Staff Farewells
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Mrs. Rose Smith, our Music and Reading Intervention teacher decided that she will not be returning to her teaching positions here at SJC for the 2007-2008 school year. Mrs. Smith has shared her amazing fine arts talent in directing our Christmas Musical, Fourth Grade Science Musical, and Annual Talent Show and she helps us plan liturgies. Mrs. Smith is also our Reading Intervention Teacher. The Reading Intervention Program was designed by the Diocesan Department of Education several years ago. The purpose of the program was to provide additional and specialized reading support to students in the primary grades who were reading below grade level so that they could enter the middle grades reading at grade level. Mrs. Smith has done absolutely amazing job of helping the program grow from a small support service to a major component of our primary reading approach. We are so very grateful to Mrs. Smith for all she has done in helping us to take this seed and nurture it into an outstanding program. In addition, we also want to thank her for the absolutely amazing work she has done with our Fine Arts program. She single-handedly brought the performing arts front and center at SJC, offering opportunities for our children to participate in plays, talent shows, and the recent Diocesan Choral Festival. And, of course, she has taught our students liturgical music and liturgical dance, thereby adding to the spirituality of our worship celebrations. Mrs. Smith has decided that she needs to take some time for herself and her family, including traveling more often to England to be with her aging parents. We are most grateful to Mrs. Smith for all she has done for SJC.
Mrs. Rosemary Findlay decided to take some time away from teaching to pursue other career goals that she has been thinking about for awhile. As you know, Mrs. Findlay has been our Art Teacher for Grades K-8 for the past 11 years. But she is also an extremely talented artist, and she feels that now is the right time to explore some other avenues. We are so grateful for all she has done for SJC School in general (she also sent her two daughters through our school), and for our art program in particular. She has organized an extensive art curriculum that has taken our older students to “high school level” art. From our original program of arts and crafts, she has expanded the program to a more advanced fine arts focus. She has presented the history of art, including her favorites - Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, Dali, and MC Escher. She has also developed a program to teacher younger students to draw portraits, using a step-by-step method to simplify the process. She organized our school’s Fine Arts Faire for five years, and now organizes our participation in the Cupertino Federated Women’s Club Art Contest (we had two major winners at both the local and regional levels this year). She did an amazing job of introducing students of all grade levels (she even added Kindergarten to her schedule during the past two years) to a myriad of media and techniques. Mrs. Findlay asked that we relay to everybody that she has enjoyed teaching art to all levels of students. She has always been amazed and enthused at the quality and quantity of work that our SJC students have been able to do under her instruction. We will surely miss Mrs. Findlay’s love of art, love of our children, and love of our school.
At Kindergarten Graduation, our Kindergarten also paid tribute to Ms. Lindsay Westby, their afternoon Kindergarten teacher this past year. We have loved having Ms. Westby with us this year, and we know that her new school, St. Robert’s in San Bruno, will be very lucky to have her. We wish her the very, very best. In addition, Mrs. Milly Skeggs, who has served most recently as Art Aide and previously as part of our Extended Day Care Staff, will be stepping down from her position. We have appreciated Mrs. Skeggs' dedication and gentle spirit, and we sincerely thank her for her many years of service (she was also an SJC grandmother to one of our graduates).
