August 25, 2023

The first month of school has been an energizing one as our student leaders have been hard at work setting the tone for the 2023-2024 school year! Our student leaders were eager to introduce the school theme for this year: “Every Chance We Get.”  In choosing the theme, our leaders reflected on our community and chose a call to action for everyone at Assumption – to take advantage of every opportunity that is given to us.  

Our freshmen have already taken their first chance as a class and homeroom with the first family competition of the year – the freshman family cheer off! This annual tradition started nearly two decades ago when freshman homerooms created and performed spirit cheers with their entire class. One by one, each of our nine families shares their family and class spirit with the class. The cheer off is each family’s first competition against one another and their opportunity to earn family points. Most importantly, this experience offers the homeroom a fun bonding event early in the semester to collaborate and celebrate with one another. Congratulations to our winners: third place, Birr; second place, Carlow; and first place, Galway! 

Volleyball Rocket Night

Last night we had our first Rocket Night of the season where we cheered on our volleyball teams! Rocket Nights invite Past, Present, and Future Rockets to come together to show AHS pride and spirit. We mingled, enjoyed popsicles, picked up the limited edition Rocket Night t-shirt, and of course, cheered on our very talented volleyball players. A special shout out to our newest Rockets, the Class of 2027, for showing up and showing out in their full beach attire to rock the Launchpad for ALL 3 games! Congratulations to our volleyball teams! Our Freshman, Junior Varsity, and Varsity teams all went home winners last night!

FIRST WORK IT WEDNESDAY FOR THIS YEAR! The Achievement Center (AC) will be hosting its first Work It Wednesday for this year on August 30 from 7:45 to 9:00 a.m. in the Media Center. All students are invited to attend to receive extra support in their classes from peer tutors, study groups, or the AC teachers. This is the perfect environment to work on homework and projects. To ensure we are meeting everyone’s needs, students will receive an email on Monday, August 28 to reserve their spot in advance. Mark your calendar for future WIW dates: September 6, 13, and 20.  

MOCK SCHEDULE NIGHT: We will have our annual Mock Schedule Night for parents/guardians only on Thursday, August 31, beginning at 6:30 p.m. and ending at 8:40 p.m.; parents/guardians should report to their daughter’s homeroom for opening prayer and announcements. We will email you a copy of your daughter’s schedule midweek with information about the evening and event times as well.  Please plan to park at any open space at Assumption or St. Raphael and enter the school at the closest door. Ambassadors will be available at the doors and in the hallways to assist you in finding your way the entire evening. 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY & LABOR DAY HOLIDAY: Students will not have school on Friday, September 1 as our faculty and staff will be participating in a professional development day.  School will be closed on Monday, September 4 for the Labor Day holiday. We wish everyone a safe and restful holiday weekend!   

PARENT PRAYER: Our parent prayer group will meet on Tuesday, August 29 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 freshmen and sophomores. Please join us for any or all of these opportunities.  All are welcome! 

PRAYER INTENTIONS: The Community of Assumption knows the power of prayer! All AHS parents and alumnae are invited to submit prayer intentions online. These intentions are then lifted in prayer altogether during Five-Minute Prayer in the chapel on Wednesdays and weekly on the PA during morning prayer. If you would like to submit an intention, you can do so here. They will remain there for about two weeks, but feel free to post the same intention again later if needed. Also, you may wish to consider adding the intentions you find there to your own personal prayer! 

Our LEAD & Learn time was packed full of engagement and direction opportunities as we get into our school-day routine!  The freshman class engaged in their first family point earning opportunity in a Family Cheer Off.  While each homeroom brought great enthusiasm, Family Birr secured 100 points for their family in third place, Family Carlow earned 200 points in second place, and Family Galway came out on top–earning 300 points for their family as this year’s victors!  The sophomores and juniors heard from our director of Mission Effectiveness regarding Christian Leadership Distinction and Advocacy programs in which all students can engage this year.  Our junior class spent time with their college counselors Mrs. Jackson and Mrs. Habich logging in to SCOIR, our program used for college and career exploration.  Finally, our senior class heard from their senior class moderators and class officers about special 2024 class events, including Senior Strut, Pink Princess, and other opportunities to take “every chance they get” to celebrate their final year at AHS.   

BEFORE-AND AFTER-SCHOOL SUPERVISION REMINDER: The school doors open at 7:15 a.m. each school day (even on Wednesdays!), and supervision is provided in the cafeteria before school from 7:15-8:00 a.m. (until 9:00 a.m. on 9:15 schedule days) and after school from 3:15-4:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and until 4:00 p.m. on Friday.     

