Rocket Report – Friday, September 24, 2021
Dear Parents/Guardians,
We have much to celebrate this week! Today was AMAZING as our Assumption community took a “Walk of Champions” for the annual Walk for Assumption. We are especially proud to announce that we reached our AHS community-wide goal of 3,000 tickets and our school-wide stretch goal of 3,300 by selling 4,238 tickets AND raising $105,950 for financial assistance. This is more than we have ever raised for the Rocket Raffle and the Walk for Assumption combined! Thank you for encouraging your daughter to participate in our student fundraiser for financial aid!
With our record-breaking sales, we have earned two incentives this year. Friday, April 1 (the Friday before Spring Break) is now an official day off of school, and our students get to wear Halloween costumes to school on Friday, October 29.
Many thanks to all of our terrific APO moms and dads who helped with the student walk collection and t-shirt distribution. It was two busy successful weeks with collecting Rocket Raffle tickets and walk waivers. We could not have done it without each and every one of you!
Additionally, we celebrated Mercy Day in union with the Sisters of Mercy across the world with a week of Mercy Day activities. At our Mercy Day masses, we honored three students and two faculty and staff who were selected by their peers as the 2021 Models of Mercy. Recognized were Taryn Morris (sophomore), Miranda Bilodeau (junior), Sydny Hendrick (senior), Angela Lincoln (faculty), and Michelle Farmer (staff). Congratulations to all of our award recipients!
HEALTHY AT SCHOOL: While COVID cases are still high throughout the state, the positivity rate has decreased and as of yesterday was 11.33%. Let’s hope that we have hit the peak and we are seeing the decline that many have indicated comes with the Delta variant.
We are also making a change relative to reporting COVID cases. We have had some questions regarding the notifications that were being sent relative to a positive case on campus and realized they were causing some confusion. By way of background, these notifications were the result of the Governor’s directive last year to schools that remained open despite his mandate otherwise. He required these schools to provide notice to families when there was a positive case on campus. To comply with the Governor’s mandate, our local health department, which was supportive of our Catholic schools remaining open with the appropriate health and safety protocols in place, provided schools the language for the notice that we have continued to send out for the past year or more.
The reality is that these notices are no longer needed. In the event your daughter is identified as a close contact to someone who is COVID positive on our campus, you would be notified by our schools nurse directly and your daughter would have to quarantine if unvaccinated or she would need to be monitored for symptoms if vaccinated.
With that, we are discontinuing sending these notices and will instead report our weekly as well as cumulative number of COVID cases on campus (from the start of each semester) in our Friday Rocket Report. That way we can continue to keep parents informed of our COVID numbers but not confuse them with these notices.
Since the start of the school year, we have had 32 total COVID cases on campus.
This week (reporting Friday to Thursday) we have had 2 COVID cases - 1 staff and 1 student.
We hope by providing both our cumulative and weekly numbers, we can better serve our families and give a clearer picture of the number of COVID cases on our campus during this pandemic.
CALENDAR NOTES:
- DRESS DOWN DAY: The Global Outreach Club is sponsoring a “dress down day”
on Friday, October 1,RESCHEDULED FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27 to support our school in Cambodia. A group of AHS students who graduated in 2010 raised the money to build a school in rural Cambodia while they were still in high school as a way of addressing the lack of educational opportunity there, especially for girls. Since that time, AHS has supported its programming. COVID has ravaged the countryside, and school cannot take place in person. Instead, teachers visit students in their home villages in an attempt to continue instruction. For a minimum donation of $3, students can “dress down” following the guidelines in the handbook. If parents would like to support this cause, please send in a donation with your daughter on October 27.
CAMPUS MINISTRY:
- ASSUMPTION PARENT PRAYER: Our parent prayer group will continue to meet each Tuesday morning from 8:30 – 9:00 a.m. in our new chapel. Please park in any open space and enter the school through the main entrance. Please join us for any or all of these opportunities!
