January 20, 2023

Katie Culver, Service Learning Director

Since the fall of 1976, Assumption sophomores have proudly served the Louisville community through the ACTS (A Christian Through Service) program. This week, through the commitment of 36 agencies who share in our belief that compassion truly does inspire, we have been able to engage our 205 sophomores in this important work. We are so grateful for the open and willing hearts of the Class of 2025 who are so beautifully embracing this good work, and the guidance and support of our faculty and staff who work so diligently with our students to accommodate this service during the school day. We are additionally thankful to our sophomore parents and guardians for their trust, support, and encouragement of this long-standing Assumption tradition! We ask all of you to please keep our ACTS angels in your prayers as they continue to live out their faith through this meaningful and life-changing service-learning program on Wednesdays over the next 8 weeks.

This week we took time to recognize our students who earned Honor Roll Designation first semester. Students received certificates in homeroom and were served a celebratory piece of cake today during lunches from the deans and principal. We are so proud of the hard work and dedication that has led to this achievement!

PARENT PRAYER: Our parent prayer group will meet on Tuesday, January 24, 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 CORK Family sophomores. Please join us for any or all of these opportunities! All are welcome!

SPECIAL PARENT PRAYER DURING CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK – JANUARY 31: Instead of the usual Parent Prayer at AHS on Tuesday January 31, all Catholic high school parents in the archdiocese are invited to a special Catholic Schools Week Parent Prayer Service at Mercy Academy. The service begins at 8:30 a.m. Come early to mingle! Coffee and donuts to be served afterwards. Mercy is located at 5801 Fegenbush Road. Please enter through the Main Entrance by the circle drive.

During LEAD & Learn time last week, freshmen learned about travel abroad opportunities and best practices for hosting a shadow. Seniors also had a class meeting in which they learned about scholarship opportunities. Students engaged in leadership development through our LEO program, and we also embarked on an advisement initiative this week in which students focused on goal setting and first semester reflection. On Friday, students took a mental health break in homeroom and had an opportunity to unplug and relax.

Next week, students will review safety drills on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and enjoy a mental health break on Friday during homeroom time.

JANUARY SCHOOL SAFETY WEEK: Next week is our annual second semester School Safety Week, and we will be practicing all four of our emergency drills during the week: lockdown drill, fire drill, earthquake drill, and severe weather/tornado drill. Kentucky state law requires that all schools practice each of these drills once within the first month of school and again during January. This is a good time to remind you that in the case of a true emergency/disaster, parents will be notified and kept informed via emergency alerts; students will be released only to their parents or other authorized guardians and will have to be signed out before leaving; students who provide their own transportation to/from school must have parent/guardian permission to leave verified by school personnel prior to leaving, provided it is safe for them to do so. If it is safe to enter the school building, parents will gather in the Marshall Family Atrium to await the release of their daughters; and if the building is not accessible, parents will gather in the back parking lot of on our east campus (former American Legion property) to await the release of their daughters. Please be sure that you are signed up for emergency alerts in PowerSchool and that we have current and accurate contact information for you and others we could call upon if there would ever be an urgent situation involving your daughter. Also, please note that the person you designate as an emergency contact is the person we would contact only if we cannot get in touch with a student’s parents/guardians—the name you provide as the emergency contact should not be the same as either the first or second contact because we will attempt to get in touch with them first/before going to the emergency contact.

SPRING DUAL CREDIT CLASSES: If you daughter is enrolled in a Spring 2023 dual credit class, she will be filling out an application this week or completed it last week and will need to have a parent signature on at least one form. If your daughter is taking DC PreCalculus, DC Calculus, DC Public Speaking, DC English IV, DC Intro to Business, DC Personal Finance, DC World Religions, or DC Foundations of Instructions, please talk to your daughter about any parent forms that need to be completed and if she still has remaining KHEAA scholarships to pay for these courses or if you will need to pay the tuition for the course. These bills are usually due in March. She can log into her KHEAA account HERE. If you have any questions, please contact Judy.Fieldhouse@ahsrockets.org

WORK IT WEDNESDAY – LAST ONE FOR JANUARY: The Achievement Center will be hosting a Work It Wednesday next week on January 25. Students are invited to come to the Media Center from 7:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. to receive extra support in their classes from peer tutors, study groups, or the AC teachers. We’ve had a wonderful response, and to ensure we are meeting everyone’s needs, we ask students to please RSVP in advance with Mrs. Conway or Ms. Prentice.

