
August 23, 2024

Our new school year is off to a great start, and we are thrilled to see your daughters and feel the excitement and energy fill our building once again. These first couple of days have been a whirlwind of activities with one of our main focuses being re-committing ourselves to who we are as a community. We’ve been working hard to help students recognize that creating and maintaining our unique culture takes work — work we all must do to carry on what has been called the “Assumption magic.” While we understand that certain things change over the years such as buildings, technology, hairstyles, and even uniforms, what makes Assumption truly special stays the same, and we all share in the responsibility to continue that legacy for the future.
We are excited to welcome 938 students coming from 99 different middle schools and 51 different zip codes with over 26% of our students coming from non-Catholic grade schools. We are blessed to be the largest all-girls school here in Louisville, which allows us to provide your daughter with the most amazing opportunities both in and out of the classroom to help her learn and grow. We commit to maintaining a “small” school environment that nurtures each student’s sense of belonging and provides an individualized educational experience tailored to her unique needs and interests.
One important way we meet this commitment is by maintaining a low student-to-teacher ratio of 10.8 to 1 and keeping our class sizes small. Our average class size is 18.5 with most classes smaller than the average.
While a one-size-fits-all approach is the norm in many schools, we devote the time and resources to work individually with your daughter, her teachers, and you, her parents, to ensure she is challenged in every class regardless of academic level. We have taken an extra step in the past two years to assure her success by expanding the number of teachers dedicated to our learning differences program and our achievement center to further support your daughter’s academic needs.
In addition, we are very excited to announce that Assumption was again recognized as the BEST Private High School in Louisville in the Courier Journal’s Community Choice Awards. This is the third year in a row! We’re also proud that Assumption is one of the few schools in the entire region that has earned recognition as an International School of Distinction by Cognia, the foremost accrediting body for schools globally. While any school can say that it delivers an outstanding education, Assumption has the evidence to prove it.
We look forward to a great year together as we partner with you, our parents, in the sacred work of nurturing young lives. We hope when you are out in the greater Louisville area you share the good news about Assumption and help continue to build our community and further our legacy into the future!

Senior Sunrise
This morning, the Class of 2025 experienced the amazing tradition of Senior Sunrise! We are so grateful that they have these moments to create unforgettable memories as they continue through the beginning of the year as our leaders!

MOCK SCHEDULE NIGHT: We will have our annual Mock Schedule Night for parents/guardians only on Thursday, August 29, 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, August 30 as our faculty and staff will be participating in a professional development day. School will be closed on Monday, September 2 for the Labor Day holiday. We wish everyone a safe and restful holiday weekend!

ASSUMPTION PARENT PRAYER: Our parent prayer group will begin meeting on August 27 from 8:15-8:45 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. Please join us for any or all of these opportunities!
PRAYER INTENTIONS: All Assumption parents and alumnae are invited to share prayer intentions. Periodically, we will include the line of “prayer intentions posted online by AHS parents and alumnae” as part of our morning prayer over the P.A. Likewise, feel free to include the intentions you find there in your own personal prayer. To participate, please follow this link.
RETREAT UPDATE: All sophomores, juniors, and seniors can continue to register for their retreats. Birr & Tullamore freshmen should have received their retreat applications in homeroom. All Birr, Tullamore, Booterstown, Galway, and Cork parents are invited to pray for their daughters going on retreat this semester on September 4 at 5:45 in the chapel. We will wrap up by 6:30 for Guidance’s parent session to follow.
- Junior Parents: Two of our junior retreats are coming up QUICKLY. If your student needs to attend a fall semester retreat, please have her get her application in ASAP.
- Retreats that are FULL: Senior: January & Mission Week and Sophomore: October 25
- You can find the retreat schedule here. Please contact JULIA SCUDDER if you have any questions.

Our Freshman Mentors (junior students who volunteer to help in our Freshman homerooms as they transition to the AHS community) have been working hard to prepare our class of 2028 homerooms for their first family competition: Freshman Family Cheer Off. The winning cheers are those that involve everyone, celebrate the family traditions, and include creativity, spirit, and fun. Our freshmen will face off in a class meeting on Monday where they can earn their family points toward our overall family competition for the year.

