
January 17, 2025

Since the fall of 1976, Assumption sophomores have proudly served the Louisville community through the ACTS (A Christian Through Service) program. We are excited to begin the 2025 ACTS season this Wednesday, January 22. Thanks to the dedication of 37 partner agencies who share our belief that compassion truly does inspire, we will be able to engage our 263 sophomores in this important work. We are so grateful for the open and willing hearts of the Class of 2027, who we know will so beautifully embrace 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 nine weeks.


NEW BLEACHERS!
For nearly three weeks, crews have been diligently working around the clock, snow, and ice to rip out and replace our 22 year old bleachers. After years of thousands of students using the bleachers for dancing, prayer services, masses, and cheering on our athletes to victory, it was time! We are so excited to have them up and running before we take on Sacred Heart in basketball on Sunday and our Basketball Rocket Night on Tuesday night. Join us this Sunday or on Tuesday for Rocket Night to test out the new bleachers yourself! Many thanks to the facilities crew, athletics, and PE teacher, Lindsey Peetz for being so flexible and working so hard to get them installed!

UPCOMING HOLIDAY REMINDER: On Monday, January 20, school will be closed for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
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; if the building is not accessible, parents will gather in the back parking lot of 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.

PARENT PRAYER: Our parent prayer group will not meet next week due to the MLK, Jr. holiday.
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.
UPCOMING CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK COLLECTION: Lead4Change is a national program that teaches students leadership skills through the implementation of service projects. Two Lead4Change groups are implementing service projects to help those in need during Catholic Schools Week. The Hopeful Horizons group is working with SparcHope to support single parents living in poverty, and the Live to Give group is working with His Blessings Box to provided food, clothing, and essential services to those in need. During the week of January 17-31 when we celebrate Catholic schools and our call to help those in need, both groups will be collecting personal items: shampoo, conditioner, body wash/shower gel, lotion, and deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair ties, dental floss, soap, and feminine hygiene projects. Please help them in their work to help others by sending in donations with your daughter!

This week during our middle block Community Time, students were challenged to be intentional with their use of RTI time, which begins again next week. Kristin Walsh, Director of Leadership and Engagement, encouraged students to take advantage of enrichment opportunities that are designed to develop the mind, body and spirit of each student. Enrichment opportunities are available to all students, but exist after academic needs (meeting with teachers, reviewing with study groups, etc.) are satisfied. With sessions focused on movement, meditation, service, faith-sharing, creative expression, leadership lessons, advocacy and more, students have the opportunity to step outside their academic focus during the school day and experience growth in different directions. Feel free to ask your student(s) about what RTI enrichment opportunities they’re interested in and reach out to Kristin Walsh if there are any suggestions you hear from your daughter that she hasn’t seen offered yet.

