December Parent eNotes

Upcoming Events and News

Important Dates

  • Wednesday, December 19- Late Start
  • Thursday, December 20- Christmas Concert, 7:00pm
  • Friday, December 21- Christmas Concert Reprise, 12:00 noon
  • Friday, December 21- Early Release Day
  • Monday, December 24- School Office Closed
  • Tuesday, December 25- School Office Closed
  • Wednesday, December 26- School Office Closed
  • Monday, December 31- 8th Grade Application Deadline
  • Monday, December 31- School Office Closed
  • Tuesday, January 1- School Office Closed
  • Wednesday, January 2- School Resumes
  • Wednesday, January 9- Late Start
  • Monday, January 14- 2nd Quarter Ends
  • Tuesday, January 15- Mid-Year Exams Begin
  • Monday, January 21- Martin Luther King Day, No School
  • Tuesday, January 22- Winterterm Begins

Snow day reminder If poor weather or travel conditions force us to cancel or delay school, that announcement is made public as early as possible. In most cases the information is on the radio, television and the St. Thomas website by 6:00 a.m. A complete list of stations is included in the handbook. If our school opening is delayed, the delay is always two hours; buses run two hours later than usual and advisor period begins at 10:00 a.m. (Students are happy to know that delayed opening days are automatic dress-down days!)

Bus transportation during Midyear Assessment and Winterterm Morning buses will run one hour later than usual during Midyear Assessment and Winterterm Weeks; school begins at 9:00 a.m. both weeks. Afternoon buses will depart at 1:30 p.m. during Assessment Week and at 2:20 p.m. during Winterterm Week. Please note that special attendance rules apply during these weeks as outlined in the student handbook.

Music Notes
Special Christmas Invitation to Alumni to Perform All St. Thomas music alumni are invited to perform with us at the St. Thomas Christmas Concert on Thursday, December 20th at 7 PM. Every four years, Handel's Messiah is a part of the STA Christmas, and we know that many people know the songs well. Chorus and select choir alumni are invited to join with the current select choir to sing "Glory to God." Band alumni can join us in playing the Hallelujah chorus. We even have our very own string section joining us! ALL singers (including audience members) are invited to perform the grand finale, the Hallelujah chorus. Bring your own music of you have it, or ask for it at the door when you come in. No group rehearsal is necessary -we trust you have not lost your skills- but we do hope to at least run through the numbers with you once before the concert- come early to practice with us! Please feel free to pass this message along to anyone who might not get it. Hope to see you!

Special Christmas Invitation to Grandparents We realize our evening concerts are sometimes a challenge for our grandparents to attend. In order to show our appreciation for STA supporters who are grandparents, we extend a special invitation to them to attend our abbreviated afternoon "encore" concert the day after our evening concert on Friday, December 21st. Grandparents are welcome to join us for a small reception and refreshments beginning at 11:00 AM followed by the concert at 12:00 PM. We have special reserved seating available, but space is limited as this concert is attended by our entire student body. Please pass the word along about this option for those who prefer to travel during the day, but would still love to share in the music of Christmas with the STA community. Of course, all are still welcome to attend the evening performance on Thursday 12/20 at 7 PM as well. Contact Anne Fortin for details and to RSVP.

ALL STATE ACCEPTANCES Congratulations to NINE St. Thomas musicians who were accepted into All State this year! We have representatives in all 4 All State groups. Ashley Puffer will be playing violin in the All State orchestra, Michela Marsh and Rachel Ness will be singing in the All State women's chorus, Tim Cilley, Robert Gaudette, Kerry McNamara and Ben Vaughan will be singing in the All State chorus, and Kirk Benson will be playing trumpet and Katelyn Emerson will be playing flute in the All State band. Nice work! Tim Cilley, Katelyn Emerson and Kayla Glovinski's score (on saxophone) also qualified them for the All State chamber music festival on January 12th, 2008. Here, students get an opportunity to play in small groups such as a flute quintet or saxophone quartet instead of the large bands and choirs at all state. It should be noted that Tim Cilley had the highest overall bass voice score in the state for the second year in a row, and that Ben Vaughan and Tim Cilley will both be receiving the prestigious 4-year award at the festival in April. Fewer than half a dozen students each year receive this award for having qualified for All State all four years while in high school, and this year two St. Thomas students will be among them. Bravo!

