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CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
March 20, 2018 | The Valley Catholic
Read Across America Day Celebrated at Sacred Heart Nativity Schools
By Julian Villalobos, Alma Martinez
and Celeste Cortez (students)
On March 2, Sacred Heart Nativity
School held its second annual Read
All Day (RAD) event. Leer es Poder, the
school reading club, organized the day’s
activities which included sustained
silent reading, trivia competitions, cre-
ate your own bookmarks, a comic book
room, a magazine/newspaper room and
podcasts.
The morning began in homerooms
with silent free reading. Some students
created forts out of pillows and blankets
they brought from home. Students were
also able to spend time in the recently
renovated library with comfy couches
and bean bag chairs. The day concluded
with two Kahoot trivia competitions
– one on the reading challenge book,
“A Wrinkle in Time,” and the other an
HSPT vocabulary challenge.
Each homeroom nominated two rep-
resentatives to participate in the compe-
titions. Classes cheered and supported
their representatives. Prizes included a
pizza party and free dress passes.
Michael Cody, Social Studies teacher,
said, “RAD was great because it was
a fun and creative way to promote
reading. The Kahoot quiz encouraged
people to read and promoted friendly
competition.” Eighth-grade student
Andy Bonilla said, “It was a fun day.
The Kahoot quiz was engaging since the
entire school was there supporting us
and adding tension to the game.”
With the positive feedback that was
received from students, Leer es Poder is
excited to continue the event next year.
“With Our Hands We Serve” – Saint Frances Cabrini School Students Living Their Faith
Saint Francis Cabrini students raise funds for
hurricane victims.
One of the foundational teachings
at Saint Frances Cabrini School (SFC)
is, “With Our Hands We Serve.” Our
students have generously and com-
passionately modeled this teaching
throughout this school year. The entire
month of September was dedicated
to raising funds for the victims of
Hurricane Harvey. Later in the fall,
in addition to individual donations,
sixth graders and their second-grade
buddies held a garage sale during
recess with all proceeds benefitting
the North Bay Fire Relief. Families of
some of our students not only lost their
homes in Santa Rosa, but also their
school, Saint Rose Catholic School,
giving us the opportunity to welcome
them to our community until Saint
Rose re-opened. Each SFC class found
ways to collect money to support the
relief efforts.
During Catholic Schools Week,
the entire school participated in Mis-
sion Day where students and families
raised more than $6,000 for Saint Rose
School and the “Koins for Kids” pro-
gram run by our Dominican Sisters.
“Koins for Kids” provides tuition as-
sistance for low income schools in San
Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles.
The SFC eighth-grade class raised
funds and awareness to help support
the Lymphoma and Leukemia Foun-
dation. The “Pennies for Patients”
campaign helps fund treatment re-
search.
In the course of two weeks, $6,700
was raised by bringing in coins, sell-
ing baked goods and purchasing free
dress passes. The SFC community is
certainly “serving with our hands.”
Saint Leo the Great School
Shines at Santa Clara University
On February 22, it was a bit confusing
for Saint Leo the Great Lions ... the lions
sang the National Anthem before the
Santa Clara University Broncos men’s
basketball team faced the Loyola Mary-
mount University Lions.
The lions cheerleading squad per-
formed for the crowd at the Broncos
game too. Whether visitors were there to
support LMU Lions or SCU Broncos, the
lions were there in full force.
During the men’s basketball game, the
choir, led by Mrs. Ewell, performed the
national anthem a-cappella. The cheer-
leading squad, directed by Ms. Veyna,
performed two of their routines. The
students were able to showcase their tal-
ents, support their school, and perform
in front of a large audience! The lions
were there to support their local school
watching the SCU Broncos play a great
game and missing a win by just 1 point.
More information regarding Catholic Schools in
the Diocese of San Jose, can be found at www.dsj.org/schools.