January 28, 2002

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This week, our school joins in a national celebration of Catholic Schools Week. This annual event celebrates the dedication and commitment of our teachers and staff members, the support of our parishes, the sacrifices of our parents and families and of; course, the goodness of our children! Thank you for choosing a Catholic Scho6I for your child. Thank you for all that you do to support and help all of us at Nativity BVM School.

Catholic Schools Week is always special here at Nativity but, with the dedication of the Antonia Mavar Talijancich RN Learning Center, we have even more to celebrate! A summary of special events was sent home two weeks ago (blue paper). We hope that you received it so that you were able to mark the special events. This year; Wednesday will be our day to celebrate with the children.. tree dress, special activities and of course, Movie Day/popcorn treat.

We hope that as many of you as possible will be able to join us on Friday, February 1St for our final activity for Catholic Schools Week. We will join together in prayer at a 10:30 Mass in our school gym. Bishop Thomas Rodi, Bishop o fBiloxi, will celebrate our Mass along with Father Tony and Father Greg. At the conclusion of Mass (approximately 11:30), we will have the dedication of our new learning center. A procession will move through the school to the site of the dedication, while the remaining students/family members will gather around the exterior of the learning center. (Although it is a roomy area, there is no way 300 people can fit inside at once!) After a short time of prayer, Bishop Rodi will bless the building and its future work. Following the dedication of the building (about Noon), we hope that you will join your child for a ^"picnic lunch" somewhere on our school grounds. Weather permitting, you can picnic anywhere outdoors or indoors except inside the Learning Center or behind it on the small playground since that area is not quite finished.

Our school has been so richly blessed by so many people. Computers, plants, paper products, time, cardboard, food items, money, toys, games, books, learning materials, energy and so much more have been gifts to our school throughout the year. Please know how very much we appreciate all you do for Nativity BVM School. Each day, as we conclude our morning prayer, we remember the "many people who are so good to us and so good to our school." Know that you are remembered in that prayer each day.