Upcoming Events

Important Dates

• April 5-Holy Thursday Prayer Service, Noon Dismissal
• April 6- Good Friday, No School
• April 8- Easter Sunday
• April 9- 4th Quarter Begins
• April 11- 12th Grade Parents Financial Aid night
• April 12-14- All State Music Festival
• April 19-21- Spring Musical
• April 23-27- Spring Recess, No School

2007-2008 St. Thomas Calendar

The 2007-2008 academic year calendar has been published, and is available for download as a PDF.

Senior Parents (that is, parents of students about to graduate) are reminded of the very important and mandatory meeting at 7:00 pm, Thursday, May 3 in the gymnasium. This evening will provide you with all the details concerning graduation, baccalaureate, senior retreat, last blast, senior week and all related end-of-high school events. Please plan to attend.

Eligibility for fall sports and extra curricular activities is determined by fourth marking term grades. Please work with your child to keep him/her eligible for the fall.

Parking

continues to be a crucial issue. Most days many of the cars arriving in the student lot contain only the driver. Please encourage carpooling and the use of the STA buses. Despite what you may have been told by your child, sophomores are not allowed to drive to school. This includes driving to and parking on nearby streets; the City of Dover enforces parking regulations nearby closely. Please enforce this rule. We have no room for these cars.

Spain Trip

The school trip this year will be to beautiful Spain. 30 students and 5 chaperones will leave Boston for Spain on Friday, April 20 to April 28. The Spain Trippers will visit the cities of Seville, Granada, Toledo, Segovia and Madrid where they will learn about the culture and all that Spain has to offer. This will be wonderful opportunity for Spanish students to practice speaking Spanish.

Performing Arts

Guys and Dolls Musical

If you walk through the halls and hear someone humming "I Love You - a Bushel and a Peck" or "Luck Be a Lady Tonight"...well, don't be surprised. Guys and Dolls, this year's spring musical, has people humming, singing and dancing all over the place, but especially on stage in the STA Gym. With its upbeat music and lively dance numbers, the show promises to be one of our best yet. It tells the story of a troop of New York City gamblers, who can't find a safe place for their illegal crap game, and the efforts of Sarah Brown and her struggling Save-a-Soul Mission to clean up the area around Times Square. When Sky Masterson, gambler extraordinaire, meets up with the prim Sister Sarah, and invites her on a date to Havana, things start to change for everyone. The results are hilarious and fun, with a little romance blossoming and saving souls. Directed by Kara Fitzgerald Russell ('99), assisted by Mrs. Marie Hardy and Mr. Daryl Robertson, Guys and Dolls, will open on Thursday April 19 and runs from Thursday through Saturday, starting at 7:30. Admission is $7.00 , with children 7 and under admitted free of charge. A Family Rate of $20 is available, and a three day pass costs $17. Come and enjoy the show!

Music Notes

New York City, here we come! 122 STA music students are busily preparing for a 5-day trip (April 24th -28th) to the Big Apple where they will be visiting and performing in such historic venues as Battery Park, Ellis Island, and the Cathedral of St. John the Devine. We will even attend mass and sing at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Each day, several of the eight different music groups will be performing, including a concert at a local public NYC school which lacks funding to bring in guest musicians. Students will also be attending hands-on workshops with Broadway performers and conductors, including coaching sessions and question and answer opportunities. We will be attending showings of "Beauty and the Beast" and an already sold-out performance of "Wicked." There will of course be time for sight-seeing and shopping as well. With any luck, we will even make a TV appearance on the CBS early show. Watch for us on Thursday, April 26 th! Contact Mr. Robertson for more details if you would like to make a donation or if you are planning to be in the city or would like to catch one of the performances. He can be reached at drobertson@stalux.org.

Congratulations to the following 5 STA musicians who successfully auditioned for All-State, they will take part in a three day festival in Concord on April 12 th, 13 th, and 14 th: Dane Grondin, (07) Woo-Jong Lim, (07) Timothy Cilley II, (08) Ben Vaughan, (08) and Katelyn Emerson, (10) All will be singing in the 160 voice All-State Choir. The concert begins at 4:30 on Saturday, April 14 th at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord . Special congratulations are in order for Timothy Cilley II whose score was high enough to earn him representing STA at the one-day chamber music festival that took place in Bow in January. Nice work, all!

