A Few “Brief” Notes from the Principal

Hello Crusader Families!

This has been a very busy week as the teachers have been putting in a lot of extra work and hours as they prepared for and held Parent Teacher Conferences.  It was really nice seeing so many parents in the hallways last night and throughout the week as you took the extra time out of your busy schedules to meet with your child’s teacher(s).  The collaboration between home and school is so important in a student’s success.

On Monday we celebrated All Soul’s Day and Bishop Doerfler’s birthday.  Father Rob continued those prayers at the All School Mass as he gave a beautiful homily on the souls in purgatory and how important it is for us to pray for them.  This busy week is wrapping up with half days as the teachers finish some last minute conferences.  We adjusted the middle and high school schedules so that everyone would get to all of their classes on one of the two half days.

Next Monday we are welcoming Mrs. Jody Johnston to the Holy Name family as our new Kitchen Assistant!  Mrs. Johnston will also be supervising the playground as one of the two afternoon recess supervisors for our Elementary afternoon recess.  We’re very excited to have her join us in the kitchen as well as on the playground as this will lessen the duties on the teachers and allow them to have more one-on-one time with the students.

We certainly kicked off the 2nd Quarter this week with some rainy weather.  I hope that it clears up and you’re all able to enjoy a nice weekend.

God bless,

Mrs. Brief 😀

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A “Viau” from the Headmaster

Happy Friday, Crusader Family!

The first quarter is wrapped up and parent teacher conferences went great! I am so proud of our students. They have worked so very hard this first quarter and I have seen such growth in all of them.

A huge thank you to all of you that were able to help out at the All Saints Festival. Our students did a great job representing the high school in the concession area and in portraying Living Saints. Nice job, everyone!

Next week, November 10, 2026 is our Taco Tuesday dinner! Dinner will be served from 5:00-7:00 p.m. A Sign Up Genius link went out this week and we could still use some help so please sign up soon. I’ve been told that this menu is going to be amazing. Remember that this event is open to the public so please spread the word and invite friends and family!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

God bless,

Mrs. Viau

A Few “Brief” Notes from the Principal

Hello Crusader Families!

Everyday in the life of a school is interesting and unique.  With a full moon and Halloween, this week proved to be exactly that.  This morning the halls were filled with precious little ghosts and goblins as the Preschoolers and Kindergarten students paraded through in their Halloween costumes.  They always bring a smile to everyone’s face, but they were especially adorable dressed in their costumes.

Today we are blessed with a visit from our Seminarian, William Heller.  It’s so good to see him again.  During this visit, William is playing Latin games and giving a presentation on the life of a seminarian to the middle school students.  He’s also reading stories and joining in Halloween activities with the elementary students.  No matter what William has planned for us, he always brings such joy and happiness to Holy Name.  His beautiful smile and positive attitude is contagious and such a blessing.  Please keep him in your prayers as he continues his journey through the seminary.

This week the students participated in some pre All Saints Day Festival activities by making guesses on the Saint’s guessing jars.  Yesterday after Mass, Mrs. LaMarche awarded several lucky winners with candy jars for making close guesses.  A huge thank you to Mrs. LaMarche and Home & School for all the extra time and effort they are putting into planning a successful All Saints Festival!  Please join us at the festival on Sunday from 3-6:30pm for family fun, games, and fellowship.  Mrs. LaMarche is still in need of volunteers, so if you’re looking for ways to help, please sign up by using this link https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B44A4AE23A2FFCF8-66926231-allsaints  or reach out to Mrs. LaMarche at vlamarche@holynamecrusaders.com.

Next Thursday and Friday, November 5th and 6th, we have half days for Parent Teacher Conferences.  Due to the half days, we are going to run the schedule below so that our middle and high school students receive all of their classes.  If you haven’t scheduled a time to meet with your child’s teacher(s) yet, please do so soon as their available time slots are filling up.  Dismissal on Thursday and Friday will be at 12:30pm for both buildings.

