ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

CATHOLIC SCHOOL

Fa the r Car l Hood , Pas to r Mrs . A l i c ia B rown, P r in c ipa l

Mrs . An ton ia Co rz ine , Ass is tan t P r inc ipa l Mrs . S t ephan ie Jones , Ass is tan t P r inc ipa l

June, 2019 Volume 14, Issue

Dear Parents,

As the ‘18-’19 school year comes to a close, I wanted to reach out to you to thank

you for choosing to send your children to St Francis of Assisi School. The decision of

where to educate them is such an important one and I feel blessed that you put your

faith in us. My hope is that we have honored this trust and that we have helped each

of your children succeed not only academically, but also that we helped bring them

closer in their relationship with God.

I would also like to personally thank all of you for making my first year as your

principal such a successful adventure. Having been a part of St. Francis for such a

long time in various roles, I have found such a true love for the students, families,

faculty, and staff. I think of you all as one large part of my extended family. And as

it is in most families, sometimes we have to let go and say goodbye to some of our

family members that are leaving to begin a new journey that God is leading them on.

So with a heavy heart, but also with the warmest wishes, we say farewell to the

following Timberwolf Family members...

To Mrs. Debbie Farler (Front Office Administrative Assistant)- who is

leaving the daily front desk to stay home to take care of her new grand-

son, Finn. Although she is leaving for such a beautiful reason, we will

miss her wit and her knowledge of EVERYTHING! (but she has promised

that we will get to see her around from time to time.)

To Mrs. DeeDee Morreo (Facilities Coordinator)- who keeps all things at

SFA looking beautiful. We will miss your great eye and your wonderful

sense of style. We are happy for you as you get to retire and move to

South Carolina in order to be closer to your son and daughter.

To Mrs. Joanne Wilson (3K Teacher's Assistant) - who has spent so many

years loving the smallest of our Timberwolves, we want to wish you all

the best in your retirement.

A Note from Our Principal

Page 2

To Mrs. Sara Clark (2nd Grade teacher) - who has been such a mainstay

in 2nd grade for so many years, we wish you great fun as you get to

retire in order to enjoy all of the wonderful things that are a part of

your daughter, Emma's, Senior year at SBA. We will still love getting

to live vicariously through your many travels with your ZTA friends.

Remember, you promised to visit and substitute from time to time.

To Mrs. Marcie Mason (5th PLUS) - who, although she was only with us

for this past year, became such a great part of our SFA Timberwolf

family! Good luck on your move to Indiana as your husband takes on

his new job as a professor at the University of Notre Dame.

To Mrs. Amy Cluck - (6th grade English) - who has been an integral part

of our middle school at many grade levels and in various subject

areas, we wish you God's speed as you begin a new adventure

teaching middle school social studies at St. Agnes/St. Dominic.

To Ms. Kathleen Dalton - (7th Grade Religion/Language Arts) - Who

came to help out with a maternity leave last April and we convinced

to stay on for another year. We are happy for you that you finally get

to move closer to your wonderful friends in Pennsylvania, where you

originally planned to go over a year ago. Good Luck and God Bless.

To Mrs.Dianna Robertson - (7th grade English) - who is getting to retire

and enjoy her home in Mississippi. We were blessed when you joined

us as a part of our 7th grade team two years ago when you were

thinking of retiring from SBA. You have brought the love of animals

to St. Francis of Assisi in the spirit of your son, David. We are thrilled

that you have decided to continue being a part of the David Cervetti

Animal Rescue Club here at SFA.

To Mrs. Beth Odom - (8th Grade Religion) - Who has touched the lives of

so many Timberwolf families over the past 19 years. It breaks our

hearts, but we wish you well as you step out of the classroom and

follow God's plan to take on a new role as the full-time Director of

Religious Education at St. Agnes / St. Dominic. They are truly blessed

to have chosen such a wonderful Catholic role model for their

students.

To all of you and all of our other families who may be moving into a new part of

God's plan, you have touched the lives of so many of us at SFA. And so, we want to

remind you that you will always be a part of our family. Once a Timberwolf, Always

A Timberwolf!