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 8:15/9:15 a.m. This helps us keep classroom interruptions to a minimum and protects the time for instruction of our students.  All students who arrive to school late should enter the school building at the attendance entrance on Tyler Lane outside of the theater to check in with the attendance clerk/school nurse. 
  • 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. Miranda, 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 2023-2024 STUDENT-PARENT HANDBOOK 

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. 

REQUEST ON BEHALF OF STUDENTS WHO PARK AT STRATHMOOR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH and THE ST. RAPHAEL PARKING LOT: Please do not wait in the Strathmoor parking lot across Bardstown Road from Assumption or in the St. Raphael parking lot 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 (or are assigned parking at St. Raphael) into their parking spots, which has already caused some of them to be late for medical appointments, jobs, etc. If you don’t want to pick up your daughter from the Assumption carpool line, please use the “Gardiner Lane Shopping Center Option” mentioned in last week’s Rocket Report and shared with parents during our parent orientation sessions. 

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. 

SCHOOL SAFETY WEEK: Next week is officially Assumption High School Safety Week, and we will continue practicing our emergency drills during the week as required by Kentucky law.  This past Thursday, we began with our all-school fire drill.  This coming week, we will be reviewing and practicing our lockdown drill, earthquake drill, and severe weather/tornado drill. 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. 

TERRIORISTIC THREATENING: State law requires all schools in Kentucky to inform students and parents about laws regarding terroristic threatening and its potential penalties. When students or others make threats to harm other students, school staff, or even school property, whether the threat is a “serious” one in which the person truly intends to do harm (terroristic threatening in the first degree) or whether it is a “hoax” threat made without any real intention to carry it out (terroristic threatening in the second degree), such threats are extremely disruptive to the school and the educational process and are upsetting and cause fear among students, parents, and school personnel. Regardless of the intention of the person making the threat, school officials and law enforcement officials may be forced to close schools to investigate such threats that had been made, and the emotional, instructional, and financial impacts of these acts are incalculable. 

We will review the information below with our students as part of our ongoing Student-Parent Handbook review process, but it would also be helpful for parents/guardians to review it and then discuss it with their daughter—please stress with her the importance of alerting an adult who can make sure appropriate action is taken (you, her counselor, an administrator, one of her teachers) if she ever hears or sees anything in person or via social media, group chats, etc., that might qualify as a terroristic threat. 

According to Kentucky state law (KRS 508.078), a person is guilty of terroristic threatening in the second degree when he or she intentionally makes false statements by any means, including by electronic/online communication, for the purpose of:  

  • Causing evacuation of a school building, school property, or school-sanctioned activity; 
  • Causing cancellation of school classes or school-sanctioned activity; or 
  • Creating fear of serious bodily harm among students, parents, or school personnel. 

A threat directed at a person or at a school does not need to identify a specific person or school in order for terroristic threatening to occur. Use this link to read the full text of KRS 508.078. Terroristic threatening in the second degree is a Class D felony punishable by one to five years imprisonment and/or a $1,000-$10,000 fine for adults (KRS 532.020) or, for juveniles, a fine not to exceed $500 (KRS 635.085), with fine assessed at the court’s discretion in lieu of commitment to the Department of Juvenile Justice. 

Terroristic threats cause widespread fear throughout a school community and totally disrupt the educational process. Any such threats to Assumption students or employees are totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The administration, in coordination with responding law enforcement agencies, will pursue legal charges for felony terroristic threatening in the second degree, to the absolute fullest extent of the law, against anyone who makes such threats, including students. Moreover, the administration will strongly advocate that the prosecution of these individuals be swift and their punishment be severe. A student suspected of making terroristic threats will be removed from school pending the results of an investigation and appropriate disciplinary action (up to and including expulsion) will follow if warranted. 

SCHOOL PICTURES UPDATE: School pictures taken this week will be available to order online starting Wednesday, August 30. 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 navigate to the Assumption logo, click on underclassman photos, and you will be prompted to enter your daughter’s Assumption Student ID number as the code to access your daughter’s pictures. BIG Photo asks that all orders are placed within 10 days (by the end of day Sunday, September 10) to have the photos delivered to Assumption.  

40 BOOKS CHALLENGE: As the school year begins, we once again have launched our 40 Books Challenge. This program encourages students to read for enjoyment and rewards them for meeting goals for independent reading. Our challenge is for our students to read at least 40 books during their four years at Assumption, with incentives awarded for meeting the yearly goal of 10 books and the ultimate goal of 40 books. Reading for pleasure is one important key to helping students unlock their academic potential.  You can encourage your daughter to spend some of her leisure time curled up with a book and work toward meeting her goal in this year’s 40 Books Challenge! 

