August 15, 2008 TIGER TRACKS, our weekly community newsletter Volume 27, Issue 1   WEEKLY SCHEDULE Click Weekly Schedule to view what's happening at St. Agnes the week of August 18. To view the latest news at SAA, click here. ATTENTION PARENTS: If you are viewing Tiger Tracks solely online and are not receiving it via e-mail, please click here and go to AcademyConnection. Please update your personal information to have our weekly newsletter sent directly to your e-mail inbox each week. Send your Tiger Tracks info to mclark@st-agnes.org! ACADEMY NEWS  Welcome back! I want to welcome all of our returning and new families to another wonderful school year at St. Agnes Academy! I hope your summer was restful and enjoyable, and that you are ready for another exciting year at St. Agnes. We’ve been busy here on campus over the summer and open our doors to the 2008-2009 academic year with a fresh look to the second floor of our main building. We continue to ensure our learning environment matches the quality of programs, and we think your daughters will be thrilled by our renovated classrooms. We look forward to showing them to you, too, at Follow Your Daughter’s Schedule at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 3. I want to thank you for entrusting your daughter’s academic and spiritual growth with us this year. We are committed to the Dominican tradition of excellence in all that we do in preparing our students for college and beyond. We look forward to partnering with you in educating your daughters and are blessed by your support. Please contact our administrative team with any questions or concerns you may have during the year. Together, let’s make this another fantastic year at the Academy! God bless you! -Sr. Jane Meyer, O.P., Head of School MORNING AND AFTERNOON TRAFFIC FLOW INFORMATION • Student drop-off and pick-up is at the following three locations:   o Near the front of the Center for the Sciences and Student Services building   o In front of the administration entrance   o In front of the Auditorium entrance on the east side of campus  • Use the curb side as the drop-off and pick-up lane. The center lane in front of the Center for the Sciences and Student Services building and the administration entrance, and the right lane at the Auditorium entrance are pass lanes only, allowing parents to continue without delay once they have picked up their student. • Please note that the area directly in front of the Center for the Sciences and Student Services building should be kept clear at all times. Please pull as far forward as possible when picking up or dropping off your student. • Please arrive no earlier than 3:15 p.m. to pick up your student. The school day ends at 3:05 p.m. and most students need a few minutes to navigate our halls, go to their locker, and visit with friends before meeting you at either the administration or Auditorium entrance. The police officers will not allow the pick-up line to back up to Bellaire Boulevard in the afternoon. • The front parking lots, the back parking lots and the west side of campus are not a student pick-up or drop-off location as this will back traffic up on our campus significantly. The front parking lots will be closed to afternoon traffic. • Traffic is one-way only around the building with the entrance on the east side of campus and the exit on the west side of campus. • Please pay attention to the campus speed limit of 10 MPH. • Please do not block campus drive ways. VISITOR PARKING & INFORMATION • Visitor parking is on the west side of campus in front of the administration entrance. • Please follow the signs to the designated visitor parking spots.  • Please do not park in any other spot. All other parking spots are numbered and are assigned to students, faculty and staff. • All visitors must sign in with the receptionist in the administration building. Welcome back from SAA's theatre department The SAA theatre department welcomes everyone to a new, exciting school year! Parents, if your kids are interested in acting or working on a backstage crew, we will be holding auditions and accepting crew applications for our fall play, "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder, Sept. 4 and 5 from 3:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. in room 103 (Ms. Miller's classroom). Also, remember us as you clean our your closets, toolboxes, garages, and attics. We are always looking for donations -- especially novelty items. We do accept some furniture, too. For more information, please email: fmiller@st-agnes.org. St. Francis de Sales, neighboring parish, offers new Mass schedule St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, located just down the street from St. Agnes Academy at 8200 Roos Road, is happy to announce the addition of a Vietnamese mass to our weekend Eucharist schedule. We welcome you to join our community in worship. Our mass schedule is as follows: Saturday              5:00 p.m.           English Saturday              7:00 p.m.           Vietnamese Sunday                8:00 a.m.            English Sunday               10:00 a.m.           English Sunday               12:00 p.m.           Spanish Sunday                 2:00 p.m.           Spanish Sunday                 5:00 p.m.           English If you have any questions, please contact the parish office at 713-774-7475. COUNSELORS' CORNER  Welcome from the SAA Counseling Department As the new school year begins, the Counseling Department welcomes the Class of 2012 and all of our returning students to the new school year.  We would like to take this opportunity to tell you about our structure.  Debbie Skelly is the Director of Guidance and works with all four grade levels. Our newest colleague, Sarah Torres, will also have students in all four grades.  Debbie Sieck and Mary Ann Miller work with ninth and tenth graders, and Samantha Rushing and Katy Watts work with eleventh and twelfth grade students.   It is our goal to support your daughters in their academic, social and emotional growth. In order to achieve these goals, we will meet with your daughters individually and in group guidance in the classroom. We hold parent information meetings at all grade levels to help keep our families informed of trends in adolescent development as well as the college process.  These nights will have a new start time this year. The start time will be 6:30 p.m.  Additionally, we host a financial aid seminar in early September, a College Information Night in February and co-host an annual College Fair in October with the other Catholic high schools in Houston. We encourage you to utilize the school’s Web site for information regarding anything about the Academy.  The counseling area is located here under Academics. You will be receiving an electronic letter from us sometime in the next couple of weeks with more details about our offerings as they pertain to your daughter’s specific grade level. We look forward to working with you this year and invite you to contact us should you have any questions or concerns about your daughters.  Financial Aid Planning for College Nathan Birney, a financial advisor with Ameriprise Financial Advisors, will conduct a seminar for the SAA and SJ school communities on Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 6:30 p.m. in the SAA Choral Room. This informative seminar will help you understand financial aid calculations, analyze college costs, evaluate your savings and investment vehicles, and explore a variety of tax implications. This seminar is open to all our parents regardless of the grade level of your daughter. We have found that planning early for college expenses allows families to position themselves more effectively. Please make plans to attend this informative evening Tuesday, Sept. 2. MOTHERS' CLUB NEWS  • First Mothers' Club meeting is Wednesday August 27 at 11:30 a.m. in the Fleming Room. For a list of all meetings, see the MC page on our Web site. • We need Volunteers!  Follow Your Daughters Schedule on Wednesday, Sept. 3- e-mail Sandy Zeluff  & Joan Nazario at  sandy.zeluff@sbcglobal.net Big Sister/Little Sister-Fish Week- first week in September - e-mail Valerie Belcher at vrbelcher@sbcglobal.net • Don’t forget to sign up for the saaprays@yahoo.com prayer line. E-mail the address to be added to the list. Thank you to Judy Schockling and Katherine Hollonds, our Welcome Coffee chairs! What a great event to kick off the year! For Mothers' Club volunteer opportunities, please click here!  DADS' CLUB NEWS  First Dads' Club Meeting of the year - 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8 Tee off with St. Agnes at the Annual Golf Tournament Tuesday, Oct. 28. Click here for more information and to sign up online.