Dear Parents and Friends of St Benedict:  

Thank you to all who made last Friday’s Grandparents and Grandfriends Day a success. We had over 350 visitors across the campus and we were pleased to host this day. We’d like to thank our parent volunteers, as well as our National Junior Honors Society and 5th grade student volunteers who helped to welcome our guests. We hope this day provided happy memories for many years to come.

We are midway through the first trimester already. This coming week brings first trimester progress reports (for grades K-12) and conferences for PK-12. We hope all parents have had an opportunity to learn how conferences will run at each of the distinct grade levels. The first trimester ends on November 20th; students have a solid 5 weeks to work on areas where they need to improve and continue their successful track in others. Please look for progress reports in your emails soon. We plan to e-blast them to parents on Tuesday between 4 and 5PM.

Finally, I just wanted to bring a little attention to some school families who are celebrating their 10-Year Anniversary as Team Just Cure It, raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk on October 20th. Over the past 10 years, since 2009, Team Just Cure It has raised over $600,000 to help find a cure for blood cancers. This team has grown beyond 100 members and many members are school families. You can read about this team and support their efforts on this special 10th anniversary by visiting the team page at https://pages.lightthenight.org/il/Metrochicago18/justcureit. You can also support their efforts by visiting the bake sale hosted by the Ruger Family - 3500 N. Seeley on Sunday, October 14th. Another option is the Euchre Tournament (Hosted by the Behling Family) - Rock's, 4138 N Lincoln Ave on October 18th. Thank you for supporting their efforts.

Peace - Ms. Rachel Gemo, Head of Parish School

Important Information Below

Here are Upcoming Dates to Keep in Mind

  • Saturday, October 13th - Good Luck to our XC Boys and Girls Team Competing at State Competition!

  • Friday, October 12th - HSA Spirit Shop/Uniform Resale from 8AM to 10PM

  • Friday, October 12th - Annual Holiday Greenery Sale Orders Due

  • Friday, October 12th -Kindergarten Parent Social at the G&L FireEscape at 6:30PM

  • Wednesday, October 17th - Fall Picture Orders Due

  • Thursday, October 18th - 1st Trimester Conferences 4-7PM

  • Friday, October 19th - 1st Trimester Conferences 8-11AM - No School for Students

  • Thursday, October 25th - Preschool Open House for Prospective Families

  • Volunteer for Frightwalk2018!

  • Wednesday, October 31st - Halloween celebration

  • Thursday, November 1st - All Saints Day Holiday

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Our Annual Wreath and Greenery Sale 2018 Orders due by October 12th!

Decorate for the Christmas Season and even send a special someone a beautiful wreath or basket through this order to Echo Hill Farms and help our Seniors for their Agora trip this spring!

Preschool through Grade 5
Look for a Wreath Order Packet being sent via backpack to your home beginning today.

Middle School & High School
Wreath Order Packets with House Competition Details being sent home Thursday with all 6th-12th graders.

Select from many available options to make your home look festive and welcoming:

  • 25" or 30" Balsam Mixed Wreaths

  • 22" or 30" Forest Elegance Wreaths

  • 20", 24", or 30" Boxwood Wreaths

  • Baskets

  • Centerpieces

  • Mantel Pieces

  • Outdoor Roping

  • Swags

  • Dwarf Spruce Trees

Looking for something special for a loved one?? How about sending them a gift boxed wreath or basket delivered direct to their home in December? 

CLICK HERE FOR WREATH ORDER PACKET FORMS

ORDERS DUE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12th! Payment via check made payable to St. Benedict Prep

NEW THIS YEAR FOR SCHOOL FAMILIES! 
Send in your order form without payment and Mr. Mazzone in the tuition office will add it to your FACTS account. 

PICK UP IS IN BEAVEN HALL ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18th from 8:30 - 3 p.m.

QUESTIONS: Email wreathsale@stbenedict.com or call 773.509-3832

Congrats to our St. Benedict Cross Country Team Boys and Girls Sectional Champs! On to State! Thanks to our amazing coaches!

On Saturday, October 6th the SBPS Boys and Girls Cross Country teams both won Sectionals!  They are advancing to the State Championship meet in Normal, IL on Saturday, Oct. 13.

8th grader William Archer was the boys Sectional champ, finishing the 2 mile course in 10:56.  All seven of our boys finished in the top 11.  Their team score was an amazing 18 points.

Our girls team was led by 7th grader Maggie Owens, who finished third.  We had four girls in the top ten.  It was a true team effort with exciting finish line sprints to edge out the second place team and win by 2 points.

