north deanery news - Bishop Chatard High School

OCTOBER 2013
NORTH DEANERY NEWS
Dear North Deanery School Families,
Welcome to the second edition of the North Deanery Schools
Newsletter! It is a pleasure to provide this resource for all
school families of the North Deanery and we hope you join us
in celebrating the many successes of our schools.
An interesting theme emerged as we began compiling the
articles submitted by the parish schools for this edition – the
North Deanery Schools take seriously our Catholic mission to educate the whole
child, centered on the person of Jesus Christ and the teachings of the church, and
we strive for excellence in everything we undertake, as our faith compels us. We
are all truly blessed to have these Catholic schools in our community; schools that
care deeply about serving the needs of each individual student, filled with adults
who know that students need to be challenged to accomplish things that they never
dreamed they were capable of and supported when they fall short.
Thank you for entrusting us to partner with you in forming your children to live lives
of meaning and faith, to be the people God has called them to be.
God Bless you,
Bill Sahm
President Bishop Chatard High School
Gala Dates
OPEN HOUSE
Thursday, November 7th
5:30p-8p
Presented by Bishop Chatard:
The High School of the
North Deanery
Immaculate Heart of Mary
St. Joan of Arc
St. Lawrence
North Deanery
October 4
Grow with the Arts
Saint Joan of Arc
October 5
SPXtravaganza
Saint Pius X
Date TBD
Ground Hog Romp!
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Date TBD
Trivia Night
Saint Luke
October 19
February 8
November 2
February 22
November 16
March 13
Royal Extravaganza-Resort Royal
Saint Simon
Illumination Gala
Immaculate Heart of Mary
Lucky 2013 Saint Matthew Parish Gala
Saint Matthew
St. Luke
St. Matthew School
Bayou Bash 2014
Christ the King
St. Pius X
Chatard-A-Bration
Bishop Chatard
Father Beechem’s Blarney Blast!
Saint Lawrence
Look for our next edition December 2013!
Please email story ideas, North Deanery news and photos to Dana Mullin,
Director of Marketing and Communications at Bishop Chatard dmullin@bishopchatard.org
St. Simon
St. Thomas Aquinas
r
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id
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t
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Look w mer Vacation !
Sum
AC T I V I T I E S
Summer Camps at Bishop Chatard
Over 200 students from the Archdiocese
participated in our athletic and enrichment camps!
iPad Cam
p
ball Camp
Boys Foot
Did you know?
Our North Deanery schools received Future Trojan
Friendship Passes for all students. The pass enititles
you to Free admission to all Bishop Chatard “home”
athletic events, concerts and drama productions.
New this year..redeem your Future Trojan Friendship
pass in the BCHS spirit shop for a free gift..a limited
edition BCHS t-shirt!
Music Camp
Drama Camp
CALENDAR OF ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS
p
Girls Basketball Cam
Watch for the 2014 summer camp announcements in
the December edition of North Deanery News!
F E ST I VA L S
St. Lawrence Fall Festival Sept 13, 14, & 15
St. Thomas Sausage Fest | Aug 16 & 17
IHM Fall Festival | Aug 24
St. Simon | June 6, 7 & 8
Bishop Chatard is a proud sponsor of the North
Deanery Festivals! This year we had over 60
student volunteers participating in our North
Deanery parish festivals!
North Deanery Festival tour logo, designed by Pat Hirschfeld,
SJA French Market | Sept 7
Christ the King | June 21-22
owner of Giraffe-X Graphics and St. Simon graduate.
St. Andrew Fall Fest coming soon! Oct 13th
St. Luke | Sept 21
We are proud of our North Deanery Leaders!
Several of our schools have adopted the
Leader in Me Program, based on the book,
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Did you know St. Joan of Arc was the
first school in Indianapolis designated
as a Leader In Me School? The Leader in Me is an
innovative, school-wide model that increases teacher
effectiveness, student engagement, and academic
achievement, while preparing students to be leaders
in the 21st century.
