A Message from the Principal
It's Homecoming 2020, Eagles!
It’s Homecoming 2020, Eagles!
Welcome to St. Dominic Savio's Homecoming 2020! I know many of us are suffering from the COVID blues, so Homecoming is a great opportunity for us all to shake them off and have some good ol' Savio fun! A lot of work has gone into planning this week, including theme days, a virtual pep rally, and Friday's game where your St. Dominic Savio Eagles will take on the Central Texas Christian Lions. Here are the details.
Spirit Week -- Homecoming Week Theme Days
Throwback Monday, October 26th: Dress up in an outfit straight from ANY decade! Wear your flapper dresses, poodle skirts, T-Birds leather jacket, hippie clothes, leg warmers, shoulder padded dresses, rocker hair, preppy clothes, etc.
Tropical Tuesday, October 27th: Dress up in your favorite tropical clothes or Hawaiian shirts with leis!
Halloween/Character Wednesday, October 28th: Dress up like any character from your favorite TV show, movie or book! Non-uniform dress guidelines must be followed from pages 54-57 in the student handbook.
Class Colors Thursday, October 29th: Wear your mums and garters with your class color and jeans. Show your class spirit by wearing your class color for your grade:
- Freshmen — Blue
- Sophomore — Pink
- Junior — Green
- Senior — White
Eagle Spirit Friday, October 30th: Show your Savio spirit by wearing your one-of-kind 2020 Homecoming t-shirt with your favorite hat and jeans! Wear your mums and garters too!
Students who do not dress up can wear Spirit Wear each day of the week. This includes online students.
Virtual Pep Rally
This year, Savio will hold it's first-ever Virtual Homecoming Pep-Rally! In addition to cheering on our Eagle Football team, the pep rally will also feature Fall Sports. Eagle Cheer, Dance, and Pep Band will perform, and we will hear from Eagle Cross Country, Football, and Volleyball teams. There will also be a parody skit. The winners for Homecoming Court for grades 9th, 10th, and 11th will be announced at the pep rally, and the King and Queen will be announced during Halftime at the Homecoming Game.
Homecoming Game
This year, Savio's Eagle Football team goes up against the Central Texas Christian Lions. All Savio students, families, faculty, staff, and alumni are invited to attend! That's right! We're playing at a bigger venue that will accommodate all of our Eagles!
- DATE: Friday, October 30
- TIME: 7:30 PM
- LOCATION: John Gupton Stadium, 200 Gupton Way Dr, Cedar Park, TX 78613
- TICKETS: Link will be sent out the morning of the game as it includes the Covid-19 prescreen.
- ADULTS: $8.00
- STUDENT/CHILD: $5.00
- NOTE: One transaction is required per ticket.
- COVID PROTOCOLS: Masks are required and social distancing will be in effect. NO EXCEPTIONS.
- HALFTIME: The winners for Queen and King will be announced during Halftime, and will feature performances by: Eagle Cheerleaders, Eagle Dance Team, and the Savio Pep Band
There you have it, Eagles! A Homecoming Week filled with Savio goodness! So plan out your costumes for the week, set a reminder to watch the virtual pep rally, and come out to cheer our Eagles on to victory at the Homecoming game!
Stay Healthy, Stay Safe, and Stay Strong, Savio! And remember, every day is a great day to be an Eagle!
Blessings,
Dr. Garcia
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4
Savio Begins 2020-2021 Build the Nest Annual Appeal
Savio Begins 2020-2021 Build the Nest Annual Appeal
Eagles,
Happy Sunday. I hope you and your families are doing well and staying healthy and safe. We are officially in mid-October, and what a month it has been! Last week, Savio completed its second week of Phase II of Reopening, albeit with a bit of an odd schedule. Monday was a student holiday, while Savio faculty and staff attended professional development sessions on everything from prayer and self-care and instructional methods to implementing accommodations and technology/assessment/community committee meetings. Juniors took the PSAT, and seniors participated in the Class of 2021 Kickball Tournament. We closed out the week with a regular E Day on Thursday, and a much-needed and very-much-welcomed holiday on Friday.
In addition to these events, mid-October also brings with it the start of Savio’s Build the Nest Annual Appeal. The Build the Nest Annual Fund is a critical and necessary part of Savio’s yearly budget. Tuition and fees cover 80-90% of the school’s expenses and the remaining 10-20% is raised through fundraising. The Build the Nest Annual Appeal helps to make up the difference. This difference, or GAP, is $1,100 per student for the 2020-2021 school year.
