Psalm 32

R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

Blessed is he whose fault is taken away,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt,
in whose spirit there is no guile.

R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
my guilt I covered not.
I said, "I confess my faults to the LORD,"
and you took away the guilt of my sin.

R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

For this shall every faithful man pray to you
in time of stress.
Though deep waters overflow,
they shall not reach him.

R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me;
with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.

R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

From the Principal

Dear Parents,

Please pay attention to the material coming home today with your children. Re-registration material is due by February 10th. Siblings should also be registered now.

As you know, Representative Steve Pugh is our Distinguished Graduate of the Year. On Monday he attended Mass with the children and spoke to them at some length. He asked to take a full tour of the school after Mass and spent some time in several classes speaking to the students. In the eighth grade it was pointed out to him that eighth grade students would be eligible to vote in the next election, and the class received its first campaign speech. Representative Pugh invited the students to the State Capital and offered them a tour.

Today is Assistant Principal Day and Mrs. Little was presented a gift at the assembly. Everyone, especially the principal, thanks her for her outstanding service to the school.

Remember that tomorrow night is the Home and School Meeting. Please make an effort to attend. Two major events important to the school are in the not too distant future: the Spring Fair and the Strawberry Fest Parking.

Finally, parents are again reminded that the Open House for parents of prospective students is February 27. Again, remind friends, neighbors and relatives of the Open House and invite them to come. Send us addresses of individuals that might be interested and we will forward an invitation to them. No one need know from where the invitation came. 

-- Dr. Gerard Toups
    Principal



Calendar for the Week

Thursday, February 2
Vocations Day
Religion Fair
Home & School Meeting @ 6:30
Re-Registration Continues

Friday, February 3
Student Day
NO SCHOOL MASS
Spirit Dress
Mother Seton Nominations Due
Re-Registration Continues

Saturday, February 4
Quiz Bowl

Monday, February 6
8th Grade Cap & Gown Fittings
Re-Registration Continues

Wednesday, February 8
Midquarter - Remember to Check EDLINE
Re-Registration Continues

Thursday, February 9
Reconciliation Grade 6
Group Pictures (in uniforms)
8th Grade Cap & Gown Pictures
Re-Registration Continues

Friday, February 10
Mass @ 8:30 - All are invited to attend.
Spirit Dress
Adopt-a-Child Collection
Re-Registration Ends
Mother Seton Ballots Due
Krewe of Crusaders Parade @ 1:00

Tuesday, February 14
Valentine's Day 
Wear Red Shirts with Spirit Dress $1.00

Friday, February 17
Mass @ 8:30 - All are invited to attend.
Spirit Dress
Cheer Clinic Registrations Due
Wild West Spring Fest T-shirt Order Forms Due FAIR T-SHIRT
Wild West Spring Fest Sponsorships Due 

See more plans for the year at CALENDAR

Distinguished Graduate 2011-2012

Representative Steve Pugh visits with the current Eighth Grade Class during his visit of the school last Monday.

St. Joseph School is proud to announce Stephen Edmund Pugh, SJS class of 1975, as our 2012 Distinguished Graduate.

Our Distinguished Graduate said his Catholic education gave him a strong foundation on which to build his future, develop his personal ethic, and prepare for life's highs and lows.

He is now the Louisiana State Representative for District 73 and serves the community and church in numerous ministries.

Pugh said he has been able to bring Catholic values into the community and world by "promoting my Catholic education, beliefs, and faith to the public through my Christian work ethic, kind spirit, and Christ-like actions".

Pugh is a member of the Ponchatoula Kiwanis and Tangipahoa Volunteer Council on Aging and serves at St. Albert the Great Church in Hammond as extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. He is a member of the administration and liturgical committees and the 50th Anniversary Committee at St. Albert and as an advisor to the pastor. He has also been involved in the Strawberry Festival in Ponchatoula.

After attending St. Joseph, he graduated from Ponchatoula High School and Southeastern Louisiana University's College of Financial Planning.

He and his wife Liz have two sons, Stephen Edmund II and Christopher Jacob.

Re-Registration

In-house re-registration for the 2012-2013 school year is from February 1 until Friday, February 10.

A form for re-registering has been sent home. Please complete this form and return it with the registration fee for each child. 

A late fee will be charged for each registration (of anyone currently in the school) received after February 10.