St. Joan of Arc began implementation of the program,
based on Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People, during the 2012-13 school. The entire staff
was trained in the 7 Habits in the summer of 2012.
In September, the classroom teachers had a day of
training on how to implement the habits within their
curriculum and classroom environment. This summer,
the school was transformed from floor to ceiling with
visual elements highlighting the program including
rugs and wall paintings featuring each of the 7 Habits.
All teachers attended a Leadership Day this fall
at Leader in Me Schools in Ohio and Kentucky. A
Lighthouse team was created and this team went
through additional training as they lead us through
the process to become a Lighthouse School in the
next few years. A student Lighthouse team has also
been organized. This will be similar to a student
council. A certification team will go through training
next summer. This team will provide the professional
development needed to certify our new staff as they
come on board.
We look forward to year two and plan on hosting a
Leadership Day at St. Joan of Arc in the spring. We
invite you to learn more about the program by visiting
www.theleaderinme.org
Did you know?
There are over 200 Bishop Chatard Student
Ambassadors, Retreat Team Leaders and Student
Council representatives attend a Leadership Retreat
each year!
L E A D E R S H I P
St. Lawrence 8th graders
leading the little ones!
The student tunnel and
welcome to the new
school year is a new
tradition started last year.
The 8th graders love
it and it’s nice to have
helpful hands to take little
ones to their classrooms
if necessary.
CAREER DAY
with Christ the King!
We had a Career Day on
9/25/13 with 22 speakers
presenting information
about their various
occupations to students
in grades 5-8. Christ the
King pastor, Fr. Steve
Jarrell,was one of the
speakers.
D R A M A
IHM 6th Grade Visits IRT to see
Destination Broadway features a talented
cast and crew of St. Simon students in
grades 5-8. Destination Broadway is
directed by Suzanne Collins with musical direction
by Marla Smith. This is an evening you will not want
to miss!
Friday, Oct. 11 & Saturday, Oct. 12 at 7p.m.
Off Broadway location: Fall Creek Valley Elementary
Logo designed by Jacob deCastro
(St. Simon ‘13 and BCHS ‘17)
Jackie and Me
Social justice issues go hand in hand with IHM’s
commitment make God known, loved and served,
allways. Last fall, the sixth grade classes at Immaculate
Heart attended the Indianapolis Repertory Theater
to see “Jackie and Me”, a play that portrayed Jackie
Robinson’s life story. The following are excerpts from
paragraphs they wrote about the experience.
“This was a heart-warming tale of bravery, strength
and baseball.”
“Jackie and Me did not only show what it was like in
the time of segregation, but it also showed how one
person can change a whole lot.”
“It inspired me to treat everybody equally”.
“It was a very good play but it was disturbing to know
how much people hated Jackie Robinson back then.”
“Back then (in the 1940’s) what they thought was
right, was actually very wrong.”
”The play really shows that racial prejudice is not
okay.”
”This play taught me to keep on following my dreams.”
Oct 31st | 9:30am Matinee / 7:30 pm
Nov 1st | 7:30 pm
Nov 2nd | 7:30 pm
Join Us! Use your Future Trojan pass!
To celebrate the Feast of St. Matthew, the 8th grade
students presented the Kindergarten students with St.
Matthew medals.
St. Pius Students are
WORKING to be of SERVICE
to Others
Our seventh and eighth grade students
are currently planning service projects and writing
grants. St. Pius students, Emma, Graysen, Maddy,
Emily, and Ava are very excited about a Youth As
Resource grant proposal they’re writing in hopes of
working with female cancer patients at St. Vincent
to keep their spirits up with a makeover and dance.
They would like to have a dress and shoe drive
to provide apparel for the special event. Zoe and
Lauren want to hold a fundraising drive for Wolf
Creek Preserve, a nonprofit with thirty-two wolves.
