September 2, 2022

If challenged to describe Assumption retreats in very few words, I think “a breath of fresh air” would fit nicely. Retreats are a break from schoolwork, sports, and daily stressors, but also an opportunity to connect with faith and reach beyond the comfort zone of routine. Retreats have been an integral part of the Assumption experience for decades, rooted in faith and tradition.

Although our students are often ready to come home and sleep in their own beds after retreat, it is not uncommon to hear “I don’t want to leave retreat” as they board their bus to head home from Mount St. Francis or The Earth & Spirit Center. A special woman, now retired from AHS, would even say that some of them may even leave retreat “a changed woman.”

On retreat, we pray, we share meals together, we learn a little about ourselves and even more about others. We laugh, play games, tell stories, and allow ourselves to breathe and be in the moment, instead of worrying about our all-too-packed schedules. We take time to reflect in the presence of God and in the beauty that surrounds us.

If you were to ask most alums about their favorite part about Assumption, I would be willing to bet that most of them would mention retreat (with Flik cookies coming in second, of course). It might be the time they spent with the friends by the lake at Mount St. Francis, wandering the paths of The Earth & Spirit Center, or learning to “be still” as only their voices surround them in the chapel.

I encourage you to give your daughter a nudge to sign up for retreat if she has not already done so. It can be a leap of faith for some to attend, but it is most certainly a rewarding experience. Please contact me at julia.scudder@ahsrockets.org if we can help financially or if you have any questions. I look forward to welcoming your students on retreat!

We are so thankful for all the parents who were able to come to Mock Schedule Night last night. We hope you enjoyed meeting your daughter’s teachers and learning about her classes. Most importantly, we hope that you were able to witness what it means to be a part of the community of Assumption. In our community, we are blessed with teachers who truly love what they do and it shows. We are proud of our rigorous academic program and our students who work so hard, but what makes Assumption different is that our teachers share their love for learning and for their students on a daily basis. They are here to take care of your daughter as a whole person – mind, body, and spirit!

LABOR DAY HOLIDAY: School will be closed on Monday, September 5, for the Labor Day holiday. We wish everyone a safe and restful holiday weekend! 

MANDATORY FRESHMAN GUIDANCE PROGRAM: Freshman parents, please mark your calendars and plan to attend one of our mandatory Freshman Parent Drug/Alcohol Education Programs on Wednesday, September 7, at 6:30 p.m. in our Media Center, OR Monday, September 12, at 6:30 p.m. in the Media Center. You do not need to pre-register; just come on the night most convenient for your schedule. This is an important program designed to familiarize you with the school philosophy and policies in the area of drug and alcohol prevention. We know that what parents say and do makes a difference in the choices their daughters make. At this meeting, you will hear from Cindi Baughman, dean of students, and a local therapist from Innerview who will present vital information about drug and alcohol prevention. It is a program that will be worth your time and attention. At least one parent or guardian is required to attend one of these meetings. 

FRESHMAN PARENT MASS: This Mass is a beautiful way to celebrate your freshman daughter’s high school journey as part of a community of faith. It will be celebrated on Sunday, September 11, at 2:00 p.m. at St. Raphael Catholic Church. Please come even if your family isn’t Catholic. Siblings are invited as well – bring the whole family!

ASSUMPTION PARENT PRAYER: Our parent prayer group will meet on September 6 from 8:30 – 9:00 a.m. in the AHS chapel and will continue to meet each Tuesday morning throughout the school year. Please park in any open space and enter the school through the main entrance. During the year, we pray for every student by name twice. Next week, we will be praying for the BIRR Family Sophomores. Please join us for any or all of these opportunities!

Last week, students learned about the Lead and Learn Program and what LEAD stands for: Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy, and Direction. Students also learned about LEOs, our leadership development series. On Friday, students experienced a mental health break by having an open LEAD and Learn time in which they could work on homework, rest, etc. Next week, the focus is on engagement by looking at our robust extracurricular opportunities. Students will have the unique opportunity to attend two club meetings of their choice during the school day. Be sure to ask your daughter which club meetings she selected. 

