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Moving Up Ceremony & Final Mass
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Good afternoon Star Parents,
I hope you have had a great weekend.
As we are about to start the last week of school, we will be having our last Mass of the year At the beginning of the school year Monsignor Smetanka and I discussed the Moving-up Ceremony. He expressed concern about the chaotic nature of the ceremony after Mass and asked me to come up with a different plan. After discussing this with the school staff, we agreed that honoring the 7th Grade students moving into the roll of the school leaders was important to preserve. As a result, we decided to forego the 1st – 6th Grade students moving from their current place in church and to their new grade section, but having the nice small ceremony recognizing our new school leaders. We apologize for not communicating this change better to the school community.
In recent days, it has been communicated to me and other staff that parents would like to keep the Moving-up Ceremony tradition, with the two main elements of the students saying good bye to their current teacher and hello to their new one for next year. Monsignor respects the desire to keep this tradition however would like still eliminate the chaotic nature of the ceremony in the church after Mass. We have created a modification to the tradition that keeps the essence of students saying good bye to their current teacher and hello to their new one while respecting the solemnity of the church.
On Thursday, our End of the Year Mass will start at 9:00 am, NOT 8:30 am. School dismissal will be from Mass.
At the end of the Mass, we will be recognizing the 7th Grade students becoming our new school leaders with a small candle light ceremony. After this ceremony, we will be asking parents to leave the church and gather outside under the canopy. We will start dismissing students by grade out the church doors starting with First Grade where they will say “Good Bye” to their current teacher and “Hello” to their teacher for next year. Mrs. Ancona and Ms. Kaiser will place themselves outside the church doors and the First Grade Students will proceed past them, giving them both a hug. Parents will be able to take their pictures at that time. When the First Grade is finished, Mrs. Napier will join Ms. Kaiser and greet the Second Grade students in the same way. This process will be followed all the way through the Seventh Grade students.
Students will be dismissed for the summer after they proceed out of the church. Their current classroom teachers and other staff will still monitor all students after Mass for dismissal until parents arrive.
We invite all our Star parents to please join us for the End of the Year Mass and Send Off. This is a time for us as a faith-filled community to join together one last time this school year to give thanks to the Lord for his abundant blessings and grace poured out by Christ.
Mrs. Meghan Carter-Waid - Principal