“Last year, our school community of parents, alumni, alumni parents, grandparents, friends, board members, faculty and staff raised over $180,600 for the students of St. Dominic Savio. I invite you to contribute to this year’s Build the Nest Annual Fund and help make quality Catholic education possible at St. Dominic Savio, where we form servant leaders in the image of Christ.” Dr. Garcia, Principal
Today, we kicked off the 2020-2021 Build the Nest Annual Appeal on the Savio campus. Co-sponsored by the Office of Development and the Savio Parent Association (SPA), the event consisted of two sessions for parents. Parents who attended the sessions were treated to coffee drinks and biscotti from Johnnie Beans and entertainment by A. Callas, who sang and played guitar beautifully. After an opening prayer and welcome by Savio President, Dr. Joan Wagner, Director of Development, Gina Kerley, premiered this year’s Annual Appeal video. The sessions closed out with door prizes and more coffee drinks from Johnnie Beans.
has also provided coffee drinks for Savio Faculty and Staff.
We understand that this year is far from typical and many of our families have been greatly affected by COVID-19. For this reason, the Build the Nest Annual Appeal is more important than ever. Increased costs for staff and student health and safety measures, security measures, and increased financial aid requests are a reality. Your contribution to the Build the Nest Annual Fund helps Savio keep tuition affordable for all families while also giving you a tax benefit for your donation.
visits with parents attending the Build the Next kickoff.
Last year, our school community of parents, alumni, alumni parents, grandparents, friends, board members, faculty and staff raised over $180,600 for the students of St. Dominic Savio. I invite you to contribute to this year’s Build the Nest Annual Fund and help make quality Catholic education possible at St. Dominic Savio, where we form servant leaders in the image of Christ.
Thank you for your continued support, prayers, and contributions of time, talent, and treasure. Stay healthy, stay safe, and stay strong, Savio! And always, remember, every day is a great day to be an Eagle!
Blessings,
Dr. Garcia, Principal
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Philippians 2:3-4
Savio Begins Phase II of Reopening
Savio Begins Phase II of Reopening
Eagles,
Happy Sunday! I hope you and your families are doing well and have enjoyed the weekend. In addition to cooler mornings, the first full week of October brought with it the start of Phase II of Reopening at Savio.
As part of Phase II, in-person students began attending classes four days a week. As of this week, there are 206 in-person students. The remainder of Savio’s 400 students are online. The online option will be offered throughout the 2020-2021 school year. In preparation for the start of Phase II, we added 200 additional desk shields to accommodate the increase in students on campus, and we modified the check-in process to make it more efficient.
Altogether, the start of Phase II of Reopening at Savio was a great success. We thank our students, parents, faculty, and staff for their assistance and cooperation in the transition from Phase I to Phase II. I think most students, faculty, and staff will agree that it has been great to have the hallways, classrooms, and outdoor spaces of the Savio campus come alive now that we have more students on campus four days a week.
Another change in Phase II is where students each lunch. Savio students now have the option of eating outside in the courtyard, in the Commons, the Fine Arts Hallway, as well as teachers’ classrooms. An additional change to lunch is that students also have the option of eating in the shaded areas outside the Savio library and near the athletic locker rooms. This change has been such a success that the plan is to continue to allow students to lunch in the shaded areas outside the library and locker rooms even if COVID protocols are relaxed or lifted altogether. Regardless of where they eat lunch, however, students are expected to maintain social distancing.
In addition to social distancing, all health and safety protocols from Phase I remain in place. These protocols include always wearing a face mask except when eating, using desk shields, sanitizing desks after each class, unidirectional hallways, and the use of hand sanitizer as students enter and exit classrooms. Moreover, we are continuing to limit the number of visitors to the campus, and we are continuing with weekly fogging (sanitization) of the building.
The health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff remain our first and foremost focus as we continue the reopening process at Savio. Please keep our students, faculty, and staff in your prayers as we continue our journey through the 2020-2021 school year.
Altogether, the start of Phase II of Reopening at Savio was a great success. We thank our students, parents, faculty, and staff for their assistance and cooperation in the transition from Phase I to Phase II. I think most students, faculty, and staff will agree that it has been great to have the hallways, classrooms, and outdoor spaces of the Savio campus come alive now that we have more students on campus four days a week.
