While many of us were simply thankful for the day off, our boys basketball team spent the President's Day holiday serving others as they served nearly 400 guests at Eva's Community Kitchen in Paterson. Coach Ryan Hagen and the guys were joined by fellow DePaul Catholic Alumnus, Mayor Andre Sayegh, and State Senator Nellie Pou. John Renaldo, assistant boys basketball coach and his brother Dan, the CEO of Eva's Village, both DePaul Catholic Alumni, were also present to serve.

Our athletic field, known as "Alumni Field," is an important part of life here at DePaul Catholic. It is home to seven different sports for both girls and boys teams; softball, baseball, soccer and lacrosse for both genders, and football. These teams use Alumni Field for practice and for contests against other schools. Some of them compete at three levels: varsity, junior varsity, and freshman. Our physical education classes use the field as well. This constant use results in lots of wear and tear.

The current turf was installed in 2008 and has now reached the end of its useful life. Recent testing has convinced us that we should replace it, and we have taken steps to do that. After receiving bids from three reputable vendors, our Board of Trustees has selected Field Turf, Inc. to help us. Field Turf was the obvious choice: in addition to submitting the lowest bid, it already enjoys a positive relationship with our school due to its previous engagements here, one we can build on once more.

We expect that this work will begin as soon as the spring sports seasons conclude. The new turf will reach wall to wall, and with increased drainage, we reduce the chances of the water collections that have presented some difficulties in the past. With some preliminary work underway early, Field Turf expects the new turf ready for camps and in tip-top shape for our fall teams to use in September.

Every October, about 1.6 million juniors across the country take the PSAT. Those who score in the top 1% achieve the distinction of National Merit Semifinalist.

In February, some 15,000 Semifinalists are notified that they have advanced to Finalist standing.

Congratulations Hanna for this recognition of your hard work.

DePaul Catholic's Catholic Schools Week kicks off with a school-wide liturgy on Monday, January 27. As the week progresses, there will be days to celebrate Community, Students, our Nation, Vocations, and our Faculty and Staff. Among the activities are classroom activities on leaders who graduated from Catholic schools, guest speakers on vocations, and, of course, the liturgy.