Between the Lions

PRINCIPAL’S CORNER
A Prayer for Our Catholic School Community

Heavenly Father, we than You for these men and women who teach and serve in our schools. We ask You, Father, that You would give them words filled with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that they may know how they should respond to the broken-hearted children, to a rebellious teen, a concerned parent.

May their words be words that are helpful, for building others up according to their needs. We pray Father that you would give them a spirit, like eagle wings, to fearlessly soar across the paths of many with the message of God’s love.

Father, we pray that you teach them to number their days and recognize how few they are, help them to spend them as they should.

Father, we pray that these men and women may walk in a manner worth of the God who calls them to their important positions.

Let each of these men and women be a “collector.” May they find time to walk through the halls of the school giving a hug or a reassuring smile to a child. Let them not be afraid to put their arms around someone or hold a hand, as if to say, “It will be okay.” Father, let not the paperwork becomes so heavy as to crush their “spirit of giving.”

And Father, forget them not; for they too are human. Send someone to cross their path to say a cherry “good morning…” that really means “I’m glad you’re here!” And a teacher or a child who would say, “Guess what I did…” which really means, “I’d like to share this with you because you’re important to me.”

But most important, send them with a loving touch. Send them the hand that understands for it was pierced. Send them that hand that hugged small children, taught the wise and calmed the sea.

Send them, Father, the loving hand of Your Son, Jesus Christ.

In Jesus’ name we pray for them.
Amen

As Always, for the children,
Mr. David DiPippa, Principal

ARLINGTON DIOCESE HONOR BAND
Congratulations to the following students for making the 2009 Honor Band. These students will rehearse at Bishop Ireton HS for 10 weeks and give a final concert with the high school band:
Paige Dunleavy, flute; Genny Kelly, flute; Nadine Rozell, clarinet; Ciara Corcoran, alto sax; Roy Davies, bari-sax; Katherine Faunce, trumpet; Michael Cuccias, trombone; Andreas Butler, trombone; Nick Kosyak, French horn; Sarah Griffin, French horn; Ryan Merrill, bass clarinet; Daniel Smisko, bass clarinet; James Frazier, tuba; Dylan Cate, tuba; Anthony Kim, percussion. A special thanks to all those who were nominated for this group and were not chosen this year.

Thanks & Praise

• What a wonderful job the students did for our Catholic Schools Week Mass that was celebrated last Sunday. Under the guidance of Mrs. Chris LeBlanc, the following students were instrumental in making this a huge success: Introduction: Ciara Corcoran; First Reader: Sarah Griffin; Second Reader: Ryan Dowd; Petitions: Trevor Dowd; Matthew Walsh, Shaelyn Dowd and Stefano Agostini. Canters: Danielle Issing and Brooke Sullivan. Offertory Gifts: The Turcott Family (Jerry, Judy, and their children, Jenny, Claire and Anna). The Youth and Junior Choir directed by Mrs. Mulherin and Kathy White were spectacular. Many thanks to all who gave of their time and talent.
• Special Thanks to the Catholic Schools Week Committee: Lisa Schouviller, Leda Cozzarelli, Adrian Abraham and Michele Doss or all of their time and effort in planning our special activities.
• To Mrs. Kim Vu Pham for bringing fortune cookies to our students on Monday the 26th to celebrate Chinese New Year
• To Mrs. Nguyen for bringing the faculty and staff homemade egg rolls...Fabulous!
• To Mrs. McCarty, Mrs. Crosson, Mrs. Blanchard and Mrs. Carson for helping with the clubs and advisory pictures last week.
• To Mrs. Muller, PTO Room Parent Coordinator for coordinating all the advisory parents for our middle school passport party during Catholic Schools Week.
• To Cub Scout Den 2 for an absolutely terrific breakfast for the faculty and staff on Monday….yummy!
• To the PTO and Mrs. Lowry for coordinating the gift card sale. Many thanks to the parents and faculty who supported this PTO fundraiser.
• To Ann LaBarge and Monsignor Mahler for organizing a special living rosary activity for our student body.
• To Father Jaffe, Mrs. DeMarco, Mrs. Cates, student and parent volunteers who helped make our open house a huge success. Many thanks to all the faculty and staff who gave up their Sunday afternoon to showcase our school.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY BEE
The month of January was a buys one for Mrs. Sloboda’s social studies classes as the seventh and eighth graders competed in the National Geography Bee sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The Geography Bee entails seven preliminary rounds to narrow the four classes to the top finalists who then compete in a series of elimination rounds. St. Leo’s is proud to announce that in this year’s Bee Will Holley (7th grade) won first place, Marco deGuzman (8th grade) won 2nd place, and Anthony Kim (8th grade) won third place. Additionally, Will has completed a written exam to determine if he will travel to Richmond to compete in the Virginia Geography Bee in the spring. St. Leo is proud of all of the finalists and wishes Will all the luck in the world in the next phase of the competition.

