“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)
In this week’s newsletter you will read about Open enrollment, the volleyball and Track seasons, March Playground Angels always needed, Faith Community Scholarships are due today, pictures for sale of students, Mother’s Day Hanging Baskets for sale, the saint of the week, PTC movie in March, Yearbook committee is collecting pictures, Pizza Day coming on Monday, Dress Uniform for Thursday Mass, Kids Heart Challenge in P.E., Soup Supper for students, Mozart’s Requiem Concert this weekend, Dennis Uniforms to order, employment opportunities, Upcoming events and much more!
Thank you for reading.
“The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain.”
St. Padre Pio
Remember Mass and Dress Uniform tomorrow (Thursday, March 16th)
“Protecting God’s Children” is now offered online with flexible participation!
If you are new to the school or were not able to complete “Protecting God’s Children” to volunteer for the school, there is a new and more convenient way to complete this.
They are now offering an online, asynchronous (you can complete on your own time) version that takes approximately 90 minutes to complete. Visit https://www.virtusonline.org/ and create a login by using Seattle, WA (Archdiocese of Seattle) as your location. From there, go to “Current Training” and scroll to the bottom of the classes offered to find “Protecting God’s Children for Adults (Online Training).
We hope this provides a greater opportunity for families to meet their volunteer hours. Email Angie King at aking@assumption.school if you have additional questions.
Fairhaven Program for 9th and 10th Grades
Donald Antenen is the founder of a new program in Bellingham for 9th and 10th graders that he is promoting at middle schools around town: www.fairhavenprogram.org. He started the program to fill the gap between 8th grade and Running Start for families in Whatcom County who want alternatives to public school. It combines the classics, mathematics, local native history, and botany with the goal of cultivating self-directed learners. See the attached flyer to find out more.
Whatcom Hospice- Free Summer Camp for Children’s Grief Support
We wanted to share with you a new opportunity for children in our community. This year Whatcom Hospice is starting a grief camp for children ages 6-12. It will be an overnight camp in August, Camp Kaleidoscope, for children who have experienced the death of a significant person. We are hoping to add space for teenagers in the future years.
Attached is information for Camp Kaleidoscope including a cover letter, Flyer with Frequently Asked Questions on the back and an application. Please reach out if you or families have any additional information as Whatcom Hospice would be happy to share more about the camp.
Contact Louine “Lulu” Verneuil, LICSW at 360-733-5877
Cover letter and flyer here.
Spring Cleanup For School and Church
Please add to your calendars- Saturday, March 25th, 9:30-11:30 for a spring work party at Assumption Catholic School, hosted by parishioners, Janis Jacobs and Jan Ochs. Here is a chance to earn school volunteer hours, meet other parents, and beautify our campus grounds. Some gardening tools will be provided along with cookies and water. All ages are welcome, and please bring leaf rakes and your children can help fill the bags. This is happening in rain or shine as the fallen leaves and debris need assistance getting into bags! Don’t forget your gloves.
Faith Community Scholarships
Faith Community Scholarship applications are now live on the school’s website at
Faith Community Scholarship Application PDF 23-24.pdf
Please fill out the editable pdf online and submit by email to theoffice@assumption.school or complete the paper copy and return it in the Wednesday Envelope on or before March 15th.
Decisions will be communicated by Friday, March 31st.
If you need additional clarification or would like to review the information about assistance and scholarships, please view this week’s video with the State of the School slides from February 8th or watch the Zoom recording from February 21st including a Q&A with some of our families here.
The passcode is: a@NjPU8t
General Admission Open
We’re thrilled to have so many returning families and blessed with great interest from new ones again for next year. We already have wait lists for kindergarten and third grade, but some space available in other classes. Share with your friends and family!
Interested parents can contact Dayna Dennis directly for more information: ddennis@assumption.school or call 360-733-6133. Thank you for supporting Assumption’s mission!
PLAYGROUND ANGELS ARE NEEDED!
Keep plugging away at your volunteer hours by signing up to be a Playground Angel. Our children’s safety is a top priority! Thank you for your help in keeping recess fun and safe!
Green and White Day- No School Mass on Friday, March 17th
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, Assumption Catholic School has a tradition of dressing in green and white clothes. Please remember to follow the school free dress policy yet have fun with it. Link to uniform policy here. Remember there is no school Mass on Friday since it was moved to Thursday this week.
