St. Theresa Catholic School - A School of the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock

Y'all, these teachers are so great! We spent a lot of time this morning digging into everything from our emergency response plan to homework policies. But the most fun was a communication exercise to see who could build a matching LEGO creation! Teachers split up into observers, communicators and builders and Team Middle School (Boyette, Williams, French) won with the best-match creation!

We've been hinting about exciting things happening! Want more details? Come see us at one of these meetings August 12 or 13 in the Spanish classroom!

Teachers are hard at work getting classrooms ready for our sweet students, but not before a little fun this morning! We welcomed Nick Brown from the Office of Innovation in Education who brought is breakfast in honor of our Heart of the Community Award! And we played a game as we learned more about each other! It's going to be a great year!

Teachers return tomorrow. Students return August 13. Excitement. Nervousness. We don't know what this year will bring, but we don't have to. Please join us in prayer in anticipation of the 25-26 school year.

Let's introduce our middle school and junior high teams! We are excited to have 4/5/6 in a special middle school hook pod this year, led by three fabulous teachers! We welcome back Mrs. Boyette in fourth grade, Ms. Williams in fifth grade, and Mrs. French in sixth grade. These ladies will take turns teaching certain content areas to each class. Mrs. Boyette will teach language arts. Ms. Williams will teach math. Mrs. French will teach social studies and religion. We welcome Mrs. Nanette Zobkov as our seventh grade homeroom teacher and Ms. Strojek as our eighth grade homeroom teacher! Placing 7/8 grades in their own specific junior high pod will allow us to focus on their final two years before high school in a powerful way. #teamsts

Allow us to introduce you to our expanding elementary team! Ms. Elizabeth Lequieu rejoins us for another year with first graders. She has a big heart for serving our kids! We have so many first graders we needed to add an additional teacher - Ms. Cari Karugireyo. Don't worry - she's happy to go by Ms. K! She has been working with youth in ministry and homeschooling for many years and is happy to come teach at St. Theresa! Mrs. Russelle Anne Capili will be our second grade teacher as Ms. Timmerman steps into intervention. Mrs. Capili has nine years of teaching experience and has served as a campus minister as well as billiards coach in the Philippines! She also has a degree in Catholic Religious Education. Ms. Barnes returns to third grade. Did you know she is musically talented, sharing her gift of song in her church choir?! We have so many third graders we needed another third grade teacher, and the Lord sent Mrs. Kat Porteus straight from Hawaii! She loves surfing, tennis, pickleball, golf and her dog Honey Girl!

Food service at St. Theresa will look a little different this year. We are excited to utilize the Parish Center kitchen and meeting rooms for food prep and dining space. These ladies will be making it happen! Mrs. Ivania Tenorio will be our cafeteria manager. Mrs. Hien Tran, Mrs. Yuliana Bueno, and Mrs. Lupita Sosa will be serving as cafeteria staff. We are excited to continue to offer breakfast and lunch daily for our students!

Stay tuned for this landscaping project soon to be completed! Ismael Leyva rocks!

We LOVE to introduce our early childhood/kindergarten team! Ms. Silvia Patlan returns as our PK3 teacher! She provides a valuable service to our students by instructing them in Spanish as well as English. Mrs. Debby Haley returns as our PK4 teacher! She just completed her 25th year teaching at STS. Ms. Lindsey Stehle and Mrs. Sally Chua return as our dynamic duo of kindergarten teachers! Ms. Stehle (pronounced Stay-lee) and Mrs. Chua work wonders, teaching students how to read, write, do math, and grow closer to the Lord. #bestteam

St. Theresa Catholic Church and School are blessed with a strong, faithful leadership team! Allow us to introduce (or re-introduce) you to our clergy! Father Stephen Gadberry is beginning his fourth year as pastor at St. Theresa. We are blessed with his joy, energy, and pastoral vision. We love his digs, Shorty and Murph, too! Father John Paul Hartnedy joined us in December and is ready to experience a back-to-school season with us. We are blessed by his ministry of presence. He loves a good recess soccer game! Father Joel Ibebuike (pronounced Eee-boo-bwee-Kay) joined us a month ago. He most recently served the diocese in Mountain Home and has extensive experience with pastoral counseling. He is excited to learn Spanish from this community! Deacon Juan Mares starts his fourth year serving as a deacon at St. Theresa. He can be found around the parish and school most evenings. He is always ready to provide teaching and instruction in the faith!

Let's also use July as an opportunity to get to know the team - the best team - the St. Theresa Team! This year, in our school's front office, you will get to work with not one, but two amazing ladies! Janeth Alarcon returns, and we all know we love her! She will serve as Registrar, handling all enrollment, scholarship, and payment needs. We welcome Alondra Castro as our bilingual receptionist! A faithful parishioner and member of the Danzantes team, she will handle phone calls, front door entry, attendance, and sick student needs, The front office reopens July 28! These ladies look forward to serving you! #teamsts #bestteamever

This Saturday from 12 to 4! Spread the word that Saint Theresa Catholic Church Parish Center will be the place to go for free medical screenings as well as other health-related services.

The summer donation board is returning! Check out our list of requested donations here, in the bulletin, or on the information board in the vestibule of church. We love our parish family! The first aid kits are so special with your contributions. Thank you in advance.

New white boards for five classrooms have arrived, and we have started the work of relocating the cafeteria! Are you a high school student looking for service hours? Join us Monday at 8:00 am to move smaller items from the old cafeteria to the new.

Hello! We are ready for our next projects, and we need your help! We need to move furniture in the school to accommodate completing waxing the floors AND we need to move refrigerators and freezers and cooking items from the cafeteria to the PC. That's right! The children will have breakfast and lunch in the PC this year! We are so excited! Can you lend a hand? Come find us at the cafe or PC or school this Thursday starting at 2:00. We hope to be finished by 8:00 pm. Questions? Reach out to Mrs. Dunn at kdunn@stslr.org or 501.258.5153. Thank you in advance!

Low quality photos, high quality investments! During the month of July, LOTS of work will be going on behind the scenes at St. Theresa Catholic School. We'll be giving you sneak peeks when we can. To ease in slowly, today we start with photos of: Boxes of 105 new chrome books Buckets of floor wax Boxes of textbooks Thank you for partnering with us in investing in our children!

Legos + the Lord = the best VBS ever! We are so grateful to our volunteers!

Want you to know about some exciting developments happening soon! Starting July 1, the weekday mass schedule will change. Tuesday and Friday we will have morning masses at 8:30 AM in English. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we will have evening masses at 6:00 PM in Spanish. Out and join us for a community barbecue on July 5. Bring your grill and some food to share. Didn't have made their first communion are able to be trained to be alter servers on July 12. There will also be popsicles!

Inviting all mothers! Join us Friday, June 27th at 1:00 pm in the PC for a meeting about an exciting opportunity with UAMS, learning and teaching about healthy habits for your family! Presented in Spanish and English.

We pray, O Lord, for change. Jesus you revealed God through your wise words and loving deeds, and we encounter you still today in the faces of those whom society has pushed to the margins. Guide us, through the love you revealed, to establish the justice you proclaimed, that all peoples might dwell in harmony and peace, united by that one love that binds us to each other, and to you. And most of all, Lord, change our routine worship and work into genuine encounter with you and our better selves so that our lives will be changed for the good of all. Amen Prayer adapted from Racial Healing and Liturgical Resources.