the wonderful faculty and staff at our school. This week I would like to shine the light on another very deserving group on our campus: our parents.

Valley Catholic School would not be where we are today without the support of our parent community. Parents on this campus rise to the occasion in so many ways that it is difficult to name all of them. However, here is just a sampling from the past week of parents in action on our campus that I observed:

• In walking through the Elementary and Middle School this week, I saw many parents reading to our Elementary School students in small groups.
• I heard from some of our parents this week about this Saturday’s International Festival. This community event will be made possible by the hard work of many parents who are helping spread cultural awareness to our school community by making traditional foods and sharing traditional customs.
• I spoke to parents from various school levels on campus who are actively involved in VALOR Parent Group activities, including helping plan for end-of-the-year activities.
• And, as always, I see many parents on campus each day attending athletic contests, drama productions, music concerts and more to show support for their students and other students in our school.

These examples are just from this week, but they represent a typical level of commitment by our parent community. Our parents have invested in the future of their children by choosing Valley Catholic and those same parents are investing in Valley Catholic through all of their actions of support.

One big area of support that we receive from our parents is their willingness to participate in the various fundraisers that we have each year. Whether it is the ES Jog-A-Thon, the annual Gap pledges or our biggest annual fundraiser, the auction, many of our parents come out and support our fundraising efforts in a variety of ways. I am grateful for the support of those who have been able to participate in these activities in the past and hopeful that all of our parents are able to participate going forward.

Several folks have asked me in the past few weeks, “How did the auction go?” We are wrapping up this year’s auction as the final bills are coming through and the results are being tabulated. Overall, there are a lot of positives to take away from the event. We were pleased to have more than 365 guests attend the auction this year, and we believe that there were quite a few positives in moving the event offsite to the Embassy Suites. Having said that, we also discovered some drawbacks, and further evaluation will have to be done before a decision is made about the location of next year’s event. As far as the numbers go, we were blessed with the results in the area of “Light a Fire,” which raised more money for financial aid this year than it has in the past few years. At the same time, some of our other results were lower, such as the raffle and the silent auction. Overall, the revenue for the entire event was not at the level of some of the previous years, but we took many positives away from the event that continues to be our biggest annual fundraiser. I am pleased that more than 100 people have taken time to share their thoughts on the event by completing the recent online survey. I plan on working with our Foundation to review the results of that survey and to strategize how we can make next year’s event even better. I want to publicly thank our auction staff and all of the parents, teachers, students, and friends of our community who came together to put on such a special event.

I wanted to let our community know about one of our families that is facing a difficult situation.  Rudy Oakes, father of Valley Catholic freshman Brian Oakes, recently had surgery for lung cancer. Please keep the Oakes family in your prayers.  For more information, click here.

It looks like another Valley Catholic weekend full of great opportunities to take part in community events. Saturday’s International Festival is sure to be a great event, and Sunday brings about two more activities with the Mother-Son Bowling for the ES and the retirement open house to honor Sr. Juliana Monti for her 40+ years of service to music on our campus. If that is not enough, there are HS athletes participating in the State Track Meet and Tennis Championships as well.

Enjoy this beautiful weather and your weekend.

Respectfully,

Bob Weber
President
Valley Catholic School

On Wednesday, May 16, students from the Elementary School celebrated Mary in the annual May Crowning. This ritual has been practiced at our school since 1903—that’s 109 years!

May Crowning is a special and traditional ceremony in which we honor Mary, Our Blessed Mother, the patron of Valley Catholic School and the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon. We listen and pray the Scriptures, pray a decade of the Rosary, sing hymns to Mary, and crown Mary with flowers in this special ceremony.

One student, either boy or girl, is chosen from each of the homeroom classes–Kindergarten through fifth grade–to represent their class in the May Crowning Court.

Some teachers choose the student, others let the class vote. Students who are chosen are models and witnesses of the faith, values, virtues, and philosophy of Valley Catholic School.

One student, either a boy or girl, from the combined fifth-grade classes is voted by the students to be May Crowner, who has the honor of “crowning” Mary with a flowered wreath.

May Crowning Court 2012

Having trouble viewing the slideshow? Click here?

Photo from Catholic Heart Workcamp

Submitted by Mary Kiefer and Liz Kiefer ’11

Valley Catholic School is the proud host of this summer’s Catholic Heart Workcamp (CHWC), to be held July 8-14, 2012. Students as young as entering ninth grade in the fall up through young adults are encouraged to consider this unique opportunity to have a “mission trip” experience in the U.S. while also growing in their Catholic faith. While the camp is very much Catholic-based, youth do not have to be Catholic to participate.

Catholic Heart Workcamp is celebrating its 20th year and its third at Valley Catholic. This year over 13,000 youth will be participating in one of 26 camps being offered across the country and in Jamaica. The Catholic Heart Workcamp’s mission is twofold: First, to share the love of Jesus and serve the neglected, brokenhearted and marginalized in any way needed by revitalizing communities and beautifying homes for the elderly, disabled and those who cannot afford needed repairs. Their goal is to inspire participants to serve in their local communities. Second, to empower participants to live as disciples of Christ through serving others and to foster the spiritual growth of each participant through the sacraments, Catholic faith sharing and prayer.

Although the registration deadlines have passed, CHWC is still offering the Portland camp (that is us) at the initial rate with no late fees. The fee of $315 covers food, lodging, a work site, and program activities from Sunday through Thursday. On Friday, the group will go on a fun free-day activity. They will need spending money for that free day. The students will be sleeping on the classroom floors and eating meals in the cafeteria.

The CHWC website contains a lot of good information, as well as registration information. Applications should be turned in to Mary Donovan or Sr. Alison Green. Valley Catholic students will be registering under the group name Archdiocese of Portland. Chaperones need to pay their own way to attend.

For more information, please email Mary Kiefer or call her at 503-324-9366.