FRESHMAN AND TRANSFER APPLIED DIGITAL LEARNING CLASS: A reminder to our parents/guardians of freshmen and transfers: the second online lesson was sent out at the beginning of the week. Students must complete two short assignments that are designed to teach about different types of online assignments given in classes as well as learn a little more about Assumption. The assignments are due today, Friday, August 25, by 4:00 p.m. 

DUAL CREDIT COURSE REGISTRATION: Attention, parents of students enrolled in dual credit (DC) courses:  If your daughter is enrolled in DC English, she began her registration for this course through University of Louisville this week, and parents will be receiving an email from UL to confirm this enrollment that they must sign and return by next week.  All other students enrolled in dual credit classes will be enrolling in the next two weeks. In September, your daughter will want to keep an eye out for an email from KHEAA to take advantage of the Dual Credit Scholarship, which pays for two classes for every student in the state of Kentucky for BOTH her junior and senior year. If you have questions regarding registration or paying for dual credit courses, Dean of Studies Judy Fieldhouse will be in the cafeteria on Mock Schedule Night to answer your questions. Please stop by and see her! 

POWERSCHOOL GRADES: PowerSchool grades are available for your view via your PowerSchool account.  The following reminders are important to keep in mind: 

  • PowerSchool grades are provided as our first line of communication to our families regarding your daughter’s progress, but it is important to keep in mind that no first semester grades are final until January 2024. 
  • As indicated in the Student Parent Handbook, if a student is absent or misses class due to retreat or any other school-related function, we use a PLACEHOLDER ZERO to help her remember to make up this work.  This PLACEHOLDER ZERO will be replaced with the actual grade once the student completes the makeup work and the teacher is able to enter it in PowerSchool. 
  • Teachers are asked to have grades as up to date as possible by the 15th and the 30th of each month.   
  • If you or your daughter have a question regarding a grade recorded in PowerSchool, please have your daughter reach out to the teacher with her question.  You are always welcome to follow up with the teacher as well. 

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES:  

  • GREECE AND ITALY TRIP – Summer 2024:  In June of 2024, Mrs. Carrier and Mrs. Adkins will be leading a group of Assumption students (and any parents who would like to come) on a 12-day trip to Italy and Greece.  Cities included in this trip are Florence, Pompeii, Capri, Rome, Vatican City, Athens, Corinth, Delphi, and Mycenae. They will be hosting an in-person informational meeting about the Italy and Greece trip in September. Anyone who has a daughter that is interested in this trip is encouraged to come.  The meeting will take place in the Media Center on Thursday, September 7 at 6:30 p.m.  If you plan on attending this meeting, please email roquie.carrier@ahsrockets.org or janet.adkins@ahsrockets.org to let them know so that they can send you a questionnaire to complete before coming to the meeting. 
  • PARIS TO NORMANDY TRIP – Summer 2025: Assumption is offering a trip to Paris, Normandy, and the castles of the Loire Valley in France from May 31-June 8, 2025.  We will tour Paris including the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Champs Elysées, and the Louvre.  We will also travel to Normandy, Saint Malo, Mont Saint Michel, and the Loire Valley. This trip is open to students in the class of 2026 and 2027 as well as their families.  We still have a few spots remaining for this fantastic trip. We will have a trip meeting on Sunday, September 17 at 2 p.m. in room 120 for anyone interested in learning more.  Here is the link to view the all-inclusive itinerary: www.educationaltravel.com/Shirley-7508.Feel free to email for any questions at jennifer.shirley@ahsrockets.org 
  • WORLD WAR II/HOLOCAUST TRIP – Summer 2025: We are excited to announce we will be offering a once-in-a-lifetime educational trip focused on World War II and the Holocaust in the summer of 2025. This trip was specifically designed by history teachers, Ms. Long and Ms. Rose, and will explore important events and places related to the Holocaust and World War II in Europe. The trip will begin in Munich with a visit to the Nymphenburg Palace, a guided sightseeing tour of Munich, a visit to the Olympic site of 1972, and a visit to Dachau concentration camp.  We will also go on an excursion to Neuschwanstein Castle.  We will then head to Prague and see many important landmarks, including a guided tour of the Prague Communism and Nuclear Bunker site.  Our trip concludes in Krakow with a sightseeing tour and a guided visit to Auschwitz & Birkenau. This trip is open to all current freshmen & sophomores.  We plan to have a meeting in the fall of 2023 with more information about this fantastic trip. For more information and to sign up, please visit: www.educationaltravel.com/long-9651/. If you have any questions or need further information, please email beth.long@ahsrockets.org or megan.rose@ahsrockets.org. 
  • THE BEST OF IRELAND AND ENGLAND – Summer 2025: Parents, are you looking for a once in a lifetime experience for your freshman or sophomore daughter?  If so, consider a trip to Ireland and London during the Summer of 2025.  Your daughter will have the opportunity to visit legendary places like St. Patrick’s Cathedral and tour the International House of Mercy where Catherine McAuley began her ministry and founded the Sisters of Mercy.  She will also travel to Galway, the Cliffs of Moher, Limerick, and Blarney Castle. The trip continues with a flight to London to visit Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus; a trip down the Thames River; and a visit to Trafalgar Square.  A highlight will be taking a tour of Westminster Abbey, where the royals are crowned and married and visit the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels.  Student informational meetings will be held on Thursday, August 24 before school at 7:30 a.m. in room 238 and after school on Tuesday, August 29 at 3:10 p.m. in room 238.  In addition, there will a parent meeting on Thursday, September 7, at 6:30 p.m. in room 140. If your daughter is interested in traveling with us Click here to RSVP.  To learn more details about this fantastic trip planned for the summer of 2025, please contact stacy.johnson@ahsrockets.org.  May the luck of the Irish be with you! 

