March Passion

Even though I have had my NCAA brackets busted, (thanks, Arkansas-Little Rock and Middle Tennessee State!) I still enjoyed watching basketball this weekend. I am always intrigued by how the hard work and preparation of a team during the regular season translates into results during the tournament.

Sticking with basketball and the theme of practice, I am reminded of current NBA star and former NCAA Tournament stand out at Davidson, Steph Curry. Playing for the Golden State Warriors, the reigning league MVP has one of the best shots in basketball. It didn't happen by accident. At 6' 3", Curry is not overly tall for an NBA player--Michael Jordan was 6' 6"--and he had to change his shooting style in high school to compete with taller players. He is also known by his coaches to be a relentless practice player coming up with innovative ways to keep himself engaged and competitive.

Finally, he has become a great shooter because he takes so many shots in practice--somewhere in the 1000's. He sets a goal to make a certain percentage and he keeps shooting until he reaches his goal. In one famous session, he made 77 three point shots in a row. By the end, he made 94 out of 100. Shooting for him is automatic. 

So why all this basketball talk? As we enter Holy Week, ending with Easter this Sunday, I think it is a good frame of reference for our students to think about leading a Catholic life. How often do we "practice" a Catholic response or reaction to what life presents to us? Steph Curry did not become a prolific shooter by practicing one hour a week. How can we expect to be prolific Catholics if the Mass is the only time we devote to God each week.

Being a good Catholic requires daily practice. One of the best ways we can practice is through prayer. I challenged the students this morning at assembly, and I challenge all of you to spend an extra five minutes this week in prayer. Holy Week is like March Madness for the Catholic Church and Easter is our championship game. Hopefully, by spending extra time in prayer, we can make our hearts ready for the Big Dance.

It's Hard to Say Goodbye...

We are blessed at CKS to have an experienced staff that supports our mission and loves to be here. That's why it's always hard to say goodbye when people move or retire.  At the end of this school year, we will wish a happy retirement to two CKS stalwarts: Mary Brown and Debbie Lopez.

Mrs. Brown has been teaching at CKS for over 20 years, starting in 1989. She has been anchoring 4th grade for the past 14 years. A published author, a lover of Florida history, a determined kickball player and a caring teacher, Mrs. Brown will be missed by her CKS family.

Ms. Lopez has been teaching at CKS for 31 years, starting in 1985. She moved our library from the days of card catalogues and filmstrips to ebooks and web subscriptions. She has orchestrated book fairs, box tops and mission collections. However, I will always remember her for being able to combine her knowledge of books and students to suggest "just the right book" for readers.

We look forward to recognizing these long time staff members and their impact on CKS in the coming months. 

I've Got That Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy...

This past Sunday was Laetare Sunday, or joyful Sunday. Although Lent is a season of penance and sacrifice, Laetare Sunday provides hope that the Lenten journey is drawing to a close and that with the end of Lent comes salvation, hence a reason for true joy!

We have several reasons to be joyful at CKS. Over the past few weeks, our students have done some amazing work:

Athletics





Our Girls Flag Football team concluded their season last week.  After a rocky start to the season, they regrouped and finished in 2nd place. Our Boys Varsity Basketball Team also concluded their season last week. They punctuated a dominant season with a 20 point win over Nativity for 1st place and back to back championships.

Academics

Over the last two weeks, our 8th grade students who applied to private high schools have been receiving their acceptance letters. Students must take entrance exams for schools like Jesuit, the Academy of the Holy Names, Tampa Catholic and the IB programs.  Not all of the notifications are in yet, but as of today, I am proud to announce great news from our students:

• Four of our boys received Ignatian Scholarships from Jesuit: Bennett Andersen, Christopher Browy, Spencer Farfante, and Christopher Hill. This means they scored in the top 5% of the hundreds of applicants taking that exam. 
• Three of our students were awarded Pope Francis Merit Scholarships from Tampa Catholic:  Brennen Gil, Christopher Hill and Parker Maddox.  These awards honor students scoring in the top 1-2% nationwide on the High School Placement test.  
• The past several years have seen a rapid increase in interest for the IB high school programs.  We have also seen an increase in the number of our students applying to IB and are proud of the five CKS students who were accepted so far this year:  Bennett Andersen, Chris Browy, Brennen Gil, Parker Maddox and Brooke Rodriguez.
  

Faith

Each Friday during Lent the parish offers a meal followed by Stations of the Cross. Last Friday, 7th and 8th grade students on our Liturgy team performed Living Stations. This included narrations, commentary and a visual recreation of each step along Jesus' journey to the cross. The students made this 2000 year old journey real for our school students who watched them perform during the day and for our parish community who watched them later the same evening. It was a moving way to keep us going spiritually on our own Lenten journey. 

Service

One of the things I love most about being both the principal and a member of the parish community is that I get to keep tabs on our CKS alumni. We hope that our mission to inspire students to grow in the love of Christ, joy of Knowledge and spirit of Service allows students to be productive members of the community. This past weekend we saw that as numerous CKS alums participated in the Dance for Haiti. This fundraiser benefits our sister parish in Sainte-Suzanne, Haiti. It was organized by the group Teens for Haiti, whose co-presidents are CKS alums, Grace Casper and Emily Muscaro. Many of our school staff and parents volunteered their time to chaperone this 13.1 hour dance half-marathon. 

Speaking of alumni, CKS grad Carter Andersen (c/o 2014) was the recent JHS sophomore class winner of the St. Ignatius Gold Medal Essay contest.  You may recall that alum Joe Edgar won this honor last year at JHS.  Way to show your writing skills, Lions!

 

 

I am eager to share the other great things that our Lions will accomplish by the end of the year!