Dear Parishioners,
It has been an exciting summer getting ready for the opening of our IHM elementary school. Our Principal, Mrs. Kathy Friess always takes an initiative to meet with our faculty and staff on behalf of the Catholic elementary education for our 273 students and 13 children in Pre-K. She meets with the faculty and staff before school ends asking them to brainstorm as to how to make learning even better in the classroom for the next school year!
One result of that brainstorming last spring was to supply the school with more Chromebooks for more students throughout the school. We have had Chromebooks for the upper grades for several years and this was the year to add more for the student body.
Teachers went to work applying for grants. I was able to secure a private donation. With those grants and the private donation, we were able to procure 90 new Chromebooks and three charging carts! Students in our 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades are now fully equipped with their own individual chrome books and charging carts! Students in the third grade do have access to chrome books for their use, as well.
This is the way of education in these days and I need to make sure that technology is a priority in our annual IHM School budget. We have been doing that, (and our first three annual 5K’s assisted greatly for technology in the school) but, beyond that fundraiser, it is also necessary to seek alternate sources of funding for this purpose. Grants and private donations assist greatly in this priority, while at the same time helping to keep tuition affordable.
This is wonderful news!
Another academic opportunity for our fifth graders was brainstormed by the teachers with Kathy Friess and Jennifer Conti, Technology and Curriculum Integration Specialist. Fifth grade students are going to learn marketing and entrepreneurship this year! They will also enjoy a 21st century classroom experience with new desks, tables, and flexible alternative seating! They applied for a $10,000.00 grant from OHIO CATHOLIC FEDERAL CREDIT UNION and it was accepted!
Integral to this grant will be purchasing a silk-screening t-shirt and poster making machine which will be placed into the MARTHA A. MEADOWS MAKERSPACE. Students will design and create the T-shirts and posters for sale. Then they will learn how to “market” their goods while “saving” money to experience a business-like profit.
Lastly, ROOTED IN FAITH granted us $5,000.00 for SYSTEM VIRTUAL MACHINES or virtual reality headsets. Students across the curriculum can virtually go anywhere and experience learning in a completely “virtual” way. Amazing to me!
I learned reading, writing, and arithmetic in the 60’s and I turned out okay. Wonder what my world would have been like having had all these 21st century items way back then?!
Many blessings,
Father Jim