March 23, 2018
                                                                                                           
Principal's Message
Dear Families,

I am pleased to share with you our 2018-2019 school year calendar. You will find it here. This was voted on and approved by our school board of trustees Thursday evening. This calendar constituted much collaboration between our school staff, surveys and feedback from parents. We tried to balance out the calendar as best we could in the best interest of our school community and really feel it does. Thank you for your patience as we have been working to get this complete and approved. We will begin working on the 2019-2020 calendar in hopes to have that approved by our May board meeting.

Here are some pieces of information behind some of the reasoning of our calendar or changes from the past year:

School Start Date: Survey results and feedback from staff and parents came back overwhelmingly in favor of starting one week before Labor Day. We had a two-year run of starting two-weeks before Labor Day.  

2-Hour Late Starts: For the second consecutive year we will not be having 2-hour late starts. Our survey results indicated system-wide favor of no 2-hour late starts. By omitting 2-hour late starts, we are adding 18 hours of instruction time into our schedule.

Friday, August 31st: This is an important day for our school. With our co-op with St. Clair in football we only have two regular season home football games this year, and August 31st is one of them. This will be an important day for our school to drum up some school spirit and hopefully have a pepfest with the St. Clair players to feed into that excitement.

Spring Break: This is no doubt a change from this year. Our general feedback has been to not have a spring break; it is 'too long' and 'too disruptive for our students' were common points of feedback. By having a spring break, there is a long period of time between breaks in the calendar. So, we have shortened our spring break to a couple of days, which also aligns with the end of the third quarter. This will be consistent with our 2019-2020 spring break as we move forward with that planning.

I just want to go back and touch on Monday's occurrence when the transformer blew out at SSND and we had to close school early. This is obviously a surprise situation that we can't predict, like a potential snow day but yet, have to be prepared for. While the call to close school was the right one, we realize we still have improvements to make in our communication efforts and will continue to work on those efforts.

I hope everyone has a wonderful break and a blessed Easter! Enjoy your time with family and friends. We look forward to seeing everyone on April 3!


Adam Bemmels
PS-12 Principal

 
All School News
IMPORTANT DATES:

ENROLL NOW T O TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EARLY REGISTRATION DISCOUNTS- deadline to take advantage is April 15.

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SCRIP UPDATE
Due to increased difficulty in picking up local orders for the volunteer committee, we will no longer be offering Culver's, Taco John's, Pub 500 or Liv Aveda after  March 19.  All orders for these cards placed on  March 18 will be honored.  We will be keeping McDonald's S crip for now.  We will continue to offer Casey's General Store  Scrip, but only in the $25 amount.  The $50 cards will no longer be available after  March 19

Please note that Liv Aveda does accept the Spafinder Wellness 365 card which is available to order the Shop with Scrip website.  We are sorry for any inconvenience this change may cause.  It has just become more and more difficult to arrange pick-ups for these local orders.  Thank you for your understanding and continued support of the  Scrip volunteers.

Your Scrip credit from 8/21/17- 3/18/18 was applied to your 2017-18 account.  If there is a remaining credit balance on your account once all charges from this current school year are settled, the credit will be rolled over to your 2018-19 account.  If you prefer for your credit to be rolled over now and applied to your 2018-19 tuition, please contact Ashlee at  lcsfinance@loyolacatholicschool.org


SEEDS OF FAITH TUITION ASSISTANCE
Seeds of Faith Tuition Assistance (Catholic Foundations of Southern Minnesota)
Catholic Scholarships for families with demonstrated needs. $132,000 available to Catholic families throughout Minnesota.  Applications are available in the Loyola Enrollment office or, email/call Angela Casteel:  507-388-0615   or  acasteel@loyolacatholicschool.org  for an application.
Applications are due May 17.


LUCKY 20 RAFFLE
Be sure to check with family members as you see them over Spring Break and Easter!
Click here for a printable Lucky 20 proxy ticket!




Click here to register and for more information!




 

Please save the date for Rockin' on the Hill! Saturday, July 21.  
Our bands this year are Neon LIVE and Pop ROCKS, bringing us past favorites to today's hits!

Follow Rockin' on the Hill on Facebook! Click here!

Activities News
SPEECH
Last weekend the Loyola speech team competed at JWP.  Results are as follows:

Rachel Kohlmeyer placed 5th in Novice Creative Expression
Elizabeth Benzmiller placed 3rd in Discussion
Brayton Matuska and Landon Javons placed 2nd in Duo 
Amanda Street and Brooke Mendele placed 2nd in Novice Duo
Mathew Gartner placed 4th in Extemporaneous Speaking 
Anita Goharfar placed 1st in Great Speeches and 1st in Original Oratory
Addison fraze placed 2nd in Novice Original Oratory 
Cymone Nusser placed 5th in Storytelling 
Luize Flores placed 4th in Storytelling 
Landon Javons plaved 1st in Storytelling 

Loyola placed 3rd overall. 






LOYOLA/ST. CLAIR SPARTANS SOFTBALL CLOTHING 
Please click here for softball clothing ordering information.


