Dear Mercy Families,

With each new week since having joined the Mercy community, I experience more of the unique traditions, talents and celebratory accomplishments that underscore why a Mercy education makes a difference.

One of the most impressive events recently shared throughout our student body is Ethnic Bazaar. This annual celebration of the diverse music, dance, food, and song is truly a Mercy treasure as we continue to explore the Sisters of Mercy call to this year's theme of Who is Our Neighbor?

The energy at Mercy abounds across athletics where we celebrate our Swim and Dive Team State Champions, to the outstanding performances by our cast and crew of the fall Anne of Green Gables theater production, and the model student programs Mercy shares within the broader community. Our Link Crew program, a student leader project for incoming students who are mentored by upper classwomen to support a successful transition, is stellar. Under the guidance of counselor Mrs. Trish Brown, we share our best practices with other schools; and next fall will host the regional Link Crew conference. The Mercy student iWizards group is recognized by MANS (Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools) as a model student led technology support program. Mr. Larry Baker was invited to present at the December MANS Technology Gathering to other educators interested in establishing student centered technology initiatives.

We are also excited to share the news that our Mercy family has expanded! Math teacher Mrs. Christa Polan and her husband Geoff welcomed their son, Axel Graham Polan into the world on November 5th. Mrs. Erin Somerville (Advancement Office) and her husband John welcomed John Marshall Somerville Jr. on November 10th. Both moms and their babies are happy and healthy!

Academic News

Club Competitions: CyberPatriots is an educational program created by the U.S. Air Force to promote and encourage cybersecurity and other STEM related professions. Kudos to our newly established Mercy CyberPatriot team who competed in their first online Cyber security competition, scoring 170.9 out of a possible 222 points.

The Mercy junior varsity Quiz Bowl team recently won all three games in a competition against Country Day, Brother Rice, and University of Detroit Jesuit. The team is currently undefeated and ranked at the top of their division! Our varsity Quiz Bowl team played three tough games against U of D, Country Day, and Farmington, in a hard fought challenge. Mercy also has two novice Quiz Bowl teams this year, the Maroon team and the Gold team. Both novice teams won two of their three games, and our Mercy Maroon team is in second place within their division.

Final Exams: As we approach the end of the first semester, please encourage your student to pace themselves in preparation of final exams, and to communicate with teachers over any missing work that may still be accepted. Our Final Exam schedule is as follows:

Thursday, December 21

3rd hour    8:30 - 9:50 am

5th hour  11:30 - 12:50 pm

Friday, December 22

Health and Safety

CPR Training Update: We are immensely grateful to the Farmington Hills Fire Department for their support in helping us to ensure the health and safety of our students. CPR training is now incorporated into our Health class for all sophomore students. 9 of our staff members have become certified American Heart Association instructors in order to support this student initiative, as well as to CPR train our staff.

Family Emergency Training Opportunity: An unfortunate current reality is the need for immediate medical response in the event of a violent situation, and in-house training will be provided to our staff. The Farmington HIlls Fire Department also encourages all of our families to become empowered to react in the event of a bleeding emergency. Stop the Bleed is a national campaign launched in response to multiple mass casualty events. Local training for the general public is available on Saturday, December 9 at Beaumont Hospital in Farmington HIlls. This free training session is available in four one-hour increments throughout the day. Sessions begin at 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, and noon. Visit here to register.

Catholic Identity

All Saints Day Mass: During this all school Mass, we prayed for the deceased members throughout our community. If you have experienced the loss of a loved one this year, please know that you and your family were in our special prayers during the liturgy. At this Mass, we also had the opportunity to bless our many students who exhibit leadership through Link Crew, National Honor Society, Language Honors Society, Clubs, Human Relations Council, Student Government, retreat leaders, pastoral ministers, liturgical ministers and all others who exercise leadership skills.

Our Youth Mercy Associates: During the Immaculate Conception Liturgy on December the 8th we will be holding our annual commitment ceremony of the Youth Mercy Association, honoring a group of students who are dedicated to service, prayer, faith and love. We selected to acknowledge our Youth Mercy Associates on this day to correspond with the Foundation Day of the Sisters of Mercy - who celebrate 190 years this year!