Thursday – November 5th

• 7:45-8:35am – 0 Hour for HS
• 7:45-8:15am – Multi (Dismiss MS at 8:10am and Elementary at 8:15am as usual)
• 8:15-8:45am – MS Homeroom as usual
• 8:45 – Mass as usual
• 9:40 (or when Mass is over) – 10:20am – 2nd Hour
• 10:25-11:05am – 3rd Hour
• 11:10am-12:00pm – 4th Hour
• 12-12:25pm – MS/HS Lunch
• 12:30 – Dismissal

Friday – November 6th

• 7:45-8:45am – Convo and Mass for HS
• 7:45-8:15am – Multi (Dismiss MS at 8:10am and Elementary at 8:15am as usual)
• 8:15-8:30am – MS Homeroom as usual
• 8:30-8:45am – Convo as usual
• 8:45-9:45 – 5th Hour
• 9:50-10:50 – 6th Hour
• 10:55 – 11:55 – 7th Hour
• 12-12:25 – MS/HS Lunch
• 12:30 – Dismissal

In closing, we prayed our final rosary for the month of the rosary this week for all of our benefactors, donors, and supporters of Holy Name Catholic School.  We are so blessed and grateful to have such amazing and generous supporters here at Holy Name.  We can not thank you enough for keeping us moving forward with your financial donations, donations of time and talent, or simply your prayers.  Thank you for supporting us in providing our youth with a Classical, Catholic education in the past, the present, and the future.

With the time change happening this weekend, it will be interesting to see what unique things next week will bring us.  Have a wonderful weekend filled with Halloween and All Saints activities!

God bless,

Mrs. Brief 😀

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A “Viau” from the Headmaster

Happy Friday, Crusader Family!

This week, our juniors and seniors took the SAT and the CLT (Classical Learning Test). Scores will be released to them within two weeks. Freshmen and sophomores will take these in the spring.

We had a visit from the admissions representative at St. Norbert college this week. The students kept him busy with good questions; it was very informative!

Parent/teacher conferences are next week. I sent out a sign up link to all middle and high school parents to reserve a time slot. Please fill that in as soon as possible so that teachers can plan accordingly for who they will be seeing.

The All Saints Festival is this Sunday, November 1, from 3:00-6:30. Some of our high school students will be dressed as Saints, offering a glimpse into the life of each one they are representing. The rest of us will be in the multipurpose room handling food and the bake sale! (We are still in need of items if anyone would like to donate!).

We hope to see you all there!

An email went out yesterday about the March for Life trip coming up in January. Please register your student as soon as possible using the information in the email and reach out to me if you have any questions!

I hope your weekend is full of more treats than tricks! Remember to set your clocks back!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

God bless,

Mrs. Viau

A Few “Brief” Notes from the Principal

Hello Crusader Families!

This week was filled with School Spirit!  It was fun to see the students dress up in their jerseys and spirit wear early in the week, but come midweek, they were definitely dressed to IMPRESS!  There were princesses, superheroes, suites and ties, dresses, camouflage, and more.  It was so fun to see them all get so creative and show school spirit.  The things they brought instead of backpacks were very clever and some hilarious.  Today, it’s pleasantly shocking to see so much pink in support of Cancer.  Thank you to the Sisters in Christ for making the delicious cotton candy that was sold to raise money for the Delta County Cancer Alliance.  Thanks to Mr. Derkos for making the Pep Rally SO much fun! There were many laughs with the Dress Code game and a friendly competition between Mrs. Viau and I to see who could make the most baskets in one minute… While I won, I can definitely say I need some coaching from our middle school girls! Tonight the fun continues with an Activity Night for students in grades 6-12.  There will be dancing, volleyball, basketball, snacks, and more!  Students in grades 6-12 may come enjoy the fun from 6:30-9:00pm.

We continued saying the rosary every morning during Convo this week and we’re going to continue throughout the month of October since October is the month of the Rosary.  This week the 8th graders suggested we say the rosary for Cancer patients and Cancer Awareness, which tied in beautifully to today’s pink out for Cancer Day.  Stay tuned to see who or what we pray next week’s rosary for.