FALL PHOTOS – PROOFS AND ORDER FORMS being sent home with each student on THURSDAY, October 11th  

 Orders may be placed online. Please refer to the proof sheet and ordering form for more information.  Orders by check/cash please send into the school office no later than October 17th.

 FALL PICTURE RETAKES/ABSENT STUDENTS   

For students who missed their Fall pictures in September, please send your child to school in dress uniform. They will have their picture taken in the morning during school.  

If you are planning on having your child's picture retaken, please email Christa O'Keefe at CHRISTA@stbenedict.com by Tuesday,  October 17th. Please send them to school in their dress uniform.

Interested in SIBLING PHOTOS taken here at St. Benedict? Please continue reading.

School families interested in having their children take a SIBLING photo with school photographers PICTURE DAY may sign up for a slot. SIBLING PHOTOS will be taken on Thursday, October 18th from 7:30AM to 8:30AM. This is what parents need to do:

Sign up with Picture Day to let them know you are coming. RSVP using this link: https://www.picture-day.com/siblings

Have your children DRESSED in clothing you prefer - either school uniforms OR dress/street clothes.

Bring your children to the secondary school library. You may park in the lot and enter DOOR 5 or enter through the preschool at 3901 N. Bell.

Wait until your children are photographed. If your children have their photo taken after 8AM, please check them into school when you are done. Students getting a photo will be excused from a tardy. Please note that there will be no staff available to supervise. Parents need to be with their children at all times.

These are the ONLY SIBLING PHOTOS this year. Sibling PHOTOS are optional. There will be no spring pictures this year at SBPS.

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Congratulations to October Employee of the Month, Mr. Damien Marshall, Grades 1-5 Physical Education Teacher

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FACTS Billing Reminder

Each family maintains a Tuition Agreement Plan and an Incidental Invoice plan within the FACTS Tuition Management site. 

  • All tuition related charges are billed through the Tuition Agreement Plan based upon the schedule each family established at the beginning of the school year.

  • All incidental charges (Quest Cafeteria, Extended Care, Teacher Clubs, Course Material/Books, Agora, Fieldtrips, etc…) are invoiced through the Incidental Invoice section of your FACTS account.  NOTE: Multiple children families will have their extended care charges invoiced under the oldest child’s name due to the multi-child discount pertaining to extended care rates. This does not pertain to the Preschool Aftercare which is incorporated within the tuition rate.

An invoice notice for incidental charges is sent out via email on the fifth of each month with payment due on the fifteenth of each month. The due dates for incidental charges cannot be adjusted or altered.

Access to your FACTS Tuition Management account is gained through logging into the RenWeb portal.  The following link explains how to make an online payment or how to view the details of your billing each month:  

https://issuu.com/benjaminmazzone/docs/facts_billing_-_making_payments

All payments on both accounts need to be paid by their respective due date to avoid any late payment fees imposed by FACTS. Automatic payment account reduces the likelihood of a late payment fee.

Should you have any questions regarding any charges or fees, please contact Mr. Benjamin Mazzone in the Tuition Office at (773) 509-3836.

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 It is Mid-Term Already! First Trimester Progress Reports Being Sent Home Next Week

AND

Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences are Thursday, October 18th from 4-8PM and Friday, October 19th From 8AM to Noon

 We are already half-way through the first trimester. We hope all is going well for your family so far. There have changes made to Parent-Teacher Conferences. Please read.

Progress Reports for Grades K-12

Progress reports for grades K-12 will be emailed by Tuesday, October 16th between 4 and 5PM (for those of you who read this earlier - I had posted the wrong date of Friday - my apologies).  If you do not receive your child's progress report by the evening of October 16th, please contact your child's homeroom teacher. We send home progress reports ahead of the conferences so that parents may come prepared with questions as needed. 

First Trimester Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences PK-12 

Conferences will be held this coming Thursday, October 19th from 4PM to 8PM, and Friday, October 20th from 8AM to 12PM. There is no school on Friday.

 For students in grades PK-3, homeroom teachers will email parents the link to sign up for a conference. For early childhood STEAM TEACHERS, please refer to the BUZZ for their sign up links.

 For grades 4 and 5, conferences will be slightly different this year because of the departmental nature of these grade levels. The teachers are preparing conference notes for each student in all core subject areas. Therefore we are asking each family to sign with their child's homeroom teacher at these grade levels. Please do not sign up for all 4 teachers of that grade level. There are times blocked out on the conference sign up for pre-scheduled team conferences. Homeroom teachers will be sending their conference sign-up links on Friday, October 5th in the afternoon. 

