May

10 Last day for MAP testing

11 Prayer Service in commons

@ 9:40 a.m.

11 Power Hour 3:15-4:15 p.m.

12 7th Grade Retreat

12 SMCMS Social/Dance

12 Out of dress code day

15-19 SMCMS Book Fair

17 Battle of the Books in MS

gym @ 1:36 p.m.

18 Final SMCMS mass in FAEC

18 Power Hour 3:15-4:15 p.m.

25 8th Grade Retreat

25 Last Power Hour of the year

3:15-4:15 p.m.

26 Final SMCMS Prayer Service

31 End of Year Awards 8:15-

9:45 a.m. in FAEC

June

1 8th Grade Recognition in

FAEC @ 6:30 p.m.

2 Early Dismissal @ 11:36

(Last Day of School)

8-14 Invention Project (STEM

camp) @ SMCMS

Book Fair

The middle school book fair is almost here! Come to the book fair the week of

May 15-19, 2017. It will be open before and after school each day. If you are

willing and able to help with the fair please use this link to sign up. To kick off the

event we will be hosting a morning of fellowship. Join your middle school students

before school on Monday, May 15, for some pastries. We will start serving at

7:00am! We look forward to seeing you there.

Battle of the Books

Students who are participating in the Battle of the Books will be having their

competition in front of their peers on May 17th from 1:36-2:20 p.m. in the SMCMS

gym. If your child in involved in this, parents are welcome to attend.

Parent Involvement Hours & Spring Cleanup

As the school year comes to an end, you may be wondering, how you can get the

rest of your parent involvement hours. We have a few opportunities: 1. Chaperone

our dance/social this Friday. 2. Sign up to help with the book fair. 3. We are

looking for help with some “spring cleanup” around the SMCS campus and Jane’s Woods behind SMCMS. If you are available, May 15-19 anytime between 8:00-

3:00, please email Mr. Zuleger and we can figure out something that you are

comfortable doing. Whatever time frame that works in your schedule, can work

for us. Thanks for your consideration.

May dress code

Now that it is May, students are able to wear dress code shorts to school. Please

make sure they are following the SMCMS dress code guidelines.

Social, May 12th

We will be having a dance social on May 12th. Keep scrolling for a signup form

that is due May 10th. Also, May 12th is an out of dress code day!

Invention Project (middle school summer STEM camp)

Registration is open for Invention Project, STEM camp offered for students

entering 6th-9th grade. This will be offered June 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 and taught at

SMCMS. Click here for more information.

7th Grade Retreat

On Friday, May 12th our seventh grade students and teachers will travel to St.

Paul’s in Combined Locks for a day of reflection and spiritual growth.

The theme for 7th grade is “Self-Esteem”. Middle School years (and 7th grade in

particular) can be a time of change and full of questions, which can have an impact

on a student’s self- image. By bringing self-esteem into focus, we can help students

recognize and appreciate their own giftedness and to celebrate one another’s differences. Please keep staff and students in prayer those days for a good and holy

retreat. 7th grade students should bring a bag lunch; let the office know if

you’d like to order a bag lunch from food service.

May 10, 2017

Fidgets

As of Tuesday, May 2, 2017, the following fidgets will no longer be allowed at SMCMS:

Fidget “spinners” will no longer be allowed during the school day.

Also, “thinking putty,” or any putty similar to it, will no longer be allowed during the school day.

Last, “fidget cubes” will no longer be allowed during the school day.

Students will have to have them put away in their lockers, backpacks during school hours (7:50-3:12 p.m.) or better yet left at

home. These bans have been put into place due to the distraction they have become to many students. Thanks for your

support and cooperation.

SMCS news

Aquinas Program Update

St. Mary Catholic Schools administrators had hoped to have a new multi-age, accelerated learning elementary school program

in place for the 2017-18 school year. Significant efforts were made, including research, site visits and teacher interviews, to

establish this opportunity for our students. However, we were unable to secure an instructor with the required qualifications in

time to begin this important initiative by the fall of 2017. Instead, administrators, independent consultants and SMCS teachers

will spend the next year developing the SMCS Aquinas Program.

