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MERCY MEMO PARENT E-NEWSLETTER -
December 2016
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Wit's End...notes from the principal
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KISS. Probably not what you think, but that's OK. Yes, it is the very start of a long holiday break so as you read this final column of 2016, you might consider that I have sent along a personal gesture of love and affection to each of you, a kiss. Nice thought, but incorrect nonetheless.
KISS. That is an acronym for the phrase "Keep It Simple Stupid," a design principle noted by the U.S. Navy back in 1960. Basically the principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated. Makes sense. It originated from a man by the name of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. In charge of a team of design engineers at Lockheed, Johnson gave a handful of tools to the group and, as the story goes, challenged them to design a jet aircraft that had to be repairable by an average mechanic, out in the field, under combat conditions with only those few tools. Hence, the most successful design required the maximum simplicity, the kind of intelligent design that could be mistakenly seen as stupid. Well, today, I am taking the KISS approach in penning my final thoughts, and sharing my resolution for the new year.
2017 goal : Optimism. I want more of it in my life and, to that end, I must make a few adjustments. Here are my choices.
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Move more. Walk, run, or climb, and sweat a little every single day.
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Seek support. Find the persons around me who look ahead, not behind.
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Defeat failure. When I miss the mark, forgive myself and work a bit harder the next go round.
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Serve others. Focus outward, and less on my own minimal hardships.
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Control the message. Weed my social media garden - un-friend and un-follow negativity.
Five steps. No real expense. No excuse. Keep It Simple Stupid. See? There's a KISS for ya anyway.
Blessings to you and yours,
Mrs. Carolyn Witte, Principal
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Thank you to all who attended our December Mercy Mom Meeting. We had a great time of fun and fellowship. We had a special presentation from the Mercyaires to get us all in the Christmas spirit. Everyone loved the cookie and ornament exchange. We will not be meeting in January, but hope to see you on Febuary 6, 2017! Have a very Happy Holiday Season from the Mercy Mothers Club!
Be sure to check out the Mothers Club home page and calendar for more information about upcoming events and important notes.
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HURRY! Get Your MDC 500 Raffle Tickets Today!
 The Mercy Dads Club is into the final weeks of the MDC 500 Raffle and we are well short of our goal of selling the maximum 500 tickets (increasing the odds of winning). Help us to continue to provide the many things we do for and with our daughters, Mercy High School and various clubs and teams as detailed here.
This is our only fundraiser of the year and replaced the Grand Raffle, holiday wreath and garland sale, and the Irish raffle. We need the support of the entire Mercy Community to make the raffle and our year a success! We would like to congratulate Mercy staff member Marianne Corrigan who won the 4th Early Bird Drawing. Marianne has been an avid supporter of the Dads Club for many years!
1st Prize: $10,000
2nd Prize $3,000
3rd Prize: $1,000
Tickets cost $100 each. There are 3 ways to purchase tickets and ticket stubs will be mailed to you. Good luck!
- Fill out the stubs that were recently mailed to all families that had not purchased a ticket and return to Mercy High School
- Click here to complete the order form to purchase raffle tickets by cash or check.
- You may also purchase by credit card online at mhsmi.org/ecommerce/mdcraffle-16.
Dads Club Meeting
Meet, greet and eat with Mercy Dads at the next Dads Club meeting Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at 6:30pm in the Cafeteria.
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God Bless the newly inducted Youth Mercy Associates
Celia McGrath; Abbey Hembree; Madeleine Byrnes and Danielle McClain and current members
Rochelle Chezick; Claire Johnston; Molly Lyons; Josephine Wenson; Katherine Colleran; Sarah Kurpiers; Sarah Pegler; Nicole Belans; Sydney Van Acker; Brooke O'Brien; Madison Reckker; Bridget Kenney; Lauren Lytle and Lauren Foley who made their re-commitment at Mass on December 8th. Along with bringing the girls closer to Catherine McAuley and to the community of the Sisters of Mercy, the Youth Mercy Associates wish to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
- By upholding Catherine McAuley's joy in the love of the gospel, her vision of faith, and mercy
- By praying, reflecting and sharing together
- By letting God's light shine through everything we do especially in the sharing of our gifts and talents in the service of others
- By working with the Adult Associates and Sisters in addressing the Critical Concerns: Women's Issues; Care for the Earth; Non-Violence; Racism; Immigration.
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Important End of the Semester Information
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Friday, December 23 - Thursday, January 5
PowerSchool will be turned off on Friday, December 23 and turned back on Thursday, January 5. The purpose for turning off PowerSchool is to give students and staff a true break over the holiday. Please note: Staff are not expected to answer emails over the Christmas holiday. Emails can be sent, but staff are not expected to respond until we return to school on Monday, January 9, 2017.
