Dear St. Monica Academy Families,

I hope this message finds you all well.

John 6:35 states, Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” I began with this verse because I think it is very fitting to use it to congratulate our 2nd grade students. On Saturday, our 2nd grade students celebrated the Eucharist for the first time. This was a monumental day in the lives of all of these students. One’s First Holy Communion is a memory that will last forever. Special mention and thanks must go out to our 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Angela Engquist, who had a tremendous role in preparing the students for this event.  Congratulations once again.  

Yesterday, Mrs. Pavlik’s St. Monica Academy performed their spring concert and did a wonderful job. I want to congratulate all the musicians, but especially the 8th grade students who are graduating out of this program and moving on to high school. Your hard work and dedication were clear to your audiences yesterday. Thank you for representing SMA with pride and being excellent always and everywhere. This is now a good time to share with rising 4th grade parents that 4th grade is the year we begin to offer this kind of instruction to students. Think about signing up for the 2024-2025 school year.   

We have some great news to report out. Over the weekend, several of our students traveled to Millikin University in Decatur, IL for the IJAS State Science Fair.  We had some exceptional results.

• In the State Paper Session certificates awarded to:
  • 7th Grade Student Julia Vogt (Gold)
  • 7th Grade Student Sophia Zayas (Gold)
• In the State Poster Session certificates awarded to:
  • 8th Grade Student Hazel Hillebrand (Silver)
  • 8th Grade Student Sephera Hutchinson (Gold)
  • 8th Grade Student Isabella Lobo (Gold)
  • 7th Grade Student Julia Vogt (Silver)
• In addition, Sephera Hutchinson and Isabella Lobo were nominated to compete in the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge 2024. They have a chance to showcase their research at the national level and compete for additional awards.
• Isabella Lobo received Second Place in Product/Consumer Science in the Junior Division and a $50 check from the Illinois Soybean Associations.  

These students, for all their efforts throughout the year, have made us all so very proud. They demonstrate to so many of us what it means to be a Mustang. I also want to thank our middle school science teacher, Mrs. Ronchi, for all her efforts with the science fair throughout the year.

We have some very important dates upcoming in May.  

• May Crowning on Friday, May 10th, all are welcome to join
• Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, our school will pray the Rosary together on Monday, May 13th at 1:00 p.m., this will be prayed as a living Rosary with our faculty, staff, and students leading each decade as we pray the decades aligned with the Joyful Mysteries. All are welcome to join.
• Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast is on Wednesday, May 22nd at 7:45 a.m. in the main school foyer
• Athletic Award Banquet is May 23rd
• Numerous field trips planned throughout the grade levels in the month of May, please reference the May and June calendar distributed last Wednesday in folders

8th grade specific activities include:

• Farewell Prayer Service and Student Council Induction Ceremony Thursday May 23rd at 1:00 p.m.  
• Graduation Dance will be on Wednesday, May 29th
• 8th Grade Graduation will be on Friday, May 31st at 7:00 p.m.

In other school news:

• Thank You. My team and I would like to thank you for all the kindness displayed to us during Teacher Appreciation Week. Of course, we realize there are several days left, but at this time, we wanted you all to know how truly appreciative we are of this generosity. We, too, relish being Mustangs.  
• SMA Garden Volunteers Needed. Tomorrow, Thursday May 9th at 6:00 p.m., Mrs. Price and Mrs. Petracco will be hosting an informational meeting for parents to discuss our need for volunteers related to the SMA gardens. We are looking for families to help care for our gardens over the summer without having to exclusively rely on faculty and staff. This is a great way to get involved in the community. In addition to this, this is a great way to get a jump on completing your volunteer hour requirement for the 2024-2025 school year. Some could get the full 15 hours completed before the school year even starts! Please consider joining our Gardening Team this summer, and this starts with tomorrow’s meeting with Mrs. Price and Mrs. Petracco.
• Summer Camp. Information was sent out several weeks ago. We have been collecting information sheets and will send out applications this week. There are still slots available. A nice thing about our Summer Program, “Mustang Mania”, is that although we have six weeks of activities planned, you can pick and choose which weeks your student(s) will attend. If you have interest, please contact one of the “Mustang Mania” team with a completed information sheet or application. Team members are: Gina Gamboa [email protected], Kristen Yedlinski  [email protected] and Sydney Garcia [email protected]
  • Mustang Mania Schedule 
• Dennis SMA Uniform Shop. Included in your Wednesday folders this week will be a flyer from Dennis Uniform. This flyer carries a QR code that can take you directly to the SMA page for uniforms. It includes the School Webstore Code:  GMONV. Of course, we will have our typical SMA uniform “hand-me-down” program in full effect for the 2024-2025 school year, so that is another option for our families. Details on the program will be forthcoming, but the Dennis SMA Shop is open now!
• New PE Uniforms Available. Visit the SMA Spirit Wear Store where not only is new merchandise available, but we have also added PE uniforms. These can be purchased as singles or bundles. We have tried to address the concerns of our parents regarding quality. I think these new uniforms will fit the needs of our students and their families. We do have a PE uniform requirement for St. Monica Academy. But, by no means are these new uniforms required for the 2024-2025 school year, the older ones can still be used. They are, however, heavily recommended.  
  • Shop SMA Spirit Wear & PE Uniforms
• School Supplies for Next Year. For the 2024-2025 school year, we have entered into an agreement with EPI School Supplies. This company provides schools with ready-made school supply packs for the upcoming school year. Please be on the look out for more information about these, as they will be available for purchase in each grade lookout choose to purchase school supplies through this new service, pick up will be during the 2024-2025 Family Pick Up date. The prices will vary between grades, but we have tried to keep them as low as possible while also providing quality supplies. We are trying this company out as a convenience for our families. We recognize that some parents and families enjoy shopping on their own for supplies, which is completely understandable. This will not be required. It is completely optional and again, it is meant to provide convenience to our families.    

Re-registration remains in progress. Earlier, we sent home re-registration forms and the tuition matrix for the 2024-2025 year. Also, and this is important, to ease the registration process, if you are re-registering one student, but will have a new student joining us in the building next year (a re-registration + a new registration in any form), please contact Mrs. Reykjalin directly.  

As always, visit the St. Monica Academy website to sign up for volunteer opportunities and to read about the importance of our fundraising efforts.

Go Mustangs!  

St. Monica, Pray for Us!

In His Name,
Wayne Wenzel, Jr.
Principal