St. Stephen Catholic School
February 20, 2025
Important updates in this week's Tidbits
Volunteer Opportunities
Spirit Nights
March Madness Spirit Raffle
Scholarship Renewal Begins February 1st
Afterschool Programs
Principal's Points
Good Afternoon St. Stephen Families!
Angels Gala was a success! It was a great night and everyone had a good time. We were excited to be joined by our current priests, Frs. Dermot, Josh, and Primus, and also some old friends Frs. Izzy, Curtis, and Tim and our seminarian Caleb. We thank them for joining us on this special night. The final numbers are not in but we are estimating a profit of approximately $80K. This will greatly help with hurricane recovery costs not covered by insurance, ongoing upgrades, and future expansion. Thank you to everyone for your support.
And now, it's time to celebrate some more! Thirteen of our 8th graders applied to Tampa Catholic AND... 13 were accepted! Three of these students received merit scholarships based on their scores on the placement test. Congratulations to Ben, Joseph, and Andres on your scholarships and to all who were accepted.
As you may remember, we had to make up some of the time we missed due to Hurricane Milton. Therefore, this is a reminder that next Friday, Feb. 28, is a full day of school. Since it is no longer a half day, we will not have a day set aside for parent/teacher conferences. Teachers will be reaching out to families they would like to meet with. If anyone else wishes to meet with a teacher, please reach out to the directly.
Please continue to read all of Tidbits to learn about upcoming events and volunteer opportunities.
Peace,
Linda Umoh
Upcoming Events
February 18-28 - Terra Nova Testing
February 21 - End of Trimester II
February 27 - Report Card Day
February 28-March 27 -Spirit Raffle
February 28 - Marvelous Mustang
March 5 - Ash Wednesday
March 8-9 - Holy Card Uniform Weekend
March 10 - Holy Card Free Dress
March 14 - Green Shirt and Jean Day
March 17-21 - NO SCHOOL Lenten Pause
SPEECH/LANGUAGE SERVICES AT SCHOOL
As you may remember, I worked with Hillsborough County to switch from Virtual to In-Person Speech Therapy for our students who have a Service Plan with the County. This has started and is going well and they are typically group sessions of three to four students. If you are currently paying for private sessions and wish to switch to the county, or if you wish to request speech services from the county now that in-person sessions are available, please complete this form and send to the person on the form and also to Tracy Aguilar at Tracy.Aguilar@hcps.net If your child meets the eligibility requirements, the county will create a Service Plan and they will be added to the schedule.
Students Actively Participated in Kindness Program
Click the Link to Read All About the Activities in the
"Kindness Newsflash"
PK3 Needs
PK3 Needs large clean prescription bottles again. Please bring them to the office.
SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION
School Year 25-26
Step Up for Students applications for renewal and new students will be available on Saturday, February 1. EVERYONE MUST REAPPLY!
Here is some helpful information to be aware of, including a new step that families will need to complete this year:
- Application checklist: For a list of documents that may be needed when a family applies, please click here.
- Priority deadline: To ensure renewing students receive priority for the Private School Scholarship and the Unique Abilities Scholarship, families must submit their application by Wednesday, April 30. After this date, all students will be processed as "new students" due to legislative changes for this year.
- New step for families: Once a student is found eligible, the family will be asked to "Accept" or "Decline" the scholarship. Once accepted, the student's status will be updated to "Awarded." Please monitor your email for future updates about enrollment.
- Once you receive your AWARD ID Number, please send the number(s) to Gail Leung at gleung@sscsfl.org.
- Step Up is here to help: In addition to our regular hours, our team(Step Up) will be available to assist families this weekend from 9 am to 5 pm ET.
Make sure to keep an eye on your email and Step Ups social media for updates. If you haven't followed Step Up, please do so now so you can have the latest news.
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS COUNCIL 14084
Knights of Columbus Council 14084 invite all men of St. Stephen parish to Cor meetings. The name “Cor” is inspired by Saint John Henry Newman’s words, “Consume my heart (“cor”) with that burning fire with which Your Heart is ever inflamed.”
COR offers an opportunity for parish men to increase their heart to heart relationship with Jesus Christ through a brotherhood committed to prayer, formation, fraternity and the mission of evangelization for their families and communities. All meetings include prayer and open discussion while exploring and embracing the rich teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church.
Meetings are held every third Wednesday of the month from 7:15 to 8:30 PM in the Saint Stephens Room inside the Church.
Volunteer Opportunity
February Mass count is coming up, a sign-up genius link is below. This is an opportunity to earn school volunteer hours.
YEARBOOK - Custom Pages and Recognition Ads
Mustang Sports
MUSTANG SPORTS:
Girls Flag Football: The game vs Mother Teresa scheduled for yesterday, was postponed due to the bad weather, and has been rescheduled for Monday, March 3, at Mother Teresa at 4:15 pm. The Mustangs are back on the field Tuesday against Christ the King at Christ the King at 4:00 pm.
Boys Basketball: The varsity got their first win of the season beating St. Peter Claver, 46-29. The Mustangs were led in scoring by Nathan T. with 33 points. The varsity lost to local rival Nativity, 56-10, and they were led in scoring by Nathan T. with 4 points. The JV has won two in a row. They beat St. Joseph, 22-12, and were led in scoring by John R. with 16 points. The boys also beat Nativity, 29-6, and they were led in scoring by John R. with 8 points, and Owen D. and Albert C. with 6 points each. The Mustangs are back on the court today with their first home game of the season against Villa Madonna here at St. Stephen. Varsity plays at 4:00 pm and JV at 5:00 pm.
GO MUSTANGS!
Coach Green
Homeroom Mom Emails
Safe Environment Training and Fingerprints
Everyone needs updated safe environment training and fingerprints in order to volunteer in the school or to chaperone a field trip. Safe environment and fingerprints are good for 5 years. Attached here are the instructions on how to get your safe environment certificate and to have your fingerprints done. If you have any questions please contact Karen Biase at kbiase@sscsfl.org or call the front office at ext. 1100. Click the link for information here regarding fingerprints. Click for the live link here. For the safe environment click here for the live link .
Check out our
Mustang News morning show!
You can join our Mustang News team each morning at 7:50 as we stream live on YouTube to begin the day with prayers, the pledge of allegiance, and news. Subscribe to our channel here.
Like Us on Facebook and
Follow Us on Instagram
Mission Statement
St. Stephen Catholic School is devoted to inspiring students to achieve their full academic potential while demonstrating a desire to continue Jesus' mission by applying Catholic morals, beliefs, values, and practices in their everyday lives. We are committed to motivating students to sustain a lifelong love of learning.