We share the enthusiasm and interest of the parents who have contacted us about the Aquinas Program, and we appreciate

their understanding as we work to establish a well-developed program led by a passionate and qualified teacher. Although we

share the disappointment, this path is preferable to hastily setting up a program that is not yet ready to help students reach

their highest potential. SMCS is committed to and fully expects to have an exceptional program in place in the near future.

If you have any questions regarding the plan, please contact SMCS President Helen Englebert at

henglebert@smcatholicschoools.org or 722-7796.

Did you know? St. Mary Catholic High School’s Class of 2017 collectively recorded more than 8300 hours of service over the past four years. * St. Margaret Mary fifth graders will be embarking on a special ride during Bike Safety Week. Read

about it here.

Community Auditions - all ages welcome! Community Auditions: May 13 from 12:00 - 3:00 in the Jane Bergstrom FAEC

Open to all ages and no experience required! Please prepare a song approximately one minute in length.

Student Edition Cast

Students aged 7-15 have a bonus opportunity to take on the full roles in an abridged version of JOSEPH. The Student Edition

experience also comes with free drama workshops, taught by professional guest artists. Audition the same day and time as the

community production.

Questions? Contact Hayden Kraus.

The following topics were included in last week’s system newsletter: SMCS calendar * SMCS Summer Youth Opportunities (Sports Camps, Daycare) * SMCS Job

Openings * SMCS Summer Classes and Tutoring * Notre Dame Club Hosting Mass at HS * Camp Invention /

Invention Project * Brandon’s B+ 5K Run/Walk * Greater Zephyr Open * Green Bay Packers Youth Football

Camps * Enrichment Program Football Mini-camp * Facebook Highlights (April 28-May 4) * Save the Date: Z-

Night on Saturday, November 11, 2017 * SMCS Spring Concert Series * In the Community: Fox Valley Sailing

School, Neenah Soccer Club fall soccer, * Cub Scout/Boy Scout Picnic * YMCA Classes (Summer Sports Camps—entering grades 2-5), Heid Music summer classes

MAY D.J. DANCE Friday, May 12, 2017

6th & 7th Grade Time: 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. 8th Grade Time: 3:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

ADMISSION: $5.00

Fill out and return the registration slip no later than Wednesday, May 10. Registrations turned in after May 10 will cost $10.00.

No late food orders will be taken. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

May D.J. Dance Registration due: May 10, 2017

Name__________________________________

Admission: $5.00 ($10.00 after May 10 – No food can be ordered)

___ Bottled beverages: $1 each (water/ Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up products)

____ Little Caesars Crazy Bread with sauce - $3.00

____ Little Caesars Pizza - $1.00 per slice

____Cheese ____Sausage ____Pepperoni

____ Build-your-own Ice Cream Sundae for $1.00

Total amount of order:

$___ drink + $___ Crazy Bread + $___ Pizza + $___ Sundae + $5.00 Admission TOTAL AMOUNT DUE = $________

(Make checks payable to S.M.C.S.)

Parent Volunteers Needed!

Indicate below which time you can help. You will be asked to supervise in the commons, halls, and gym. ___ 2:30 pm-3:30 pm: Set up gym, get pizza, prep sundaes, set up beverages.

___ 3:30-5:30 pm Supervision in gym, hallways, and commons.

___3:30-5:00 Serve food and beverages in commons. Clean up commons.

Parent Name(s) _______________________________

Come at the time you sign up for, unless you hear from Mr. K.

Zephyr Middle School Football

Vision, Mission, Values

Our Vision Statement…

Zephyr Football will serve and fulfill the Greater

Purpose of helping young men grow and lead

Christ-Centered independent lives.