Students and Staff received “The Shirt” this week!  There was a design contest this year and Leadership chose from several beautiful shirts without knowing who designed each one.  The winner of this year’s “The Shirt” is our very own Mrs. Jackie Wiltzius!!  If you’re interested in purchasing a shirt or sweatshirt for yourself or an additional item for your student, order forms went home this week and are due by October 22nd.  If you don’t currently have a student at Holy Name, you can pick up an order form in the Grade School office during school hours.

Please continue to check your student’s grades on Facts and  reach out to your child’s teacher directly if you have questions or concerns.  Parent Teacher Conferences will be November 5th.  Teachers will be sending information home soon regarding conference times.  Did you know that you can also check your child’s lunch balance on Facts?!  Mrs. Lawrence will be sending weekly lunch balance notices on Fridays, however you can check your balance on Facts at any time so you don’t fall behind.  Speaking of lunch, there is a lunch menu change for Monday, October 19th; we will be having a crispy chicken sandwich instead of orange chicken.

Finally this week, a reminder that school starts at 8:15am at the Grade School.  Doors open at 7:45am and Middle School students are dismissed to their lockers at 8:10am.  When the 8:15am bell rings, their Homeroom class starts.  Elementary students are dismissed to their classrooms at 8:15am and their day begins at that time as well.  If your middle school student is arriving to class after the bell rings, they are tardy.  If they arrive 10 minutes after the bell rings for any class period, they are absent for that class period.  Even though we are a private school, we still have to follow the State attendance/truancy laws.  If your child has 5 or more absences or tardies, please expect a letter to come home.  If your child has 10 or more absences or tardies, please expect a second letter to come home requesting a meeting for an attendance plan.  If an attendance plan can not be made or is not successful, it may result in truancy being filed.  Being on time and being present every day, except when sick, are very important to a student’s routine and academic success.  You can also check your child’s attendance on Facts at any time.  If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

I pray that you all have a wonderful weekend!

God bless,

Mrs. Brief 😀

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A “Viau” from the Headmaster

Hello Crusader Family!

Spirit week has been an absolute blast at the high school! It’s so fun to see the kids participate and have a good time together. Throughout the week they’ve been playing some intense games for house competitions, including pictionary on Monday and a donut eating contest on Wednesday. On Tuesday, we all came over to the elementary school to take part in the pep assembly that Mr. Derkos put together. Our high school kids STEPPED UP at that assembly! They brought the school spirit and fully participated! Mrs. Brief and I even participated–she beat me in a basketball shooting contest (rematch next year, Mrs. Brief!) Thursday brought more fun as the kids have been working on mini floats all week for a parade at the elementary school. Again, it’s great to see them work together to create something cool!

Parents, keep an eye out for an email coming in the next week or so with a Sign Up Genius link for middle and high school parent teacher conferences. We hope to get that out soon so you can put the time in your schedule.

Our Juniors and Seniors will be attending the career fair next Tuesday at Escanaba High School. Permission forms for this will be going home tomorrow.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

God bless,

Mrs. Viau

A Few “Brief” Notes from the Principal

Hello Crusader Families!

We had a very blessed week at Holy Name Catholic School this week.  October is the month of the rosary, so we celebrated this week by praying one decade each week during Convocation.  This week we said the rosary for safe travels for Deacon Bob and his wife as they are on a spiritual trip to Rome.  We are going to continue praying a decade of the rosary each day during Convocation for the remainder of October.

We were also blessed this week when God answered our prayers and provided us with a new middle school ELA/History teacher!  We welcomed Mrs. Brigitte Henderson yesterday after Mass.  Mrs. Henderson’s husband was born and raised in Gladstone and they have been living in Florida for the past several years, but recently moved back to Gladstone to be close to his parents.  She is a certified teacher, has 20 years of teaching experience in ELA and History, went to a Catholic school in Trinidad, where she was born and raised, and then moved to the US when she started college.  She is strong in her Catholic faith, loves education, and has a bubbly personality that will make you feel like you’ve known her your whole life.  Welcome to the Holy Name Family, Mrs. Henderson!

