Tag Archives: Kristen Mead

Ready For a Fruitful and Safe 2025-26 School Year

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Watch a “First Day of School” video of Sloan and Beau

It’s the Tuesday after Labor Day and that means one thing in these parts: The first day of school!

Sloan and Beau attended their first day of school for the 2025-26 school year. Once again, they are attending St. Mary Catholic School in the Spokane Valley.

Sloan and Beau started their third grade and kindergarten years today. Believe it or not, this will be our SIXTH year at St. Mary Catholic School and we couldn’t be more excited.

Sloan and Beau are ready for another great year at St. Mary Catholic School (Spokane Valley).

This year, Sloan has Mrs. Mary Remer leading her classroom. New to the school for 2025-26, we look forward to getting to know Mrs. Remer. However, I think we already like her considering her last name closely resembles ours AND it is also a palindrome 😉.

Sloan all set this morning on her first day as a 3rd grader.

When it comes to Beau, his teacher is Mrs. Kristen Mead. We have a little more familiarity with her than Sloan’s teacher—when Beau started Pre-K4 last year, Mrs. Mead was leading his classroom. However, a last-minute teacher shuffle resulted in Mrs. Mead moving up to kindergarten. Although that ended up working just fine because Beau’s re-assigned Pre-K4 teacher was AWESOME, we are looking forward to finishing what we started with Mrs. Mead.

How is he a kindergartener?! He is in store for a great year.

Thanks be to God, Stephen Hart is once again returning to St. Mary as the principal. He will continue to run an unapologetically Catholic school that strives to help students and staff get to Heaven. His leadership is infectious. Enrollment is up this year, parents/students have bought in, and the vibe I felt this morning was so assuring. We are in good hands.

Mr. Stephen Hart returns to St. Mary Catholic School for his third year as principal. This is him opening up the school doors for the first day of school.

But even though we are in good hands with our leadership, there is some anxiety this year. With the tragic incident at Annunciation School last week, everyone is a little more on guard. St. Mary has already put in place a tighter security protocol, especially when it comes to mass, but prayers for a safe school year are very much appreciated.

Please pray for St. Mary School and all schools as the 2025-26 year begins.

I want to wish everyone returning to school—students and teachers—a fruitful year. Whether you attend St. Mary or not, I am pulling for you. Hope it is the best year yet! Don’t Blink.

Golden Rings At St. Mary Catholic School

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Watch a “First Day of School” video of Sloan and Beau

It seems hard to believe, but our family started our FIFTH year at St. Mary Catholic School today. Sloan kicked things off in the Pre-K3 program in the fall of 2020 and now she is a big, bad second grader. More on that in just a moment.

Today was the first day of school for Sloan and Beau at St. Mary in Spokane Valley.

This “golden ring” year (get it?) for our family brings with it the most confidence and optimism for a school year yet. Principal and friend Stephen Hart introduced so many positive changes during his debut year in 2023-24 that the school couldn’t be in a better spot as the doors swung open this morning. Among the many improvements last year, the best part was just the overall embracing of a strong, devout Catholic culture. Thank you, Mr. Hart!

Stephen Hart, principal of St. Mary Catholic School, welcomes Sloan on the first day of the 2024-25 school year.

Okay, back to Sloan. She will spend her second grade year in Mrs. Abbie DeRuyter’s class. Sloan’s close-knit group of classmates will be joined by three new peers this year—all girls! I know our daughter looks forward to getting to know them while Sid and I are excited to welcome their parents and families.

Sloan sitting at her desk ready to start her first day of second grade.

Actually, we already know one of the “new” parents really well. The mom of one of the second grade newcomers is Mrs. Kristen Mead, the leader of the St. Mary Pre-K4 classroom and Beau’s teacher this year! With Beau’s Pre-K3 class in close proximity to Mrs. Mead’s class last year, we got to know her a little bit. We can’t wait for Beau to learn from her.

Beau sitting at his desk ready to start his first day of Pre-K4.

A big change for Beau from last year to this year is that his school day is now all-day. What better way to get him ready for kindergarten, right? Much to the satisfaction of mom and dad, Beau is still a napper so he will have to adjust his schedule a bit now that he is attending school all-day like a big boy.

My kids on our porch prior to their first day of the 2024-25 school year at St. Mary Catholic School.

One item that needed no adjustment on the schedules of my children was wake up time this morning. Sloan and Beau attended summer school at St. Paschal Educare the past couple months and were used to rising early. Because of that, there was no shock getting up at 6:30 a.m. for today’s first day.

It is going to be another great school year at St. Mary Catholic School!

Here we go! Another year at St. Mary Catholic School is underway and I know it will be a blessed one. Please pray for the teachers and students not just at my children’s school but everywhere. Don’t Blink.