2021 St. Nicholas Orthodox Church School report for the Annual Parish meeting 1/30/2021

When we pray continually, God will enlighten us as to what we must do in each situation, even the most difficult. God will speak in our hearts. He will find ways.—Saint Porphyrios

This has been a most challenging year for everyone. Our children were not able to meet in person starting in Lent 2020. We were fortunate to have the OCA Virtual classes. Some of our children took advantage of this opportunity. Stephanie Reimund, Sarah Kunkle, Katie D’Fantis and Matushka Elizabeth Wyslutsky met virtually on Zoom in September to start planning Virtual Church School. We sent out a survey asking who would be interested in attending Virtual Church School and how many would be interested in coming back to in person classes if this was approved by the bishop with distancing and masks. The majority only wanted to attend online classes. We decided to change class time to 5pm on Sunday evenings. We started class in October using Zoom. Sarah Kunkle and Stephanie Reimund decided to take a break from teaching. Gabriella Wyslutsky is teaching the preschool class. Annette Lambo is helping with the preschool class once a month with music. Katie D’Fantis is teaching kindergarten through fifth grade. Matushka Elizabeth Wyslutsky is teaching the Middle School and High School students. Fr. Nicholas Wyslutsky has been meeting the adults at the same time to discuss Anthony Bloom’s book, “Beginning to Pray.”Our theme is Prayer. Our goal is to keep all the students connected to each other and the church as best we can.

So far Virtual Church School is going well. We miss seeing all the children in person. I am sure they miss seeing each other. The highlight of our year so far was the Yolka. We divided the Christmas Eve Gospel of St. Luke into eight parts and each student or family of students took a part; reading and acting out the part on Zoom and then Fr. Nicholas streamed it on our YouTube channel. I am so proud of all our students who worked together with their families to plan their backgrounds and costumes.

Matushka Elizabeth Wyslutsky

Church School Coordinator