IMPORTANT HELP NEEDED WITH SAFETY & TRAFFIC FLOW PROTOCOLS:
We want to thank you for your patience and understanding with traffic this week. We know that travel around campus has been challenging to say the least! The piles of snow and icy conditions on side streets have made for back-ups and long delays as drivers have been avoiding these roads forcing more cars onto Bardstown Rd. To accommodate morning delays, we have held attendance to allow students some extra time to get into school and to their first block classes. Hopefully the warmer temperatures this weekend will improve the situation before our next round of freezing temperatures. Again, we are grateful for all your support and consideration during this time.
- DROP OFF/PICK UP ON TYLER LANE IS PROHIBITED: A reminder that students may not be picked up or dropped off on Tyler Lane and cars may not wait/park on Tyler Lane at any time. Picking up/dropping off students on any part of Tyler Lane violates our binding elements issued by the City and opens us up to additional traffic restrictions from the City if neighbors petition for it. We have received complaints from neighbors recently that AHS parents are also making illegal U-turns in the middle of Bardstown Road in order to get in the queue line next for arrival and dismissal, creating a hazardous situation and blocking normal traffic flow. Mr. Rob Owen, our Director of Safety and Security, will be monitoring Tyler Lane and directing any stopped cars to move. Students have been notified that if they are picked up or dropped off on Tyler Lane, they will receive detentions.
- 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, 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 are risking having a head-on collision with cars coming from the other direction on Tyler Lane. Additionally, do not get in the left-hand turn lane at the light and then proceed to go straight to continue on Tyler Lane as we have had near collisions when cars do not turn left as the lane indicates. Please wait patiently in a single line of traffic until you get to where there are actually two lanes and then please follow the direction of those lanes.
- REQUEST ON BEHALF OF STUDENTS WHO PARK AT STRATHMOOR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH & ST. RAPHAEL LOT: Please do not wait in the Strathmoor parking lot across Bardstown Road from Assumption or the St. Raphael 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 into their parking spots, which has already caused some of them to be late for medical appointments, jobs, etc.
PARENT SUPERVISION VOLUNTEERS: We are very grateful to the parents who volunteered to assist with supervision during our new Rockets Taking Initiative (RTI) period which occurs from 10:50 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. During this time when students are not meeting with a teacher or in an enrichment session, they each have an RTI Family room homebase for quiet independent work. These rooms are supervised by a team of teachers/staff members. Parent volunteers are needed to serve as substitutes for our RTI Family room supervisors when teachers are out of the building to go on retreat, to attend professional development, or for other personal/professional reasons. As the new semester begins, we want to remind our parents that whether you can volunteer once this school year or multiple times, we would love to have you join us in supporting this important work. Please note: All volunteers working with students are required to attend the Safe Environment Training provided by the Archdiocese of Louisville and to complete a background check with the archdiocese. If you have never attended this workshop and are interested in volunteering, see the schedule of trainings here: Archdiocese of Louisville Safe Environment Training. You can also click HERE for a link to the background check form to complete. If interested in volunteering, please complete this PARENT SUPERVISION VOLUNTEER QUESTIONNAIRE. If you have questions, please email Tatum Park. Completed background check forms may also be emailed to Mrs. Park as well. Thank you in advance for helping us support your daughters and our teachers!
NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY (NHS) APPLICATIONS: Yesterday, January 16, Mrs. Kim Habich communicated to sophomores and juniors via class meeting basic details about selection and membership into the National Honor Society. Additionally, all sophomores and juniors received an email regarding the NHS application process. If a student is interested in applying, she must meet the following criteria: 1) have at least a 3.70 unweighted cumulative GPA; 2) have no more than one demerit on her discipline record at the time records are checked; 3) show demonstrated involvement in school extracurriculars and activities; 4) show outstanding experience in leadership; and 5) demonstrate documented service hours on MobileServe. Sophomores must show a minimum of 20 hours, and juniors must show a minimum of 40 hours. These hours cannot include sophomore ACTS. Service hours must be verified by the service supervisor(s) prior to Wednesday, February 19 so that our director of Service Learning at AHS has sufficient time for approvals.
If a student meets these initial criteria and wishes to apply, she MUST attend a mandatory meeting which serves as a guide through this selective process. Three different meeting times will be offered. Each meeting will cover what can and cannot be considered for the application and will explain the expected commitment to NHS if a student is selected. NHS is an organization that requires students to be actively involved. Students already inducted and granted membership in NHS do NOT need to attend one of these meetings or re-apply to the organization. The meeting dates are Tuesday, January 21 during students’ RTI time; Tuesday, January 21 at 3:10 p.m.; or Wednesday, January 22 at 7:30 a.m. Students only need to attend one application meeting. Meetings will last about 30 minutes and will be in the chapel.
Applications are due to Guidance by 3:10 p.m. on Thursday, February 20 (the Thursday before Mission Week). NO APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THIS DEADLINE. Questions about applying to NHS can be directed to NHS adviser KIM HABICH.
SPRING DUAL CREDIT CLASSES: If your daughter is enrolled in a Spring 2025 Dual Credit class, she may have already filled out an online application in December or will be completing this over the next weeks and will need to have a parent signature on at least one emailed form. If your daughter is taking DC Pre-Calculus, DC Calculus, DC Public Speaking, DC English IV, DC Intro to Business, DC Personal Finance, DC World Religions, DC Foundations of Instruction, or DC Human Development and Learning, please talk to your daughter about any parent forms that you need to complete from your email and if she still has remaining KHEAA scholarships to pay for these courses. She can log into her KHEAA account HERE. If you have any questions, please contact Judy.Fieldhouse@ahsrockets.org
Save the date! COLLEGE WORKSHOP AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION FOR SOPHOMORES, JUNIORS, AND PARENTS: Attention, all sophomore and junior parents and students – please mark your calendars for a college workshop on Thursday, January 30 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Parents and students will have the opportunity to choose from breakout sessions on topics such as Mastering the College Application Essay, Helpful Strategies for Standardized Testing, the Governor’s Scholars Program, Purposeful Planning and Course Selection, and many more. If you have any questions, please contact LEIGH JACKSON or KIMBERLY HABICH, our college counselors.
SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS: Scholarship applications for the 2025-2026 school year are now on our website. Applications are due via email by 8:00 p.m. on January 20, 2025, via this link: Scholarship-Directory-2025-2026.pdf. Our Advancement Services Manager, Jackie Bloyd, is happy to answer any questions you may have about scholarships or the application and awards process and can be reached at Jackie.Bloyd@ahsrockets.org.
FINANCIAL AID FORM: The financial aid link for the 2025-2026 school year has been added to the school’s website. The due date is January 31, 2025, 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 be considered for assistance.
ROCKET SPECTACULAR BENEFIT DINNER AND AUCTION 2025: Saturday, February 1, 2025. Tickets are on sale now to our Platinum Jubilee. We still need donations for our silent and live auctions and bourbon pull. For more information on how to help support the event, contact Tricia Ferree @ tricia.ferree@ahsrockets.org or call (502)271-2519 by January 24. *EXCITING NEWS: Don’t miss out on our new raffles: a limited number of tickets will be sold. Please visit this link for tickets and raffles. This event will SELL OUT. Reservations are subject to availability. All proceeds from this event go to the financial needs of our students.