Once all homeroom parents have had the opportunity to sign up for conferences, any available spots at this point will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please note, there are not enough slots for all parents to see all four teachers. This is why the priority will be given to homeroom parents. Ms. Medina will also have an available sign up genius at this point as well.

Middle School Teachers

The Middle School teachers will be available for walk-in conferences on a first-come, first-serve basis on both Thursday evening and Friday morning. We are not pre-scheduling conferences because there are not enough 10-minute time slots to accommodate all students assigned to each teacher. We recognize that not all individual conferences need a full ten minutes, so we trust that this arrangement will allow for teachers to see more parents and students in the time set aside for conferences. The teachers will be strictly adhering to a 10-minute limit, so please come prepared to have a fruitful, but quick discussion about that particular course.

 However, please note, there are several times throughout the evening/morning that teams of middle school teachers will be meeting in a pre-arranged conference for which they will need be excused for a short-time. Please be patient while you are waiting for a conference with that teacher. Essentially, parents of middle school students can sign up for the conferences they need, and wait until their name is called. For parents' convenience, all middle school teachers will be in the secondary cafeteria so that parents have one general meeting location and will not have to walk back and forth between classrooms. 

STEAM Teachers: Hoban (STEM), McDonough(Spanish PK-3), Ramirez (Spanish 3-8), Sinka (French 4-8), Stamper (Band 4-8), Piotrowski (Strings), Thompson (Music 2-8), Marshall (PE 1-5), Genge (PE 6-12), Hybinette (Computer/Bengal Prep/Protégé), Stancin (Art 2-12), Deehan (Inclusion), Karagiannes (Computer Science)

STEAM Teachers will also be in the secondary cafeteria for walk-in conferences. Please enter the cafeteria and sign-up for a conference. Please wait for your name to be called.

High School Teachers: Mr. Rosskamm, Ms. Deady and Ms. Pietras will be in their classrooms on the third floor of the high school on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please follow the signs. All elective teachers will be in the secondary cafeteria for walk-in conferences. However, please note, there are several times throughout the evening/morning that the high school teachers will be meeting in a pre-arranged team conferences for which they will need be excused for a short-time. Please be patient while you are waiting for a conference with that teacher.

It is important that the students (Grades 4-12) attend the conferences with their parents in order for it to be a productive conversation about their academic progress.   Typically our heavy traffic times are Thursday evening, please plan accordingly. The wait-times may be a little longer than Friday morning.

Thank you for partnering with us in your child's faith formation and academic growth. We look forward to seeing you at conferences. 

St. Benedict Prep Hosts Catholic High School Fair | Tuesday, October 16th

 Are you considering a Catholic high school education for your child?  St. Benedict Preparatory School is hosting a Catholic High School fair on Tuesday, October 16th.  The fair will be held in the St. Benedict Prep gym, 3941 N Bell Ave from 6:30 – 7:30 PM.  Catholic High Schools from throughout the Chicago area will be in attendance, including DePaul College Prep, Josephinum Academy, Loyola Academy, Notre Dame College Prep, St. Patrick High School, and St. Ignatius College Prep.  Contact Janet Gallagher, Director of Enrollment & Admissions at jgallagher@stbenedict.com or 773-509-3814 for more information.

Our very own Mary Ann Johnson, Early Education Music Teacher, will be performing in a tribute to Aretha Franklin at the Old Town School of Folk Music on Oct. 20. 

Ms. Johnson, who also is a children's programming instructor at Old Town, is excited to be among the Old Town faculty, staff and friends performing in Aretha: Uncovered. Click here for ticket information

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Yvonnes Dance Academy Elite Team Performance AND 2018-19 Class Offerings

Help Wanted at St. Benedict Parish - Please Forward to Those Who Are a Good Fit

St. Benedict Parish (Irving Park) in Chicago is seeking to hire a full-time benefits-eligible Building Engineer (BE) for its busy expansive campus. The BE, in consultation with the Director of Maintenance and the Director of Finance, will oversee all aspects of maintenance to insure a safe and efficient physical plant. The BE will work with the maintenance staff to coordinate the use of the parish facilities, furnishings and equipment. A college degree, appropriate certifications in maintenance/engineering, or equivalent work experience is required.  For more information about this position, click here. Inquiries can be directed to Geoff Pautsch, Director of Finance.

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Northwestern University's Center for Talent Development, the Accelerated Weekend Experience (AWE) here at St. Benedict Prep November 3rd and 4th

St. Benedict is offering a unique learning opportunity for academically talented students in grades 3 through 8.  In collaboration with Northwestern University's Center for Talent Development, the Accelerated Weekend Experience (AWE) program provides challenging, hands-on, in-depth exploration for those passionate about the subjects of engineering & science. 

