St. Edward celebrated those who support Catholic schools

Last week, St. Edward School in Minneota held its annual celebration of Catholic Schools Week. This is a celebration that is held at Catholic schools nationwide during the last week of January each year. In many ways, it is a celebration of the many people who support Catholic schools and the lives they impact.
Catholic Schools Week ran from Sunday, Jan. 29 to Saturday, Feb. 4 this year. Each day we celebrated a different group of people. These included our parishioners, the community, our students, the nation, vocations, faculty, staff and volunteers, and our families. This is our way of thanking everyone for the things they have done to aid us in our mission at St. Edward School.
We kicked off Catholic Schools Week with a Children’s Mass on Sunday morning. The children’s choir sang and students participated in the Liturgy of the Word, brought up the gifts, and greeted the assembled.
Throughout the remainder of the school week, we had dress us days that had us dressing as our favorite sports teams, our favorite characters, our ancestors, and other fun days. We invited our alumni and our families into the building for special lunches. Each day of the week we collected items to share with the local community. We collected supplies for the “One More Time” thrift store and the Pie Ladies in Minneota, as well as new stuffed animals for the Minneota First Responders and the Fire Department. One of our favorite projects is to collect goodies to share with the recipients of Meals on Wheels. The students decorated goodie bags and made notes of encouragement to include with the snacks. We celebrate our students every day, but during this week we do so in a very special way. We played “Family Feud” in the gym, held a beach ball volleyball tournament, had a school dance and a carnival. The seventh and eighth graders choose the lunch menu for the entire week.
To celebrate vocations, we collected items for the Sisters of Mary Morning Star in Ghent and we all participated in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
We ended our week with our annual Flurry of Fun where friends and families of the school gather for an evening of food, fun, and entertainment.
Over 190 individuals were served a meal catered by Scottie Biggs.
The theme of the entire week was “Catholic Schools: Faith. Excellence. Service.”
This theme encompasses the core products and values that can be found at St. Edward School and at Catholic schools across the country.
Not only are we teaching students to become future servant leaders, faith-filled disciples and enriched citizens in our communities, educators are growing with them.
In Catholic schools, we are all learners, servants and leaders. These shared qualities are what make Catholic schools work. They are what make Catholic schools succeed.