Making and Enriching Connections

by Kerry Ognenoff

Serving ice cream at back to school night; organizing and running games or crafts at Fall Festival; pampering our teachers during teacher appreciation week; and coordinating Discovery Day (a day-long high interest day for our students)—these are just a few of the events and activities organized and run by the Christian Education Committee (CES) throughout the year at St. John’s School. CES is made up of parent volunteers who serve in order to enrich the connection between families and faculty at St. John’s through events and fellowship opportunities.

allow for the important connection between families and school faculty members. “Planning an event and then seeing the kids’ faces light up as they participate in that event gives me great pride and joy,” says Jenny Lindert, the current CES committee chair.

The CES committee meets for about an hour each month, and although activity planning features prominently, these meetings also serve as a time of fellowship for those in attendance. Jenny Lindert initially joined CES because, “CES has enabled me to get to know more parents and students, and to give back to my church and school in a positive manner.”

CES organizes and executes many of the fun family events at St. John’s, like Back to School Night, Fall Festival, school Christmas decorations, spirit days and weeks, the Daddy Daughter Dance, Mother/Son Game Night, Teacher Appreciation Week, and Discovery Day. Spread out through the calendar year, these events provide families an opportunity to gather, have fun, and get to know each other at St. John’s. They also

CES works to promote school pride and foster a sense of community among school families, the congregation, faculty, and pastors. Dana Leyrer, the school faculty advisor on the CES committee, serves as the liaison between CES and the teachers of St. John’s. “This dedicated group selflessly volunteers their time to support both our kids and faculty,” says Dana. Opportunities to participate in CES range from being on the planning committee to setting up and running events to helping with one game or activity. Many of the CES committee members are moms (with a few dads joining in on occasion), who enjoy each other’s company as they plan and execute the various events throughout the year. Volunteers are welcome to participate as much as they like— contributing time and talents as best suits their families.

School Events

K2 & K4 classrooms, boys B1 basketball celebrates undefeated season and tournament win, and Move-Up Day: students moved up one classroom to meet their teacher and see their classroom for next year

“Good Things” at St. John’s

Three Good Things That Will Happen

1. We’ll follow the steps of Jesus on his Lenten journey to the cross. May these 40 days of Lent be a time to reflect on your Savior’s love for you, and may you give of your time, talents, and treasures in a faith-filled response to that love.

2. Things will be full steam ahead for Declaring His Praises, our capital campaign for our campus expansion project. For more information on the campaign and what you can do, see pgs. 6 & 7.

3. We’ll continue to work with our school families on the Wisconsin and Milwaukee Parental Choice programs. We’re thankful that our voters approved participation in these programs, and we pray our participation will make Christian education more affordable for those families who qualify.

Two Good Things That Happened

1. We held an open house for our Early Learning Center. With expansion coming again next year (adding a second K3 classroom), we’re actively looking for WELS members 18 years of age or older to help us staff our ELC. Please contact Miss Wendland (rachel.wendland@sjtosa.org) if you or someone you know is interested.

2. Our grade school students celebrated our Savior’s birth in a unique way: with a Christmas cantata for their Christmas Eve service. Much time and energy went into preparing, and we are thankful for our dedicated school faculty members who made this worship service possible!

One Good Thing That You Might Not Know About

1. In place of our midweek Lent service on March 22, we’ll welcome the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary chorus for an evening concert. What a blessing it is to be able to hear these future pastors sing our Savior’s praises!