Advancement

Aquinas Fund We are grateful for the many gifts received to date and with the 2007 calendar year coming to an end we know many donors may wish to meet that deadline. All families with the exception of those new to our school community have now received the appeal mailing and we need the support of all to achieve our Aquinas Fund goal of $440,000!

Fall Phonathon Thank you to our Student Ambassadors for participating in the recent Fall Phonathon to benefit the St. Thomas Aquinas Fund. Participation from the Student Ambassadors has been tremendous, and the students gained valuable experience and useful skills while serving the school community. The student callers were nervous to start, but by the end of the evening many of them wanted to participate another night! The student callers enjoyed engaging with parents and alumni, and they found the calls to be very rewarding. We are very proud of our Student Ambassadors.

All That Jazz, Annual Gala Auction & Dinner Save-the-date! Saturday, March 29, 2008 at the New England Center, UNH, Durham, NH. The event will follow the same format as our auction did last year, with a silent auction, a mini-live auction, raffles, a sit down dinner and a live auction. NEW THIS YEAR- in early March we will hold an on-line auction, filled with items that will go up for bid and close prior to the night of the live event. We look forward to this online auction, as it allows our entire community ( alumni, friends and neighbors ) into the auction fun! Stay tuned for more details!

CAST (Community Association of St. Thomas) Stay tuned for details of the Winter Coffee hosted by CAST.

Guidance

Parents of Seniors The guidance department is aware that this is a hectic and often stressful time for seniors and their parents. To date over 600 transcript packets have been mailed to colleges and universities across the country. Packets include the high school transcript (with final grades for grades 9 through 11 and first term grades for senior year), a high school profile and both counselor and teacher recommendations. Some early college acceptances have already been received. Every year we have come to anticipate extra calls to college admissions offices to verify that they have received packets that have been mailed. As thousand of documents arrive daily at college admissions offices, it is not uncommon for students to receive notice from a college that something is missing. If this is the case, please let Mrs. Karwowski know so that she may check with the college/university directly. Rest assured that the majority of the time records have been received but are yet to be filed or scanned into the college's computer system. If the guidance staff can help in any way please let us know! The first of two Financial Aid Workshops was held this month. If you were unable to attend but would like materials, please send your student to Mrs. Karwowski's office.

Parents of Juniors In December Mrs. Kane met with juniors in their English classes. This is the second of three classroom visits scheduled throughout the year. At this session, we continued to discuss early college planning including essays, resumes, recommendation letters and SAT registration. PSAT score reports were distributed along with each student's actual test. These reports are excellent study aids for the SAT as they clearly define student's strengths and weaknesses. A number of additional informative handouts for both students and parents were distributed. Also, if you missed the 11th Grade College Admissions Process meeting on November 15, please feel free to contact Mrs. Kane and she will send the appropriate materials home with your son/daughter.

Parents of Sophomores Over the next two weeks Mrs. Granger will meet with sophomores to distribute and explain the results of the PLAN (Pre-ACT) Exam. Each student will receive his/her test result form, a booklet explaining the results, and a copy of the test booklet to allow for reference to questions missed on the test to guide future study. We recommend that you sit down with your daughter or son and go over the information, and please don't hesitate to get in touch with Mrs. Granger if you have questions or observations. Congratulations to Elizabeth Clark who was selected to attend the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) seminar in the spring.

Parents of Freshmen Now that Mr. Lloyd has been able to hold introductory meetings with each member of the Class of '11, he is beginning to work more specifically with individual students who have shown a need to improve study skills and organizational work. A second round of meetings with all students will commence to look at the classes that are available for the sophomore year, and beyond. In order to facilitate that discussion, some focus on careers and career/interest education will precede those sessions.