This week we also kicked off our Papa Murphy’s pizza fundraiser.  If you are interested in supporting this fundraiser, please reach out to any Holy Name student’s family to order.  This fundraiser supports our Home & School association which in return supports our school by helping with events such as field trips, classroom supplies, field day, and more.  We are grateful for your support and grateful to Home & School for everything they do to support our students and staff.

Next week we will be celebrating Spirit Week with many special events including dress-up days, a pep assembly, and an activity night.  Please see the flyer at the end of this newsletter for more information.  Next Wednesday is picture retake day.  A postcard went home with students yesterday regarding information on retakes.  If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Lynch in the office.

Thank you all for your continued support, your prayers to help us find Mrs. Henderson, and the faith that you continue to have in Holy Names Catholic, classical education.  May God continue to bless you and your family.

Have a great weekend!

God bless,

Mrs. Brief 😀

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A “Viau” from the Headmaster

Hello Crusader Family!

Plans are underway for Spirit Week coming up next week. The house prefects have competitions planned throughout the week and on Friday we will all be heading to Getzloff’s Corn Maze. Permission slips will be going home next week for that. The students are aware of dress up days for next week and are excited to participate!

A few reminders for this week–please remember to let me know if your student needs to leave early for any reason. It is not enough to have them tell me themselves. I need to hear it from a parent. The students are aware that they need to sign out before they leave.  Also, PLEASE SIGN IN to your Renweb/FACTS account to check your students grades! We are far enough into the quarter that you should be able to see where they are with their classes at this point. We want to be sure they are going in the right direction and need you to enforce that, too.

Finally, congratulations to our very own Sophia Richardson! Sophia is a junior at Holy Name High School and we recently learned that last year she scored in the top 5% of our Midwest Region on the CLT exam! Nice job, Sophia!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

God bless,

Mrs. Viau

A Few “Brief” Notes from the Principal

Hello Crusader Families!

Welcome to the halfway point of the first Quarter!  Time flies, doesn’t it?!  Please be sure to check FACTS on a regular basis for updates on your students’ grades.  You can check their overall progress, individual assignment grades, missing assignments, late work, and more.  If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your child’s teacher directly.  Parent Teacher Conferences are scheduled for November 5th, but by checking FACTS on a regular basis, you don’t have to wait until report cards come home or for conferences to find out your child’s progress.

A friendly reminder that shoes at the Grade School need to completely cover the student’s toes and heel for safety reasons.  Shoes with holes in them, such as Crocs, are not allowed.  Shoes need to completely cover the toes and heel, straps that leave the toes or heels exposed are not compliant due to safety concerns.  Also as a reminder, uniform skirts and shorts lengths must not be more than two inches above the knee.  If your child is out of uniform, they will be given appropriate uniforms from our Uniform Closet.  If we do not have a uniform in your child’s size, then we will contact you to bring in a change of uniform.  Your support and compliance with these policies are greatly appreciated.

We are working very hard to find a teacher to fill the suddenly vacant Middle School ELA/History teacher position.  We have subs in place for next week and are working on a long-term solution, including a teacher interview next week.  Please continue to pray that God will send us the right person.  Trust that He has a plan; we just need to be patient and follow His lead.

Have a great weekend!

God bless,

Mrs. Brief 😀

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A “Viau” from the Headmaster

Hello Crusader Family!

This week we were finally able to hold our House Sorting Ceremony! Not only did we sort our incoming freshmen, but we inducted our new prefects into their roles.  The new house prefects are: Henry Trottier-House Ambrose, Isabel Seymour-House Augustine, Abrielle Chouinard-House Athanasius and Sophia Richardson-House Chrysostom. Our new house members are: Hadley Sargent-House Chrysostom, Elliot Pfotenhauer-House Augustine and Ben Toennessen-House Ambrose. We are excited to get started with house competitions and to see where our merit and demerit points have placed the houses now that everyone is sorted!