KIDS HEART CHALLENGE
Dear Families – Kids Heart Challenge has officially kicked off, and we are so excited to Be the Torch in the fight against heart disease and stroke! We are encouraging all our families to sign up and learn the lifesaving skill of Hands-Only CPR. Visit our school page at http://www2.heart.org/goto/Assumption or download the Kids Heart Challenge app to register. Thank you for all your HEART work supporting our school and the American Heart Association!
If you have any questions about how to sign up or have trouble creating an account, please reach out to our parent coordinator Sarah Robinson at fergygirl2001@yahoo.com.
Mother’s Day Hanging Baskets!!!
Just in time to celebrate the moms in your life!)
We are excited to partner with Van Wingerden Greenhouses to offer premium 12” hanging baskets with several varieties of baskets to choose from at pick up.
Since 1980, Van Wingerden has a well-known reputation for growing the most beautiful hanging baskets in the Pacific Northwest.
Pick up Dates: May 5th and 6th Pick up Times TBD closer in May
Questions? Please email Lynette Machinski (lynette_machinski@yahoo.com)
This fundraiser will support Assumption’s Class of 2023!
Orders due by March 31! See flyer in your Wednesday envelope Today!
CO-CURRICULAR PROGRAMS
Volleyball Season Schedule
Thank you to Mrs. Whelan for coaching our middle school teams. The volleyball season is now over and will celebrate with an end of year lunch.
Track and Field
Practices will begin on Monday, March 20th, after school. If you have any questions please call the office or contact Mr. Costanza at mcostanza@assumption.school
Meet schedule to come soon.
Dennis Uniform Information
The Nation's Leading School Uniform Provider | DENNIS Uniform
Its that time of year to be thinking about ordering for the fall. DENNIS Uniform is the #1 school uniform provider in the USA. We offer custom uniform programs with polos, jumpers, skirts and more to schools Pre-K – 12. Here are two flyers with information on how to order online. Flyer ways to Shop. And another flyer how to shop online.
PTC CONNECTIONS
***Lights, Camera, Action!
MOVIE NIGHT is coming Saturday, March 25th. Admission is free to see Turbo!
Concessions will be available (no pizza this time). Doors will open at 6:30 and the movie starts at 7pm. Kids can bring blankets or sleeping bags and spread out on mats on the gym floor.
Parents need to remain at the event with their children, and are welcome to bring camp chairs, but gym chairs will also be set up.
There is also a need for help at the movie night. Please use this link for signing up.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4CA5AA23A1FEC25-movie1
***Missoula Children’s Theater is coming to Assumption May 1-6!
This is a great opportunity for all students to take part in a live theater production of Rumpelstiltskin!
We are looking for one family who is willing to host one of the wonderful MCT directors in your home for the week. It’s a great opportunity for your child(ren) to hear what it’s like behind the scenes of production and you are doing a great service for a well-loved event. Bonus of 10 volunteer hours! If you are interested in getting more information please contact Tia Entrikin, our volunteer coordinator. duttontia@gmail.com.
Yearbook Committee collecting Photos!
Greetings to all families! If you have taken photos from the beginning of the year including first day of school and throughout the year of your children, we would love to compile them for the yearbook! If you have sibling photos, too, send them our way!
Please… Please send them in jpeg format to ACSyearbookphotos@gmail.com
Thank you from the Yearbook Committee!
Kelly Segel & Emily Hoza
Pizza Order Forms are Here!
This means that Monday is a Pizza Lunch Day. Please fill out and return those forms into the office by Friday @ 3pm. Also note that the form is new, and it covers all the remaining pizza lunch days, five in total for the rest of the year.
We order all the pizzas on Friday for lunch on Monday. Thank you for helping get the correct order of food.
OTHER NEWS
Lenten Information
Lenten Resolution – Daily Mass or Exposition or Stations of the Cross?
Check out your local parish times on Fridays during lent.
Employment Opportunities at School
Four vacancies for next school year have been posted to the school’s website. Please refer people to this page for application information and job descriptions. The four postings include: Fifth Grade, Spanish K-5, Physical Education/EDP Director and Library Media Specialist. LINK HERE
Assumption School Lenten Soup Supper
You have an opportunity to earn parish or school volunteer hours! ACS will host the Lenten Soup Supper at the Church of the Assumption on Friday, 3/31 starting at 5:00 pm with set-up, and we would love to get some help from families and students. We need about 14 volunteers to take a two-hour shift. Let’s share our students’ Lenten projects and journeys with the parish community. See flyer here!
