Click Weekly Schedule to view what's happening at St. Agnes the week of January 14.

To view the latest news at SAA, click here.

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THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR SAA FAMILIES
To all of our wonderful St. Agnes Academy families: Many thanks to all of you for your generosity and support throughout the school year. Truly, we are blessed to have so many dedicated families who are willing to share their daughters with us as we help them to grow, learn and achieve. On behalf of the Academy’s faculty and staff, we thank you for the kind gifts you shared at Christmastime. Your support underscores the love we have for our vocation and the joy we bring to the St. Agnes community each day. May you and yours share the grace of God, good health and prosperity in the New Year as we continue to live out our mission in our hallways and classrooms. God bless you!
 -Sr. Jane Meyer, O.P. ’57, Head of School

MEET THE CHALLENGE AND SUPPORT SAA
St. Agnes Academy was recently awarded a matching grant from the Scanlan Foundation of $100,000 for the Our Legacy, Tomorrow’s Promise Campaign that provided the funding for our wonderful, state-of-the-art Center for the Sciences and Student Services Center. All of your daughters have been enjoying these beautiful new facilities since August, as well as our newly renovated chapel – the crown jewel of our campus. We are proud to have the latest in technology, equipment and other resources to provide our young women an outstanding college-preparatory education.

We are reaching out to you, our parents, to help us meet the challenge the Scanlan Foundation charged us with. Through the generosity of our community, we will receive the foundation’s kind support if we receive $100,000 in gifts from parents, alumnae and friends. Please consider supporting this call to action by showing your confidence in our facilities and programs at St. Agnes. Click here for more information on how you can make a gift to the campaign.

Please contact Elaine Henderson Eichelberger ’79, Director of Advancement, at 713-219-5405 or eeichelberger@st-agnes.org, with any questions. Many thanks for your devotion to the Academy and for your tireless support of our endeavors.

"SOAPS" STAGED THIS WEEKEND, SUPPORT SAA DRAMA
This weekend, you can see the SAA and Strake students be directors as well as actors in the St. Agnes Academy Student Directed One Act Plays (SOAPS). Performances are January 10 through January 12 at 7:30 p.m. and a Sunday matinee (January 13) at 3 p.m.in the SAA Auditorium. The following plays will be preformed and directed by students from St. Agnes and Strake Jesuit.
"Check, Please," directed by Chelsea Taylor; "The End of Civilization as We Know It," directed by Amanda Yam; "Man, Woman, Flower," directed by Erin Fleming; "Cindy and Julie," directed by Michael Padon; and "Hands Across the Sea," directed by Aileen O’Leary

SAA RAFFLE OFF TO STRONG START
We had our first collection Tuesday and the freshman class is off and running ahead of the pack! The senior class came in second with sophomores and juniors trailing.  We held a drawing for $25 gift cards to three lucky students who turned in tickets. They are freshmen Cristina Rosenthal and Waifah Jordan and sophomore Laura Sterner.  Congratulations!! We will have another drawing next Tuesday for students who turn in tickets. Students can check their progress by going to the SAA Web site and click on “Check Status” under the Raffle tab.  Hurry and turn in your tickets and help your class win free dress every Friday during the raffle period. 

TECH UPDATE AND AFTER-HOURS SUPPORT INFO
ThinkPad warranty:
4-year standard manufacture warranty
4-year ThinkVantage accidental damage warranty (physical damage not covered under the standard warranty)
4-year 24x7 manufacture warranty telephone support

St. Agnes Academy provides an onsite warranty depot for notebooks purchased through the school.
St. Agnes ships all notebooks with physical damage to Lenovo for accidental damage repair.
The CAVE provides basic PC maintenance such as software updates, spyware removal and virus scanning.
The CAVE provides support for school supplied software.
The CAVE is open Mon-Fri from 7:30a – 4:30p

 For after hours support you can take advantage of the manufacture warranty support line:
Lenovo ThinkPad Support
24 hours/day - 7 days/week
1-800-426-7378 - www.lenovo.com

If you need after hours help beyond your warranty Lenovo has a pay-per-issue support line:
Lenovo Expert Live ($99 per issue)
24 hours/day - 7 days/week (U.S. based support)
Help with how-tos, Operating System, software, networking, virus and spyware issues, system and internet security, accessories, multimedia and more…
1-866-63-THINK - www.lenovo.com

LENTEN RETREAT ON SCHEDULE, RSVP TODAY
The Strake Jesuit and St. Agnes Mothers’ Clubs’ Lenten Retreat
Spending the Day with the Jesus of John’s Gospel
Facilitated by Fr. Mark Thibodeaux, S.J.

Wednesday, February 27th
8:30 a.m. Coffee and Pastries 
9:00 a.m. Retreat Begins  
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Eucharistic Celebration

The Cenacle Retreat House
420 Kirkwood, Houston, Texas
$30 per person

Space is limited, so please reply soon. 

WE NEED YOUR MILES!
Interested in donating airline mileage for the gala? Help us get a TICKET TO RIDE for this GROOVY GALA and spruce up our travel packages!  Contact Mary Louise Berry at mlberry@st-agnes.org

 FATHER/DAUGHTER BRUNCH COMING SOON
Dads and daughters, mark your calendars for the Father/Daughter Brunch and Liturgy, held on Sunday February 3, 2008. Our speaker this year will be former NFL coach and SAA grandfather Jack Pardee. Send in your reply card by January 25th or click here to print it out! Cost: $25 per person.

ATTENTION SENIORS & Parents: College Rush Information Program
Tuesday, JANUARY 29 @ 5:30 PM – SAA cafeteria, the SAA Mothers’ Club will provide information concerning sororities in general, area recruitment roundtables/registration schedules, example of how to put together a recruitment packet, tips on appropriate attire, etc.  Guidelines and deadlines will be discussed and a helpful informational packet will be available.  NOTE: This is the only scheduled meeting; so PLEASE attend.