Mark your calendars for our next school and community dinner. Coming up on Tuesday, November 10, we will be having our Taco Tuesday dinner! Watch for the flyers coming out soon. This is open to all Holy Name students, family, and the community!

We are looking forward to the All Saints Festival coming up on November 1 at the Grade School. High School students and parents will be providing concessions as well as taking part in a new event this year–the Living Saints! Some of our students will be attending the event as a Saint and will be wandering the event as that person. We could use some extra adult volunteers for this. Please let me know if you, as a parent, would like to participate. (Remember that you’ll need to be Virtus trained.)  If you want to work the concessions as well as portray a Saint, we can make that work too. I’ll be sending out a signup for that soon!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

God bless,

Mrs. Viau

A Few “Brief” Notes from the Principal

Hello Crusader Families!

It’s officially Fall and it feels like it!  We have been blessed with some beautiful weather outside this week and blessed with many joys inside as well.  Yesterday we enjoyed a beautiful presentation on the Living Rosary Apostolate given by Mr. and Mrs. Frank and Trudy Bonack.  All of the students and staff received a blessed rosary and a guide on how to pray the Living Rosary.  If you didn’t see these come home yesterday, please ask your child(ren) about them and please pray the rosary together as a family if you’re able.

Student Life also put on a lovely tailgate dinner last night for everyone in Preschool through 12th grade, their families, and the community.  It was nice to see everyone out showing their school spirit and supporting each other.  Afterwards, school spirit was able to continue as we supported our Middle School Girls Basketball teams while they played Escanaba.  These girls are working really hard and it’s great to see all of their effort being shown on the court.  Go Crusaders!

Next week there is a minor swap on the lunch menu.  On Monday, September 28th, we will have Crispy Chicken Sandwiches and on Tuesday, September 29th, we will have Shepard’s Pie.  Please make a note on your menus at home.  Thank you to Mrs. Bobbi Farley and her kitchen staff for providing us with such wonderful lunches!

I pray that you all enjoy this first weekend of Fall.

God bless,
Mrs. Brief 😀

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A “Viau” from the Headmaster

Hello Crusader Family!

This was my first full week back in the school and it was amazing! These high school students are such a wonderful group of kids. All reports from the staff were that things went well while I was out and I can tell that students are working hard in class. Parents, please be sure to check your FACTS accounts for updates in grades and participation. We have noticed a little bit of time being wasted in some classes. As you know, when this happens, the students get behind. Since it’s early enough in the school year, we hope to redirect this right away so if you’d have a conversation with your child about making the best use of their time, that would be helpful as it will back up our discussions, too.

Our House sorting ceremony will take place Thursday, October 1 after the Mass at the Grade School. Our new freshmen will find out what house they will be placed in and the new prefects will officially be installed.

It’s a blessing to be able to assist at Daily Mass at St. Anne’s by lectoring and serving. All of our students that assist in these ways have been trained. This is such a beautiful way for our students to get involved in their faith. Thanks to Mr. Oswalt for getting our students ready to serve in this way.

Thanks to all of you that attended the Tailgate Party and to all of those that helped out with it. Just a reminder that these fundraising events are what helps keep the cost low for things like our Prom and some of our field trips and fun activities. We need as much high school parent and student help as possible with these when they come up. We have a lot of fun so it doesn’t even feel like work! Mark your calendars for the next one-Taco Tuesday on November 10, 2026! These are open to all of our Holy Name School students and families as well as the community.

Our next Student Life Committee meeting is Tuesday, October 20 at 5:30 at the high school. In addition, we will meet on November 17 and December 15, 2026. All of the Student Life committee meetings are open to high school students and parents. (Please note the date changes for these if you previously looked at the school calendar).

Don’t forget to call or email if your student will be out for the day. We are keeping a close eye on absences and tardies this year and we really don’t want to make referrals to the truancy officer if it should come to that.

Enjoy this upcoming beautiful fall weekend!

God bless,
Mrs. Viau