COLLEGE INFORMATION NIGHT FOR SENIOR PARENTS:  Kim Habich and Leigh Jackson, college counselors, visited every senior English class this week. Our counselors provided detailed information about the college application process to every senior.  To further assist senior parents and families with the college process, there will be a college information night on Thursday, September 7 at 6:30 p.m. in Assumption’s Chapel.  The meeting will be recorded. If you have any questions, please contact Kim Habich or Leigh Jackson. 

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. These hours are due the semester they are enrolled in Catholic Social Teaching, and this includes the completion of their Junior ACTS commitment form which does need a signature from an adult from home. They will need to track their hours in MobileServe as they have previously done. All of the details are linked here: JUNIOR ACTS INFORMATION If you have any questions, please contact Katie Culver at katie.culver@ahsrockets.org or 502-271-2597.  

FRESHMAN ACTS:  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 April 11, 2024.  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: FRESHMEN ACTS INFORMATION. If you have any questions, please contact Katie Culver at katie.culver@ahsrockets.org or 502-271-2597.  

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 6 at 6:30 p.m. in our Media Center OR Monday, September 11 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 Kamaria Wesley, 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.   

Softball Interest Meeting: There will be a softball interest meeting on August 30 at 6:00 p.m. at the Green. If you have any questions, please contact Coach Suzanne Cates at smcates323@gmail.com 

Lacrosse Interest Meeting: There will be a lacrosse interest meeting on August 26 at 10:00 a.m. at the Green followed by open field at 11:00 a.m.  If you have any questions, please contact Coach Halle Pittman at lacrosse.coach@ahsrockets.org 

Congratulations to:

  • The Freshmen, JV, and Varsity Volleyball teams for picking up wins over Presentation, Cathedral, and St. Henry.  All three teams are off to a 4-0 start. 
  • Varsity Soccer for beating Male 10-0 
  • JV Soccer for traveling to Tennessee and defeating both Bearden and Baylor School 
  • Freshmen Soccer for beating Floyd Central 5-0 
  • Varsity Field Hockey for beating Manual 3-2 in the Apple Tournament 
  • JV Field Hockey for getting off to a hot start with 3 wins in the Apple Tournament 

NEXT WEEK:

Saturday, August 26 

  • Freshman and JV Volleyball @ Bulldog Bash @ Paul Dunbar High School 
  • Cross Country @ Tiger Run @ Oldham County High School. 8:00 a.m. 
  • Freshmen Soccer vs St. Henry 10:30 a.m. 
  • Soccer @ Oldham County. JV 2:30 p.m., Varsity 4:00 p.m. 
  • Golf @ Larue County Invitational @ Larue County GC 9:00am 

Monday, August 28 

  • Soccer vs Henry Clay. JV 6:15 p.m., Varsity 7:30 p.m. 

Tuesday, August 29 

  • Volleyball vs Sacred Heart. Freshmen 5:00 p.m., JV 6:00 p.m., Varsity 7:00 p.m. 
  • Varsity Field Hockey @ Atherton. 5:30 p.m. 
  • Golf vs South Oldham @ Sleepy Hollow GC 5:30 p.m. 

Wednesday, August 30 

  • Soccer @ South Oldham. JV 6:00 p.m., Varsity 7:30 p.m. 
  • Golf @ Jefferson County Tournament @ Oxmoor CC 4:00 p.m. 
  • Field Hockey vs North Oldham. JV 6:15, Varsity 7:30 p.m. 

Thursday, August 31 

  • Cross Country @ St. X JV Meet 1 @ Champions Park. 4:30 p.m.