Holy Cross Catholic School

From the Desk of Mrs. Wagner

March 10. 2023

As we approach the upcoming spring break, I wanted to take a moment to reach out to you and share some important information.

First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude for your continued support and dedication to our school. Your commitment to our mission of providing a Catholic education to our students is truly appreciated.

As we continue to fulfill our mission at Holy Cross, we work tirelessly to strive to find the best educators for our students and the entire community. We have been planning for the next year for quite some time and we are excited to announce Holy Cross is welcoming Angela Kopp, one of the best science instructors in the city, as our new Science Coordinator. She will be teaching our middle-level students along with helping implement our new K-5 science curriculum, STEMscopes, which we were granted from the Brown's Family Foundation of Kansas City. We are so blessed to have her on our team. We are making our programming the best in the Kansas City area.

With our current programming, along with this addition, your child(ren) is getting the best Catholic education. If you have not already, reserve your spot for the 23-24 school year today. We do have classes filling up and we want our current families to continue on this amazing journey with us. Additionally, we encourage you to spread the good news about Holy Cross. There are multiple scholarships available and we would love the opportunity to share the options available for families that feel Catholic education may be out of reach.

Finally, I encourage you to take advantage of the break as a time for reflection and renewal. Use this time to reconnect with your faith and to focus on the things that matter most to you and your family.

Thank you again for your commitment to our school community. I wish you all a safe and restful spring break.

Meet our New Science Coordinator for the 23-24

Hello to the Holy Cross Community. My name is Angela Kopp and I will be the Science Coordinator for the upcoming year. Currently, I am the middle school science teacher at Nativity. I have been teaching middle school science in the Archdiocese since 2005. I have a B.S. in Biology from the University of Kansas and an M.S. in Biology from Eastern Kentucky University. In addition, I am a fellow with the Trustey Family STEM fellowship program through the University of Notre Dame. I have 3 daughters and one sweet pup. Maddie, my oldest daughter, attended Nativity and St. Thomas Aquinas and currently is a senior at Loyola Chicago

University. Emmy, my middle daughter, also attended Nativity and currently attends St. Thomas Aquinas. My youngest, Olive, is in fourth grade at Nativity. Our sweet pup’s name is Georgia,

we adopted her 5 years ago.

In my years of being an educator, I have taught elementary-aged students all the way to college-level students, in both traditional and non-traditional settings. I have centered my teaching career around helping students master the skills and concepts in science, along with becoming independent thinkers, prepared for high school and life beyond. I am passionate about incorporating a variety of learning experiences: hands-on learning opportunities, resources in our own backyard, current events, science articles, and STEM integration projects into my lessons. Success in the classroom rolls over into other parts of students’ lives, it gives them

confidence and teaches perseverance to problem-solve. They are our future!

Teaching science, especially in a Catholic school, goes beyond just understanding concepts but also using our knowledge and faith to be a force for good. This past summer I attended the Science and Religion Seminar, put on by the McGrath Institute at Notre Dame. Spending a week attending lectures, discussions, and laboratory activities allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the harmony between our Catholic faith and science. I want to bring alive our faith, to help others understand that God wants us to find the answers in the natural world,

to find the awe and beauty in nature, and use that knowledge to care for all creation. I am very grateful for this position and the vision Mrs. Wagner has for all students at Holy Cross. I am very excited for the upcoming year and look forward to meeting everyone.