The two-day AWE courses will be held at St. Benedict Preparatory School on Saturday, November 3rd and Sunday, November 4th from 9 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., both Saturday and Sunday. 

Please see the courses offered below:

Inspired Engineering:  Fantastic Solutions to Everyday Challenges (Gr. 3-4) 

What is a physical task you do every day that could be easier? What gadget could you design that would make it less challenging? Armed with everyday materials, creativity and the engineering design process, students develop innovative solutions to daily tasks. Young engineers explore complex kinetic systems inspired by Rube Goldberg, and seek inspiration in art, music and literary characters to expand their understanding of problem-solving. Students collaborate to design, build, test and revise solutions in this project-based class. 

Subject Areas: Engineering & Technology 

Tiny Chemistry:  Introduction to Nanotechnology (Gr. 5-6) 

From smaller, more powerful phones to nano-bots making repairs at the cellular level in our bodies, nanotechnology is becoming an important field. At the nanometer-scale (one billionth of a meter!), materials behave very differently. By taking advantage of these unique properties, scientists and engineers are able to enter realms of science that have been thus far unreachable. In this lab based course, students learn about the chemistry of nano-sized particles and the scientifici and societal impacts of nanotechnology as well as exploring observable effects at the nanoscale.

Subject Areas: Engineering & Technology 

Nanotechnology & the Solar Cell (Gr. 7-8) 

How do nanoparticles help scientists and engineers create inexpensive, next generation solar cell devices? Using nanotechnology and plant pigments, make artificial photosynthetic devices for capturing the sun's energy and convert it to electricity. Measure the performance of silicon-based solar cells, create a spinach dye-sensitized solar cell, and design your own efficient solar cell using your choice of vegetable or fruit dyes to power a digital clock. 

Subject Areas: Engineering & Technology 

High-ability students often need and want additional challenges to augment their schoolwork.  With many activities to juggle it can be difficult to commit to an out-of-school program that may last weeks or longer. The concentrated Accelerated Weekend Experience is an excellent option and we are pleased to make this opportunity available. 

Eligibility guidelines and the online application are on the CTD website at  

www.ctd.northwestern.edu/sep/program/awe.  Tuition and fees total $265 for each 2-day course, and financial aid is available - see website for details.  

St. Benedict families have priority access to the application until Friday, October 12th, after which the application will be open to the public. Although you will receive an automated confirmation of your application requesting that you submit qualifying test scores, the school administration will be providing scores to the CTD and you can simply ignore this e-mail.

Questions about the program can be addressed to ctd-enrichment@northwestern.edu.

We thank you for considering this program for your child(ren). If we get a positive response from the community, we hope to move this program to an after school option in the future. This will be the only weekend offering at this time.

HELPFUL GUIDES FOR NEW FAMILIES:

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Consider joining us this spring for Tour Italy 2019
In the Footsteps of St. Benedict! 

The final international trip for our HS seniors is open to alumni, parishioners, and school families interested in joining us for 10 days in sunny Italy from April 26 through May 6, 2019.  Perillo Tours is hosting our trip abroad and they have worked out a wonderful itinerary starting with the Amalfi Coast and Rome, working our way up to Florence and Venice.  Cost for this great experience covers airfare, accommodations at 4 star hotels, tour and ticket costs, as well as the majority of our meals.  Double occupancy $3500 per person.  Join Fr. Steve, Ms. Gemo, and Mr. Accardi for a fantastic trip abroad.  Questions, please contact Mr. Accardi at jaccardi@stbenedict.com or 773.509-3832.  

Can’t join us consider helping our High School seniors as they fund raise to afford
this wonderful 10 day experience. 

Here’s how you can help: Go Fund Me Page:

 https://www.gofundme.com/help-st-ben039shs-seniors-tour-italy 

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CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS OR FOR MORE INFORMATION

SIGN UP TO WORK AT FRIGHTWALK 2018!

ST. BEN’S 8TH GRADERS: Are you ready to enter the Frightwalk Zone? Sign up to work at Fright Walk
PARENTS: Make it a Family Fright Zone! We need parents to work the doors, concessions, and more!

CLICK HERE TO WORK AT FRIGHWALK

FrightWalk Hours
October 19,20 7:30-10
October 21 1:15-3:30
October 26/27 7:30-10

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PRAYER CORNER - St. Benedict, Pray for Us!  Please pray for all those affected by Hurricane Michael which hit the Florida Pan Handle.

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