NOTES FROM THE ACADEMIC DEANS:
- PARENT/TEACHER/STUDENT CONFERENCES: Conferences are scheduled for Tuesday, October 12, from 5:00-7:30 p.m. in order to give students and parents the opportunity to meet with teachers about students’ progress. We will be offering the opportunity to schedule either an in-person or a TEAMS conference with your daughter’s teachers. The link to schedule these meetings will be in the Rocket Report next week. All parents are invited to attend, but parents of students with a D or F in in a class or classes as of October 12, the date of the conferences, are required to attend. Our next official grade update will be on Friday, October 1. We recommend, however, that you check your daughter’s grades on PowerSchool between October 2 and October 12 to make plans to attend if needed. If you have any questions that cannot be addressed at parent/teacher/student conferences, please contact your daughter’s dean – JUDY FIELDHOUSE (students whose last names begin with A-K) or THERESA SCHUHMANN (students whose last names begin with L-Z)
- POWERSCHOOL APP FOR GRADES: An easy way to see your daughter’s grades is to use the mobile app. PowerSchool Mobile for Android version 2.0 is available for download in the Google Play Store. The Apple Store has the PowerSchool mobile app too. Our passcode for the app is BRSC.
- TESTING DAY: Wednesday, October 13, is the National Testing Day for all freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. It is a late arrival Wednesday, with the tardy bell ringing at 9:15. We will dismiss at approximately 12:30 p.m. So as to not disturb any testing, we wait for all rooms to finish before we dismiss. If your daughter is in our Learning Differences program and qualifies for extended time testing, please ask her what time she will finish. Juniors will be taking the PSAT by reservation (please respond to this form if you have not already done so PSAT TEST FORM), sophomores will be taking the PreACT or PSAT (depending on her English class), and freshmen will be taking the PreACT test. Please encourage your daughter to maximize the benefits of this day by getting a good night’s sleep, eating a healthy breakfast, and bringing her calculator and pencils with her on Testing Day. There is no make-up day for these tests and no replacement for the valuable feedback they provide for both the school and your daughter, so attendance on this day is very important.
- TESTING DAY FOR SENIORS – Attention, Senior Parents: Since seniors are not involved in taking standardized tests on Testing Day, Wednesday, October 13, they are excused from coming to school on this day. We strongly encourage seniors to use this day for making college visits. Since Thursday and Friday of that week, and Monday of the following week, are Fall Break days, this is a great opportunity to make a visit to an out-of-town college.
- TESTING DAY FOR JUNIORS – Attention, Junior Parents: You received a special message last week with important information regarding testing days in October. If you have not already read it and responded to the survey, please do so here: LETTER TO JUNIOR PARENTS – PSAT & ACT
GOVERNOR’S SCHOLARS PROGRAM – ACT and INFORMATION MEETINGS: Any junior applying for the Governor’s Scholars Program and who wishes to use her ACT score as part of that application process has two more opportunities to take the ACT: Tuesday, October 5, at Assumption and Saturday, October 23, at an official test site of her choice. Registration for the ACT at Assumption on October 5 will be handled by AHS; students need to use ACT.ORG to register for the October 23 administration. The due date for October 23 without paying a late fee is September 17. Any student who registers after that date can pay a late fee through October 1. Students heard initial information about the application process from KELLY KIRWAN via email this week. Two informational meetings will be held Monday, September 27, from 3:10-3:40 p.m. in room 316 and Thursday, September 30, from 7:25-7:55 a.m. in room 304. While attending these meetings is not mandatory for the application process, it is highly recommended that a student attends one if she is interested in applying. Please encourage your daughter to check her email carefully about these upcoming meetings.
LEAD & LEARN UPDATE: During LEAD & Learn Time this week, students had the opportunity to participate in activities for direction, advocacy, and engagement during LEAD & Learn Time. On Monday, all students reviewed ways to participate in the Catholic Mass, whether one is Catholic or non-Catholic, to prepare for our Mercy Day masses on Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday and Thursday, students alternated between two important activities as we celebrated Mercy Day which occurs on September 24. On Tuesday, juniors and seniors participated in Mercy Day activities in homeroom where they learned about advocacy as part of mercy past, present, and future and how our STOP advocacy program lives out works of mercy. Freshmen and sophomores gathered together at our Mercy Day liturgy where we reflected upon how to be mercy in the world this year and recognized members of our community who live Mercy in the spirit of Catherine McAuley by honoring Models of Mercy. On Thursday, students switched places: freshman and sophomores engaged in Mercy Day activities in homeroom and juniors and seniors attended Mass.
