Honoring health care workers, responders
Catholic schools in Butler County are marking National Catholic Schools Week with special activities, including an event to thank Butler Health System workers and first responders.
Gratitude is the overall theme for the week at Butler Catholic School, 515 E. Locust S., according to Kathy Dudley, the school's director of development.
The school designated Tuesday as its Gratitude for Health Care Workers and First Responders Day.
All students were encouraged to dress as a first responder or health care worker.
On Thursday, the school will give Dr. David Rottinghaus, chief medical officer of the Butler Health System, thank-you cards for BHS staff made by the Butler Catholic students, as well as more than 230 bags of popcorn for hospital staff members to enjoy.To prepare for this, the school had a Kernels for Caregivers drive, in which families and friends were asked to participate by buying popcorn through the school that was earmarked specifically for the hospital staff.“Dr. Rottinghaus was very helpful to us in this whole COVID-19 experience,” Dudley said.“He came to the school and showed a video and held a question-and-answer session to keep us informed to what was going on,” she said.“We were able to ask him anything,” she said. “We wanted to find a way to thank him.”Dudley said other activities this week include a daylong kickball tournament Tuesday, a talent show Thursday and a Mass from the school chapel that will be livestreamed into the classrooms.Eric Campbell, director of campus ministry at North Catholic High School, 1617 Route 228 in Cranberry Township, said the school would emphasize gratitude and responsibility at the high school.“The students are asked to reflect on gratitude for being given a Catholic education and the responsibility to use it for the good of others,” Campbell said.
Campbell said that, each day, one of the classes in the 630-student school will have an assembly during which they will be shown a documentary on poverty and homelessness.There will also be a presentation on the three South American students whose education the school is sponsoring and a fundraiser to gather money to continue to fund their education.“There will also be a Family Feud-type game show that's been a big favorite,” Campbell said.“We are starting the week with a service project with Zip With Us Inc.,” said Kristen Schwalm, principal at St. Kilian Parish School, 7076 Franklin Road in Cranberry Township. “It's a T-shirt drive.“Students will donate T-shirts. Zip With Us takes the T-shirts and puts zippers in them for cancer patients who don't have to get undressed to access their ports,” Schwalm said.She said a different aspect of the Celtic Way — respect, compassion, honesty, self-discipline and responsibility — will be emphasized each day of the week.The 660 students in preschool through eighth grade will also have a game day, mini-sock hop, a movie and an all-school bingo competition Friday.
St. Wendelin School, 211 W. Wendelin Road, will mark the week with Saint's Life Wednesday, during which students will learn about their class-chosen saint's life and attend Mass.Action Heroes in Real Life is scheduled for Thursday, and Activities in Science is scheduled for Friday.Students will close the week Friday with a class movie and popcorn afternoon.Because of health concerns, this year St. Wendelin's purse raffle and Deer Classic have been canceled, and the middle school dance and alumni reverse raffle have been rescheduled for later in the year.Since 1974, the week is an annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States. It starts the last Sunday in January and runs for a week, which in 2021 is Jan. 31 through Saturday. The theme for the week this year is “Catholic Schools: Faith. Excellence. Service.”
Schools typically observe the annual celebration week with Masses, open houses and other activities for students, families, parishioners and community members.Despite ongoing challenges from COVID-19, Catholic schools are “lighting the way” in leading young people to God as Catholic Schools Week begins its 47th year of celebration, according to the Diocese of Pittsburgh.Because of COVID-19, families of prospective students will not visit school buildings this year, but can engage in virtual tours by visiting school websites.The Pittsburgh Diocese Catholic schools join nearly 6,000 other Catholic schools around the nation to celebrate both the excellence of Catholic school education and development of the whole person: mind, body and spirit.“Every day, our children are encouraged and shown how to have a conversation with God,” said Michelle Peduto, director of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Pittsburgh. “That's the light in each child's heart. That is what our schools do.”
