Huron Valley Catholic School 1300 N Prospect Rd Ypsilanti, MI 48198 Main Office (734)483-0366 IN THIS ISSUE April Calendar School News Quote from Sr. Gail Highlights A P R I L 2 0 1 7 From the Principal At our March 17th In -service day, eight of our teachers continued to learn about the Acquisition of Language and Literacy reading program. Other staff members worked on revising entrance examinations, and large, they have handled the changes well, but we are seeing more than usual amount of self-control and disruptive issues. Please pray for the staff. In addition to the virus challenge, a number of them have had injuries, and extended family crises. We are thankful that Mr. Terry Caputo is back in the classroom! researching some educational methods via webinar. -Tim Kotyuk Hopefully, we are past the virus epidemic that has affected many of you and your families. The teachers and our cleaning staff have been taking extra steps to sanitize classrooms and other student areas. The staff did not escape the virus either. Several teachers were out for days at a time. There were a number of different substitute teachers in the classrooms. This has been very challenging for our students. By and
P A G E 2 PAGE 4 Hello! My name is Brian Smith, and I am currently serving my second year as a Board member. My wife, Louise, and I have been blessed with seven children. Our three youngest children are currently enrolled at HVCS Jack (7 th Grade), Nora (4 th Grade), and Mary (1 st Grade). We have two other HVCS graduates in our family - Catherine, who graduated from St. Mary s College last year, and Danny, who is a sophomore at Michigan State. Our oldest, Patrick, (he didn t attend HVCS, but we don t hold that against him) graduated from Michigan and is currently a second year medical school student at Oakland. Many of you remember our sweet Bridget, who attended HVCS until she passed away 4.5 years ago. Bridget loved HVCS, and the beautiful people at this school made her feel like she was still a classmate, even when her cancer and her medical treatments made it impossible for her to attend class. We will be forever indebted to the HVCS family for the love and support we received during her difficult journey. Spotlight on the Board: Meet Brian Smith I graduated from the University of Notre Dame (Go Irish!) with an Electrical Engineering degree, spent seven years doing Nuclear Engineering as an officer in the US Navy and with a public utility in Wisconsin, and have been with Masco Corporation for the past 23 years. Masco is the parent company for a number of popular home improvement brands, including Delta Faucet, KraftMaid and Merillat cabinetry, Behr paint, and Watkins Hotspring spas. I lead the supply chain function at our world headquarters, helping our global business units to leverage and improve their supply chain capabilities. On the HVCS Board, I serve as Vice Chairman and I also lead the Building and Grounds committee. Truth be told, we don t have much need for Building and Grounds committee these days, because our facility is in such great shape. Kudos to all of you, for all that you do, every day, to help maintain our building and grounds. Although we are blessed with a beautiful facility, there are always things we can improve. For example, we re looking at ways to improve the aesthetics and reduce the maintenance associated with the islands in our parking lot. The parking lot itself has been a bit of a challenge, and we re working to find a cost-effective solution. Longerterm, as the building ages, we will need to address major systems such as roofing, flooring, and HVAC. If you have any input regarding potential Building & Grounds improvements, or the Board in general, please feel free to contact me at brian_smith@mascoqh.com. Thank you for the opportunity to serve this wonderful community. Brian Smith
P A G E 3 PAGE 4 April 3 5 6 7 10 11 12 13 Drama Club 3p.m.- 5p.m. Girls On the Run 3 p.m.- 4:30 p.m. Mass 10:35 a.m. AND 12:20 p.m. Drama Club 3p.m.- 5p.m. 8th Grade Trip to Chicago 2nd Grade Field Trip to U of M s Museum of Natural History Fire Drill 10:15 a.m. Girls On the Run 3 p.m.- 4:30 p.m. 5th Grade Girls Human Sexuality Night 6 p.m. 6th Grade Girls Human Sexuality Night 7:30 p.m. 8th Grade- NO SCHOOL! Mass 8:05 a.m. 6th & 7th Grade Field Trip to see FGR s Play at Riverside Arts 9:30 a.m. Drama Club 3 p.m.-5p.m. Girls on the Run 3 p.m.- 4:30 p.m. Adoration 9 a.m.- 2 p.m. Staff Meeting 3:30 p.m. Mass 10:35 a.m. AND 12:20 p.m. Drama Club 3 p.m.- 5 p.m. Passion Play 8:30 a.m. Half Day 12 noon Dismissal/ Easter Break Begins! NO AFTERCARE! 14 Good Friday 16 24 Classes Resume Drama Club 3 p.m.- 5 p.m. Girls On the Run 3 p.m.-4:30 p.m. 25 7th Grade Vocations Day 26 27 28 29 Mass 10:35 a.m. AND 12:20 p.m. Drama Club 3 p.m.- 5 p.m. 6th-8th Grade Field Trip to Comerica Park Girls On the Run 3 p.m.- 4:30 p.m. Mass 8:05 a.m. Pizza Lunch Lower Grade Talent show 9 a.m. Drama Club Set Building 9 a.m. Stadium Clean-up
P A G E 4 HVCS Board Nominations School News Music and Band News This June, the school board terms of Sarah Grieshaber and Dawn Pedinelli will be coming to an end. Our by-laws state that the board solicit nominations from parents and staff each April. The board terms are three years, beginning with the June meeting. Dawn and Sarah are each interested in serving another three year term. If interested or to obtain more information contact Pete Goethals at pete;goethals@gmail.com no later than Friday, April 21. In the event that there are no nominations, Dawn and Sarah will be elected by acclamation. Calling all cardboard boxes! The fifth grade will be collecting cardboard boxes to lay down in the school garden as a layer to prevent weeds from growing, before we put down straw and compost. Large boxes are nice, shoe boxes would be too small. Empty pizza boxes would also work. If possible, please remove any sticky labels or packing tape and collapse the boxes. There is a collection area outside of the 5th grade room. Thank you for your recycled boxes. Recycle, Reduce and Reuse is what we are demonstrating! On Wednesday, March 15, HVCS Fourth Graders together with Mrs. Scott & Mrs. Cupery and parent chaperones braved very low temps to attend an Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra Youth Concert. Everyone enjoyed the hour immensely. Students brought their recorders and played along with the orchestra on two songs that they were practicing ahead of time. Students sang along on three other songs with the class favorite being "Oye" (That's a Spanish word meaning "listen.") Everyone enjoyed an operatic tenor singing Verdi's "La Donna..." and a 19-year old local violinist playing part of Mendelssohn's violin concerto. The highlight of the afternoon was the finale from THE FIREBIRD by Stravinsky. The 6th and 7th band students have been preparing solos and ensembles since January. On Wednesday, March 22 they performed right in the HVCS music room. Each student participated and gained experience performing. Thank you to those who made up our appreciative audience and great job, students! Chicago! Our 8th grade class will be taking their annual trip to Chicago on Thursday, April 6, 2017. On Friday, April 7, the 8th grade will not have school.
