Dear Friends,

Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year. At the time of my writing in mid-September, the St. Pius X  community of learners are actively experiencing growth in knowledge and maturity fully on-line.

Everything from Beginning Piano class to AP Physics is taught in real time over the internet in our Google Meets learning management system. Teachers conduct on-line sessions with each of their classes Monday through Thursday from their own classrooms on campus from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. They are available to meet individually with students for extended learning via phone, Google Meets or in person until 3 p.m. On Fridays, classes schedule tests and science labs, teachers give extra tutoring and school counselors are available to students for individual appointments.

We will continue this format for the health and safety of our community and for consistency in the educational process until the end of the first quarter on Oct. 9. As we approach Oct. 9, we will continue to assess the options available to us as outlined by Governor Lujan-Grisham and the public health orders.

We understand that there are significant academic, social and emotional challenges to our students learning remotely and we have designed our format to address them. Our teachers have worked on strengthening their knowledge on digital learning so that they can continue to provide the most rigorous and engaging virtual-learning program for all SPX students.  

Although I retired at the end of June, Archbishop John C. Wester asked me to stay on as Interim Principal as we navigate a school year like none we have ever known. The administrators and a committee of teachers spent many hours this summer preparing and trying to anticipate what this school year would look like. We roll with the changes brought on by the state public health orders, and we do our best to live by our St. Pius X theme selected for this school year from Jesus’ prayer in the book of John, Chapter 17, “That They May Be One.”

Mr. Greg Hakeem ’10, SPX Theology teacher and Campus Minister, explains in this video that in John, Chapter 17, Jesus prays for the unity of his followers and asks the Father twice, “that they may be one.” Although the current pandemic has led us to experiencing distance and division in ways we have never imagined, we strive to avoid allowing our physical distance to be a reason to distance from God spiritually and emotionally. Although we are separated by distance, this does not mean we are separated in faith. We continue to be the St. Pius X community and represent all that it stands for.

In this issue of the St. Pius X Connections, we explore with SPX coaches how COVID 19 has impacted our fall athletic programs, and we catch up with Fr. Don Hyatt, teacher and Campus Minister from 1979 to 2000, who is recovering from an accident this spring that left him blind. Alumni Notes follows the good work of alumni across the country. We also remember Fr. Sam Falbo, an impactful teacher and spiritual leader at SPX for 37 years who passed away on Aug. 3.

We hope this issue of Connections draws you ever closer to your St. Pius X community. We wish you safety and health as we move into the fall and hope that you will join with us in living our theme for the year, “That They May Be One.”

Sincerely,

Barbara M. Rothweiler, Ph.D.

Principal