Wolf Creek Preserve needs food for the animals,
new fencing, and office supplies. Katherine is writing
a grant proposal and hoping to have a schoolwide drive to fill backpacks for Schools on Wheels.
Megan and Victoria are planning to bring a proposal
to principal Bill Herman regarding a school-wide
jeans drive. Students and staff could donate a pair
of gently worn jeans and earn an out-of-uniform day.
The donated jeans would be donated to St. Vincent
de Paul. All students I spoke with told me they find
that working on their service projects and grant
proposals involves using each of the 7 habits we’re
focusing on at St. Pius as a Leader In Me school.
These students and others are taking charge! We’re
proud of them.
Congratulations MR. COCKRUM!
Mr. Cockrum (7th & 8th Grade Language
Arts teacher) at St Thomas Aquinas was honored to be
selected as a recipient of the Jacobs Educator Award
given by Indiana University. The Jacobs Educator
Award recognizes a small group of outstanding
teachers who are at the cutting edge of integrating
digital technologies into their instruction. Jacobs
Educators are part of a nation-wide community of highly
successful teachers who work with the faculty at the
School of Education at Indiana University Bloomington
in a variety of capacities, including teaching, research,
and special projects and events. In addition to a oneyear stipend, Mr. Cockrum will be presented his award
at the annual “Call to Teach” event at the IU School of
Education on November 9th!
M A K I N G A
D I F F E R E N C E
Welcome to Bishop Chatard & Christ the King
Sara Castillo!
“My name is Sara
Castillo, I was born
and raised in Bogota,
Colombia. I came to
school to the United
States to get my under
graduate degree. I went
to Loras College in
Dubuque, Iowa and got
my B.A in International
Studies and Religious
Studies. I am currently pursuing my M.A in Theology
at the University of Notre Dame through a program
called Echo, and that is what brought me to
Indianapolis.
I am working with Carol Wagner, Director of Campus
Ministry at Bishop Chatard High School, assisting
with the different opportunities that Campus Ministry
provides to the students. I am also working at Christ
the King Catholic Church with Cindy Flaten. At
Christ the King I am assisting with RCIA, Religious
Education and the youth ministry. I am enjoying this
opportunity, to learn about the different ministries in
the school and the parish and to witness the great
opportunities the youth has to grow in their faith. I am
looking forward to my time spent in both communities
and to grow in my formation as a catechetical leader.”
Annual
Freshman
Grandparent
Mass at Bishop
Chatard!
Bishop Chatard Student Union
ANNUAL HAUNTED HOUSE
October 26th 4:30p - 7:30p
Auxillary Gym
$4.00 per person
The Haunted House is for everyone! The “haunted”
section will be 3 floors and will cater to older
elementary and middle school students. The gym will
cater to younger kids with crafts and a movie.
Outreach Opportunities
M A K I N G A
D I F F E R E N C E
Abound at IHM
This year the students
at
Immaculate
Heart of Mary and
their families have
donated
nearly
$5000 to the many outreach ministries that our
parish supports. Each Friday, the collection at the
all school liturgy is designated to benefit a specific
ministry.
Over the course of the year, IHM has supported
more than a dozen different causes. In addition to
our Honduras outreach, we have also helped to
support Books on Wheels, Anna’s House (Lucious
Newsom’s original ministry), and the Guardian Angel
Guild, a group that provides funding to students with
special needs. In December, we made a contribution
to the Catholic charities Christmas Store.
We have raised money for The Children’s Wish
Foundation, the Little Sisters of the Poor’s Saint
Augustine’s Home for the Aged, and Indy Reads.
Get a sneak peek of St. Joan of
Arc’s preschool and Transitional
Kindergarten programs during
the
annual
Peek-A-Boo!