P A G E 5 Play Ball! School News Iowa Testing On Thursday, April 27 th, our 6th - 8th grades will travelling to Comerica Park to partake in the Detroit Tigers Class Outside Series. The presentation includes speakers from several areas of journalism. Speakers provide their own personal testimony in education, experience and career. Students will hear about the art of sports storytelling and how the news is released across multiple platforms. Areas of focus include print media, photo journalism, social media and radiotelevision sports journalism. After the presentations, the students will attend the Tigers vs. Mariners game. Go Tigers! Lower Grades Talent Show As part of our Easter Week celebration, there will be a talent show featuring students in grades 1-4. This will occur on Friday, April 28, right at 9 a.m. All are welcome to attend Mass and stay for this entertaining event. This is a reminder that we will be administering Iowa testing for grades 3 8, the first two hours of the day during the week of May 1-5 from 8:20 10:15 each day. Seventh and Eighth Graders will be fitting all testing into the M-Th time slots. It is important that students are well rested, had breakfast, and are not late so that they are able to do their best on these tests. Students should bring a water bottle, a good book, and two pencils to the testing. It is best to schedule appointments for your child after these times so they do not miss the testing. If a student is ill and misses part of the test, we are providing an option for students to make up tests the next week, May 8-12 after school by appointment, and a fee will be involved to pay the proctor. Make up sessions will be after school by appointment, from 3-4:30 PM. A fee of $30 per session will be split by the number of families taking the tests each day. Tests with missing sections will still be scored. Please contact Shannon Hamby if you would like your student to make up missed tests and let her know the possible days that would work to make up the test the week of May 8-12. Mrs. Wolfe will be in contact with parents for the make up sessions.
P A G E 6 School News ATTENTION: 8th Grade Parents Maple Syrup Fun! 8th grade yearbook ads can be purchased until April 7th, 2017. Congratulate your student, commemorate an accomplishment or provide an inspirational message of encouragement from your family with a ¼ page photo ad. Cost: $15 per ad. Detailed information should have been sent home with your student and via email. Deadline for photos and text: April 7th, 2017 Questions? Contact Brittani Gabowitz brittanigabowitz@yahoo.com Yearbook Announcement It is that time of year again! The yearbook sale is April 3rd-April 13th. Order forms were sent home with the youngest member of each family. Extras are located in the office. Thank you for your support. The kindergartners learned first hand about how real Maple syrup is made. They went to U of M Dearborn's Environmental Interpretive Center on a field trip to learn some of the science of Maple sugaring. The children learned how to identify a Maple tree without leaves by looking at the bark, the branches and the buds. Then they learned how to tap a Maple tree to collect the sap. The sap flows when the nighttime lows are below freezing, but the highs during the day are in the forties or higher. It takes about forty gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup. Through the generosity of the Heisers, five of the Maple trees in our school's play yard were tapped. The kindergartners checked the buckets every few days and collected a total of about 23 gallons of sap over the last few weeks. The sap was boiled down and the children enjoyed taking home their own mini bottles of our own wonderful syrup! Important Reminder: There will be NO extra Yearbooks to purchase at the end of the year. Thank you!
P A G E 7 Quote from Sr. Gail Lancaster The gifts of the Master are these: freedom, life, hope, new direction, transformation, and intimacy with God. If the cross was the end of the story, we would have no hope. But the cross isn't the end. Jesus didn't escape from death; he conquered it and opened the way to heaven for all who will dare to believe. The truth of this moment, if we let it sweep over us, is stunning. It means Jesus really is who he claimed to be, we are really as lost as he said we are, and he really is the only way for us to intimately and spiritually connect with God again. Steven James, Story Let us rejoice and again rejoice that we have each been and are the recipient of God's infinite mercy in His Son, Jesus Christ. May your joy of belonging to Jesus, and in Him to our Heavenly Father know no bounds. Happy Easter! Friday Adoration Days 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. April 11, 2017 (Tuesday) May 5, 2017