Friday, January 13
First semester grades will be reviewed, double-checked and posted by 9am.
Final Exam/Essays/Project/Presentation Policy
Final Exams/Essays/Projects/Presentations will be weighted 20% of the final grade in ALL classes except for some courses in Performing Arts and Art departments. All Final exams/Essays/Project/Presentations will be a common final assessment (exam, project, paper). This will be implemented in ALL courses. Exams need to be at least 75% the same for all students taking the course. The other 25% can be determined by each individual teacher.
Wishing all of our Mercy students success on their final exams and a blessed and relaxing holiday season!
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Robotics Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
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Mercy High School and the Greater Farmington Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Mercy Robotics Team, The Riveters, on Friday, December 16, 2016. We celebrated the new dedicated space at Mercy which will house equipment and materials to support Robotics. This new advanced space will make Robotics more feasible for Mercy students to participate and compete in the coming years as well as help contribute to STEM type activities at the school.
Watch the robot cut the ribbon here!
Mercy is the largest all-female high school in Michigan to house their own FIRST Robotics Team. Team 1481 The Riveters is only in their third year of competition, but finished 59 out of 411 teams in the State of Michigan last year and is the current defending State Champion in Imagery for the iconic representation of Rosie the Riveter. They also qualified the team for the World Championship of Robotics in St. Louis last spring. The team is dedicated to inspiring women to pursue careers in STEM related fields and the business of technology. There are currently 45 students and 20 mentors on the team.
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Mercy students, parents, staff and alumnae: your word of mouth is Mercy's best advertising! Help us spread the word about the benefit of a Mercy education by simply referring a prospective 7th or 8th grader to our upcoming Winter OPEN HOUSE on Thursday, February 2, 2017.
Mercy Alumnae and their families are invited to an early open house legacy tour from 6:00pm - 6:30pm. Arrive at the Chapel entrance. General Open House is from 6:30pm - 8:00pm beginning at the Lobby entrance.
Open House is a great opportunity for prospective families to learn more about Mercy. Families will receive a student-guided tour and meet administrators, teachers, parents and alumnae. More information about the admissions process can be found on our website at mhsmi.org/admissions.
If you know of a future Mercy girl in your parish or neighborhood, please encourage her to contact the Admissions Office at [email protected] and arrange a day to shadow a student.
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**NEW LOCATION! Farmington Hills Manor**
23666 Orchard Lake Rd, Farmington Hills, MI 48336
The 38th Annual Mercy Auction is right around the corner and there are lots of exciting things happening to make this a successful event!
Tuition Raffle tickets are in the mail. These raffle tickets are $25 each and for each ticket sold you are entered into a drawing for FREE TUITION for 2017-18 OR $8,000 cash for first prize,$1,500 cash for second prize, and $500 cash for third prize
During the holiday season there are additional opportunities to support the auction as well. Receive a gift that is great but not great for you? Re-gift it to the auction! Have extra baskets from holiday gifts that you are not using? Re-purpose by donating them to the auction and we will use to display items the night of the event. All auction donations will be accepted at the reception desk during school hours.
Do you have a product or service not conducive for bidding? Advertise! From business card to full page color sizes we have a spot for all. Where do you GO? Who do you KNOW? Advertising contracts are available online here.
Click here for all things auction and save the date of Saturday, February 18th for a night of fun, food and friends! Please do not hesitate to contact Olivia Hanna in the Special Events Office at 248-893-3535 or [email protected] with any questions, suggestions or to volunteer.
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Congrats College Bound Athletes!
The Mercy Athletics Department hosted a group signing day on Tuesday, December 6th to celebrate all athletes committing to play a sport next year at the college level. Congratulations to
Liz Susitko - Volleyball, Adrian College;
Mila Fons - Hockey, Davenport University;
Natalie Vaitas - Hockey, Aquinas College;
Isabella McDonald - Volleyball, Lawrence Tech University;
Samantha Kleedtke - Soccer, University of Wisconsin;
Sarah Clark - Soccer, Purdue University;
Alaina Skellett - Swimming, University of Miami;
Sophia VanAcker - Softball, Lehigh University;
Gianna Parlove - Soccer, Grand Valley State University;
Caitie Baron, Soccer - Xavier University.
Cheer on your Marlins!
It's beginning to look a lot like Basketball, Bowling, Figure Skating, Ice Hockey, Skiing and Pompon, everywhere you go! Check the
athletics calendar and even get
driving directions. Our athletes are always making headlines. Read some sports features
here.