The following girls will be making their first one year commitment as Youth Mercy Associates:

Kauai Johnson - '18

Madeline Gwinn - '18

Alexis Dickie ' - 20

Making their re-commitment as Youth Mercy Associates, are:

Brooke O'Brien - '18

Sarah Pegler - '18

Danielle McClain - '18

Becoming a Youth Mercy Associate is a year long process with a need to fulfill requirements including planning and leading a prayer service, completing a community service project, reading a book about faith, attending a special faith-filled event, and regularly attending group meetings. Please join us in praying for these young ladies as they model the Mercy values and mission.

Focus: HOPE: Thank you for supporting our Thanksgiving Focus: HOPE Food Drive. Aside from the donated food and supplies, together we donated $4,192.00 for low income seniors in need this holiday season.

Sanctum House: Our very own Farmington Hills based Sisters of Mercy along with other partners in southeast Michigan, opened Sanctum House in November - a refuge for victims of human trafficking. This two-year residential treatment program offers medical and psychological treatment, and an opportunity to better develop basic life skills in order for victims to transform their lives. Additionally sponsored by the Archdiocese of Detroit, the University of Detroit Mercy, Trinity Health Care, and Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, this program is the first of it's kind in the region dedicated to adult women. Volunteer opportunities and requested donations are listed on the organization's website at sanctumhouse.org.

As you can see, there are many reasons to be proud of our school. As our Mercy students remind us during daily announcements, " it's not what it is, but what it can become." Thank you for allowing us to support your daughter as she becomes a woman who makes a difference!

May God's Grace and Blessings be in your path,

Patricia Sattler

Principal

Join us for our December Mothers Club Meeting!

Feel free to reach out to the MMC with any questions at [email protected].

Mercy is proud to announce our 'Education and Technology at Mercy High School Michigan' Multi-touch book is now available at the iBooks Store!

1. Mercy had to commit to 85% of its teachers becoming Apple Distinguished Teachers
2. The school had to submit a multi-touch book which addressed five different areas of innovation using technology.

Madame Campbell's French 2 students recently decorated her classroom with 40 original design architectural creations of authentic French homes from around the Francophone world. Each student was assigned a region from the French speaking world to research using actual real estate listings from French websites. Once the student found a home they would like to build, its location was found using google earth and google street view. A real estate listing was written by the students in French and shared with members of the class. The homes had to be built, decorated artistically and culturally authentic, with all rooms and furniture labeled in French to reinforce the vocabulary of the lesson. Students used the Tinkercad program and our 3D MakerBot replicator printer in the media center to make at least 1 piece of furniture in the homes. Most homes have many floors and some roofs come off to display the detailed furnishings and interiors of the many rooms included. The homes built by the students are very authentic and demonstrate hours of dedicated hard work which surpassed all expectations. The homes are used in an oral assessment in which the students role play prospective real estate agents and potential buyers using French to negotiate the sale or lease of the property, based on a particular need and situation given in class. This was a fun project and made learning French relevant and functional! Come find your dream home in our Parade of French Homes from around the world from France, Louisiane, Sénégal, Saint-Martin, Québec, Madagascar to Tahiti and French Polynesia.

National French Week

French Week 2017 had two main highlights this year: 85 French students visited Cuisine, a French Restaurant in Detroit, and savored authentic French cuisine prepared for them by Chef Paul. Students enjoyed a choice of salade de betteraves or soupe d'asperges aux noisettes as an entrée followed by either cordon bleu de poulet, truite au four, or aubergine farcie de ratatouille as the plat principal. Of course, the pièce de résistance was the dessert , gateau huile d'olive or sorbet de fraises et framboises. Chef Paul also spoke to the girls about his culinary training in France with the famous French chefs. The French students were accompanied by parents, staff and Mrs. Sattler joined the students for the first time and impressed them with her French! Yes, she speaks French! It was a very enjoyable evening enjoyed by all who attended.