Our Mission Statement…. Through the game of football, we will teach, mentor,

and coach the foundation of leading a Christ-Centered

independent life:

1. Do What’s Right (Integrity)

2. Do Your Best (Excellence)

3. Care for Others (Respect)

Our Five Values we will support…. Being Good to People

Accepting Responsibility

Leading Courageously

Safe Play

Having Fun

Five Lessons for Our Lives from the Parable of the

Talents

Hugh Whelchel

March 14, 2013

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How should Christians think about work, success, and wealth?

I was recently asked by byFaith magazine to write an article answering these tough

questions. As I thought about how to approach these topics, I realized the Parable of the

Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 provides a helpful framework for thinking about them.

While we’ve talked a lot about this parable on the blog, but using it as a guide for these questions is unique. These five points are just a snippet of the full piece I wrote

for byFaith, and I hope you’ll read the full article if you find what you read here

edifying.

Without further ado, here are five lessons the Parable of the Talents can teach us about

work, success, and wealth:

1. First, this parable teaches us that success is a product of our

work.

In the book of Genesis we see that God placed Adam in the garden to work it and take

care of it. We were made to work. As Christians we have a mission that our Lord expects

us to accomplish in the here and now.

Far too many evangelical Christians today see their salvation as simply a “bus ticket to

heaven.” They believe it doesn’t matter what they do while they “wait for the bus.” The Parable of the Talents teaches us what we are supposed to do while we await the return of

our King.

We are to work, using our talents to glorify God, serve the common good, and further

God’s kingdom. Biblical success is working diligently in the here and now using all the

talents God has given us to produce the return expected by the Master.

2. The Parable of the Talents teaches that God always gives us

everything we need to do what he has called us to do.

Have you ever wondered what a talent is worth in today’s dollars? It is hard to know for sure, yet whatever its exact value, in the New Testament a talent indicates a large sum

of money, maybe even as much as a million dollars in today’s currency.

We are tempted to feel sorry for the servant who received only one talent, but in reality

he received as much as a million dollars from the master and buried it in his back yard.

He was given more than enough to meet the master’s expectations.

Just as the master expected his servants to do more than passively preserve what has been

entrusted to them, so God expects us to generate a return by using our talents towards

productive ends. The servants were given enough to produce more – it is the same with

the gifts God has given us. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We seldom associate this verse with our work, but we should.

3. The Parable of the Talents teaches that we are not all created

equal.

The most overlooked part of this parable is the second half of verse fifteen: the master

gives to each servant talents, “…each according to his ability.” The master understood that the one-talent servant was not capable of producing as much as the five-talent

servant.

We want to protest this as unfair. Yet we know this is true from our own experience.

Diversity is woven into the fabric of creation.

But even though we’re not created equal in regard to the talents we’re given, there is equality found in the Parable of the Talents. It comes from the fact that it takes

just as much work for the five-talent servant to produce five more talents as it does the

two-talent servant to produce two more talents.

This is why the reward given by the master is the same. The master measures success by

degrees of effort, as should we.

4. The Parable of the Talents teaches that we work for the Master,

not our own selfish purposes.

The money that is given to the servants is not their own. The money they earn with the

capital is not theirs to keep. The servants are only stewards of the master’s investment, and it is the quality of their stewardship that the master seeks to measure.

We should maximize the use of our talents not for our own selfish purposes, but to honor

God. We know that we work in a fallen world. Because of the curse of sin, our work will

be difficult. But we should feel satisfaction and joy from doing our best with what God

has given us in the place where his providence puts us, seeking to succeed in order to

honor him.

5. The Parable of the Talents shows that we will be held

accountable.

The Parable of the Talents is not about salvation or works righteousness, but about how

we use our work to fulfill our earthly callings. It is about whole-life stewardship, or

“Stewardship with a capital ‘S‘.”

The unfaithful steward in this parable didn’t so much waste the master’s money – he

wasted an opportunity. As a result, he was judged wicked and lazy. We are responsible

for what we do for God with what we have been given, and one day we will be held

responsible.

What we hear from the Master on that day is up to us.

This post was adapted from its original version appearing in the latest

edition of byFaith magazine.

Do any of these lessons resonate with you? Which ones, and why?