Marian Central set to kick off Catholic Schools Week

At Marian Central Catholic High School in Woodstock, Sunday marks the beginning of the annual observance of Catholic Schools Week, a national celebration of Catholic Education.

Each day during Catholic Schools Week, which runs through Feb. 2, students and staff gather to honor the people who help provide the academic excellence and spiritual values that make our school special.

This year's overall theme is "Catholic Schools Light the Way."

Every day during this week the people of the Marian community are recognized who work to inspire faith and hope in the students -- parents, teachers, support staff, volunteers and the students themselves.

The highlight of the celebration is the Catholic Schools Mass at 10 a.m. Thursday, in Marian's gymnasium, hosted by St. Joseph School. Catholic elementary and middle school students from St. Margaret Mary, Algonquin, Ss. Peter & Paul, Cary, St. Thomas the Apostle, Crystal Lake, St. Joseph, Harvard, St. John the Baptist, McHenry/Johnsburg, Montini Middle School, McHenry, and St. Mary, Woodstock, as well as priests from all over McHenry County, will join the group for the Mass.

However, the celebration of Catholic Schools Week is only a part of the way Marian Central promotes faith in its students.

Throughout the year, spiritual retreats are held, a daily Morning Mass and monthly All School Masses are held, along with three Athlete-Coaches Masses, and a Communal Penance Service during Lent.

All year long Marian Central encourages its students to get involved with volunteer work and offers opportunities for students to contribute their talents and time to charities through extracurricular organizations such as Project Hope, Operation Snowball, Student Council, Key Club, and the National Honor Society.

During Catholic Schools Week this year, the National Honor Society is hosting the Soup-er-Bowl, a canned food drive competition benefiting area food pantries. As an incentive and to create a little friendly competition between the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes, a dress-down day is being offered for the class who earns the most points during the week.

Each class will have a bin and can earn "points" for their soup donations. Every soup can a student brings in will earn five points for their team. One point, however, will be deducted for ramen noodle packages and five points will be deducted for other canned items. Each class will start with 1,000 points to avoid negative scores. Last year, with a similar contest, the National Honor Society held a book drive.