Saints Speak from Mrs. Marshall - 3/13/2025 - We Are All Made in God's Image

We learned about St. Angela Merici this week. St. Angela was born in Italy in the late 15^th century. She was a teacher and spent her life educating women, who often did not have the opportunity to receive an education in those times. St. Angela recognized that God loves all people and saw the innate dignity of each person. She believed that all individuals, man or woman, rich or poor, deserved an education. She reminds us that we are all children of God. I challenged the children this week to see God in others. Even people who annoy us, are mean to us, disagree with us, or hold different beliefs than us, are made in God’s image. May we all work to see Him in each person we encounter.

Mass Reminder for Lent

As we enter this Lenten season, it is a great time for us to refocus our time at Mass on prayer and reverence. At the beginning of the year we made an effort to enter quietly, bow before taking our seats, and use that time before Mass begins to pray silently. During Lent, we will be refocusing our efforts on this practice. Please remind your child(ren) about entering our worship space quietly and using that time to talk to Jesus. If you are joining us for Friday Mass tomorrow or in the next few weeks, thank you for modeling this as well!

DDA Update - Fund A Need

The DDA is right around the corner! Thank you to all who have helped in the planning stages; it’s going to be an amazing night. I look forward to seeing many of you there. As a reminder, check-in begins at 5:30pm, and the night will feature casino gaming tables, silent and live auction, raffles, and lots of fun and fellowship!

At the conclusion of the live auction, we will have the paddle raise for our Fund-A-Need. The last two years, we have raised our paddles in support of one of our most important assets – our faculty. Our community has been incredibly generous, contributing funds for teacher salary enhancements that have allowed us to offer a more just wage to our amazing teachers. Thank you! We have made significant progress in this important initiative over the last two years, but our work is not done. The need to continue to supplement teacher salaries is great, and I humbly ask you to consider supporting the same cause again this year.

I know so many of you share my gratitude for this fantastic group of educators who give their hearts and souls to their work. They put in long hours to prepare engaging lessons, give thoughtful feedback, and communicate with families. They are experts in their fields, with two-thirds of our faculty holding advanced degrees. They go beyond academics, getting to know each student’s strengths and challenges, and they build a classroom environment where each child feels known and loved. They teach Gospel values through their words and actions, leading by their example of love and kindness.

Research shows that teacher quality matters more to student achievement than any other aspect of schooling. Moreover, our children spend more waking hours with their teachers than they do with any other adult in their lives. We are blessed at All Saints to have wonderful, caring teachers watching over our children each day and partnering with us in their growth and development. Teaching is their calling, and while they certainly didn’t choose this profession for financial gain, they deserve a fair wage for the work they do.

As I have shared in previous years, our teachers are grossly underpaid for the work they do. Thanks to your generosity over the last two years, we have been able to increase teacher salaries so they are now paid 20% above the Diocesan pay scale. This has helped us continue to retain and recruit excellent educators. However, this adjusted salary scale is still significantly less than what our teachers’ public school counterparts earn. For example, a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree working at All Saints this year would earn $37,436. A teacher with the same credentials would earn $54,312 in District 203. The gap gets even larger as teachers continue on in their career. Even with the 20% salary enhancement we offer, a teacher with a Master’s degree and 15 years of experience will earn $50,190 at ASCA, which is only 53% of what they would earn in District 203.

We recognize we will never close the pay gap that exists between All Saints and our local public schools. Our goal is not to match public school salaries, but to guarantee that teachers are paid fairly for the great work they do each day. With your help, we hope to increase our salary supplement to 30% above the Diocesan pay scale next year, which would raise the median salary to approximately $48,000. We are also working to build this fund so it is sustainable, supporting ASCA’s teachers today and for many years to come.

Please prayerfully consider contributing to teacher salary supplements through this year’s Fund-A-Need, allowing us to provide additional compensation for our teachers in the 2025-2026 school year and beyond. Your support, to whatever extent you are able, will bring us closer to our goal and ensure continued academic excellence grounded in faith here at All Saints. If you are not joining us in person on Saturday, you can contribute online here as well. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Honor Roll & Academic Honors

Congratulations to all our junior high students who earned a place on the Honor Roll for the second trimester! Click here to view the full list.

Last weekend, our team of four competed at the state level MATHCOUNTS competition. As I’ve shared previously, just making it to the state competition is a tremendous accomplishment. We are proud to share that our team finished 10^th out of the 58 schools invited to this level! Congratulations to James Budd, Abbie Ling, Lucas Ling, and Sebastian Mourad! Additionally, James finished 6^th individually. Way to go!

Last Friday, nine students represented ASCA at the Regional Science Fair. We are so proud to share that all 9 of them have advanced to the State competition! Congratulations to Evan Bauer, Mary Devine, Carlota Gomez, Zoey Martin, Kieran May, Eain Sawko, Danny Silk, RJ Swanson, and Luna Tabares. 

We will be recognizing all these students and their accomplishments at the end of Mass tomorrow. Way to go, Saints!

Athletics Update

Congratulations to our Championship basketball teams, Boys 6B2 and Boys 7A! We will be celebrating them with a pep rally after spring break and will share more details on the pep rally when it’s confirmed. Way to go, Saints!

Band Awards

Earlier this month, some of our band students took part in Music Education Services’ Solo and Ensemble Festival. Congratulations to two students who earned solo medals! Ari Sisnett got 2^nd place for drum and 3^rd place for trumpet. Genevieve Summer got 2^nd place for flute. Great job!

Parish News

This weekend, St. Margaret Mary is hosting the Man of the Shroud Exhibit, and all are welcome! The Shroud of Turin has long been venerated by the faithful and is believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus. After decades of research, the Center for the Study of the Passion of the Christ and the Holy Shroud has developed a moving and informative mobile exhibit on the Shroud of Turin. The centerpiece is a full-length canvas replica of the Shroud, and the mobile exhibit contains a large crucified corpus showing the wounds of Christ corresponding to the passion narrative in the Gospel. Consider visiting the exhibit at SMMP this weekend – Saturday from 5-7pm, Sunday from 9am-1:30pm, or Monday from 9am-2pm. 

Saintly Acts

Congratulations to the following students who earned Saintly Acts this week: Matti B. (6^th grade), Uriel C. (4^th grade), Aedan C. (4^th grade), Sergio M. (4^th grade), Addison P. (4^th grade), Ashley S. (8^th grade), Evelyn T. (4^th grade), Eva W. (6^th grade), Mieran S. (2^nd grade), Stephen V. (6^th grade), Geena C. (3^rd grade), Isabella D. (3^rd grade), Camila G. (3^rd grade), Liam K. (3^rd grade), Abby L. (3^rd grade), Blakely D. (3^rd grade), Ayaan P. (1^st grade), Charles W. (1^st grade), Adalynn W. (1^st grade), Owen S. (6^th grade), and Olivia B. (Kdg). Keep being saintly!

Warm regards,

Margie Marshall

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