Gather up your family, put on
your Halloween costumes and
join us for some food, drink, trick-or-treating, and
fun. You’ll have an opportunity to meet the awesome
teachers, the school principal, and Father Guy while
visiting with fellow parents and students. Helpers on
hand to help out with fun activities to keep busy hands
and minds happy! Join us Friday, October 18th from
6:30pm - 8 p.m. in the lower level of St. Joan of Arc
School. For more information or to RSVP, contact the
school office at (317) 283-1518.
IHM is truly making God Known, Loved and Served.
...ALLWAYS.
Receiving the 8th grade shirts is a rite of passage
for St. Lawrence students. The kids take great honor
in wearing them and highly anticipate getting them
after a mass, usually in mid September. Distributing
the shirts is very special at St. Lawrence! Each
incoming 8th grader has a “secret prayer partner”.
The prayer partner for the student presents the
shirt and that is the first time the student knows who
their faculty or staff member prayer partner will be!
There is sometimes great speculation on who will
be praying for whom and it’s all handled with great
graciousness.
The tiger bike rack is a gift to Christ the King from
the A.R.K. Society. We’ve been raising money over
the last few years with all of our recycling efforts and
decided we wanted to give something to the school
with our profits. It was our decision to have a bike rack
sculpture created to encourage more students to ride
their bikes to school, and more parishioners to ride
their bikes to Mass on Sundays. The bike rack was
designed and created by local artist and metalworker
Elaine Maverick.
TECHNOLOGY “Shining” in the Classrooms
with CHROMEBOOKS!
BCHS students are using 1:1 technology everyday!
This year we are excited to announce a new technology
initiative at St. Lawrence, particularly with our middle
school. We are introducing 65 Chromebook devices
for every middle school student, and have signed up
with Google Apps for Education. With these devices,
we will be taking learning and work creation to
unprecedented levels!
The Chromebook devices are simple laptop
computers with the purpose for creating rich work
through collaboration. By using these devices in the
classroom, students and teachers will be able to sync
calendars, notes, provide reading text, worksheets,
and collaborate with each other with incredible ease.
Furthermore, students will be able to save all work in
the cloud for access at home, school, and on the road.
The St. Simon
annual Bites
for Bytes is
February 25th.
Bites for Bytes is an
evening of live music, a
silent auction and flavors
from local restaraunts.
100% of profits benefits
the technology initiative
at St. Simon!
Support the
Christ the
King Tiger
Trot on
Friday, October 11th!
The money raise will
be used to purchase
ipads for the school.
That’s GRrrrr-eat!
T E C H N O LO GY
The middle school students at St.
Thomas Aquinas have been immersed
in a technology-rich environment for many years
now, and are accustomed to using Google Apps for
many individual and collaborative assignments.
There was a positive response from 7th and 8th
grade students and parents when they were
offered the choice to purchase the comparatively
affordable Chromebook for the current school
year. For many students the best part was that
this device would be their very own; it would come
to school and go home with them. Along with the
Chromebooks purchased by 7th and 8th graders,
the school provided classroom sets for the 5th and
6th graders.
STA students are enjoying many benefits with the
use of Chromebooks. There is no lengthy start-up
time (around ten seconds), so when a student opens
his or her device, it is ready to use. Chromebooks
are designed to be fast, allowing pages to be
loaded quickly. And there has been little need for IT
support in the first month of implementation.
Faculty members have also noticed some positive
changes in students with the implementation of
this program. Many students brought in cases and
made sure their Chromebooks were more protected
travelling from class to class. Charging ceases
to be an issue due to the long battery charge of
the Chromebooks, but also impart to the personal
responsibility students are taking. Students now
carry chargers with them and know where to charge
their own devices during the day.
STA teachers are excited about the improved
collaboration, creation and sharing of documents
and presentations that Chromebooks provide
for students. But this new program can best be
summarized by a current STA 7th grade student,
who said, “I love my Chromebook because it gives
me great info super fast, and keeps me organized
since everything is in one place. It just makes
school happier.”