June, 2019

Page 3 June, 2019

Congratulations to the Fourth Quarter

CHRISTIAN WITNESS Award Recipients:

1st Grade: William Lockwood, Stephen O’Brien 2nd Grade: Bella Carter, Kane Laiche, Santi Villalpando 3rd Grade: Maggie Bors-Koefoed, Lia Bradley, Connor Cardillo 4th Grade: Piper Green, Addison Jenkins, Ryan Wiggins 5th Grade: Angelo Arismendi, Blake Green, Ava Rosengarten 6th Grade: Karrington Davis, Ava Jeffrey, Caden Stiles, Emily Tran, Christopher Trinque, Sam Winter

7th Grade: Paige Corzine, Josh Miller, Katie Rogers, Drake Warren, Sara Whitehead 8th Grade: St. Francis Christian Witness Award: Luke Wilemon St. Clare Christian Witness Award Emily Esnard

And although we will be introducing new members of our Timberwolf pack soon, I

want to take this opportunity to introduce two members of our SFA Family that have

moved into a new role and who you might be seeing or talking to over the summer.

To Mrs. Mandie Cool - Mother of our up and coming 2nd grade student,

Lizzie. Please join me in welcoming her as the NEW Front Office

Administrative Assistant. She is the new Guardian and Gatekeeper. If

you haven't already met her and stopped by to say hello, please do so.

To Mrs. Deann Hartwein - Former 5K teacher's Assistant - Please join me

in welcoming her to her NEW role as the SFA Facilities Coordinator.

When we learned about her previous life helping to run Jillian’s in

Peabody Place and all of her experience working with vendors and

taking care of the various maintenance needs, we knew she was a shoe-

in for this role. She has already hit the ground running as Mrs. Morreo

gets her up to speed on all the things taking place here on the SFA

campus this summer. With her organizational skills, her incredible

work ethic and her own sense of style, SFA is in great hands.

Please know that we are here to help you should you need us this summer and

beyond. Stop in and say hello or drop us a line to let us know how your family is

doing. Remember, you can always keep up with how we are doing by following us on

our SFA Wolves Facebook page or by visiting our school website. www.sfawolves.org.

And until we see each other soon, have a blessed summer.

Yours in Christ,

Mrs. Alicia Brown

Congratulations to the Fourth Quarter HONOR ROLL Award Recipients

Principal’s Honor Roll 8th Grade: Ryan Beatty, John Carkeet, Gigi Claus, Lily Demilio, Emily Esnard, Rachel Gammill, Sommer Griffis, Charlie Harrell, Jaylon Hawkins, Michael Hoffmeyer, Rachel Igharas, Isabella Maher, Joseph Opferman, Hannah Person, Cara Pirani, Farrah Rector, Jacob Ryan, Mark Schaffler, Michael Spain, Reagan Thomas, Zoe Vales, Vina Vedala, Madeline Wade, Michael Weber, Jacob Woods 7th Grade: Olivia Baker, Olivia Beatty, Madison Berry, Ben Bosque, Emmy Brenner, J.R. Clancy, Paige Corzine, Carlo Duran, Cristal Hernandez, Eva Hoch, Claire Hollingsworth, Hillary Humble, Ben Kollasch, Hannah Luther, Lauren Mazeika, Gunnar Rawlings, Caroline Redding, Arturo Rodriguez, Katie Rogers, Kasey Rosenberger, Erica Ruoff, Lilly Sobalvarro

6th Grade: Hannah Craven, Karrington Davis, Mia Diaz, Gage Gallagher, Cooper Hartwein, Carson Kavin, Meredith McCusker, Nathan Meister, Brittney Nguyen, Vivian Nguyen, Nicholas Sanders, Katherine Simoncic, Mary Spain, Emery Tempel 5th Grade: Ben Armada, Natalee Campbell, Maddie Cluck, Bryce Curtis, Justian Dinh, Ellie Espinosa, Sara Fullen, Alyssa Guinocor, Sarah Juarez, Camila Nieto, Azzurra Ongaro, Hayden Redding, Cooper Reed, Kate Sanders, Luke Swearingen, Dominic Weiss

First Honor Roll 8th Grade: Brandon Baker, Max Clark, Sam Clark, Ryleigh Deeley, Janethzie Delgado, Isabella Donato, Valeria Esquivel, Magdalena Gore, Vina Hall, Annie Henry, Kennedy Kattawar, Bridget Kennedy, Olivia Kovacs, Riley May, Emily Mireles, Cole Morgan, Erika Perkins, Joshua St. John, Luke Wilemon, Sam Wilson 7th Grade: Thomas Cantu-Leon, Ellie Cheseldine, Nathan Ferris, Jazmin Jaime, Joshua Miller, Clare Palasz, Wallace Peterson, Allison Seaton, Sophia Tabrizi, Sara Whitehead, Blake Whitehorn, Edward Wilemon