SAINT LEO SCORES BIG FOR SVDP PANTRY!
Once again Saint Leo’s School has successfully completed our second Saint Vincent de Paul Food Drive with a final total of over 3,025 food items donated for the needy families of our parish, far surpassing our planned goal of 2,000 cans! How proud we are that our school is actively practicing this year’s Catholic Social Teaching of Rights and Responsibilities. ANOTHER GRRRRREAT JOB, SAINT LEO’S!!!!!

MOTHERS’ PRAYER GROUP
Please join us for a Mothers' Prayer Group Meeting on Thursday, February 19, right after morning drop off, in the St. Mark's Room (Parish Hall). We will follow readings from the liturgical calendar, reflections from the book "The Better Part" and prayers for our school, teachers and families. We will end praying The Rosary. For questions, please contact Marcia Capizzani at mloureiro2002@aol.com. All are welcome.

OPEN HOUSES
are going to be held at Saint Leo the Great School on the following days:

• Wednesday, February 18th -10am in the Guadalupe Room with Principal’s Welcome
• Wednesday, March 18th - 10am in the Guadalupe Room with Principal’s Welcome

A tour of the school will follow all presentations. Please call 703-273-1211 x645 for a reservation. Please let your friends and neighbors know our new dates. Applications are available for pickup during the day at the school from 9am-2pm, at the Open House and online at www.saintleothegreatschool.org. All completed applications with copies of supporting documents may be sent through the mail or hand carried to the school at the above hours. Acceptance letters for the 2009-2010 will be mailed once completed applications are received. Financial Aid packets are available in the front office or online at www.factstuitionaid.com.

QUIZ BOWL NEWS:
Start forming your teams for the 2009 Saint Leo the Great PTO Quiz Bowl! Be prepared for a night of fun trivia!!

• Date: Saturday, March 14th 2009
• Place: School Gym
• Time: 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm.
• Cost: $12 for individual ticket or $100 for table of 8/10 players

Questions: contact Vicki Holleran at hollerantj@aol.com. Sign up flyer can be downloaded from school website

FROM GUIDANCE:
Small Groups: The Guidance Office will begin holding small group discussion sessions during lunch. The groups will consist of 4-6 students and will meet approximately once per week for 6-8 weeks. Group topics include Academic/Study Skills, Anger Management, Changing Families, and Friendship/Social Skills. Group descriptions are available at the Counselor’s Corner on the St. Leo website. If you would like your child to participate in one of the small groups, please contact Ann Polan in the Guidance Office at 703-273-1211 x649 or apolan@saintleothegreatschool.org.

COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN/UNITED WAY/AMERICA’S CHARITIES:
Thank you to the many parents who, in the past, designated our school as the recipient of their Combined Federal Campaign/United Way or America’s Charities donations. The fall campaign is just getting underway and we would be grateful to receive your donations once again. Our designated number for Combined Federal Campaign is 91500 and for United Way it is 8973.

If your place of employment uses America’s Charities, you may designate our school through their campaign by including our school name, address, phone and EIN# 54-0572701. As always…we are so grateful for your support and generosity!

FINANCIAL AID – SCHOOL YEAR 2009-2010
The Diocese of Arlington is please to provide a Tuition Assistance Program for parents of students attending our Diocesan Catholic schools. Interested parents are asked to submit the student aid application form, as well as a processing fee of $20 to FACTS Management Company. FACTS is the company contracted by the Diocese of Arlington to provide a confidential and objective financial analysis in determining a family’s ability to pay for Catholic School education.

In order to become eligible for receiving funds from this program, K-12 students (preschool is not eligible) must satisfy all of the criteria described below:

• A baptized Catholic or convert officially received into the Church
• Family resides within the boundaries of the Diocese of Arlington
• Family is registered and an active member of the parish or
• Family belongs to a military post parish
• Student attends or is accepted by a Catholic school in the Diocese of Arlington.

The funds from the program will be paid directly to the school that the qualifying student attends. Schools will then credit the tuition accounts for those families who have been approved to receive aid for that school year. When submitting your application, please be sure to answer all the questions on the student aid form and include all the documentation requested in the instructions. Applications can also be completed online (www.factstuitionaid.com). The deadlines for filing an application are February 6, 2009 for the first round, and March 16, 2009 for the second round. A packet of information and its program will also be available in the front office.

