“Our teachers never stop learning!” our Holy Family Catholic Academy Principal Kate O’Brien proudly proclaimed at our Pastor’s Leadership Team meeting this past week. This is just one more thing that makes our Academy unique. I want to thank Kate and our Assistant Principal, Laura Clark, and all of our faculty and staff for their continued openness to learn. I am also confident that our students pick up on this as well, and the result is a positive and inquiring learning environment.
The enrollment at our Academy is now at 510 students and we continue to grow, particularly in the pre-school and younger grades. This year we have accomplished a significant goal as we now have two classes in each grade from 1-8. Remember, we welcome children as young as 2 years old, another unique factor for a Catholic school. We build our curriculum around critical thinking and problem-solving skills, two things that the business community told the education community were needed for success in many fields. This type of curriculum is called “inquiry based” and continues to be an example for many schools, Catholic and non-Catholic. We also structure upper grades around the STEM model, an acronym standing for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Way back in the dark ages when I was in school it was the three R’s—Reading, ’Riting and ’Rithmatic. That acronym was obviously phonetic and not based on correct spelling.
Holy Family Catholic Academy also moves even closer to final accreditation as an International Baccalaureate school which brings additional world-wide concepts and values to our Catholic faith-based learning. When you put all of these things together, they create an environment of enthusiastic learners who combine Catholic social teaching principles, a rich sacramental theology, and a prayerful experience with cutting edge education. We are very proud of the diverse and creative ways that our children at HFCA integrate learning about our world with their faith in God, sometimes in a seamless manner and often throughout the day.
I can talk a lot about our Academy as I can about all of the education endeavors that express one of the key tenants of our mission – life-long learning – but the best way for you to appreciate these things is to visit our Academy during the Open House this Sunday from 10:00-11:00am, anytime during this coming six days of our annual Catholic Schools Week, or by contacting Deb Atkins at the Academy to arrange a tour anytime.
I feel it is important, once again, to emphasize that our parish does not subsidize the Academy with cash as about 95% of other Catholic parishes in the United States do, but I encourage ALL of you to embrace the faith-filled, quality education that the Academy provides through very dedicated teachers who we can’t come close to properly compensating as far as salary goes. They, like so many others throughout our major ministering communities, are ministering here because they love Holy Family and they love our children.
I would like to ask all of you for help. Please assist us in reducing the random flyers, brochures and leaflets and other paraphernalia that seems to so often find a home in our Narthex. Part of being Catholic is the attitude that “here comes everyone,” and although we want to continue to be welcoming, there has to be some basic policy on this matter because, if not, the result is chaos. If you have information that you would like to circulate about an event, ministry or activity, PLEASE BRING ONE COPY TO THE FRONT DESK. One of our office staff will make sure that a Director in the area that it falls under will see it, and as Directors we will review it for display. Thank you for your cooperation and consideration.
Our 2017 Gala is fast approaching. Please plan on attending Saturday, February 25 at the Meadows Club in Rolling Meadows. This is an event that began as exclusively benefitting our Academy and my vision was that it become a fun fund raiser for the ENTIRE Holy Family community. More and more of the proceeds from the Gala benefit parish activities and are available upon request from any ministry. Please come to the Gala. Catch our lively and passionate spirit. Meet new members of both the Academy and parish. Please consider supporting our Family, Teen and Adult Faith communities in addition to the Academy.
You can support the Gala in several ways:
- Come to the event
- Get friends to come and join you, preferably non-parishioners, so we can show them the vibrant Holy Family Spirit and have a lot of fun
If you can’t attend:
- Donate to the very successful “Wine and Dine” $25 Bottle of Wine/ $25 Gift Certificate from local restaurants – bring these items to the front office
- Help set up the day before at Meadows Club in Rolling Meadows between 10am-2pm or take down after the event from 11pm-1am (college kids encouraged!) – contact Andrea Farrell at acfarrell@comcast.net
- Many auction items are ideal for multiple families or groups of couples to arrange to bid on ahead of time – more info to come to help you plan for this
- Offer to purchase a ticket for a staff member, teacher or catechist who might not be able to afford a ticket
Welcome to Holy Family. We are in this together. The THIS is the Gala!