6th Grade: Gaby Caron, Kelsey Cox, Reagan Gillen, Ethan Jaurigue, Ava Jeffrey, Jackson Jones, Michaela-Grace Lopez, Adam O’Brien, Emma Petit, Katie Schaffler, Christopher Trinque, Elizabeth van Dongen, Or-nella Villegas, Mallory Walker, Kevin Ward, Ojarichi Welle, Sam Winter 5th Grade: Alex Abuelouf, Lauren Adams, Giona Battelli, Ari Bichelman, Abigail Cantwell, Leonardo Duran, Vitor Ferrer Guimaraes, John Finkelstein, Sofia Guadalupe, Freddie Johnson, Joseph Luther, Nicholas Mazeika, Jacob Miller, Ava Rosengarten, Adrianna Sammons, Sarah Swearingen, Paavni Vasishta, Joseph Wilemon

Second Honor Roll 8th Grade: Miller Filsinger, Jackson Parker, Gabriel Perez 7th Grade: Olivia Abuelouf, Elia Battelli, Justin Bowers, Jude Stark, Collin Woods 6th Grade: Joshua Dugger, James Greene, Ethan LaMar, Spencer Scholten, Tyler Westphall 5th Grade: Bond Cheseldine, Corbin Ryan, Kendall Thomas

June, 2019 Page 4

The Christopher Woods Learning Center was chosen as the 1st place winner in the

Outdoor Learning Classroom/Garden category of the 29th Annual Beautify Your

School Contest! Seventh grade Science teacher, Mrs. Bridget Botto and 8th grade

students Sam Morris, Luke Wilemon, Chad Perez, and Zoe Vales appeared on WREG-

TV’s Live at 9 Show to accept the award and talk about the project. This year there

were 54 entries from 17 schools involving over 5,800 student, teacher, and parent

volunteers. The students and faculty at SFA are blessed everyday by the beauty of

the Chris Woods Learning Center!

Page 5 June, 2019

Christopher Woods Learning Center Wins Memphis City

Beautiful “2019 Beautify Your School” Contest

June, 2019 Page 6

First Holy Communion

Congratulations to all our second grade students who made their First Holy

Communion on April 27th! Pastor, Reverend Carl Hood celebrated Mass along with

Associate Pastors, Rev. Carl Gregorich and Rev. Johnnie Smith. Pope Francis has

called the Eucharist the “Sacrament of Love”. “The Eucharist is at the heart of

‘Christian Initiation’, together with Baptism and Confirmation.”

Congratulations to Our Graduates!

Spring Sports Achievements

June, 2019 Page 7

Pastor, Reverend Carl Hood celebrated the Graduation Mass on May 18th to honor

our 8th grade graduates. Following the Mass, a reception was held in the Parish

Life Center. It was a bittersweet ending for many of our graduates who attended

SFA since Jr. Kindergarten and Kindergarten. We are so proud of all our graduates

and can’t wait to see what the future holds for them!

New School Records in Track

Congratulations to 8th graders, Sam Morris for setting a new school record in

the Long Jump at 17’4.5” and Sam Wilson’s recording breaking 100m Hurdles

in 16.02 seconds!

3rd/4th Grade Girls Softball

Congratulations to the SFA girls softball team for finishing the season undefeated!

Way to make us proud, Timberwolves!

June, 2019 Page 8

SFA Alumni Earn Top Honors

Five members of the SFA 2015 graduating class were named valedictorians and

salutatorians in 2019. We are so proud of our SFA alumni!

Quincy Card

Salutatorian, SBA

Tenn. Tech

majoring in Computer

Science

Wyatt Ellis

Valedictorian, SBA

Univ. of Arizona

majoring in Physics

Mary Wilson Screws

Valedictorian, St. Agnes

Vanderbilt University

majoring in Neuroscience

Abby Williams

Third Honors, St. Agnes

Princeton University

majoring in Environmental

Science

Grayson Raulston

Salutatorian, CBHS

Georgie Tech

majoring in Computer Science

Confirmation

Congratulations to our 8th grade and PRE students who were confirmed on May 17th!

