St. Albert the Great School

🌸🚨 FLOWER ALERT! 🚨🌸

Need a little more color in your life? A prettier porch? A happier garden? Or maybe just an excuse to buy flowers? We've got you covered! 🌼🌿🌺

The St. Albert Class of 2027 8th Grade Trip Flower Sale is happening TODAY from 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM behind the Sacred Heart Center at St. Albert!

🌷 Beautiful flowers🌿 Fresh herbs😊 Friendly students❤️ A great cause

📍 St. Albert – Behind the Sacred Heart Center⏰ Today, 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM

Today marked the close of our school year with an all-school Mass, where we celebrated our students' dedication and honored the faculty and staff members. We recognized several outstanding individuals and groups, including Student Council, Choir and Hand Bell members, KUNA participants, 7th Grade Mission participants, Book Bee participants, and teacher Virtue Awards — congratulations to all!

We are also proud to spotlight a few special award recipients and teachers:

🏆4th Grade Viking Award: Anna Carter and Colin Elliott🏆
This prestigious award is presented annually to one boy and one girl in the 4th grade class. It recognizes students who consistently demonstrate Christian leadership, values, and attitudes throughout the school year — showing kindness, fairness, and care toward others, while supporting the overall philosophy of our school. Congratulations, Anna and Colin!

Retiring:
💛Terry Thorpe (1st Grade) has been a cherished member of our 1st grade team. Her dedication to Catholic education and her genuine love for each student have made a lasting impression on many young lives. She stays late and spends many afternoons and summer breaks tutoring students on the side.

💙Pam Smith (School Office) though often working behind the scenes, has been an invaluable support to our teachers, staff, and students throughout her time in our school office. She always gives 110% and is known around St. Albert as the “Copy Queen. She will be greatly missed!

💛 We also extend our heartfelt congratulations to Larry Brunner, Office Manager and true St. Albert expert, as he begins a well-deserved retirement. Sixty years at St. Albert doing whatever was needed to support our school and parish community is a remarkable and lasting legacy. Larry has been involved in nearly every aspect of St. Albert. His knowledge, devotion, and passion for our community is second to none.

💙Mark Smith (Maintenance) From handling maintenance needs big and small to quietly keeping so many things running smoothly behind the scenes, Mark has done so much for St. Albert. His care, reliability, and willingness to help wherever needed will be greatly missed and truly hard to replace.

💛Fr. Michael Schultz has been reassigned to St. Joe's in Bardstown. His presence in our classrooms, during Mass, and as a source of spiritual guidance has touched countless lives. Thank you for the meaningful impact you have made on our school and parish over the past two years!

💙Teachers not returning: Christiana Singler (6th Grade) and Jillian Osborne (7th & 8th Grade). You will be greatly missed, and we wish you all the best in the exciting chapters ahead!

🌞To all of our St. Albert families — we hope you enjoy a fun, restful, and safe summer. We will miss you and look forward to welcoming you back in the fall!

Teacher appreciation week was a tremendous success as we celebrated our incredible teachers and staff all week long!
☕ On Monday, we kicked things off with a traveling coffee and donut bar.
😀 Tuesday brought a festive “Drinko de Mayo” celebration with a hydration station and dirty soda bar to keep everyone refreshed.
🥰 On Wednesday, teachers and staff received new spirit wear shirts to show off their St. Albert pride.
🍽 Thursday featured a delicious catered lunch from The Goose Eatery.
🎁 We wrapped up the week on Friday by gifting all teachers and staff gift cards to their favorite shops and restaurants.

A special thank you to Kelsey Norcia🎉 and Megan McCall🎉 for their hard work in making this week possible. We are also incredibly grateful to the wonderful St. Albert families whose generosity helped make it all happen and showed our teachers just how appreciated they truly are.

Even though we started the morning with some chilly weather, our students had an amazing time during Field Day!

A huge THANK YOU to our incredible PTO Field Day volunteers and all of our parent helpers for making today such a success. We truly appreciate all you do for our school community!

The 3rd grade "Thank You" Prayer Service is an annual tradition that gives thanks to God, our country, our school, and families. Students sing songs and personally recite what they are thankful for in front of their parents and family. The 3rd grade teachers present this program each year to thank all of their parents for their support, dedication, and commitment to their child's Catholic education.