Be sure to check our  Activities Calendar for upcoming events and activities! Come out and show your Crusader pride!
Home & School Association News



 All LCS parents are welcome!  To join click here

Watch the  Home & School page on the Loyola website for updates

Join our page on  Facebook!

Community News

SUMMER SWIMMING LESSONS

Offered by Grace Hermer, Loyola grad. Click here for information



soccer.jpg
YMCA OUTDOOR SOCCER K-6
Beings the week  of April 9, first game April 21, last game May 19. Click here for more information and to access the registration form.  
Quick References
ATTENDANCE LINE:
507-386-5312
PRESCHOOL/PReK NEWS

PRESCHOOL ENROLLMENT 2018/19
2018/19 Preschool Enrollment for current families is open Enrollment is now open to the public. Click here for enrollment information. Click here for class offerings



Elementary News

K-6 YEARBOOK ORDERS 
Click here for the order form. Deadline for orders is Friday, April 6.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Our first graders performed Stations of the Cross on Thursday, representing  incidents during Jesus' progress from his condemnation to his crucifixion and burial.


More photos of Stations of the Cross can be found here.


4th GRADE "ADJECTIVE HEADS"
A fun way to learn about adjectives!


6th GRADE CHESS
6th graders are reading The Westing Game and chess is a favorite game among the characters of the book. This week, 6th graders took on the challenge of learning and playing chess in class.



OFFICER LOPEZ VISIT
This week Officer Lopez paid a friendly visit to Loyola, chatting with the  elementary students about his job duties as an officer.

 

HANGIN' ON THE HILL



GIRLS CLUB UPCOMING DATES:
Wed.  A pril 18
Secondary 7-12  News
7-12 NEW STUDENT LUNCH MEETING
On Thursday we hosted a pizza lunch for this year's new 7-12 students. It was an informal gathering that provided an opportunity for these students to share their experiences thus far at Loyola in a small group, moderated by Loyola administration and staff. 



ECON CLASS FIELD TRIP


ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROJECT
Blue bird houses for Blue Earth and Nicollet Counties.

FUN.COM TUXES FOR PROM
Click here for info

Sophomores and Juniors:  There is one more ZAP the ACT workshop offered this school year.  It is at East HS on Sat. March 24. Call Community Services at 387-5501 or register at www.mankatocer.com

Juniors:  Now is the time to begin setting up college visits for your spring break.  Most colleges will be in session. Remember that you want to see the colleges while the students are still on campus.

Juniors:  There will be a few college reps visiting in spring.  Here is the link to see when Bethany, Southwest MN State, and St. Cloud will be here.  Click here to get College Rep Visit

Seniors:  Keep working hard on all the local scholarships!  Click here for Scholarship Info .


SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES
Grades 9-11:  There are many summer camp opportunities-a few are free, some are low cost, and some have a higher fee but offer scholarships.  I have a folder in my office for anyone who wants to look at the opportunities.  I will list a couple of my favorite here.

Grades 9-12:  Minnesota Business Venture.  Yes, even current seniors can attend this one. MBV is an excellent leadership camp that will help with financial literacy, exploring some career paths, and developing teamwork with other high school students from across the state. They have outstanding inspirational business leaders sharing wisdom also.  If you apply before April 15th, this camp is just $150 for a 6 day overnight camp, either at St. John's (July 22-27) or St. Cloud U. (July 8-13).  Jerrid Buhs and Colton Corcoran both attended in recent years and loved it.   www.bestprep.org/mbv   They have scholarships readily available.  Great Value!!  Excellent for the student who wants some leadership experience for their NHS and college applications.

Ages 14-18:  Scrubs Camp is a hands on experience to learn about the many careers in the healthcare field.  It is a 3 day camp that will be held in Mankato June 18-20 for $150.  Register SOON as this fills up fast. http://healthforceminnesota.org/students/scrubscamp_registration.html
Students may use this in place of one of their 3 job shadowing experiences as long as they attend the full 3 days.  There are some scholarships available for this camp.  Email Mrs. Arians if you are interested in scholarships.

Juniors:  Camp College-free overnight camp at Bethany July 16-18.  Megan Hillisheim and Tatyana Beck both attended and loved it.  This camp will help you with college applications, financial aid, scholarships, and more. http://www.mn-acac.org/CAMP-COLLEGE      


ACT test   Registration                     
4/14                  3/9
6/9                    5/4
7/14                  6/8
Mark Your Calendars

3/26-4/2  Easter Break
4/1 Scrip order due 9pm
4/9 McEducator Night 5-7pm
4/15 Scrip order due 9pm
5/6 Scrip order due 9pm
5/14 Crusader Golf Classic

Elementary Mass: 9:50am Wednesdays  Secondary Mass: 10:40am Wednesdays

Please be sure you are checking the
Community Calendar  for all upcoming events!
SPIRIT SHOP NEWS
Shop the online Spirit Shop! Click  here

Be sure to  follow the Spirit Shop on Facebook for updates!

Questions? e mail the Spirit Shop
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