Bishop David Talley anointed each of the candidates with the Sacred Chrism to

complete the sacrament of Baptism. The candidates prepared all school year to

receive the Sacrament of Confirmation which is a special outpouring

of the Holy Spirit.

June, 2019 Page 9

Christopher Woods Living Life Scholarship

June, 2019 Page 10

At the Awards Day ceremony on May 24th

, Mrs. Gretchen Hollingsworth, Parent Teacher

Organization (PTO) President, announced the names of the finalists for the Christopher

Woods Living Life Scholarship.

Each year, the recipient of the Christopher Woods Living Life Scholarship will have their

name engraved on a plaque that will hang in the school office for all to see. The winner will

also receive one year’s full tuition provided by the Woods family, Chris Woods

Construction Company and the St. Francis of Assisi PTO.

Students in the 5th

, 6th

, and 7th

grades were given the opportunity to apply for the

scholarship by answering several questions created by the Woods family and PTO. The

answers were collected, and the entire Woods family read each and every one of the entries!

This was a blind judging with the students’ names hidden throughout the entire process.

The Woods family then narrowed the entries down, and a group of faculty, administration,

and PTO board members selected the three finalists:

Ari Bichelman, Nathan Ferris, and Cannon McAlexander.

The finalists were then asked another series of questions and their answers were once again

reviewed by the Woods family. The finalist’s responses were heartfelt and sincere. The

winner of the 2nd

annual Christopher Woods Living Life Scholarship and one year free tuition

is Nathan Ferris! The Woods family was so touched by the responses of all the finalists that

they awarded partial scholarships Ari Bichelman and Cannon McAlexander. Congratulations

to Nathan, Ari and Cannon!

SFA Students Sweep Memphis In May Competition

SFA’s Spring Play “A Wrinkle in Time”

Page 11 June, 2019

Congratulations to the cast and crew of “A Wrinkle in Time”! This was SFA’s first

ever, student-produced play featuring 30 SFA middle school students! With the help

of school administration, a cast was selected and the students immediately began

rehearsals. SFA alum and SBA senior, Abby Simpson helped the cast and crew at

rehearsals and during the production. The students’ hard work and

dedication resulted in an amazing production.

Five 8th grade students were

honored at the 2019 Memphis In May

Education Awards Ceremony in late

April. In the Creative Writing

category, Madeline Wade came in 1st

place, Gigi Claus received 2nd place,

and Cara Pirani placed 3rd out of 256

entrries from schools city-wide. In

the Power Point Competition, Ryleigh

Deeley earned 1st place, and Vina

Vedala placed 3rd out of 75 entries.

Way to shine, Timberwolves!

June, 2019 Page 12

Relentless Learners

SFA Honored with 1st Annual Jeans Day Plaque

For the first time ever, Catholic Charities of West Tennessee invited area Catholic

schools to engage in a little friendly fundraising competition by hosting a Jeans Day

to benefit Catholic Charities. The

organization works to assist needy

members of the community. The

school that raised the most money

per student would have the honor

of displaying the traveling Jeans

Day plaque at their school for the

next year. The six participating

schools raised over $3,800 for

Catholic Charities programs. Mrs.

Brenda O’Looney with Catholic

Charities awarded SFA the Jeans

Day plaque.

Ever wonder what your teachers do during their summer break? Would it surprise

you to know that many of our teachers choose to go to school themselves to hone

their profession and grow in wisdom and knowledge?

Three of St. Francis’ finest, Lisa Micheletti, Laurie Fullen, and Carolyn Deeley, are

attending three solid weeks of SMILA training, a multi-sensory approach to for

instructing students to read, write, spell, speak, and comprehend oral and written

language. The multi-sensory method of language arts instruction allows for teaching

to all of the learning styles – visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic. Derived from

the Slingerland® Approach, the program trains teachers to incorporate the students’

auditory, visual, and tactile/kinesthetic senses into instruction for learning language

skills.

The list of dedicated teachers does not end there.

Each of our math teachers will be in class at the

end of the summer. Training continues with Karen

Sanford and Linda Thomas (joining the SFA Family

this year) who will be completing the Lindamood

Bell Visualizing and Verbalizing at the end of this

month. Every great teacher is a relentless learner.

Thank you to our great teachers for your

dedication and hard work!