KAPA‘A — Students at St. Catherine School in Kapa‘a will not be in school today. Instead, the teachers will be involved in the American Conference of Catholic Educators with teachers and staff of St. Theresa School, said Celina Haigh, principal
KAPA‘A — Students at St. Catherine School in Kapa‘a will not be in school today.
Instead, the teachers will be involved in the American Conference of Catholic Educators with teachers and staff of St. Theresa School, said Celina Haigh, principal of St. Catherine School.
The conference wraps up the Catholic Schools Week celebration for St. Catherine, which started Monday when the 160 students in the school participated in a prayer chain.
“Everyone wrote a prayer on the chain strung out in the assembly hall,” Haigh said. “There’s a prayer for each child and even for the teachers.”
During the week, St. Catherine participated in a variety of activities to celebrate Catholic Schools Week, including a special pet blessing, Wednesday.
“This is only our second year hosting the pet blessing,” Haigh said. “Last year, we had a good turnout of pets, and this is beginning to look like a good tradition.”
Students were allowed to bring their pets to school and have them blessed by Father Ramelo Somera before classes got underway.
“This is a nice way to get parents to school and spend some time with their students instead of them only having to come to work, or volunteer,” Haigh said.
Classes, once the blessing was completed, were not headed by the school’s normal faculty.
Instead, students in the eighth grade class trooped off to become teachers of the different grades, including filling the role of being the school principal.
“The most important thing is to make sure everyone is safe,” said Saul Rosa, taking the role of Haigh as principal.
Haigh said the eighth grade students, in taking the role of teachers, are equipped with good lesson plans and also learn because they get to see the classroom from a teacher’s perspective.
On Thursday, the school was treated to a day at Kamalani Playground at Lydgate Park where its Leadership Class worked with the Kaua‘i Teen Challenge and Leadership Kaua‘i in developing its leadership program at the school.
Haigh said the next event on St. Catherine School’s calendar is the big rummage sale coming up Feb. 12 and 13 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the St. Catherine’s social hall.
Sonja McGinnis is the chair of that event which will feature donations from the community that, in the past, has filled the hall with bargains for everyone.
