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