Routt, OSS celebrate Catholic Schools Week:
Routt Catholic High School and Our Saviour School will dedicate much of the coming week to celebrating Catholic Schools Week, a nationally-recognized week that highlights faith-based education and service to community.
“Catholic Schools Week is something students tend to look forward to in the winter, because it’s a break from the norm,” said Routt Principal Dan Carie. “We attend special Mass celebrations, dive deeper into aspects of our faith and do community service projects – all of which is not out of the norm for us – but we also play games and host families in our school and have dress themes throughout the week that allow the students to have fun while celebrating our Catholic school.”
This year’s theme is “United in Faith and Community.” Students at both schools will engage in theme dress days created by OSS Student Council members such as Neon Day, as well as a student favorite “Get Comfy With Jesus” Day, which means students can wear sweatpants instead of their school uniforms.
Activities specific to OSS include making crafts to donate to local nursing homes, a talent show, and a week-long “Money War” to benefit the Prairieland United Way.
“Something special we’re doing this year is focusing our faith theme on being a sanctuary of God,” said OSS Principal Stevie VanDeVelde. “Our students will learn from our former priest Fr. Adam Zawadski about how to live more deeply in their faith, and students will learn to sign the chorus of the hymn, “Sanctuary,” which we will do at our closing Mass.”
Catholic Schools Week celebrations typically tie in elements of faith, community and service.
“Service to others is a pillar of Routt’s faith-based education, and so it is a large piece of every Catholic Schools Week celebration,” said Carie.
The service component of the week at Routt comes in the form of students creating 120 care kits for people experiencing homelessness. To cap off the week, Routt students will hear from representatives from the New Directions Warming and Cooling Center on how donations make a difference in the lives of local people. In December, Routt students raised more than $400 to benefit the Jacksonville homeless shelter. Next week, members of the Routt Crochet Club plan to donate handmade hat/gloves sets and blankets to the organization, as well as to the District 117 Early Years program.
Other events and activities involving both schools include a RCHS/OSS Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast on Monday, a kickball tournament on Wednesday, a bowling excursion, and a paired reading activity on Thursday.
“Our students love all the fun activities they get to do during Catholic Schools Week,” said VanDeVelde. “But what they may love most are the many interactions they have that week with the older kids at Routt – the shared Mass celebrations, the kickball tournament, the reading time spent together. It truly helps build our Catholic school communities.”
CASSCOMM announces sleek overhaul of Security Awareness Training Portal:
CASSCOMM announces the availability of their brand-new security awareness training portal, a feature CASSCOMM will now offer to help businesses train and protect employees from falling into phishing, email and the many scams that are out on the world wide web.
CASSCOMM will offer a Breach Prevention Platform subscription, managed services offering, etc. The redesigned training portal is the central hub for organizations and their employees to manage their ongoing human security training program and offers a new way for local small businesses, healthcare providers, banks, schools, etc. to engage in an interactive program that will help protect their business from cyber-risks.
Features and benefits of the overhauled training portal include:
- Fresh new look with a familiar-feeling modern interface style
- Simplified navigation improves user experience
- Top-notch security upgrades to enhance account protection
- Updated backend performance makes portal speed and usability second to none
The new security awareness training portal is now available. For more information on the updated portal and how you can enroll in a security awareness training program, email Casey French at casey.french@casscabletv.com or call 1-217-452-4120.
CASSCOMM is based in Virginia, Illinois, and has offered high quality services to its customers since 1898. It is a family-owned business, providing services for over a hundred and twenty years. CASSCOMM offers cable TV, Internet and Telephone services to 34 communities and is currently upgrading its facilities to offer Fiber to the Home (FTTH).
Routt to distribute 120 care kits for homeless people:
Students at Routt Catholic High School will create 120 care kits for people experiencing homelessness as part of the school’s Catholic Schools Week celebration.
The students hope to give away the care kits to local business owners as well as to individuals who want to keep a care kit or two in their vehicle.
“The idea is, you keep a couple care kits in your car or behind the counter at your business so, if you notice a person who could use it, you have a kit handy to give away the moment you notice that person in need,” said Routt Principal Dan Carie.
The care kits include items such as gloves, a stocking hat, and socks and toiletries such as toothpaste and toothbrush, lip balm, bandages and wet wipes.
Students will create the kits as part of the service to community component of their annual Catholic Schools Week celebration, which kicks off Sunday morning with a special Mass at the Church of Our Saviour.
Anyone who would like a care kit(s) should message the school through its Facebook page or email bcopper@routtcatholic.com by Tuesday, February 6. The school will deliver the kits to locations in Jacksonville on coordinated days. Interested individuals and businesses outside of Jacksonville will be encouraged to schedule a time to stop by the school to pick up care kits.
