Chaucer used the phrase "mad as a March hare" in the Friar's Tale and Shakespeare warned us to "Beware of the Ides of March" in Julius Caesar.  March usually enters as a lion and exits as a lamb and provides us with an extra hour to play in the daylight.  What a month!  Madness, warnings, changes in routine, and ferociousness all describe the happenings in March.  St. Patrick is remembered for routing the snakes and gives everyone an excuse to be Irish for a day while St. Joseph marks the day on which we finally want to hear the frogs croaking because if we hear them before St. Joseph's Day, there will be several more weeks of cold.  In summary, March is that month of transition and awakening from the doldrums of winter to the excitement that a very active warmer lifestyle is approaching.  Cold to warm- winter to spring. 

     March is a month of changes in the school setting.  What motivated students since August seems to disappear in March as the the vernal equinox approaches- the beginning of spring for those of you who need a refresher.  Seniors get that lazy, want to do nothing disease called senioritis and underclassmen get spring fever.  Both of these diseases cause motivation to decrease or disappear, interest in the opposite sex to be of utmost importance, and teachers to pull out those last tricks to make the push to the end.  This is a time when parents are needed to assist in the educational process by insisting that the school year is not complete until June 5! 

     March also brings about the concern on whether to turn on the heat or turn off the heat; and PCHS is very pleased to announce that due to the generosity of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and Bishop Bransfield, matching funds were secured to upgrade the boiler to be able to shut itself off when the outdoor air temperature reachers 55 degrees.  More work will be done after the heating season, but for now, this is a major upgrade appreciated by all. 

     We have several very important things to accomplish in March like the SAT-10 test for grades 1 through 11 on March 24, the Pride Survey for grades 8, 10, and 12 on March 25, and the ACRE Test for grades 8 and 11 the last week in March.  All of these assessments indicate strengths and weaknesses in our courses of study and are very important to each student's portfolio. Everyone needs to be at their best performance for these events.

     Yet another change occurs in March as winter sports give way to spring sports and March madness hits the basketball fans as they debate bracketology for tournaments.  The boys' varsity team accomplished a very successful season and earned the LKC Title while the girls' varsity team is still in competition.  The middle school teams had successful seasons and most importantly developed skills to contribute to the high school teams in the future.  Wrestling had a few participants and hopes to build the team even more next year. Cheerleaders returned to the basketball floor this year after an absence of a few years and rejuvenated the student cheering section which made itself heard at all games with an enthusiasm that was infectious.  The PCHS Choir made an appearance at a game to sing the National Anthem under the direction of Mr. Courtney Clark.  They performed magnificently and due to extreme popularity will return next year for more performances. All of these activities were made possible by Mr. Kevin Simonton and PCES for the use of their gym and St. Margaret Mary Parish for making the Parish Activity Center available for practices since the PCHS gym was scheduled every day leaving someone to practice elsewhere. Thank you Father Peterson and St. Margaret Mary Parish and Mr. Simonton and PCES. 

     It is very easy in the month of March to give in to the ups and downs and highs and lows of the changes that are all around us especially in this time of economic challenge. But it is at times like this that we must focus on sanity in the middle without emotional highs and lows.  Everyone must keep going in a positive direction whether it be the seniors to graduation, the underclassmen to attain the acceptable highest  GPA possible, the teachers to accomplish the goals and objectives of each course, or the parents to continue the push to motivate their students to be the best that they can be.  Only through hard work and consistent resistance to the distractors in March will we all successfully and satisfyingly reach April when all of the changes in March are over.