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Student Successes...Applause! Applause!
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Congrats Jordyn! Varsity Quiz Bowl player,
Jordyn Kreucher received her varsity letter in an informal ceremony at the regular Quiz Bowl practice after school on December 13th. Jordyn accumulated most of the necessary varsity points for her letter while participating her sophomore and junior years as a key player on the Novice and JV teams. As a Varsity player, her stellar performance in meets resulted in qualifying totals and her enthusiastic participation ensured she receive her letter. For Jordyn, participation in Quiz Bowl has followed her demanding schedule as a key player on Mercy's volleyball teams.
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 Wow, Katie! Katie Minnich is girls MLive Detroit Swimmer of the Year. As the state champion in the event as a freshman and sophomore, Minnich returned for her junior season this fall with every intention of defending her title. Not only did Minnich defend her title, she also posted the fastest 100-yard backstroke time ever a Division 1 championship meet, swimming a time of 53.99 in the prelims.
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 Let's hear it for Latin! December 6-7 was Mercy's long-held Junior Classical League tradition,
Salmagundi!
Salmagundi
is Mercy's annual Christmas bazaar run by JCL students, which was started decades ago by Latin teacher Sr. Marjorie Allen, RSM.
Students were in the entrepreneurial spirit, as they made and sold Christmas ornaments, candles, bookmarks, hair bows, and their famous chocolate-covered pretzels.
This year, JCL students held a raffle for a Lush relaxation basket, which Hannah Roegner '17 won. Thank you to all who participated in carrying on this wonderful Mercy tradition!
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Latest and Greatest from the Alumnae Office
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Bunco Ladies Night Out
The Alumnae Association invites all Mercy moms to Bunco!
Friday, January 20, 2017
7:00-9:30pm
Mercy High School
If you can throw dice, you know how to play Bunco!
Sandwiches & snacks
Wine, beer & pop
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Megan Carolin '05, Hospital Account Manager at American Cancer Society, spoke last week with students in Relationships classes. The class had been discussing vocations, and Megan shared her experience with Mercy Volunteer Corps and as an Associate of the Sisters of Mercy. Newly engaged, Megan also gave a glimpse into the marriage preparation process. Thank you, Megan!
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Shop. Buy. Do what you always do, but designate
Mercy High School to receive a percentage of your purchases. You can contribute to Mercy every time you shop at Amazon, Target and Kroger. Spread the word and pass it along to family and friends.
Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases
to
Mercy High School whenever you shop on AmazonSmile. AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know.
(*click on Community - then Take Charge of Education)
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Christmas Cheer from The Mercyaires!
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Enjoy this video of the Mercyaires Holiday Extravaganza performance held last week at the Costick Center. Complete with student interviews and favorite songs of the season.
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MNotes...Miscellaneous Info You Need to Know
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Dale Carnegie Course for Teens - Dale Carnegie for Teens is designed to prepare young people for the real world. It gives them the skills they need to reach their goals and live up to their full potential - at school, home, and work. The curriculum was developed with feedback from students. It consists of eight 3.5 hour, highly interactive sessions that include real-life issues and scenarios. Dale Carnegie for Teens
helps students become more confident and better able to cope with the pressure and stress adolescents face. Flyer and Registration Info Here. Classes are held on the following Wednesdays at Brother Rice High School from 3:30pm-7:00pm: January 18, 25; February 1, 8, 15, 22; March 1, 8.
Daddy Daughter Dance - The Junior Class will be hosting the Daddy Daughter Dance, "King of My Heart,"
January 28, 2017 from 8pm to 11pm in the Mercy Gymnasium. Save the date for a fun evening filled with dancing, entertainment, snacks, and the opportunity for Mercy girls to write their dad or father figure a special letter. The cost is $25 per dad and the tickets will go on sale
January 23rd.
Fast Forward Rochester Calling for Entries - Do you have a passion for the environment? Showcase your perspective! The Fast Forward Film Festival, Rochester's only environmental film festival, is calling for entries. No film making experience required, no entry fee, cash prizes, and an acclaimed jury. Short environmental films accepted under 5 minutes in length and of any genre made by Rochester residents.
Entries due February 27, 2017. Rochester's Fast Forward Film Festival will premiere
March 31 & April 1, 2017 at The Little Theatre and George Eastman Museum and selected entries will screen. For more information, please visit
www.fastforwardroc.org or email
[email protected].
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We Wish You a Merry Christmas
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"May God preserve and bless you and grant you all the graces and precious gifts reserved for this holy season." Venerable Catherine McAuley.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at Mercy High School.
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