Letter From The Principal

Looking Ahead:

December 18

Christmas Program

7PM: Church

January 25

Spaghetti Dinner

11AM-7PM, School

January 25-31

Catholic Schools Week

“Communities of Faith,

Knowledge & Service”

March 7

Annual Auction

“A Passage to India”

Nile Golf & Country Club

d in va lues. Growing in knowledge

St. Benedict Catholic School

Alumni and Community Newsletter

Fall/Winter 2014

Grounded in values. Growing in knowledge.

Dear St. Benedict Catholic School Community,

We are well into the 2014-2015 school year and I am happy to report

that it is shaping up to be another wonderful year of growth and posi-

tive change for the school and community. Here are a few of the high-

lights from the beginning of the school year.

Most elementary schools in the archdiocese are losing enrollment but

St. Benedict Catholic School is bucking the trend by increasing its en-

rollment. We added seven new students (approximately 4%) to our

elementary school at the start of the school year!

Thanks to generous donations by our parents and benefactors during

last Spring’s Auction, we were able to purchase an additional set of 25

laptop computers for the school. These purchases mean that now we

have an additional set of computers available for the students in

grades 1-8 to use in the classroom during the school day.

One of the most exciting prospects that we have to look forward to is a

possible building project on campus. The rumors are true, we have

formed a joint parish and school committee to (Continued on page 2)

School News

The St. Benedict Catholic School Newsletter is published twice annually. Parish Priest Fr. Bill Cleary, C.Ss.R 206-877-2361 Pastoral Coordinator Deacon Roy Harrington dn.roy@stbens.net Principal Brian Anderson b.anderson@stbens.net Office Mary Ancich m.ancich@stbens.net Development Teresa Gillett t.gillett@stbens.net

2

(continued from page 1)

gauge the feasibility of a new multipurpose center (which would also

house a full size basketball court). This would create a new space for

the school and parish communities to gather in while renovating a

number of the aging systems in the school building.

Finally, I would be remiss if I failed to mention Deacon Roy Harring-

ton and Fr. Bill Cleary; the new spiritual leaders who arrived on

campus last July. Both men are passionate supporters of Catholic

education and excited to be placed at St. Benedict Parish. If you have

heard either man preach you are well aware that they are performing

their ministry here with an abundance of compassion, humor, and

energy. For more information about Deacon Roy and Fr. Bill please

see the article on page 4.

Thank you for your continued support of St. Benedict Catholic

School.

Brian Anderson, Principal

(Continued from page 1)

Another Successful Wallingford Wurst Festival!

School News 3

Team Keaton!

On September 28, 2014 many St. Benedict families joined Keaton and Mason Wrenn (4th and 7th grade) as they walked in the annual Run of Hope to raise money for pediatric brain cancer. In June of 2006, Keaton was diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor when he was only 16 months old. Now, his family joins forces with other families of brain cancer patients to raise awareness and funds that go to local researchers through their participation on the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Guild, a Seattle Children's Hospital guild. Money raised thus far has helped put revolutionary tumor paint into clinical trials. The families and staff of St. Benedict School donated and lent their moral support by joining Mason and Keaton in the 1.8 mile walk. Kea-ton walked the entire distance and his schoolmates joined arms as they crossed the finish line.

Halloween Carnival!

This year the students were challenged by their P.E. & Health teacher, Mrs. Briones, to donate some of their

Halloween candy to Operation Gratitude. This organization makes care packages year round for our troops

overseas. At Halloween they run a “candy buy back program” where dentist and orthodontist offices around

the country entice kids to turn in some, if not all, of their Halloween candy with different prizes. The dentists

and orthodontists collect the candy and then send it off to Operation Gratitude to be packaged up. Our stu-

dents, 215 enrolled, brought in over 305 POUNDS of candy in our inaugural year! Mrs. Briones’ Honda Civic

barely was able to fit all the candy in it to be driven to the dentist office. To thank the students (ahead of

time), Mrs. Briones ran a Halloween carnival during the school day on October 31st. All carnival games were

activity based and NO candy was handed out, only stickers and glow bracelets to keep the students safe on

Halloween night. We hope that we can beat our “candy buy back” goal of 305 pounds next Halloween!”

Welcome to Our New Priest and Pastoral

Coordinator!

4

Pastoral Coordinator: Deacon Roy Harrington Dn. Roy holds a BA in Family and Mental Health Counseling from the UW and a Masters in Public Administration from Seattle Uni-versity. He is retired from 30 years in the Army Reserves where he worked in human resources and also formed the public transporta-tion field where he worked for 32 years in operations. He is originally from Spokane and Yakima with roots in Southwest Washington and Northern Idaho. He and his wife, Liz, have been married for 33+ years and have three children: Julia, Keven and John—all out of the house now. Roy is currently serving the Archdiocese as the Director of Deacons in the Office of the Vicar for Clergy but when he is not working, he enjoys golf, bike riding, bird hunting and reading. His many in-volvements with the parish/archdiocese include: outreach to the elderly and ill, Consoling Grace grief support, assisting at Mass and preaching, Just Faith team member, altar server trainer, CTP trainer and Archdiocesan Scouting Chaplain.

Parish Priest: Fr. Bill Cleary

Fr. Bill Cleary grew up in Portland and was ordained into the

priesthood in 1962. He then spent three years at a parish in Idaho

and six years at a parish in Kenai, Alaska.

In 1987, Fr. Bill helped set up a Catholic parish in Satellite Town,

one of the growing suburbs of Lagos, Nigeria. Two priests and two

brothers went over. When they arrived, there was a little cement

block building and a carport. Now they have three parishes there

and the biggest church gets 15,000 people every Sunday.