PENNIES FOR PATIENTS
Monday, February 2nd, we will be kicking off a new campaign for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society called Pennies for Patients. Pennies for Patients is a program where students bring in spare change and put it in a collection box in their classroom/homeroom. All money collected goes directly to LLS to help local patients living with a blood cancer and to find a cure for these horrible diseases. There are great rewards for the classes raising at least $100, including pennants to hang in the class, a raffle for a DC United VIP game and many more! This is a wonderful opportunity for the children to continue learning about giving back to the community, while helping those in need. Please mention this program to your children and encourage them to look under those couch cushions and floor mats of your car and bring in any loose change. The Pennies campaign runs until February 20th. If you have any questions, or would like to help, please contact Kim Perry at 703-928-7105 or deemerkr@aol.com. Thank you for your support. We can make change-one dime at a time!

SAVE THE DATE:

• Spring Book Fair – March 29 – April 2-school library.
• Monday, May 11th at 10am for the Saint Leo the Great Annual Golf Outing at Heritage Hunt Golf and Country Club. More details will be coming in the New Year from Mr. Manning and Mrs. Toenshoff.

2009 YEARBOOK
Pictures Needed -- We are in need of pictures from Field Trips and 8th Grade CONFIRMATION, tennis, basketball, cheerleaders. Each grade, preschool through 8th grade, also has a "candid" photo page and we will need pictures for those pages throughout the year. You can put pictures on a cd or email pictures to Joanne McCarty at jmccarty1@cox.net or Katie Blanchard Katie_Blanchard@verizon.net. Thank you!

ST. LEO THE GREAT 2009 SCIENCE FAIR WE NEED YOU!!!
7th and 8th Graders have worked hard on their projects and need parents to come participate as judges!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! February 20th from 12:00pm-2:30pm
We are in need of volunteers to judge the science fair. No science expertise necessary. Also, you do not need to be VIRTUS compliant in order to be a judge. Lunch will be provided for our parent volunteers. Please sign up below. Indicate your preferences with a 1 (1st choice) 2 (2nd choice) to 3 (3rd choice) or don’t care.

• Behavioral & Social Science
• Biochemistry
• Botany
• Chemistry
• Computer Science
• Environmental Sciences
• Earth & Space Sciences
• Engineering
• Mathematics
• Medicine and Healthy
• Microbiology
• Physics
• Zoology

Name:
Email:
Please return forms by February 6th . You may also email or call Wendy Kent with your preferences. wtkent@cox.net or 703-449-0040

Thank you for your time!! The success of the science fair relies on you and the kids greatly appreciate your participation!

Inclement Weather/School Closings
When the Fairfax County Schools are closed because of hazardous road conditions, Saint Leo the Great School is also closed. If Fairfax County makes a change in the opening or closing of school due to weather conditions, Saint Leo the Great does the same. It is the parent/guardian's responsibility to consult the school website, or listen to the radio or T.V. for this information. PLEASE DO NOT CALL THE SCHOOL. In cases of inclement weather, or other non-weather related emergencies, and the cancellation of classes once school is in session, calls from the children to the parents/guardians will be discouraged. Since our school is air-conditioned, we DO NOT FOLLOW Fairfax County School closings due to intense heat.

If Fairfax County Schools are not in session and Saint Leo the Great is in session, consult the school website or listen to WMAL 630 AM or WTOP 103.5 FM, channel 4 and channel 7 for any school closings or adjustments in opening times.

Delayed Openings
Kindergarten through Grade 8

If there is a ONE HOUR DELAYED OPENING ON ANY 11:30AM OR 12:10PM DISMISSAL DAY, classes are dismissed at 12:10PM.
• If there is a TWO HOUR DELAYED OPENING ON ANY 11:30AM, 12:10PM, or 1:40PM EARLY DISMISSAL DAY, classes are dismissed at 3:00PM. Please be sure to send a lunch and drink with your child if it would have been a regular 11:30AM or 12:10PM dismissal day since neither lunch nor milk is provided on those days.)

Extended Day Program
The Extended Day Program always opens one hour before school:

• Delay of one hour: open at 7:50AM
• Delay of two hours: open at 8:50AM

When school closes early all children must be picked up from the Extended Day Program within two hours of dismissal. Parents/guardians are responsible for listening to the radio or T.V. for announcements.

If Fairfax County cancels after school activities, the Extended Day Program will close within two hours of dismissal.

AROUND THE COMMUNITY

• Knights of Columbus Fr. Diamond Memorial High School Scholarship for any qualified 8th grade student. Please call 703.273.9436 or email hmslydia@msn.com for an application.