A belated congratulations to Woo-Jong Lim, (07) Meghan McNamara, (07) Timothy Cilley II, (08) and Robert Gaudette (08) who participated in Jazz All State in February.

Guidance

Course Selections

Course selection for current ninth, tenth and eleventh graders will be all electronic this year. The process is currently being tested and nearly ready. Please check the front page of the St. Thomas Web Site for any updates indicating when students and parents can go online, view teacher recommendations and make final course selections. The deadline for turning in signed course sheets is April 16.

SAT Info

Friday, April 27 is the registration deadline for the June 2 SAT I or Subject Tests. You may register on-line at www.collegeboard.com. St. Thomas is not a test center for the June testing. This is the last opportunity to test before the fall.

SAT Questions?

Because the New SAT I incorporates a writing component, there is no longer an SAT II writing test. Therefore, colleges that traditionally required three SAT II Subject Tests (one of which was in writing), will now accept the new SAT I plus two other SAT II Subject Tests. Students in Grade 11 should see Mrs. Karwowski with further questions on SAT II requirements.

Parents of juniors

There is still plenty of time for parents of present juniors to schedule an appointment with Mrs. Karwowski to discuss college options and the admissions process.

AP Exams

Testing begins on Monday, May 7. Check your St. Thomas calendars for specific test dates. Please note that AP Exams will be administered at St. Mary's Parish Hall again this year. AP students will receive AP exam schedules with date, time, and location noted.

Attention class of 2008

Phillips Exeter Academy is hosting a College Fair in the Love Gymnasium on Tuesday, May 1 starting at 6:30 pm .

Rotary Youth Leadership

Sophomores are invited to apply for the Dover Rotary Club's Youth Leadership Award (RYLA). The conference will be held at Camp Hinds in Raymond , Maine beginning Sunday, June 24 and ending on Wednesday June 27, 2007 . Interviews will take place during the later part of April. Interested sophomores should see Mr. Lloyd for more information.

Summer Opportunities

Academic enrichment and skills development, pre-college programs, Military Academy Seminars, Girls State/Boys State week, and leadership workshops. Are you interested? There is a binder full of upcoming summer opportunities for students in grades 9, 10 and 11 located in the Guidance Conference Room. Also, beginning April 9 th, summer opportunities will be accessible via the school website under Guidance Resources.

Advancement

Aquinas Fund - 3 months left!

We are so appreciative of the many parents who have already made a commitment to this year's Aquinas Fund. We thank them and encourage all of our parents to participate. With only three months left to go, we have reached 69% of our goal of $420,000. It's obvious that we need the support of all our parents to reach this goal - no gift is too small and each gift has an impact on what we can provide for our students. If you haven't made a commitment to this year's appeal, please do so soon. Our appeal ends on June 30. If you would like to make your gift using a credit card, it's convenient to make your gift online at www.stalux.org/give or call the advancement office and we will gladly take your credit card information over the phone. Whichever way you choose to make your gift to St. Thomas, cash, check, or credit card - remember your gift does make a difference to our students.

Lights! Camera!! Auction!!!

It was a full house for our March 31 gala auction at the New England Center in Durham. Our volunteers had worked long and hard to make the evening fun and successful - thank you to all of you. One of the highlights of the evening was a special Fund-A-Need Appeal in support of our science lab renovations which will take place this summer. Thank you to everyone who committed to this project. The evening ended with just about everyone taking home something special from the auction as well as memories of a great evening in support of St. Thomas . Look for an update when we complete our final tallies.

Principals Coffee

Mark your calendars - the next Principal's Coffee will be held here at school on Friday, May 18, at 8:15 am. This is an informal open forum meeting with the principal and other school administrators and your opportunity to hear first hand what's happening on campus. Please join us for this popular event. Although an RSVP is not required, if you know that you will be attending, please contact Susan Dangremond in the Advancement Office by phone 603-742-3206 x 5241 or email her at sdangremond@stalux.org