This form is also to be used to inform the school of any siblings coming to St. Joseph next year. Space is tight in several grades, so it is necessary to let us know which children will return and where new siblings will be added. If you add a sibling on this form, a formal registration packet will be sent later for you to fill out. Registration fees for siblings should also be included with this form.

It is most important that this registration be returned whether or not your child is returning to St. Joseph. Returning this form reserves a place in the class for next year. Later in the month, the school will begin filling any unreserved places with new registration.

Thank you so much for your help with this process.

Religion Fair

Come view our Religion Fair on Thursday, Frebruary 2, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the gym.

Categories will be as follows:

PreK - Love One Another

Kindergarten - Showers of Love

First Grade - Baptism

Second Grade - Mosaic Sacraments

Third Grade - Mysteries of the Rosary

Fourth Grade - Art Masters

Fifth Grade - Sacrament Scrapbooks

Sixth Grade - Old Testament Dioramas

Seventh Grade - Tour-a-Church

Eighth Grade - Music Videos

Mother Seton Award

Nomination forms for the Mother Seton Award have been sent home. These are due in the office by Friday, February 3.

Criteria for Mother Seton is as follows:

The Mother Seton Award was created to honor those individuals whose volunteer service and dedication to home, school, and church has been exemplary. This individual should be recognized as an outstanding volunteer and cannot be a paid employee of the school. Strong Catholic values and a selfless dedication to Catholic schools should be manifest in the honoree chosen. The honoree should have at least three years involvement in the SJS Catholic school community and be an active member of his/her church parish.

• Diocesan Home & School Association dues have been paid.
• Nominee is a current (dues paying if applicable) member of the local home and school organization.
• Nominee is a volunteer.
• Nominee has been an active Home & School volunteer for at least three years.
• Nominee espouses Gospel values and emulates the qualities of Elizabeth Ann Seton.
• An individual may receive this award more than once IF presented by a different school.
• Nomination is made by the Home & School Association with the approval of the school principal. 

Ballots with names of nominees who fit the above criteria will be sent home next Wednesday. Thank you for your help suggesting nominees for this most important award.

Home & School

Dear Parents, 

It is that time of year again. Fair preparations are in full swing. The next fair committee meeting will be announced at the next Home and School meeting. The next Home and School general meeting is scheduled for this Thursday, February 2nd, at 6:30 p.m. in the gym. We will be discussing several upcoming fund raising events. Also on the agenda are several expenditures we would like you input on. 

Fair packets were sent home last week in the Wednesday packet. The fair dates are March 23-25, 2012. The parent work schedule for the fair will be the same as last year. The schedule will be forwarded to all room moms in the near future. 

Raffle tickets for the fair will be going home on Wednesday February 1. Extra tickets will be available in the office sometime next week. Make sure to mark envelopes with your child’s name and class, when returning tickets. This will ensure proper credit is given for individual and class prizes. We are raising the stakes this year on the individual prizes. We will be announcing them to the students on Wednesday February 1st at assembly. 

Also coming up is Strawberry parking. This is one of our top fund raising events, after the fair. 

Please remember, this is YOUR Home and School. We hope to see everyone at the next meeting and the upcoming events. 

Sincerely,
John Falcon, President
Home and School Association

Cheerleaders Clinic & Kickin' It for Kids

St. Joseph Cheerleaders will be hosting their annual mini cheer clinic for St. Joseph students in PreK - 4th grades on Saturday, March 10, from 9:30-1:00 (with a performance @ 12:30), in the St. Joseph gym.

Cost is $25 and includes a t-shirt and ribbon. Participants will learn a cheer, dance, cheer techniques, and jumps. 

Participants should bring their own lunch and drink, but snacks will be provided.

The form was sent home February 1. Please return it by Friday, February 22.

******* Congratulations to our SJS Cheerleaders! In a very close competition, the girls earned the second place trophy for the Kickin' It for Kids competition over the weekend. Our girls donated $400 to the event. Way to go, Crusader Cheerleaders!

Wild West Spring Fest

T-SHIRT ORDERS DUE FEBRUARY 17!
The shirt cost will be $13.00 for all sizes. 
The t-shirt design is pictured above.
The order deadline - with NO exceptions - is February 17. 
All orders are final.
Students will be able to wear the Spring Fest t-shirts every Friday in March before the Spring Fair. 
Order forms have been sent home to every school family, or they be downloaded at FAIR T-SHIRT.
Please use a single check made out to St. Joseph H&S.

WEEKEND RIDE PASS ORDER DUE MARCH 16!
The Spring Fair Committee is pleased to announce the return of GoldStar Amusements as our ride company.
 
