The last Sunday of January marks the beginning of Catholic Schools Weeks, a week to celebrate Catholic education. This year’s theme is “Catholic Schools Raise the Standards,” which was chosen by that National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), the organization that plans Catholic Schools Week. According to NCEA’s website, this theme was chosen due to a new plan that was recently developed for Catholic schools to encourage “high academic standards and Catholic identity.”

Catholic schools generally celebrate the week with open houses, Masses, and fun activities. Ms. Berger shared with me some of the activities that NDP has planned to celebrate the week. Each day of the week will begin with a different style of prayer. Monday will begin with Grace Geary, an Upper Level student, leading prayer, and Sarah Hannon, a Middle Level student, will talk about what a Catholic education means to her. The prayers for the rest of the week include: Prayer of Quest/Contemplation – Tori Malstrom, Prayer in the Form of Scripture – Mrs. Cannon (a parent), and Prayer of Thanksgiving – Mr. Peri.

NDP also has many activities planned for the week. On Monday, there will be extended homeroom/advisory time in the auditorium, and the Concert Choir will be singing “You Raise Me Up.” On Tuesday, CCAP is holding a Blood Drive. There will be a Liturgy on Wednesday with Father John Swope. Also, on Wednesday, there will be the JHU Tower of Power in a Half Hour Challenge in the Middle Level after school. Thursday is Parent Visitation Day and Pasta for the Philippines. The Middle Level also will have a Computational Linguistics Olympiad at Johns Hopkins University.

There are also some surprises in store for Catholic Schools Week!