“It was a great day for football! We are
always pleased to host our Deanery
Schools. Our Deanery Coaches do a great
job preparing their young men to become
future Trojans.”
-Coach Lorenzano
“We were very impressed with the turn-out for our
cheer jamboree this year! It is encouraging to see
so many young cheerleaders pursue their passion
with an eagerness to learn and improve. The BCHS
cheerleaders loved having the opportunity to teach
some of the cheers, chants, and dances that we
learned at our NCA away camp this summer. We
saw a lot of talent and we look forward to seeing the
8th graders at tryouts at the end of the year!”
-Coach Vitale
FOOTBALL &
CHEER JAMBOREE
R E A D E R S
In April, St. Joan of Arc librarians attended
a meeting of the Shared System Schools.
There are about 15 other schools,
including high schools, that have access to the
Indianapolis Public Library catalog as we do. During
the meeting it was shared with us the number of
times books were circulated (checked out) this year
at each school . Saint Joan of Arc surpassed every
other school by at least 3,000 circulations! This
means that our students checked out at least 3,000
more books than children at these other schools!
AMAZING!
Saint Simon kicked off the school year with
the 3rd annual Read-a-Thon. The theme
for this year was I Made my Teacher Into
A Sundae! following the past themes of I Made my
Teacher Eat a Bug! and I Made My Teacher Wipeout!
Each year students have exceeded their fundraising
goal and enjoyed the ultimate prize!
We currently have a set of Amazon Kindles for the
students to use, as well as a pair of iPads for the
students to take AR quizzes and request books
from IndyPL. The Kindles and iPads continue to be
very popular with the students. We are constantly
looking for new ways to integrate this technology in
the library.
179 IHM students participated in the
Indianapolis Public Library Read
Together Right Now! 2013 Summer
Reading Program!
Christ the King made a splash with the
“Dive Into Reading.” year-long reading program. A
guest diver appeared before school one morning!
THIS YEAR’S RESULTS!
Total Amount Raised: $20, 013.99
Total Minutes Read: 439, 158 minutes
9 classrooms with 100% paricipation
WAY TO GO ROYAL READERS!
Bishop Chatard students spent the first
day of the Saint Simon Read-A-Thon as Celebrity
Readers!
Student Retreats: St. Luke Catholic School
upper students participate in retreats in
the fall to help them prepare to make the
best of the gifts God has given them.
R E T R E ATS
Our eighth grade participates in an overnight
Christian Leadership Retreat at CYO Camp Rancho
Framasa. A combination of physical challenges, time
for reflection and prayer helps with a positive start to
the year. It helps the eighth grade understand their
role as leaders in school.
The seventh grade attended a daylong retreat at
Marian University that focuses on the changes in
middle school and how they will respond. Later in the
year they will participate in a vocations retreat that
will take the boys to St. Meinrad and the girls to a
convent near Notre Dame.
The sixth grade took part in a full day retreat at
Bishop Chatard High School. The goal was to take
time to pray and identify individual and grade level
goals for the year.
Our other grades take time for retreats though out
the year and to help keep our faith and Catholic
values front and center. We are thankful for the active
participation of our priests, school staff and staff from
CYO, Marian and Bishop Chatard for making the
retreats such a meaningful experience.
St. Lawrence 7th and 8th graders
enjoy time at Camp Rancho Framasa.
It is scheduled fairly early in the year so that class
comraderie and togetherness can build quickly. And,
it does! Trust, loyalty, and caring play a part as well.
Our 8th graders also attended more of a personal
retreat at the Benedictine Center in late September
with a little more reflection and prayer. Our 7th graders
will have a leadership retreat in the spring at Fatima.
Over 60 St Luke 6th
graders spent the day
at Bishop Chatard ,
participating in a retreat.
The theme Love in Action
carried throughout the
day. This is the 2nd year
in a row Bishop Chatard
has hosted the retreat!