BOOSTER CLUB SALE
Booster Club's first merchandise sale of the new year is next Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 7:30 a.m. at the concession stand. We have new arrivals of pajama pants, all sizes of the new white zippered hoodies, and all sizes of our other merchandise as well. Please stop by!

BLOOD DRIVE ON CAMPUS   
St. Agnes will host a blood drive next Friday, Jan. 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Please help give the gift of life. With questions or to sign up, stop by Ms. Miller's or Ms. Fritsch's rooms.

GIVING @ THE GROCERY STORE
Attention, parents! The Kroger Share Card Program is changing. You no longer will have a Share Card, but individuals are offered the ability to directly link their Kroger Plus card to the charity of their choice, thus eliminating the need to carry and scan both a Share Card and a Plus Card. Please ask at checkout or visit the manager's booth at Kroger for more details. Thank you for choosing St. Agnes as the charity of your choice.

PERFECT TIMING FOR THE SAT AND ACT FOR THE CLASS OF 2009

We get many inquiries about the timing of the SAT and the ACT for our junior class.  There are a few rules of thumb that every family should follow.  First of all, both of these tests should be taken in the spring of a student’s junior year.  Both testing agencies offer several test dates.  For this year’s junior class, the most popular SAT date will be the March 1st administration.  The deadline to register for the test is January 29th.  For students that would like to take a second SAT or take Subjects tests as well, May 3 and June 7th are the other spring test dates.

The ACT is accepted by ALL colleges and universities in the United States in lieu of the SAT.  We have found over the years that students taking our college prep curriculum tend to do quite well on this test as it is an achievement test and measures what our girls learn in the classroom on a daily basis.  Because it is an achievement test, it is best taken at the end of the school year so the April 12 or the June 14 dates are the best for our junior students.  Please remember that you must sign up for the writing portion as the ACT gives this as an optional section.  We tell our students that it is not optional.  Most Texas schools will not accept an ACT without the writing section.

St. Agnes is not a test site for the SAT or ACT.  We do ask that the students remember to code us in as they register for the tests so that the counseling department can receive a copy of the score report.  Our school code is 443-420.   This is also referred to as our CEEB code.  If students fail to code it in, we do not receive their results.

If you have any specific questions regarding the testing process, please let us know.

Attention all Sophomore Parents!
Sophomore Parents' Information Night is this coming Tuesday, January 15th in the Cafeteria.

We are pleased to welcome Lee Winderman, PhD. as our guest speaker.  Lee Winderman, PhD. is an experienced family and child therapist.  His work with adolescents is well regarded throughout the Houston community.  He will be talking about the challenges of parenting your 10th grader--- adolescent development, managing conflict, and communication.

In addition, we will briefly cover what to expect from the upcoming sophomore conferences and other important dates for the spring.

Please join us at 7 p.m. Tuesday, January 15th in St. Agnes’ Strake Family Cafeteria.  Light refreshments will be served.

Semester failing grades 
If your daughter fails the first semester of a year-long course, it may be possible for her to pass the year with improvement in the spring.  See "Course Credit" in the handbook.  Interventions could help her improve—accessing NetView to confirm that she is completing work on time, adjusting her study space, or tutoring might be prescribed.  Her counselor will be glad to assist you with these decisions. Students with two or more failing grades will be placed on academic probation, and her counselor will suggest a plan for improvement.  See "Academic Probation”.  As you work with your daughter, it is important to keep your focus on the positive and affirm progress.

Happy New Year to you!  Hope your holiday break was restful and peaceful.

Special thank yous to...
Gail Branca, for organizing the Christmas Fund, to
Sophia Furnace, for organizing the snacks for the students during finals, to
Donna Grehn, for organizing the chaperones for the Christmas Dance and to
Shelley Ulm and Janet Aigner, for organizing the Yearbook Signing Reception for the 2007 Alumnae

If you missed the deadline for the Christmas Bonus that was given to the SAA Faculty and Staff at Christmas time ….It is not too late …..Gail Branca, gbranca@comcast.net , will continue to collect donations to  the Christmas Fund. Feel free to drop your donation in the SAA MC mailbox at the school.

Upcoming events in 2008…… 

Solidarity Day, a huge international food festival, is scheduled for Thursday, January 31, 2008.  All families at the school are encouraged to send in their favorite ethnic dish to share.  Many volunteers are needed to set up and serve these delicious dishes.  Please contact Ann Laws, Ferris104@aol.com , if you are available to help.

A Lenten Retreat, in collaboration with Strake Jesuit Mothers’ Club is planned for Wednesday, Feb. 27 at The Cenacle Retreat House.  Please check the Web site to download a registration form. Featured speaker is Fr. Mark Thibodeaux. S.J. . Please contact Karen Counter, karencounter@aol.com  with questions. Space is limited.

Many, many volunteers/hosts are needed for Career Day on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008.  Please contact Suzanne Nelson, snelson62@comcast.net  if you can help.

Plans are under way for ,  My Sister’s Closet (Upscale/Resale), a Cocktail and Evening Dress Re-sale Event to be held March 30, 2008, …clean out your closets and start thinking about donating your dressy dresses and  prom dresses for resale….watch for more details as the plans develop…..if you would like help with the planning process for this grand new event please contact  Vivian Colvill (vcolvill@houston.rr.com )  or Julie Samson  ( jsamson@frostbank.com ) or Cheryl Sorrels (cherylsorrels@comcast.net )

St. Agnes Academy 9000 Bellaire Blvd. Houston, TX 77036-4683