We will again have PAY ONE PRICE ALL WEEKEND pass. The pass will be good for the entire fair (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). These bracelets will be $50.00 each. If you bought every session during the fair individually, it would cost $100. That's half price off the individual session bands!!!

We are pre-selling ONLY the ALL WEEKEND passess until Friday, March 16. You will be able to redeem your voucher anytime during the fair, but a special line will be set up on Friday from 5:00-6:00 p.m. where the voucher can be redeemed early. We are NOT pre-selling the individual ride sessons.

Make your check payable to St. Joseph H&S.

Order forms have been sent home with every school family. Extra order forms are available in the school office. Order forms may also be downloaded at RIDE PASS.


Picture This

Order forms for class pictures have been sent home today. This is a pre-paid program. An 8x10" class portrait costs $12.00 and is payable to Barberito Photographers. 

Pictures will be taken on Thursday, February 9. Students are to wear regular school uniforms. They should also be in their SJS sweatshirts.

Eighth grade cap and gown pictures will be taken the same day. Information for this picture has been sent home with the eighth grade students.

Prospective Parents' Names

Now's the time we ask parents of current St. Joseph students to suggest names of parents of prospective students so that we may send them invitations to our Open House on February 27.

At the Open House, these parents of prospective students can tour the school, see classes in session, meet the faculty, and ask questions about all that St. Joseph has to offer their children.

It's very easy to send names so that the school can mail invitations. Just fill out the form sent home today or click on PARENTS OF PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS FORM, provide the needed information, and send the form to the school office.

We thank you for helping spread the word about St. Joseph School.

January Crusaders

Congratulations to our January Crusaders:

Mini-Crusader - Abigail LeSaicherre (2nd grade)

Crusader - Aschlen Harborth (5th grade)

Students of the Year

Congratulations to Katelyn McKneely (8th grade) and Thomas Casey (5th grade), our 2011-2012 Students of the Year.

The Student of the Year Program is designed to recognize outstanding elementary, middle, and high school students. The program is sponsored by the Louisiana State Superintendent through the State Department of Education and the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

These students are recognized for outstanding academic achievement, leadership ability, and citizenship. 

Seven St. Joseph students were nominated for this honor. They spent their Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays compiling a  25-page portfolio which included a biographical sketch and a data sheet highlighting the student's activities, service involvement, recognitions, and awards. 

A committee of St. Joseph teacher had the arduous task of choosing only one fifth grade student and one eighth grade student.

Other nominees qualifying for the award were: Eighth Graders Scott Dufreche and Katelyn McKneely, and Fifth Graders Justin Hutches, Peyton LeSaicherre, and Chase Mack.

An outstanding job was done by all. We thank everyone for their participation.

Geography Bee Winner

Congratulations to sixth grade Olivia Maurer, the SJS National Geographic Geography Bee winner. Olivia will now move on to take the written qualifying test which will be sent off for scoring. If she scores high enough, Olivia will go on to the state competition.

Second place finishers in our local bee were Maria Guay in fourth grade who tied with Brrennan Currier in sixth, followed by Cheyanne Hartman, fourth grade.

Congratulations to all of our finalists!

Christmas Card Winner

St. Joseph School is very proud of Lauren McKneely, eighth grade, for her wonderful Christmas card. Lauren's original creation took first place in a diocesan-wide contest. Her design was made into the offical Christmas card for the Catholic Schools Office of the Diocese of Baton Rouge. Dr. Melanie Verges, Superintendent, came to St. Joseph's to personally present the award to Lauren. 

This is the second year Lauren's cards have been used as the St. Joseph School official Christmas card. 

The original artwork is framed and displayed in the school office.

Tailgating

Report from the Mother/Son Tailgating Party Committee:

Tthe Mother/Son Event was a HUGE success!!!  We had about 160 people at the event.  The gym looked great decorated like tail-gating.  Wendy LeSaicherre took pictures outside on the back of a truck for a true tailgating effect.  The boys seemed to have a great time!  Like true boys they left the moms for football, basketball and holy board.  We did have some competitions between the mothers and sons which was a great touch.   We had plenty of food and drinks and even donated the leftovers to the Serenity House.  We collected a total of $2100. Our expenses were $850.59.  That has left a profit of $1,249.41!!!  We are so HAPPY to be able to donate that to the school. 