MONITOR AND MANAGE YOUR DAUGHTER’S HP ELITE LAPTOP: You should have received an email about apParent, a mobile app available to you at no cost so you can monitor and manage your daughter’s school-issued laptop after school hours. This app, if you want to install it, will allow you to view your daughter’s device screen, lock your daughter’s device with a custom message, and view 24 hours of your child’s web browsing history. Your daughters’ teachers can control their computers from 7:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. You can use the app outside of those hours on school days and all day on weekends and holidays.

DUAL CREDIT REGISTRATION AND KHEAA SCHOLARSHIPS: Mrs. Fieldhouse was able to visit our Dual Credit classes over the past two weeks to help students apply to our dual credit partner school as well as held a LEAD & Learn session today on how to apply for the KHEAA Dual Credit and Work Ready Scholarships.  Students want to apply for their KHEAA scholarships by September 15. Please follow this tutorial and reach out toJudy Fieldhouse or Kathy Fleischer if you have any questions regarding dual credit: DUAL CREDIT AND SCHOLARSHIPS TUTORIAL. We are so thrilled that your daughter is taking advantage of the opportunity to earn college credit while still in high school!

SCHOOL PICTURES UPDATE: School pictures taken this week will be ordered online and available for viewing beginning Tuesday, September 6. As stated on the card that your daughter received after she had her picture taken, please go to this link to order her picture: www.shop.studioillumination.com. Simply enter “AHS” plus your daughter’s Assumption ID number as the code to access your daughter’s picture. BIG Photo asks that all orders are placed within 10 days to have the photos delivered to Assumption. 

ACADEMIC AWARDS CELEBRATION & DESSERT RECEPTION: Invitations were sent out Monday morning to parents via email for our annual Academic Awards Celebration on Sunday, September 25, at 1:00 p.m. At this celebration, we honor the academic accomplishments of the following groups of students – sophomores, juniors, and seniors who earned a 4.0 GPA during the 2021-2022 school year; newly inducted Beta Club members; newly inducted National Honor Society members; freshman McAuley Scholars and newly inducted McAuley Scholars; and seniors recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. We ask parents to check their email closely for information about attendance and the RSVP deadline of September 16. Due to space limitations, we limit guests to two per student. If you have any questions, please contact KATHY FLEISCHER, registrar. 

CLUB WEEK: Is your daughter looking for a way to get involved at Assumption? Here is her chance! Next week, our LEAD & Learn times will be devoted to getting involved at AHS. Yesterday, all students met in homerooms during LEAD & Learn time to receive information about all the clubs and organizations Assumption has to offer, including information about club membership and meeting dates. Whether she is an animal lover or an adventure seeker, we have a club for your Rocket! Students will have the opportunity to attend two club meetings of their choice during midday LEAD & Learn time on Tuesday, September 6, and Thursday, September 8. Please encourage your daughter to take full advantage of this chance to explore new opportunities. Students who are not interested in pursuing an open enrollment club will have other sessions to attend where they can explore different topics on leadership and engagement in our community. The list of club meetings and sessions was shared with your daughter yesterday. We hope you will touch base with her about the clubs that she finds interesting and intends to explore. A list of the clubs offered is available in the STUDENT-PARENT HANDBOOK 2022-2023 on page 89. Any questions, please contact THERESA SCHUHMANN.

CONTINUED HELP NEEDED WITH THE FOLLOWING TRAFFIC FLOW PROTOCOLS:

  • DROP OFF/PICK UP ON TYLER LANE PROHIBITED: Students may not be picked up or dropped off on Tyler Lane at any time. Cars on this neighborhood street are not expecting cars to stop and can be dangerous. Additionally, if you come early in the afternoons, you absolutely may not wait/park on Tyler Lane. It’s against the law to park in the middle of the street and there’s no shoulder there for pulling off the road; it also can be a source of accidents and actually hurts our flow of traffic. Students have been notified that if they are picked up (or dropped off) on Tyler Lane, they will receive detentions.
  • REQUEST ON BEHALF OF STUDENTS WHO PARK AT STRATHMOOR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: Please do not wait in the Strathmoor parking lot across Bardstown Road from Assumption to pick your daughter up at dismissal. Parents who do this are forming their own carpool lane of sorts and this blocks our students who rent spaces at Strathmoor into their parking spots, which has already caused some of them to be late for medical appointments, jobs, etc.
  • Tyler Lane Safety Concern: After dropping off or picking up your daughter, if you are on Tyler Lane headed for the light and want to turn left or go straight at the intersection, please don’t pull out to the left to get around the line of cars waiting to turn right onto Bardstown Road to get to the left lane. You need to wait until the road widens and the left lane actually begins. When you pull around the traffic, you are actually driving on the wrong side of the road and you are risking having a head-on collision with cars coming from the other direction on Tyler Lane. This problem most often happens in the morning as faculty, staff, and students come down Tyler Lane to turn in at the two-way drive to get to their parking spaces on campus. When leaving campus after dropping off or picking up your daughter, please consider turning left on Tyler Lane and using Eleanor Avenue or other neighborhood streets to get to your desired route. If you choose to turn right and go to the light at the intersection, please wait patiently in a single line of traffic until you get to where there are actually two lanes.

CROSSING GUARD OPENING: The Louisville Police Department is actively seeking a traffic guard for AHS and St. Raphael at Bardstown Road and Lancashire. Please share this job posting with anyone who may be qualified or interested in being trained for this position: TRAFFIC GUARD JOB DESCRIPTION.

ATTENDANCE REMINDERS: Below are a few reminders about attendance: 

  • ABSENCES & EARLY DISMISSALS: If your daughter is absent or coming in late on any day, please call the attendance line at 502-458-9551, press 1, and report the absence/late arrival before 8:30 a.m. If you need for your daughter to be excused early for a medical appointment, please send a note with your daughter the morning of the early dismissal and have her bring it to the attendance office before 8:05/9:05 a.m. This helps us keep classroom interruptions to a minimum and protects the time for instruction of our students.  
  • GOING HOME SICK: On a related note, if your daughter contacts you during the day telling you that she is sick and needs to come home, please do not just come to school to pick her up; instead, please call the attendance office at 271-2507 and make our school nurse, Mrs. Burnam, aware of the situation. She will find your daughter, assess the situation from a medical perspective, and then give you an update and let you know if you should come to take your daughter home, make arrangements for her to be seen by a doctor, etc.
  • REQUESTS FOR EXCUSED ABSENCES: Also, please bear in mind that absences not related to illness/medical appointments need to be approved ahead of time to be excused. To request an excused absence in advance (for something like driver’s testing, a club team competition, a family wedding, etc.), you may email your request to attendance@ahsrockets.org. Requests need to be submitted one to two weeks in advance of the planned absence; we cannot excuse absences if requests are received the school day before or the day of the absence. Remember to review the handbook for all attendance-related information in the STUDENT-PARENT HANDBOOK 2022-2023.

REMINDER ABOUT DELIVERIES: In an effort to teach our students about being accountable for their own belongings as well as to limit the number of visitors to school during the day and effectively monitor those visitors coming into the school, we have a policy that does NOT allow for student deliveries. Parents, please do not bring items (lunches, homework, bake sale items, sports equipment, presentations, papers, etc.) to school to drop off for your daughters. Our main office staff and athletic office staff have been instructed not to accept those deliveries. Thank you for your cooperation with these efforts.

METRO UNITED WAY AND UPS: Do you, your spouse, or a family member work for UPS? If so, you have an opportunity to help Assumption. As a UPS employee, you can designate your Metro United Way gift to AHS. Whether you give through payroll deduction, cash, check, or stock gifts, you may designate your gift to AHS by simply writing in Assumption’s tax ID, 61-1133759, on the MUW pledge form. Your gift will be included in our annual Fund for Assumption campaign to support need-based financial assistance and school programs. Please consider directing your gift to: Assumption High School, 2170 Tyler Lane, Louisville, KY 40205, Tax ID number: 61-1133759. Many thanks for your support of Assumption!