THE MOTHER FRANCES WARDE SCHOLARSHIP: Since our school’s inception nearly 70 years ago, Assumption has always been known for being a warm, caring, and welcoming place; a school where every girl belongs and a place for her to be nurtured and supported to become her truest self. We pride ourselves on extending our arms wide accepting girls from all walks of life, no matter who she is or where she comes from. Maintaining that tradition of welcome and acceptance is critical to our identity and our mission. It also underpins our strategic initiatives surrounding our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion endeavors. As part of our continuing efforts to promote diversity in our school community, we are announcing The Mother Frances Warde Scholarship. Frances Warde was one of the very first Sisters of Mercy. A woman of great courage and vision, she left her homeland of Ireland and against overwhelming obstacles came to the United States to establish a total of 82 Mercy schools, convents, and other ministries. The Mother Frances Warde Scholarship is open to any Assumption student, (including incoming freshman), who has demonstrated financial need as determined via FACTS and is Asian, African American, Multi-racial, Pacific Islander, Indigenous, or Hispanic. For more information about this scholarship program or to submit an application, please use the link here. Multiple $1,000 scholarships will be awarded and announced in March for the 2023-24 school year. FACTS deadline is Tuesday, January 31. Scholarship applications are due by Wednesday, February 8. Apply online here.

HIRING FACILITY AND CUSTODIAL TEAM MEMBERS: Please share this with anyone you know who would be a good fit for AHS. Full-time and part-time positions available. Monday- Friday with some weekends required. Good starting pay and benefits along with a great work environment. In addition, employees receive a 50% discount off their daughter’s tuition. Please email Michael Clark, Facility Director, at Michael.Clark@ahsrockets.org for more information.

REQUEST ON BEHALF OF STUDENTS WHO PARK AT STRATHMOOR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: Please do not drop your daughter off or pick her up in the Strathmoor parking lot across Bardstown Road from Assumption. When pulling in there to drop your student off in the morning, it often prevents students who pay to park there from pulling into their parking spaces, and when you wait there to pick your student up in the afternoon, the students who park at Strathmoor get blocked in. Some of them have been late to school in the morning and some are having to wait as long as 20 minutes to be able to get out of their spaces in the afternoon, which has already caused some of them to be late for medical appointments, jobs, etc. If you don’t want to drop off or pick up from the Assumption carpool line, please use the Gardiner Lane Shopping Center option, which is just a short and safe walk from Assumption. You might also consider coming before 7:45 in the morning or after 3:15 in the afternoon when the traffic isn’t backed up.

DRIVE SLOWLY ON CAMPUS, PLEASE: Please be aware of your speed and help us remind your student driver when driving on campus especially in the mornings when it is still dark outside. Students, faculty, and staff who arrive early before our parking lot proctors begin at 7:45 a.m. are crossing the two-way drive on foot. Please drive slowly and be aware of people walking on campus when you arrive to drop your daughters off in the morning especially. Thank you for your help in keeping our community safe!

FINANCIAL AID FORM: The financial aid link for the 2023-2024 school year has been added to the school’s website. The due date is January 31, 2023, and the form must be submitted online to FACTS Grant and Aid Assessment. FINANCIAL AID APPLICATION LINK. As a reminder, you are required to file every year to receive assistance.