I would like to thank the entire committee for making the event a huge success.  Without the help of those on the committee the event would not have turned out so nice.  Additionally, I would like to thank the following companies who donated goods/services to the event:  J&J Inflatables for donating the inflatables, Rapid Medical Weight Loss-donating the invitations, Crescent Crowne for donating the Saints Bottled Water and Abita Rootbeer, WalMart for donating a chicken tender tray and sandwich tray and Papa Johns for giving us a discount on the pizzas.  Thank you to everyone for helping make this event a success!

Pictures will be delivered through the Wednesday Packet in mid-February.

Community News

CROP CELEBRATION
On February 3-4, Crop Celebration will be hosting its Fifth Annual Scrapbooking Event held in Hammond. 

Crop Celebration is a scrapbooking event held to raise money for the Restoration Resource Pregnancy Center (Restoration House) that is located in Hammond. The Crop has vendors, silent auctions, door prizes and "big ticket" raffle items. Participants can buy food from a caterer, take classes, shop, and create. 

The Restoration House is a non-profit organization which relies solely upon donations. It costs $250 per DAY to keep the Restoration House operational. They receive no government funding because if they did, they would not be able to share the message of God with each and every client that walked through their doors. 

To find out more about this organization, please visit www.resthse.org. EVERY SINGLE penny made from Crop Celebration goes directly to the Restoration House! To date, Crop Celebration has raised over $25,000! Think about how many babies' lives were saved! 

If you or anyone you know would like to register for this event, please visit www.cropcelebration.com. If you would like any further information on how to get involved with this event or how to get involved with the Restoration House, please feel free to email Jeri Bankston at jpbankston@bellsouth.net.

 

PONCHATOULA YOUTH BASEBALL/SOFTBALL
Walk-in registration for youth baseball/softball will be held each Saturday in February from 9:00-noon.

The final registration will be Saturday, March 3, from 9:00-noon at the Recreation Park Gymnasium on Hoover Road. (NOT the Community Center)

 Forms received after March 3rd will be put on a waiting list and will contacted if a spot becomes available.

 The registration fee for boys baseball for ages 9-19 is $75.00

 The registration fee for T-ball, Coach Pitch, and Softball for ages 5-18 is $60.00.

 Registration forms are available in the SJS office.

Title I Parent Center Parent Activities

Title I Parent Center Parent Activities 2012

Note:
Individual consultations are given daily to parents seeking guidance in improving their children’s academic skills.

Call 985-429-9043 for more information. Limited seating in computer lab sessions.

February 3 9:00 – 11:00
Introduction to Excel
Technology Dept. Lab
Technology Resource Teacher
Hammond Jr. High

February 10 9:00 – 11:00
Excel Basics
Technology Dept. Lab
Technology Resource Teacher
Hammond Jr. High 

February 17 9:00 – 11:00
Introduction to PowerPoint
Technology Dept. Lab
Technology Resource Teacher
Hammond Jr. High

February 24 9:00 – 11:00
PowerPoint Basics
Technology Dept. Lab
Technology Resource Teacher
Hammond Jr. High

March 2 9:00 – 11:00
Introduction to Publisher
Technology Dept. Lab
Technology Resource Teacher
Hammond Jr. High

March 9 9:00 – 11:00
Publisher Basics
Technology Dept. Lab
Technology Resource Teacher
Hammond Jr. High

May & June Summer Workbooks PreK to K through Gr. 7 to 8

Note:
Individual consultations are given daily to parents seeking guidance in improving their children’s academic skills.

Call 985-429-9043 for more information. Limited seating in computer lab sessions.

Parish News

Personnel
Rev. John Dominic Sims, O.P. - Pastor
Rev. Cayet Mangiaracina, O.P. - Parochial Vicar
Rev. J.D. Logan, O.P. - In Residence
Larry J. Melcanon - Deacon 

Weekend Mass Schedule
Saturday Vigil Mass - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday Mass - 8:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 5:00 p.m.

Contact Information
Address - 255 North 8th Street (P.O. Box 368), Ponchatoula, LA 70454
Phone - 985.386.3749
Website - www.stjosephsonline.com

 
ST. JOSEPH ALTAR SAINTS
The St. Joseph Altar Committee is looking for children (grades 3-12) to play the role of saints for St. Joseph Altar. The Altar will be held on March 18. The children will be asked to participate in the rosary procession, Mass, and feeding of the saints.

Children must furnish their own costumes. A short practice will be held on Monday, March 12, at 6:00 pm in the gym. 



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