FINAL ORDERS FOR SENIOR SPIRIT WEAR: We are placing one final order for the Senior ’23 Spirit Wear. The link to online ordering through the Campus Store is now open. Orders may be placed through the Campus Store until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, September 7, by clicking on the following link: https://assumption-high-school-campus-store.myshopify.com/collections/senior-apparel. Please check with your daughter about how to order; information about ordering was sent to her via email on August 30. We will notify the seniors by email as soon as the orders are available for pickup. If you have any questions, please email stacy.johnson@ahsrockets.org or merilou.mattingly@ahsrockets.org.

ARISE SERVICE TRIPS: ARISE service trips are offered to seniors and take place during Mission Week (February 26- March 3, 2023). Seniors who join an ARISE team will learn about and participate in service, prayer, community, and simplicity while traveling with a team to Auxier, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; or Belize. We will also offer a local ARISE “trip” that will stay here to do some amazing work through the Earth and Spirit Center. In the past, seniors have said that their trips are some of the most amazing and profound experiences they had during their time at AHS. If your daughter is considering participating in an ARISE trip, she, with a parent/guardian, must attend one of the following informational meetings: Thursday, September 8, at 6:30 p.m. OR Sunday, September 11, at 6:30 p.m. in the Media Center. At this meeting we will discuss all the important details that your daughter and you will need to make a decision about participating. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me: katie.culver@ahsrockets.org or 502-271-2597.

JUNIOR ACTS: During the junior Catholic Social Teaching classes last week and this week, Katie Culver, the service-learning director, reviewed the Junior ACTS (A Christian Through Service) requirements. Each junior will need to complete 15 hours of service at one agency that serves a marginalized population or do service work around a particular justice issue. They will need to track their hours in MobileServe as they have previously done. All of the details are linked here: Junior ACTS Syllabus. If you have any questions, please contact Katie Culver at katie.culver@ahsrockets.org or 502-271-2597.

FRESHMAN ACTS: Over the course of this week (and next), Katie Culver, service-learning director, visited each of the freshman theology classes. She spent time teaching the students about our legacy as a Mercy school and the goal of creating a servant’s heart in each of our students. Additionally, she informed the students of their freshmen ACTS (A Christian Through Service) service requirement. They also learned how to log and verify their service hours through the program MobileServe. All freshmen are required to complete five (5) hours of service before Spring Break (March 31). All of this information and directions on how to use MobileServe can be found in the Campus Ministry tab in Student SharePoint, and an information sheet is linked here: Freshman ACTS Information. If you have any questions, please contact Katie Culver at katie.culver@ahsrockets.org or 502-271-2597.

Congratulations to:

  • The Field Hockey team for winning the 50th Annual Apple Tournament. They defeated Sacred Heart by a score of 2-1.
  • The JV and Varsity Cross Country teams for kicking off their seasons by winning the Bourbon County Colonel Charge.
  • The Golf team’s Geriann Ackermann for placing third out of 95 golfers at the LaRue County Invitational.
  • The Freshmen, JV, and Varsity Volleyball teams for sweeping Sacred Heart.

Next week in Athletics

Saturday, September 3

  • Golf @ The Gene Hilen Invitational @ Juniper Hills Golf Course
  • Volleyball @ Avon Classic in Avon, IN
  • Soccer @ The Lady Eagle Invitational in Zionsville, IN

Tuesday, September 6

  • Varsity Soccer vs South Laurel @ Lexington Catholic Tournament 6:00 p.m.
  • Golf vs North Oldham
  • Cross Country @ SHA JV Meet
  • Volleyball vs Mercy: Freshmen 5:00 p.m., JV 6:00 p.m., Varsity 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday, September 7

  • Varsity Field Hockey vs Atherton 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, September 8

  • Varsity Soccer @ Lexington Catholic Tournament. Opponent and Time TBD
  • JV Field Hockey vs North Oldham 7:00 p.m.

September 9 and 10

  • Field Hockey @ Power 4 in Chicago, IL
  • Volleyball @ Louisville Invitational Volleyball Tournament

Saturday, September 10

  • Golf @ Marco Camacho Classic @ Eagle Creek Country Club
  • Cross Country @ Rumble in the Jungle @ Creasey Mahan Preserve

Please follow Rocket Sports on Social media for schedule updates and scores!