SERVICE HOURS: Juniors who are in Catholic Social Teaching this semester will have 15 service hours to complete as part of their class curriculum. Their service commitment form, which needs to be signed by a parent, is due Friday, January 31. This form, the syllabus with all the due dates and requirements, and a long list of approved agencies can be found on Student SharePoint.

ACTS SERVICE BEGINS NEXT WEEK: This is just a reminder that students will begin Sophomore ACTS next Wednesday, January 22. For the next nine weeks, students will return to their ACTS agencies to do service for most of the school day. They will leave after attending class during first block. Please help your student to remember to wear her Assumption uniform pants, pack her lunch, and wear a coat if it is cold. Thank you for your support of this program!

The following students for their awards in the Regional Scholastics Arts competition. The Gold Key awards will move forward to a national competition.
- Lauren Elder, Silver Key in Sculpture
- Lily Lape, Honorable Mention in Photography
- Jessa McRae, Honorable Mention in Printmaking
- Lily Mason, Silver Key in Painting
- Emma Reck, Gold Key in Photography
- Sophie Renda, Honorable Mention in Printmaking & Gold Key in Drawing
- Lily Tigue, Silver Key in Drawing
- Hani Tran, Silver Key in Drawing
- Gracie Wingfield, Honorable Mention in Drawing
- Regan Workman, Honorable Mention in Photography

Congratulations to:
- The nine seniors on the Swim team for competing in their senior night meet
- Kristen Simon for being named the Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year for Kentucky
- The Varsity Basketball team for defeating Centra
Next Week:
Saturday, January 18
- Swim and Dive @ Rock the Block @ UofL 12:30 p.m.
- Archery @ St. Gabriel Winter Tournament
Sunday, January 19
- Basketball vs Sacred Heart. Freshman 3:00 p.m., JV 4:30 p.m., Varsity 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, January 21
- Varsity Basketball vs Newport Central Catholic 6:20 p.m. **Rocket Night**
Wednesday, January 22
- Freshman Basketball vs Central Hardin @ North Hardin 6:30 p.m.
- Freshman Basketball vs John Hardin @ North Hardin 7:30 p.m.
Friday, January 24
- Basketball vs Male. JV 6:00 p.m., Varsity 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 25
- Swim and Dive @ Regionals @ UofL. Prelims 10:00 a.m., Finals 6:00 p.m.
- Varsity Basketball vs Henderson County @ Anderson County 3:30 p.m.
- Archery @ Greenwood Gator Bullseye Challenge
Sunday, January 26
- Freshman Basketball @ Boyle County Freshman Tournament