“Strength for the Journey” was the Archdiocesan theme for all Catholic schools across Chicagoland this year – – – and we surely united our STRENGTHS as families, school, and parish to flourish and grow this 2021-22 school year, despite another year of learning amidst the COVID pandemic:

• We nurtured our STRENGTH through FAITH in God.  We had a beautiful and celebratory Catholic Schools Week Mass in January; wonderful Friday all-school Masses all year; prayerful monthly Family Masses and Confession opportunities; spiritually-nourishing Lenten services; lovely Confirmation and First Holy Communion liturgies in the spring; and joyful, active participation through singing with Sr. Agnes, bell choir with Br. James, and eloquent reading parts at all of these liturgical celebrations.

• We shared our STRENGTH through OUTREACH ACTIVITIES.  We restocked the St. Ferdinand Food Pantry in November; raised money for Missionaries of the Poor through Candy Cane Gram sales in December; donated our “Cuddle Buddies” profit to a family across town who had lost all they had in a fire; brought in 4 van-fulls of supplies to be shipped to the victims of the War in Ukraine; and empathized with and donated money to the Catholic Relief Services Operation Rice Bowl campaign after our rice-only lunch during Lent.  

• We expanded our STRENGTH through LEARNING.  We took in-depth investigations into different sciences for our Catholic Schools Week Science Fair; celebrated ethnic traditions through our Culture Week festivities; read a whopping 68,000 minutes in our own free time during National Reading Month in March; had many interesting guest speakers from all across Chicagoland share their stories and talents in Library Class; and remained engaged in learning through creative lessons taught by our talented teachers and supplemented by personalized iReady and iXL online instruction.

• We enhanced our STRENGTH through the return of EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES.  Our Boys and Girls Basketball Teams and our Girls Volleyball Teams were patiently, kindly coached and competitive against other schools; our teacher-led clubs made after-school time fun; our Entrepreneurship Club created a winning product that won first place in a city-wide contest; our Student Council cheerily assisted in both outreach and school spirit activities; and our Ferd Family Fun Fridays brought families together again to gather but still have socially-safe fun.  

And, we did it.  We were STRONG.  COVID was here (and even flared) –  but so were we – continuing to blossom socially, personally, academically – and united in Faith.  It was a challenging year in many ways – but, through God’s grace, we rose to that challenge and came out a STRONGER St. Ferdinand School Community than ever because of the obstacles we surmounted – TOGETHER:  as a school family within a thriving, faith-filled, loving Catholic community..

May God bless everyone with a wonderful, healthy, safe, and fun summer and prepare us for the excitement of the new 2022-23 school year that is to come!