Snow day turns into scavenger hunt for Madonna Catholic students
By TAYLOR BROWN
tbrown@yourmvi.com
As Catholic Schools Week kicked off Monday, students at Madonna Catholic Regional School in Monongahela got creative with their families at home during a virtual learning snow day.
On Friday, as students, faculty and staff prepared for a week of fun activities, assemblies and other events, a snowstorm was forecast for the Mon Valley.
As snow continued to fall Sunday, administrators decided to have a virtual learning day Monday in the form of a scavenger hunt that would get students outside playing with their families.
For the past 47 years, typically the last week in January, National Catholic Schools Week has celebrated Catholic education across the country.
Schools typically observe the week with Masses, assemblies and other fun activities for students, families, parishioners and community members to celebrate and congratulate students.
This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools have had to change the way they deliver education and services to students.
At Madonna Catholic, students returned to full in-person instruction in September with notifications and other mitigation measures in place to keep students safe.
On Monday, students logged on to Google Classroom and received instructions for a snow day scavenger hunt that would embrace this year’s Catholic Schools Week theme: Faith. Excellence. Service.
Principal Kathy Miller said staff began planning the scavenger hunt Friday, in case school needed to be canceled for inclement weather.
“We weren’t sure if we would be in person or not today because we knew on Friday there would be snow coming, but it was the start of Catholic Schools Week, so we wanted to make sure we had something fun planned,” Miller said. “So we tried to come up with something fun and educational, and decided to go with a scavenger hunt.”
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