He served there until July of 2008, and then moved to Sacred

Heart of Jesus in Seattle. Fr. Bill became Parish Priest of St.

Benedict Church July 1, 2014 and is happy to be part of our com-

munity.

Technology at St. Benedict Catholic School 5

Then—2001 Since 2001 our technology has grown out of the Tech Lab/Flex Room and has infiltrated the entire school! In 2001, we had a Tech Lab attached to the Library where classes for K-8 were taught 2 days per week. We used I Macs hardwired with ethernet cables into our network.

In 2006, the auction Fund A Dream funded a technology upgrade. We purchased 25 MacBooks with a lab cart for the Tech Lab and 10 MacBooks for grade level teachers. Technology classes were taught to grades K-5 once a week and it was integrated into the Science curriculum for Middle School. We also installed a school wide wireless network with those auction funds.

And Now—2014 Fast forward 8 years and in 2014 we again put technology on the auc-tion block and raised enough funds to purchase another full set of MacBook Pros (25) with a new lab cart to be used for Technology classes for grades K– 5. That cart is also shared with the Middle School for Math, Science, Social Studies and Literature classes. Over the summer we upgraded our wireless network in the school using the auction funds. Every teacher and support staff has a MacBook or PC laptop and Kindergarten has 4 Kindle Fires for student enrichment ac-tivities.

Development News 6

Matching Gifts Benefit

St. Benedict Catholic

School!

Did you know that MATCHING GIFTS give St.

Benedict Catholic School the most bang for your

all important buck? It’s so easy! Just sign up at

your place of employment in the Human Re-

sources Department for this program and with

EVERY donation you give, we get an equal

amount—depending on the company, sometimes

2 or 3 times the amount! This is a great way to

give to the school—over and over again! Check

out the list of participating businesses on our

website at www.stbens.net under the Giving Tab

and sign up today! If your business is not listed,

please ask at your place of work; not all business

have made it onto our list.

Please contact the Development Office at t.gillett@stbens.net if you need more informa-tion.

1. Mail in Enclosed Donation Envelope

2. Online Donations at www.stbens.net

3. Corporate Matching Gifts (see article

above)

4. United Way Employee Giving Campaign

5. Planned Gift to St. Benedict School

Contact t.gillett@stbens.net for more information

St. Benedict School is an IRS 501C3 organization. Federal Tax EIN #91-0567737. As such, your

donation is generally tax deductible

We are

updating our

alumni and

friends

database and

need your

help!

Please take a moment to send an email with

your name, address and MOST importantly

your preferred email to the Development

Office at t.gillett@stbens.net or from the Alumni

Page on our website at www.stbens.net. You

can also drop us a line and send it to the school,

Attention: Teresa Gillett. We want to stay as up

to date with our alumni and friends as we can.

Ways to

give to St.

Benedict

Catholic

School

Alumni News 7

2. Online Donations at www.stbens.net

St. Ben’s Alums: What are they up to now?

Michelle Carlin (2011) has been elected as

the Seattle Lutheran High School Student

Body President for 2014-2015.

Marlee Blue (2011) won a silver medal at the

2014 World Rowing Junior Championships in

Hamburg, Germany along with winning the

junior women’s single sculls and junior

women’s sculls at BC Champs .

Erin Terzieff (1996) —

our 2013 Distinguished Graduate— continues

her work with her non-profit organization All

You Need is Love, which aims support projects

for children on the Thai-Burma border. She has

just completed work on a Documentary, nar-

rated by Sigourney Weaver, about her work

which premiered at the Creative Artists Agency

in Hollywood at the end of October, 2014.

Nominate the St. Benedict Catholic School 2015 NCEA Distinguished Graduate

Each year St. Benedict Catholic School identifies and honors an alumnus as a Distinguished Graduate. This

award is sponsored by the National Catholic Education Association. Please consider nominating a Candi-

date for this recognition andto be honored at Mass on Thursday, January 29, 2015. Our Grandparents/

Special Friends Celebration will also take place that day as part of the 2015 National Catholic Schools Week.

Nominees should have graduated from St. Benedict Catholic School at least 10 years ago and have made no-

table contributions to their community and church. They should be active Catholics who through their life

and achievements exemplify the devotion to faith, family and service that is instilled at St. Benedict Catholic

School.

Nominations for the 2015 Distinguished Graduate award are being accepted now through December 15,

2014. Nomination forms can be found on our website at www.stbens.net/alumni , by contacting Teresa

Gillett, Development Director, at t.gillett@stbens.net or calling the school office at 206-633-3375.

Where It All Began:

St. Bens Founding Teacher in 1908

was Sr. Josephine Ratte. Inaugural

enrollment for the eight grades was

31 boys and 35 girls. Classes were

held in the basement and first floor

of the Church/School building with

the Sanctuary on the second floor.

4811 Wallingford Ave. N.

Seattle, WA 98103

www.stbens.net

206-633-3375

Non-Profit

Organization

US Postage

PAID

Seattle, WA

Permit No. 1445

Grounded in values. Growing in knowledge.

Join one of our School Tours to see what

St. Benedict Catholic School can offer you!

Tour schedule:

Fridays: December 5, January 9, February 6 and

March 13 — all at 9:00am

We also have a tour to kick off Catholic Schools Week

on Sunday, January 25 at 11:45am.

Please call the school at 206-633-3375 to reserve your

spot. Questions? Contact t.gillett@stbens.net

Please join us at the

Annual School Auction

on Saturday, March 7, 2015

The Nile Golf & Country Club