Author: Katie Botha

BREAKING: Five anonymous donor families are joining to offer a $12,500 matching challenge! While 2020 has come with challenges, it’s also brought silver linings. At Saint Mary’s we have been able to return to in-person instruction. The dedication and resilience of our teachers and families are matched by our students’ joy at being back at school. You can see smiles in the eyes above our students' masks. Despite social distancing, the strength and generous spirit of the Saint Mary’s community connects us no matter how far apart…

As part of a contest opportunity called Carton2Garden, our school garden club is up-cycling milk cartons from the school cafeteria into planters. The SMCS Garden Club, Girl Scout Cadette Troop 5163, Saint Mary's students and alumni and staff are all helping to spruce up the cartons so that they are miniature works of art. The Virginia Department of Forestry is donating seedlings to be planted in the cartons under the watchful eye of Truetimber's Scott Turner. In exchange for a suggested donation of just $5 each, you will…

After studying about Día de los Muertos and La Toussaint, fifth grade students decorated "calaveras," the Spanish word for skulls, and then wrote a brief statement dedicating their creation to the memory of a deceased relative. When the projects were completed, Mrs. Lee, our Elementary French & Spanish teacher displayed them in the elementary school hallway and on the window overlooking the school garden. The display, backlit by the sun streaming in from the garden was beautiful. But she still felt something was missing. Because the…