Next week’s LEAD & Learn provides opportunities for growth in the areas of direction and engagement. All students will be in homeroom on Monday to participate in suicide awareness programming developed by our counselors and implemented by our homeroom teachers. On Tuesday and Thursday, classes will alternate between participating in class meetings covering a variety of topics and a homeroom activity welcoming fall in which they will decorate pumpkins and prepare for our first annual Family Night Halloween Door Decorating Contest. On Friday, homerooms will execute their plans for door decorations that will be used as part of our Alumnae Halloween Night later in October. These door decorations will be used to decorate doors throughout the school when our alumnae and their children come to trick or treat. Decorating contest winners will earn bragging rights and points for their family as part of our ongoing Family Competition.
FROM THE GUIDANCE & COUNSELING DEPARTMENT: September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and we wanted to let you know that students will have a suicide prevention program during LEAD & Learn Time on Monday, September 27. Our focus for this program will be on destigmatizing mental health and providing students with a roadmap for resources and help. As you continue to dialogue with your daughter on the topics of mental health and suicide prevention, we wanted to provide you with some helpful resources:
- Mental health from a teen’s perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BByqa7bhto&t=11s
- Suicide Prevention Lifeline: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
- Crisis Text Line: https://www.crisistextline.org/text-us/
In addition to these resources, please reach out to your daughter’s school counselor if we can provide any support or assistance in the area of mental health.
ASSUMPTION PARENT ORGANIZATION (APO) NEWS:
- Walk for Assumption 2021 and Rocket Raffle: The walk was a great success! Your support of the event is so appreciated. Thank you to all of our parent volunteers who helped make our walk collections and t-shirt distribution run so smoothly. It could not have happened without you! We reached our schoolwide goal and will receive the day off of school on Friday, April 1, 2022. Please note that Rocket Raffle tickets will continue to be available until the drawing at our Rocket Spectacular Benefit Dinner and auction. Tickets can be purchased through this link: Walk for AHS – Assumption High School (ahsrockets.org)
- Rocket Spectacular Benefit Dinner and Auction 2022: Saturday, January 29, 2022. Mark your calendar–you won’t want to miss it! This event has SOLD OUT in years past! Our theme this year is “Denim & Diamonds,” and plans are underway! We need your help with donations toward our silent and live auctions as well as the bourbon pull. Please contact tricia.ferree@ahsrockets.org if you are interested in helping. Watch for more details in the coming weeks. We hope to see you there!
FROM MARKETING & ADMISSIONS:
- DISCOVER ASSUMPTION DAY: On Sunday, October 3, at 1:00 p.m. we will host Discover Assumption Day for sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade prospective parents. Please let all future Rocket parents know that we would love to see them on this fun afternoon of “discovering” all that Assumption has to offer. To register, click here or contact KELSEY GUNTER for more information.
ROSE AWARD NOMINATIONS: Current parents, past parents, alumnae, students, faculty, and staff are invited to nominate a current administrator, faculty, or staff member who has made a significant difference in their lives or the lives of their daughters. The Rose Award is a $5,000 grant endowed by an anonymous donor to recognize an Assumption employee who serves as a role model and is a positive influence in our community. Past winners are Katie Hughbanks, Cindi Baughman, Kelly Kirwan, Kathy Fleischer, Dawn Deweese, Angela Lincoln, Barry Haworth, Jackie Metry, Beth Hicks, Doug Sumey, Judi Erskine, James Sutherland, and Mary Ann Steutermann, along with several other retired faculty and staff members. These individuals aren’t eligible to win again. Nominations may be submitted here THE ROSE AWARD and are due by Friday, October 22. Nominations must include a detailed description (three-paragraph minimum) supporting your nomination. The award will be presented at the Thanksgiving Celebration on Tuesday, November 23. If chosen, your nomination submission may be read at the prayer service.
Gratefully,
Martha Tedesco
Principal