Throughout the month of March, the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon will celebrate Foundress Day, March 25, 1887, with SSMO Heritage Month. The March date represents the day when the first Sister professed her vows. Events throughout March are planned at the various entities on campus.

Heritage Month came about with the Sisters’ desire to celebrate their own Foundress Day while also infusing a sense of mission-effectiveness in the ministries they founded to highlight their charism, core values, mission and vision among their students, employees, boards, residents and families.

The theme this year is from one of Sisters’ four core values: Strive for Excellence. Sisters Fidelis and Rose Dolores created bulletin boards that hallmark various Sisters that have exemplified Striving for Excellence and have posted them throughout the campus.

To learn more about the founding of the Sisters of  St. Mary of Oregon, read about them on their Web site.

A trip to Orlando in February sounds like sunshine aplenty! Not the case for Sr. Josephine Pelster who attended the annual conference of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains. Although the weather was not what one would expect in Florida, the conference, as usual, was inspiring, encouraging and helpful. This year’s theme was “Health and Hope: The Hard Reality of Living Intentionally in a Village of Care.” Sister particularly appreciated attending presentations about the spirituality of Buddhism and the process of death and dying within the Muslim culture.

Recently Sister M. Juliana and Sr. M. John Therese along with Valley Catholic Middle and High School music teacher Mr. Dan Schauffler and his wife, Anne, attended the Oregon Music Educators Association Conference in Eugene. In addition to attending the conference instructional sessions and concerts, the Valley Catholic School teachers observed their middle and high school students’ rehearsals, prior to their two final concerts. “It was stimulating, inspiring and definitely worthwhile”, observed Sr. M. John Therese.

Sr. Rita Watkins, president of the SSMO Campus Schools Corporation, announced on February 18, 2009, that Valley Catholic High School has been awarded the 2009 Siemens Award for Advanced Placement. Following is the Siemens Foundation’s description of the award: “The Siemens Foundation honors one high school per state in recognition of the schools that are leading their state in AP participation and performance in science, math, and technology.” The award letter reads in part, “In a pool of extremely strong applicants from your state, your school’s commitment…and your staff’s dedication to students’ success were evident. We believe high schools like yours represent the best of American education.”

You can read the entire article at the Valley Catholic Web site here.