BEFORE-AND AFTER-SCHOOL SUPERVISION REMINDER: The school doors open at 7:15 a.m. each school day and supervision is provided in the cafeteria before school from 7:15-8:00 a.m. and after school from 3:15-4:30 p.m. Monday -Thursday and until 4:00 p.m. on Friday. For their safety, students waiting for rides after 3:15 must move to the cafeteria for supervision and may not wait outside or in the hallways.
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 8:10 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. Please be sure you plan for early dismissals no later than 2:30 p.m. in order to ease dismissal traffic congestion.
- 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.
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: Students should never be dropped off or picked up on Tyler Lane. When exiting the parking lot, 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 Monday, 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 through School Messenger 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 daughters. 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. To read the full text of KRS 508.078, please use this link. 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 fullest extent of the law, against anyone who makes such threats, including students. 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 during studies will be available to view within the next couple weeks. A link to order and to choose your yearbook photo will be emailed to both parents and students and texted to parents. ALL STUDENTS need to go into their gallery to select their yearbook photo by Tuesday, October 1. If a photo is not selected, we will select one for you! There is a photo makeup day on Tuesday, October 22 for any student who did not have her photo taken yet or needs a retake. If your daughter plans to have a retake taken, please have her fill out this form. Retouching is available for photos. Contact our photographer, Michelle Haas Hutchins ’04 at info@mhaasphoto.com for questions.
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!
DRIVER’S ED: AHS and the Kentucky Driving School will be providing a driver’s education program September 16-20. Click here to learn more.
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 the University of Louisville before school was out last spring or 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 the family does not sign up for the KHEAA account and request the scholarships, you will owe each university $95 PER CREDIT HOUR for all courses. 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 2025.
- 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 1st and the 15th 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 TRIP OPPORTUNITIES – SUMMER 2025:
- WORLD WAR II & THE HOLOCAUST: 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 2024 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 at beth.long@ahsrockets.org or Megan Rose at megan.rose@ahsrockets.org.
- THE BEST OF IRELAND AND ENGLAND: 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, and Piccadilly Circus; travel down the Thames River; and see Trafalgar Square. A highlight will be taking a tour of Westminster Abbey, where the royals are crowned and married, and visiting the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels. Student informational meetings will be held on Wednesday, August 28 before school at 7:30 a.m. in room 238 and after school on Thursday, August 29 at 3:00 p.m. in room 238. In addition, there will a parent meeting on Wednesday, September 11 at 6:30 p.m. in room 140. If your daughter is interested in traveling, Click here to RSVP. To learn more details about this fantastic trip, please contact Stacy Johnson at stacy.johnson@ahsrockets.org.

COLLEGE INFORMATION NIGHT FOR SENIOR PARENTS: Kim Habich and Leigh Jackson, college counselors, have provided detailed information about the college application process to the class of 2025 via the College Workshop held on August 1 and the makeup date held on August 8. To further assist senior parents and families with the college process, there will be a college information night on Thursday, September 5, at 6:30 p.m. in Assumption’s theater. 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. Students will need to track their hours in MobileServe as they have previously done. All of the details are found in the Junior ACTS syllabus which your daughter received last semester and is on Student SharePoint as well. 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, will have visited all the freshman theology classes by the end of next week. 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 Freshman ACTS (A Christian Through Service) service requirement. In addition, all students 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 March 21, 2024. All of this information and directions on how to use MobileServe can be found in the Campus Ministry tab in Student SharePoint. 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 4 at 6:30 p.m. in our Media Center OR Monday, September 9 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.

Please join us at The Assumption Green for field hockey and soccer games, at the gym for our volleyball home games, and at the courses for our cross country meets and golf matches. All of our athletic team schedules can be found on the Athletics page of our website: ATHLETICS.
Ticket to all home games can be purchased at the door for $8, cash or credit card.
Congratulations to:
The freshman, JV, and varsity volleyball teams for kicking off their seasons with wins over Male!
The JV field hockey team for starting their season by winning their first two games of the Apple Tournament!
Next Week:
Friday, August 23
- Freshman Field Hockey Apple Tournament vs Ballard @ Sacred Heart 5:00 p.m.
- Varsity Field Hockey Apple Tournament @ Sacred Heart 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, August 24
- Golf @ Larue Tournament @ Larue CC 8:00 a.m.
- Soccer vs Manual. JV 10:00 a.m., Varsity 11:30 a.m.
- Cross Country @ Tiger Run @ Champions Park 8:00 a.m.
Monday, August 26
- Freshman Field Hockey vs Collegiate @ Christian Academy 6:30 p.m.
- Soccer vs Male. JV 5:30 p.m., Varsity 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, August 27
- Golf vs South Oldham @ Sleep Hollow GC 4:45 p.m.
Wednesday, August 28
- Varsity Field Hockey @ Highlands Latin 6:00 p.m.
- Soccer vs South Oldham. JV 6:00 p.m., Varsity 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, August 29
- Volleyball @ Providence. Freshman 5:00 p.m., JV 6:00 p.m., Varsity 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, August 31
- Freshman and JV Volleyball @ Paul Dunbar Tournament
- Golf @ Gene Hilen Invitational @ Juniper Hills GC 9:00 a.m.