ASSUMPTION PARENT ORGANIZATION (APO) NEWS – ROCKET SPECTACULAR: Assumption High School’s 42^nd annual Rocket Spectacular Benefit Dinner & Auction is two weeks away, Saturday, February 4, from 6:00 to 11:00 pm. This year’s theme is Derby inspired – Run for the Rockets. All proceeds from the event benefit the financial needs of our students; currently, one third of our students receive some form of financial assistance. This is our largest fundraiser of the year, and there are many ways for our families to support this effort! We are still collecting donations. Please get in touch with us at 271-2519 if you are interested in donating or have any questions. Please visit our Rocket Spectacular page to see all our fun live raffles: https://one.bidpal.net/rs23/welcome.

ARISE TRIP MEETING: For seniors participating in an ARISE trip during Mission Week, there is a mandatory meeting on Sunday, January 22, at 6:30 p.m. in the Media Center. Parents/Guardians are not required to attend but are welcome.

SENIOR ASSEMBLY: On Friday, February 3, seniors will participate in an assembly centered around the award-winning documentary, The Hunting Ground. Current statistics indicate that one in five women will be sexually assaulted in college. The documentary features the stories of several victims of campus sexual assault and shows the emotional aftermath on the victims and their individual journeys for justice. At the assembly, seniors will view the documentary and hear from guest speakers about campus resources, consent, and bystander empowerment. We hope that this program will spark a discussion at home about the prevalence of sexual assaults on college campuses. If you would like to view the documentary with your daughter to foster a follow-up discussion at home, the documentary is available for purchase or rent on Amazon.com: Amazon Link. If you have any questions about this documentary or the assembly planned for seniors, please contact Jennifer Ruckriegel via email at jennifer.ruckriegel@ahsrockets.org

Freshmen Elise Crump and Nakita Nair, who are the latest students who have completed even more than the minimum amount of LEOs to become eligible for one of our Christian Leadership Distinctions!

Our Rocket Speech and Debate team who competed at the Trinity High School Invitational tournament this past weekend. The team received the fourth-place sweepstakes award for debate, and the third-place sweepstakes award overall. Individual awards went to freshman Eleanor Orrillo, who won fourth place in Original Oratory, sophomore Elizabeth Buttes, who placed second in Novice Lincoln Douglas, and sophomore Breigh McFadden, who won first place in varsity Lincoln Douglas. Freshmen Hannah Graham and Isabel Husk, sophomores Elizabeth Buttes and Breigh McFadden, andjunior Stella Bensenhaver also received Speaker Awards.

Our visual art students who won the following Scholastic Art awards in the Louisville Metro Area:

Senior Sophia Currie, Honorable Mention in Drawing & Silver Key in Drawing

Senior Eli Lewantowicz, Honorable Mention in Drawing & Silver Key in Printmaking

Senior Ashley Tierney, Honorable Mention in Drawing

Junior Abby Richardson, Honorable Mention in Drawing

Junior Gracen Block, Honorable Mention in Sculpture

Junior Anna McDowell, Honorable Mention in Photography

Junior May Scott, Honorable Mention in Ceramics

Sophomore Audrey Shepherd, Silver Key in Drawing

Sophomore Chloe Tigue, Honorable Mention in Drawing

Congratulations to:

The Swim & Dive team who finished tenth out of 21 teams this past weekend in 20^th Annual Rock the Block event.

The Basketball team who defeated Simon Kenton 57-40 and Tates Creek 54-27 to improve to a 15-5 record.

The Archery team who finished third overall at the St. Albert East End Extravaganza.

Our Rocket Aerialswho came together for the first time last week with nearly 30 girls participating. What is Rocket Aerials? Think of it as Assumption’s version of Cirque du Soleil. Highland Hall now has silks, trapeze, and a lyra (hoop). We are excited for the addition of this program!

Next week in Athletics:

Friday, January 20

Varsity Basketball vs Male @ St. X 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, January 21

Swim @ Brown Bear Spring @ UofL
Archery @ Butler County Shootout

Wednesday, January 25

Basketball vs Cooper @ Valley in the LIT, 7:00 p.m.
Swim vs Eastern @ UofL

January 27- 28

Archery @ Sacred Heart All Heart Tournament

Sunday, January 29

Dance Team Nationals Send Off

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