Welcome to Eighth Grade!

8th Grade Homeroom Teacher:  Mrs. Catherine Kollars, ckollars@stclarepdx.org

Mrs. Kollars teaches 8th Grade Social Studies and Religion, 7th grade Social Studies, and 6th Grade Social Studies and Religion.

Class of 2012 Mission Statement

The 8th grade homeroom class of 2012 are followers of Jesus.  We support each other, and we laugh together.  This year, we will have fun and work hard to do our best.  Through love, respect, tolerance, and witht he guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will grow.  We will learn, play, and pray through everything we do.

Message from Mrs. Kollars
Eighth grade will be an exciting and busy time that will go by much faster than you can imagine. Besides all of their academic pursuits, eighth graders will experience many other highlights. In September, they will begin to design their own class sweatshirts which will be allowed as part of their school uniforms. If all goes well, students will have these sweatshirts by the end of October. Leadership skills will be modeled, and students will have multiple opportunities to practice these skills throughout the school year as family group leaders, Eucharistic ministers, and in a variety of other venues. In late September, students will begin their high school selection process by listening to student ambassadors from five area Catholic high schools. Between October and January, they will be allowed to miss up to two class days to visit any area high school that schedules tour days. Sometime in mid-April to early May the eighth grade will have its annual retreat. This event is traditionally an overnight, off-campus event running from a Sunday afternoon through a Monday afternoon led by a trained facilitator with the assistance of Mrs. Kollars. The last week of school in June will include a student-planned, thank you prayer breakfast for the parents, a class trip, the send-off assembly, and of course, graduation on June 10, 2011. With all of these activities to look forward to, I hope that all students and parents in the class of 2011 are anticipating a wonderful year!

Getting to Know Mrs. Kollars
This year begins my 29th year teaching in a Catholic middle school and my 11th year at St. Clare. Originally from the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area, my husband and I also lived for over 17 years in Missouri where I taught in two different Catholic schools. The class of 2012 will by my 27th eighth grade homeroom class. I earned my bachelor's degree in American history (with a minor in English) from California State University, Sacramento. My Master of Education degree comes from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. I have a passion for teaching middle school students with their blossoming abilities to think more abstractly as they navigate their way through early adolescence. There is certainly something interesting happening in middle school every day. Some of my favorite things are anything having to do with history (historic novels, documentaries, even textbooks), reading (adult and young adult novels; I'm a particular fan of J. K. Rowling!), baseball, (I love my St. Louis Cardinals and Oakland Athletics), and of course my wonderful husband, Randy Kollars, who happens to be the campus minister and a religion teacher at St. Mary's Academy in downtown Portland. Together we enjoy camping and traveling during our summer vacations and just living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest the rest of the year.

I feel truly blessed to be part of the St. Clare School and Parish communities. Thank you for the privilege of knowing and teaching your children.