The health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff remain our first and foremost focus as we continue the reopening process at Savio. Please keep our students, faculty, and staff in your prayers as we continue our journey through the 2020-2021 school year.
We thank you for your continued support and hope that you stay healthy, stay safe, and stay strong, Savio. And remember, every day is a great day to be an Eagle!
Blessings,
Dr. Garcia
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others.
--Philippians 2:3-4
Welcome New Director of Formation and Ministry
Welcome Savio’s New Director of Formation and Ministry
Eagles,
Happy Sunday! I hope you and your families are doing well and staying safe and healthy.
It is with great joy that I introduce Mr. Jerome Giancarlo “Gian” Gamboa, Savio’s new Director of Formation and Ministry. After an exhaustive search that spanned the summer and the first quarter of the school year, Mr. Gamboa stood out as the hiring committee’s unanimous choice for this very important position at Savio.
Over the past ten years, Mr. Gamboa has exercised multiple opportunities to work for the Catholic Church in a variety of settings and has been involved in the leadership of evangelization efforts and catechesis. For the past two years, Mr. Gamboa served as the Director of Youth Ministry at St. Kateri Parish in southern California. As Director of Youth Ministry, he enjoyed ministering to the inspiring teens, adult mentors, and staff at his parish.
“Amidst today’s hyper-secularized culture, there is something special about young people who live out their faith in an attractive and effective way. While working with young adults in the Catholic Church, I have worked with a multitude of young Catholics, each with their own story and unique set of experiences. I am both energized and humbled by the constant witness of the teens’ zeal for Jesus and desire to love Him more deeply.” --Gian Gamboa, Director of Formation and Ministry
Prior to that, Mr. Gamboa spent over two years as a missionary with The Culture Project International. In the capacity of missionary and speaker with The Culture Project, he spent countless hours on college campuses, often collaborating with FOCUS missionaries and campus ministers to proclaim the transformative truths of the Catholic Church and make Jesus known to college students, providing experiences that will serve him well at Savio. “For over two years, The Culture Project International allowed me to harness my gifts to propel the mission forward and ‘restore the culture through the experience of virtue… inviting our culture to become fully alive.’”
Growing up in a what he calls a traditional, Catholic Pilipino family, Mr. Gamboa’s journey with Christ began in earnest at the age fourteen when a friend invited him to a “free basketball camp” that turned out to be a youth retreat about Jesus. While at this retreat, Mr. Gamboa had a powerful encounter with Christ during adoration that set him on the path of youth ministry. He continued this path during his undergraduate studies at Cal Poly. While at the college campus of Cal Poly, Mr. Gamboa led several ministries in developing programs to deepen student faith formation and create a community of ongoing conversion at the Newman Center.
A key factor in selecting Mr. Gamboa as director was his deep passion to encounter the young people of the Church. “Amidst today’s hyper-secularized culture,” he notes, “there is something special about young people who live out their faith in an attractive and effective way. While working with young adults in the Catholic Church, I have worked with a multitude of young Catholics, each with their own story and unique set of experiences. I am both energized and humbled by the constant witness of the teens’ zeal for Jesus and desire to love Him more deeply.”
Originally from the Philippines, Mr. Gamboa’s family moved to California when he was seven years old. A husband and father, Mr. Gamboa described his family saying, “My beautiful wife's name is Natalie, and we have a fun-loving son named Nolan James.” He enjoys eating burgers, swimming in the ocean, and talking to people about faith and culture.
Currently, Mr. Gamboa is performing his duties as Director of Formation and Ministry virtually form California. He has already met Savio’s faculty and staff as well as several of our students in theology classes, TIM Team and Christian Outreach, as well as parents via Zoom meetings during his first week as director. Mr. Gamboa and his family will move to Austin in late October, and he will be on the Savio campus on November 2. Please join me in welcoming and praying for Mr. Gamboa and his family as they make their way to Austin and begin their Savio story.
These are exciting times, Eagles. The hiring of Mr. Gamboa is yet another example of how God continues to bless and sustain Savio in fulfilling our vision of forming servant leaders in the image of Christ. God is good!
Stay healthy, stay safe, and stay strong, Savio, and remember, every day is a great day to be an Eagle!
Blessings,
Dr. Garcia