May 25, 2023

May 25, 2023

Dear Wildcat Families,

It is hard to believe that the 2022-23 school year concludes tomorrow. What a wonderful year SJB has had, thanks to Fr. Chris, Fr. Alex (formerly Deacon Alex), Seminarian Sam, you, your children, our teachers, the parish, and the community. It truly takes a village, and we are so thankful for each and everyone in the SJB village. Many thanks to you all, there is so much to be proud of! We indeed are beyond blessed at Saint John the Baptist Catholic School.

Our field day was a great day yesterday. Thank you, Mrs. Brennan and Mrs. Brewer for preparing for our morning of service. In all, 100 bags were filled for Alex’s bags for those less fortunate. Thank you so much for your donations for the bags project. Your generosity is truly appreciated! In fact, we have enough to use for more bags! As a thank you, Mrs. Pierscionek’s mother, Irma McCall, bought popsicles for dessert today. During the morning, our Wildcats also made door hangers and decorations, filled Easter Eggs, and wrote encouraging cards. Mrs. Norton, thank you, for your hard work preparing for our afternoon of water fun! It was truly a success as evidenced by the laughter, smiles, and squeals of delight! Thank you to everyone for your help! The day wouldn’t have been possible without you! Thank you to Mrs. Hardesty, Mr. Hardesty, Mrs. Pierscionek, Mr. Schwarting, and Mr. Zagotta for all your help ordering, picking up orders, and preparing so that we were able to continue the tradition of the free hot dog lunch and ice cream treat at the end of the day.

The End of the Year Skating Party was so much fun! Thank you to all who attended and came out for the event! We had 100 skaters in total and earned $117.00 for the school! Thank you, Kelley Whitman, for organizing the night of skating fun!!

Please see the posting for Popsicle and Play dates for new preschool and kindergarten students. Siblings are welcome to come. The first one is Sunday, June 11, from 1:00 – 2:00 PM at East End Park in Winfield.

Last year, some families went to a Kane County Cougar game before school started. We are planning to go again on Friday, August 4. The game begins at 6:30 PM and includes post-game fireworks and running the bases. Reserved seat tickets are $8.00 for groups of twenty or more. Please let me know if you are interested and how many tickets you would like to purchase. Hope to see you there…come join the fun!

The Parent Club is seeking members of the '23 - 24 SJB Welcome Committee. If you would like to join the SJB New Student Welcome Committee, please complete the form with your information, the link is provided below.  This committee helps welcome new families to our school.   Welcome Committee Volunteers will be matched with new families based on kid grades, neighborhood, etc.

Welcoming are new families takes place during the summer. You will be contacted when help is needed. You will be provided with Family information: names, kid grades, phone number and addresses. You will then be asked to reach out to the new families and set up a time for a meet and greet. During the meet and greet you will be given a sign for the new family to display in their yard and ask that you take a photo to share with the school and possibly Face Book.

LINK: https://forms.gle/VnjNZhrKtHWBDxvm7

As you know the results are in and the votes are counted - our new Student Council president is Robert Woodbury, and the vice-president is Aubrey Silva. The Sergeant -at-Arms are Cristian Benavides and Ryan Upham. Congratulations to all of you! Cristian and Ryan were trained by Eighth grade students, Adan Barcenas Alanis and Phillip Cabrera last week and have been raising and lowering the flag for our last week. Other officers will be selected in the fall when we return to school.

Hot off the presses is Trimester 3 Honor Roll for Grades 6-8. Congratulations to the following students for their academic accomplishments:

Grade 6 High Honors

William Bulyk

Michelle Philp

Levi Renzulli

Gabriella Roldan

Monica San

Emma Schmidt

Sofia Vazquez

Dominic Zagotta

Nicholas Zagotta

Grade 6 Honors

Ryan Knutson

Keira O’Donnell

Cesar Pena

Andrea Soriano

Christina Sui

Grade 7 High Honors

Stella Alexander

Hannah Farin

Adrianna Markiewicz

John Marsden

Michael Thang

Ryan Upham

Henry Weitz

Robert Woodbury

Grade 7 Honors

Matthew Dawson

Kelci Jaburek

Elliana Jonsson

Aubrey Silva

Grade 8 High Honors

Brielle Borner

Augustine Cin

Anthony Emlen

Julia Mawi

Kim Nguyen

Faith Owens

Connor Parkitny

Aaliyah Silva

Sofia Soriano

Tyler Stith

Lucia Vang Nu

Grade 8 Honors

Phillip Cabrera

Mia Grantz

Michael Mang

Alexa Murray

Alina Thornton

Joseph Zagotta

Eighth grade students were honored and recognized last Thursday at the Awards Breakfast, and our sixth and seventh grade honor students will be recognized at the end of our All School Mass tomorrow. We are proud of all! Report cards will be published tomorrow.

Looking for a lost item? The lost and found items were put on tables and placed in the lunchroom today. A few items were identified and taken. The tables will also be put outside tomorrow morning. Any items not retrieved by the end of the school day will be donated. Uniforms will be given to the Uniform Closet (it will open later this summer) and other items will be donated to St. Vincent de Paul.

To update you on the Tax Credit Scholarship program, we have now awarded 24 scholarships. The 25th will be awarded soon. Don’t forget that you will receive a tax credit which is equal to 75% of your donation on your 2023 state taxes and a credit on your tuition which is 25% of your donation on your 2022-23 tuition until July 1. I am happy to assist with the donation process. To donate, begin here: Donate - Empower Illinois. New donors can capitalize on the dollar to dollar match opportunity through the end of May. If you have been thinking about donating, this is the best time to do so. Your gift will do double the good!

This is a reminder that the last day to order School Supply Kits for next school year is Friday, June 16, 2023. You can order them at www.shopttkits.com Use account #71757 to access our kits. Kits will be labeled and delivered to classrooms and ready for the first day of school.

Tomorrow is our last day of the 2022-2023 school year, and we will close in celebration and praise of our year of blessings and learning with an All School Mass at 8:00 AM. As always, you are welcome to attend! Please have your children wear Sunday best attire. Dismissal will be at approximately 9:00 AM. Don’t forget the silly string!

Looking ahead to next year, if you will have children in fifth grade or above, it is time to think about fall volleyball. If your son or daughter, will be playing for the Wildcats, and you haven’t let our Athletic Director know, please shoot him an email: JWoodbury@sjbwinfield.org . If you need more information, Jason would be happy to provide you with it. The Sports physical form is attached and can be found in the posting. A completed form must be on file prior to the first practice.

Please mark the date, Sunday, June 25, after the 11:30 AM Mass, for a reception of thanksgiving for Fr. Alex and the time he spent at St. John’s and in celebration of his ordination. Please come and receive a blessing from Fr. Alex. It will be a chance to also wish him well as he moves on to his first assignment as a priest as the parochial vicar at St. Thomas the Apostle in Naperville.

We indeed are blessed and thankful for the gifts that the Saint John the Baptist faith and learning community offer to one another. Through the work of teachers, staff, parents, parishioners, and community members, and most importantly the students, much growth and learning has taken place. On behalf of Father Chris and our teachers and staff, I wish you a truly fabulous summer. We encourage children to read, write, compute daily, pray, and enjoy their time with their families this summer. Summer novels and assignments have been given in classes to students currently in grades 3-7 this week. Please look in backpacks for any additional summer work that teachers have prepared. Summer work is designed to help keep their brains and skills sharp for the coming year! Kindergarten through fifth grade classes also stepped up to the next grade this week and met their new teachers and had the opportunity to learn a little bit about what is to come in the next grade. We will see you on Wednesday, August 16 for the first half day of school for the 2022-2023 academic year! The Calendar Highlights for the 2022-23 school year are posted on School Speak and included in the posting with health forms that you may be need for your children for the upcoming school year.

Rejoicing in a wonderful year and wishing you a summer filled with abundant blessings,

Joanne