As a bonus, there will be lots of delicious homemade soup and bread! Please sign up using the link below.
Sign-up link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050444A9AC23A3FF2-331
If anyone has any questions, please email Angie Huynh at Huynh.graphic@gmail.com
MOZART’S REQUIEM at Assumption this weekend!
Concerts by Bellingham Chamber Chorale
Come hear this choral masterpiece in our church this weekend! Here is a small sample video of the performance. Click here.
Saturday, March 18th at 8:00 p.m. & Sunday, March 19th at 5:00 p.m. — The Bellingham Chamber Chorale conducted by Assumption’s Liturgy and Music Director and School Choir teacher Dr. Mabalot will present two performances of Mozart’s REQUIEM –- version for soloists, choir, and four hands piano by Carl Czerny. The concerts will feature voice professors from WWU and UW as their soloists. Tickets are available here: https://www.bellinghamchamberchorale.org/tickets
OR you can also purchase them at the door before each concert. Student tickets are only $10! General Admission is $25. All are welcome!
Auction pictures of students are for sale
On the wall near the office and in a nearby box, you can find portraits of your children for sale. Come and see how great your kids look in their school environment. Thank you to parent, Lee Eberhardt, for his photography throughout the year.
Priced at only $15.
WALKING WITH THE SAINTS
We hope that you will enjoy learning about how saints are a great example of holiness, strength, and courage one day at a time. Please remember that your name and guess of each week’s saint needs to be in by Tuesday afternoon. The drawing of all correct answers happens on Wednesday morning. Thank you to all the students submitting their answers.
Last week: St. Thomas Aquinas
Congratulations to Evelyn White!
New Saint: So many holy persons seem to die young. Among them was this saint, the patron of choirboys and juvenile delinquents.
Born in 1842 into a peasant family at Riva, Italy, he joined Saint John Bosco as a student at the Oratory in Turin at the age of 12. He impressed Don Bosco with his desire to be a priest and to help him in his work with neglected boys. A peacemaker and an organizer, this young boy founded a group he called the Company of the Immaculate Conception which, besides being devotional, aided John Bosco with the boys and with manual work. All the members save one, this young saint, would, in 1859, join Don Bosco in the beginnings of his Salesian congregation. By that time, this amazing saint had been called home to heaven.
As a youth, he spent hours rapt in prayer. His raptures he called “my distractions.” Even in play, he said that at times, “It seems heaven is opening just above me. I am afraid I may say or do something that will make the other boys laugh.” Then he would say, “I can’t do big things. But I want all I do, even the smallest thing, to be for the greater glory of God.”
Finally, his health, always frail, led to lung problems and he was sent home to recuperate. As was the custom of the day, he was bled in the thought that this would help, but it only worsened his condition. He died on March 9, 1857, after receiving the Last Sacraments. Saint John Bosco himself wrote the account of his life. He was only 15 years old.
Some thought that the young boy was too young to be considered a saint. Saint Pius X declared that just the opposite was true and went ahead with his cause. Dominic was canonized in 1954. His liturgical feast is celebrated on March 9th or 10th.
Who is this saint? ________________
UPCOMING CALENDAR ITEMS:
- March 16th – Thursday: Dress Uniform for School Mass 8:15am
- March 17th – St. Patrick’s Day/ GREEN AND WHITE DRESS DAY (No School Mass today)
- March 20th – Track and Field Begins AND Pizza Lunch Day!
- March 23rd – Thursday: Dress Uniform for School Mass 8:15am
- March 24th– No School Mass today
- March 25th – PTC Movie Night 7pm in the gym
- March 31st – 6th Grade Prayer in the Garden/7th Stations of the Cross 2pm and Lenten Soup Supper in the gym after Stations of the Cross at 6pm.
- April 3rd to 7th – Spring Break
- April 9th – Easter Day! Let us Rejoice and Be Glad!
- April 17th – Pizza Lunch Day
- April 17th – Principal’s Coffee Time @ 8am in the Library
- April 22nd– Father/Daughter Dance 7pm in the Gym
- April 23rd – 10am Mass with School Choir
- April 26/27th – Class picture Days