Dear St. Monica Academy Families,

I hope this message finds everyone well.

The months of November and December bring about our holiday season and our celebrations of Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas. This is such a meaningful time of year for us to demonstrate and practice our deeply rooted Catholic values. These should be evident to each other as part of the same community and to those outside of it.  

This is a special time for many people around the world who identify with our faith. It is a time when the value of love, compassion, generosity, and kindness are emphasized. Often, I speak to our school being Gospel-driven and all of our stakeholders (students, parents, teachers, administrators, parishioners, etc.) acting as or being examples of being “the hands and feet of Jesus.” The love, compassion, generosity, and kindness are exactly that.  

There will be many opportunities for us to work together over the coming weeks, whether we are looking at parent-teacher conferences, the various Thanksgiving drives, Advent activities, or our Christmas celebrations. I ask that we all attempt to be collaborative and work together for others.  

I hope that we all take the time to express gratitude for the gifts of life, family, friends, and community. I also hope that we take all the opportunities we can to practice generosity and charity. Furthermore, I hope we take the opportunity to express gratitude to God and reflect on the importance of our faith.  

This holiday season, I hope we all remember it is a time for not only celebration, but reflection, gratitude, and love. I also hope we all can make the holiday season spiritually enriching and a meaningful experience for everyone with whom we come into contact.    

Last week you received information regarding Parent-Teacher Conferences. The email link was sent out directly in an email from me. If you did not receive that, please contact your child’s homeroom teacher directly. There are two notes that I would like to address regarding Parent-Teacher Conferences:

• If you have scheduled a meeting with me, to maximize our time together and because I do not have one grade, group of students, or class to address, please send me an email regarding what you would like to discuss. This way will help me prepare appropriately and we can make the best use of our ten-minute time frame together.
• If you have signed up for a conference with our Spanish teacher, Mrs. Ramirez, she may not be available on the conference day due to other teaching responsibilities. This will be confirmed by Friday, and an email will be sent to you. You should then communicate with her to select an alternate meeting time.

For those parents and family members that have indicated they would like to volunteer at our school, but that are not yet Virtus program compliant, an email will be sent to you this week. Please review the email and complete the steps noted so that you may complete your training to be able to be a school volunteer. For those that have indicated they would like to volunteer, but are not yet compliant, you will be removed from our system and unable to volunteer starting on November 30th.   

On November 16th and 17th, students in Pre-Kindergarten through 2nd grade will receive a visit from “Office Friendly” thanks to the Chicago Police Department. These visits will take place beginning at 11:30 a.m. and will serve Kindergarten and 1st grade on the 16th and Pre-Kindergarten and 2nd grade on the 17th.

Also, on the 16th, our recently reintroduced SMA Drama Club will perform for their families and guests at 6:30 p.m. in Beyenka Hall.  Good luck to all of these students!

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

This is a great time to be a Mustang. If you know someone who would be interested in a tour, please have them call the school office to set up a time.

Go Mustangs!  

St. Monica, Pray for Us!

In His Name,
Wayne Wenzel, Jr.
Principal