🎶🎓 What a Wonderful Day in Kindergarten! 🎓🎶
✨ The morning kicked off with an adorable music program, where our little stars sang their hearts out.
🎓 Next came the Kindergarten Graduation—a proud moment for families and teachers alike as we celebrated this important milestone.
📚 Kindergarteners were presented with their "All About Me" Books, which our amazing assistants create all year long. These are special mementos that our students keep & enjoy for many years.
🍩 And of course, we ended the celebration with donuts!
Thank you to all the families who joined us today—we're so proud of our kindergartners and can’t wait to see all the wonderful things they’ll do next! 💛💙

🌻🌺 Class of 2027 Flower Sale! 🌷🪻🌼
The Class of 2027 will host a Flower Sale on Saturday, May 30th, from 8-11 am in the St. Albert parking lot. If there are flowers, hanging baskets, or herbs left to sell, they will be sold Saturday, after the 4 pm Mass, and after the Sunday Masses at 8 and 10:30 am.

Congratulations to our 8th grade graduates who received the following prestigious awards during their graduation ceremony this week:

𝐓𝐲 𝐇.- 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱
The Sherman family established this award in 1999 to honor their son who was a member of the class of 1993. In remembrance of this St. Albert graduate who was attending St. Xavier High School, a graduating male student with exceptional performance planning to attend St. Xavier will be presented this award.

𝐑𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐭 𝐑.- 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱
The Steven Vanover Award was established in memory of a 2004 graduate of St. Albert. Steven was diagnosed in 2013 with a rare form of sarcoma. Fifteen months later the cancer took his life.
Steven was a “well rounded” student who achieved academically, exhibited leadership qualities, and participated in many extracurricular activities including student council, quick recall, altar server, and athletics. The recipient of this award is chosen by the faculty based on these qualities.

𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐊. & 𝐓𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐓.- 𝗩𝗶𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱
This award is presented to a boy and girl in 8th grade on graduation night. It is given to recognize a student who has exhibited Christian leadership, attitudes and values throughout the school year. This includes fair play, kindness, and caring toward all persons, and overall cooperation and support of the school philosophy.

As we move toward the end of another school year, I wanted to take a moment to share what we, the St. Albert staff are privileged to see and hear each day within our building. In a world that can sometimes feel heavy, please know that there is so much goodness happening within these walls every single day. It is truly a blessing to witness. I have often thought that I wish parents could see what we see because you may not always hear about the good things that happen during your child’s day at school.

As you may know, the school day begins and ends with Mrs. Martin leading the school in prayer over the intercom. Her daily reflections and positive affirmations are the perfect way to greet the students and then later to send them on their way.

There are many reminders throughout the day that “God is in this place”:

💙 siblings holding hands and walking into the building at the beginning of the day with the older ones making sure that the younger ones get where they need to go or just making sure they are okay

💛 Ms. Elizabeth calming a preschooler who doesn’t want to get out of the car

💙 a first grader walking by the statue of the Blessed Mother near the church on the way into school and says “Hi, Mary”, while minutes later, an older student stops at the same spot to genuflect

💛 Mrs. Rosenbaum’s 4th grade class enjoying a dance party because “It’s Friday!”

💙 Mrs. O’Keefe working with children outside her office and encouraging them because they are feeling overwhelmed with their schoolwork

💛 Mr. King in the hall joking with 8th graders who he taught 2 years ago while laughter abounds

💙 an 8th grade boy walking down the hallway and high fives his classmate after she bravely performed in the Talent Show

💛 students proudly sharing with us that they did well on the test they were so worried about

💙 hearing students in the music room playing “Amazing Grace” with recorders (yes, they use them)

Every day we see students holding doors open for one another, offering help to classmates who are struggling, and including others at recess or lunch. We see older students guiding younger children with patience and care. The sixth, seventh, and eighth graders look forward to time spent with their “buddies”, and the little ones adore them. For some of these older kids, we see them really coming out of their shell, and the little ones truly look up to them.

We hear words of encouragement in classrooms and laughter in the hallways. We witness children praying together, showing reverence during Mass, and demonstrating the values of Christ through their actions. One of the most meaningful parts of our day is witnessing students live out our Catholic values by comforting classmates who may be sad or anxious or offering prayers for sick family members or friends. These moments remind us that faith is not only taught here—it is lived daily through small acts of love and compassion.

As the school counselors, Ms. Loren and I have the privilege of seeing students grow not only academically, but emotionally and socially. We see resilience when challenges arise, courage when they try something new, and joy in simple moments of learning and friendship.

In a world where negative stories often receive the most attention, I hope it brings comfort to know that within our school walls there is much joy, kindness, and faith-filled leadership happening every single day.

May God continue to bless your families and our school community.

With gratitude,
Julie Kane
School Counselor Grades 5-8