 

The French 3 students enjoyed a special field trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts to see the fabulous "Monet Framing Life" exhibit thanks to the kindness and generosity of Mrs. Nancy Barr who helped Madame Campbell to organize the day for the students. Mrs. Barr (parent of Avalon (2019) Co-Chief Curator; Dept. Head Prints, Drawings and Photographs, Curator of Photography, arranged the bus transportation for the students, as well as an introduction to the exhibit as well as a docent tour of the other French art work and furnishings in the museum. She also reserved a special room in the museum for the students to enjoy their lunch and share their impressions about the exhibit with each other. The students particularly enjoyed the interactive dinner table of a French meal located in the French section of the museum. The students returned to school and engaged in a discussion of the exhibit from a worksheet prepared by Madame Campbell. It was an enjoyable day and we thank Madame Barr for her willingness to help make it a memorable experience for the students.

Passport to France Program

 

Madame Campbell was just recently notified by Dr. Dan Noren that her presentation at the Michigan World Language Conference on Mercy's Passport to France Program was rated in the top 5 presentations at the State Conference. The session was attended by over 25 teachers from across the State who wanted to learn how to create a successful French Immersion Program in their school or to adapt a portion of the program and make it an individual project for a virtual learning lesson in class. This program is one of a kind and we are proud to have it here at Mercy. It is very popular and a favorite activity of the current French students since they host the middle school students who perhaps shadowed during the school year or attended one of the open houses. The program once again will take place on February 24, 2018. Madame Campbell also traveled to Nashville, Tennessee for the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages as a member of the Michigan Delegation representing teachers in Oakland County.

Help Needed! Consider lending your time and talents to help before and during the Auction. Please click here to volunteer.

 

Save the Date! Click here for all things Auction and join us on Saturday, February 24, 2018 for a night of fun, food and friends at St. Mary Cultural Center in Livonia.

Please contact Olivia Hanna in the Special Events Office at 248-893-3535 or [email protected] with any questions. Thank you for supporting the Mercy High School 39th Annual Auction! 

CONGRATS to Volleyball who captured the District and Regional Championships and played in the MHSAA Class A semifinals! What an amazing season!

Cheer on all your Marlins sports teams! Check the athletics calendar and even get driving directions. Our athletes are always making headlines. Read some sports features here.

College Bound Athletes

What an achievement to play a sport at the college level! Big CONGRATULATIONS to our senior college bound Marlin athletes: Brooke Madak - Basketball, Siena Heights; Anna Dixon - Softball, Hillsdale; Alexa Rybicki - Diving, University of Pennsylvania; Mya Loniewski - Swimming, University of Maryland (Baltimore Cty); Kendall Goit - Swimming, University of Pittsburgh; Katie Minnich - Swimming, University of Michigan . Good luck, girls!

LAST CALL FOR YEARBOOK ADS! The LORE Yearbook Staff is busy editing pages and you still have an opportunity to reserve an ad for your daughter! This is an excellent way to offer congratulations and to recognize your daughter's efforts in high school with a personal message. Ads can either be purchased and designed at yearbookordercenter.com using code 13826 or sent to the Lore staff using the ad order form PDF found here. We extended the deadline and all ad materials and payment are due by December 8. Questions? Please e-mail the yearbook staff at [email protected].  

Order your copy of LORE - If you haven't yet reserved what is sure to be another prize-winning yearbook, do it today. We will be finalizing our book order with the publisher soon. Make sure your daughter is guaranteed a record of not only her memories but the stories of all students who walk Mercy's halls. Yearbooks are $70 and available online at yearbookordercenter.com. Type in code 13826 to be directed to Mercy's page. Yearbooks can also be purchased through Mrs. Hallie Smith.

MOSAIC in your Mailbox - The Fall 2017 issue of the Mercy Mosaic magazine is in the mail and posted online here. Be sure to check out features on the Legacy of Mercy, 2016-17 Honor Roll of Donors, student written articles about Mrs. Sattler and Fr. Jerry and other Mercy moments.

AmazonSmile Program - You can contribute to Mercy every time you shop at Amazon. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Mercy High School whenever you shop on AmazonSmile. Click here to get started.