Portland St. Patrick Catholic School

The first half of this school year has come to a conclusion at St. Patrick School.  It’s been challenging for our students and staff but it also has been fun and exciting.  I would like to share some of the exciting events or changes which took place throughout the first half of the year.

•    We fielded both a girl’s and a boy’s cross country team for the first time in many years.  This may possibly be the first time we’ve had both teams in the same year.

•    Students started to use our new instructional computer lab which is equipped with thin client computers.

•    We held our annual Pay-it-Forward community service day in the fall.

•    Our freshmen received the Sacrament of Confirmation at St. Andrews Cathedral at the Diocese in Grand Rapids.

•    We began a Campus Ministry team to advance our major objective at St. Patrick School, which is helping our students grow in their faith.  This new team allows our high school students the opportunity to take leadership in growing the faith of our student body.

•    We held our first semester exams before Christmas break.  This was done on a trial basis but after getting student, staff, and parent feedback we plan on continuing this practice into the future.

•    We purchased seven new Smartboards with donations from parents, the PTO and Kidsfest committees.  They’ve been installed in classrooms, projectors have been mounted from the ceilings and new wireless programs connect the teachers' laptops to the projectors.

•    We made the decision to change our high school football team to an eight-man team next school year.  We will begin playing football in a new league in the fall of 2012.

•    We are watching our boys basketball team get off to its best start in many years, with a current record of 7 – 2.

•    The teaching staff completed an eight-week bible study called the Great Adventure Bible Time Line, which helps them continue to grow in faith. 

•    And finally, we are excited to announce that our enrollment continues to grow!  Our high school enrollment has grown to 104 students (8% increase) and our overall enrollment is 359 students (9% increase). 

I appreciate that our students are such good stewards of their time, talent and treasure.  Together with their families, the students from St. Pat’s have donated thousands of dollars in money and goods and thousands of hours of community service to a variety of causes and charities this year.  They truly understand how important it is to be generous!

The first half of the year is behind us.  I have heard so many positive comments, and I appreciate the prayers and words of support.  I thank everyone who has assisted in helping our students and staff throughout the first half of the year.  I look forward to working with the students and their families and our staff the rest of the school year.