2011 Annual Report

Our annual report for the 2011 calendar year is available for download. Please click here to view the PDF version of the report.

TAP and Preschool Christmas Breakfasts

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Thursday, December 15, our junior high and 3 year old preschool class celebrated (separately) their Christmas breakfasts. Each junior high TAP group prepared and served their favorite breakfast foods (from chocolate chip and bacon pancakes to fruit trays and milkshakes!). The preschool class started a new tradition - pancakes and sausage with Mom and Dad.

Illustrator Visit Via Skype

Yesterday, the sixth grade students at St. Paul participated in a "Skype" visit with illustrator Daniel Jennewein. Follow these links to Mrs. Shaum's blog posts about the visit:

My First Classroom Skype Visit
Classroom Blog with Photos

St. Paul Walk Through

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This morning, I took a "walk through" of the entire school, and took photos so that I could share with parents all the delights of a typical morning at St. Paul School. I invite you to browse the "photo book" that shows our school in action on a sunny morning early in December. Enjoy! (Note: once the book loads, it's easiest to view if you click on "full screen.")

On Gratitude

I enjoy reading blog posts, and have about 40-50 that I follow on a regular basis (blogs about education and leadership, news, simplicity, religion, technology, and digital scrapbooking - my favorite hobby). One of the best, however, is Leo Babuta's Zen Habits. He is always insightful and inspiring. One of his early posts is entitled "Why Living a Life of Gratitude Can Make You Happy." In it, he says:

Be Thankful
Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary
Because it means you’ve made a difference.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are
also thankful for the setbacks.

GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles
and they can become your blessings.
~ Author Unknown ~

SPCS Sports Program

Did you know that over 500 parish students (school and RE) participate each year in our CYO Sports Program? Can you imagine the volunteer effort it takes to support such a program?

St. Paul School and Parish are blessed with an Athletic Director, Kevin Shubnell, an Athletic Board, and scores of parents and coaches who dedicate countless hours to providing our students with an outstanding sports experience each year.

Thursday we hosted a pep rally to honor our Varsity girls' soccer team, who (for the first time ever) advanced to the CYO City Championships, played against Our Lady of Good Counsel at Bishop Foley's field. Although the girls lost, 1-0, they played with heart and pride, and we're proud of all of them (including coaches Nick Bernbeck and Kindergarten teacher Angela Biske). Way to go, Lady Lakers!

Happy Anniversary, Msgr. Halfpenny!

Our pastor, Msgr. Patrick Halfpenny, recently celebrated the 36th anniversary of his ordination. Here, Msgr. shares his memories of his ordination with our kindergarteners!

Meet the Faculty

This is the 2011-2012 St. Paul on the Lake Catholic School faculty and staff. Aren't they a happy-looking bunch?!

We Showed Our Colors!

Last Friday our Leadership Council sponsored a U of M - MSU dress down day, with the proceeds supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Students wore either maize and blue, or green and white, to show support for the favorite Michigan team. Even Mrs. McShane got into the act!

Great Night at Harvest Fest

Thanks to Sally McLeod, Ellen Gormley, and their entire Harvest Fest army of volunteers - it was an amazing evening of fellowship and fun!

Wisdom from a first grader

Being called to the principal's office can be a defining moment for a child in school. How many of you remember your first trip to the principal's office? Most of you? I thought so.Whether it was for good news or bad, being called to the office is a momentous occasion in grade school.

Recently, Mrs. McShane (our Assistant Principal) told me about meeting with a group of first graders who were in her office to talk about misbehavior on the playground. One of the little ones, after admitting his transgression, tearfully told Mrs. McShane, "Failure teaches you how to grow up!" 

What a wonderful reaction! Obviously, someone at home (I'm guessing mom or dad) has talked with him before about how we react to failure. And he's clearly learned that lesson - he knows he's made a mistake, and he recognizes that this will help him learn (and he's tearful because he feels bad about it).

I thought about our little guy, and his reaction to a mistake, as I read all of the tributes to Steve Jobs this week. Steve Jobs learned this lesson more than once in his life. If you haven't yet read his commencement speech in 2005 to graduates at Stanford, I highly recommend it. In it, he tells the stories of his failures - rather spectacular failures, at that - and what he learned from them. He talks about love - of his family and his work, and about failure, and about death. All of the things that - at their heart - worry us the most.

His words on death resonated deeply with me: 

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

 I read another article last week, in the online blog Wired Science, titled "Why do some people learn faster?"  The short answer? "Education is the wisdom wrung from failure." The article summarized research conducted on elementary school children to distinguish between those with a fixed mindset (intelligence can't be changed) and those with a growth mindset (we can get better at anything if we work hard enough). The results were fascinating - when children were praised for effort, rather than for intelligence, they learned exponentially more than when they were praised for being smart.

The conclusion of the research?

The problem with praising kids for their innate intelligence – the “smart” compliment – is that it misrepresents the psychological reality of education. It encourages kids to avoid the most useful kind of learning activities, which is when we learn from our mistakes. Because unless we experience the unpleasant symptoms of being wrong – that surge of Pe activity a few hundred milliseconds after the error, directing our attention to the very thing we’d like to ignore – the mind will never revise its models. We’ll keep on making the same mistakes, forsaking self-improvement for the sake of self-confidence.

I predict great things for our first grader - he knows, deeply, at a young age, that failure is how we grow. Potentially, it can be how we grow to do great things. I hope our work here at St. Paul can help our students to prepare for those great things: to learn from failure, to be persistent, and to make wise, spiritually healthy choices about the "great things" that we pursue.