We are hosting a ROUNDUP on Friday, April 12 from 9-11 am for all NEW FAMILIES with little ones who may be interested in attending St. Mary’s school.  We invite all our parishioners with little ones, as well as our friends and neighbors in the community to see all the fun in our early childhood classes!  Email Kim Bohac at kim-bohac@stmarystaylor.org or call 512-352-2313 ext 213 if you need more info.

Our 5-8th Rams Soccer team won their second game 5-3! See our Soccer schedule on our website and cheer us on!

Our students are wonderful artists, and 50 of their pieces were on display this weekend at the Diocesan Art Show.  Check our facebook page to see the students and their art, OR come visit the school and see for yourself! Many thanks to our talented Art Teacher, Jamie Stefely!

Our Spring Gala will be held Saturday, April 27.  Enjoy dinner, auctions, and a dance with the legendary Debonaires!  Tickets can be purchased online from a link on our school website at www.stmarystaylor.org or you may contact the school office at 512-352-2313.

Contact the school or Tessa Streit tessa-streit@stmarystaylor.org for information on sponsorships and donations to support our biggest spring fundraiser!

Tuesday, April 2, 2019
7-9 pm in St. Mary's Gym

Dale Ahlquist, Ph.D. President of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton; Co-Founder of Chesterton Academy

Presented:
Catholic Classical Education

We have several segments or "chapters" available for those unable to attend the event:

St. Mary’s has experienced great success in grant writing this year!  Many thanks to the following organizations for their partnership in enhancing our school programs:

• Diocese of Austin Catholic Schools Office:  $3,000 for Technology and Classical Literature
• Westerman Foundation:  $5,000 for class sets of Literature Study books
• ​​​​​​​Texas Farm Bureau and Williamson County Farm Bureau:   $1,000 for our Junior Master Gardener/Environmental Science program
• ​​​​​​​Livingston Foundation:  $1,245 for classical novels, virtue books, and Biographies of Saints for our library and classrooms.

Tuesday, March 19
5-6 pm in St. Mary's cafeteria

DeAnn Stuart, PhD Associate Director of Curriculum at the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture

Presents:
Classical Education Beyond the Classroom: Tips for Parents

Congratulations to our State Finalists Adrian, Mia, Katharine, Kolbe, Abby, Juliana, and Kathryn!  Also to our State Alternates Kolbe, Sebastian, and Alexis! Our finalists will compete at the State Competition on May 4 in Fort Worth.

Brand new playground equipment, refinished floors, and fresh paint are exciting improvements for St. Mary’s school this summer, but the biggest restorations going on at the school these days are much deeper and more enriching to our community’s students.

With over 121 years of strong educational tradition on which to build, St. Mary’s teachers and staff have recently begun an inspiring renewal of their instructional methodologies.  As the oldest private school in the county, St. Mary’s was founded by the Dominican sisters in 1896 and began educating with methods of the classical Catholic tradition -- deep analytical thinking, well-rounded in the fine arts, music, and physical education, well-read in the great books of the western civilization, and the development of moral character and service to others.

Today, this “classical” purpose and method of education is still the core of St. Mary’s, and the staff has recently returned from a week-long training in  Nashville, TN to re-dedicate their teaching practices to this classical model of education.  In the midst of a 21st-century world saturated in both information and misinformation, St. Mary’s believes that it is called more than ever to teach young people to think clearly and carefully, distinguish between truth and opinion, and to communicate articulately and eloquently.

St. Mary’s has always educated students in a way that goes beyond departmentalization, test preparation, and learning mere facts. In order to strengthen this tradition, the school staff has begun aligning the basic knowledge and skills that the state education system requires with more classic literature, original writings of the greatest scientists, historians, and philosophers of Western civilization, and active learning experiences that are integrated with technology, mathematics, science, and the local community environment.

As the St. Mary’s teachers and staff receive continued training and begin implementing more of these classical methods in the classroom this year, their primary focus will be to stir students’ minds with the wonder and awe, and propel their natural curiosity into lifelong self-motivated learning and mastering the art of living well.

If you are interested in learning more about St. Mary’s and how they are strengthening their instruction with classical methods, you are invited to a presentation on Tuesday, July 10 at 6:30 pm-8 pm in the school cafeteria at 520 Washburn Street in Taylor.