January
Principal's Message
Greetings!

I am very pleased to share the impressive results of our 8th graders' high school application process. St. Ursula Villa graduates are typically highly-sought after by Cincinnati-area high schools and often receive multiple acceptance offers from the schools to which they apply. Additionally, Villa students frequently receive merit scholarships based on their standardized test scores, grades, teacher recommendations, demonstrated leadership, or application essays with many 8th graders receiving scholarship offers from multiple schools.

St. Ursula Villa's Class of 2021 received merit scholarships from 10 different schools valued - over the course of their four years of high school - at $899,800. This total is quite impressive because the 8th grade class is relatively small at 29 students. Of particular note - 62% of the class received at least one merit scholarship offer and 100% were accepted into their first-choice school. Congratulations, Class of 2021!

We credit student success to the outstanding work of St. Ursula Villa faculty and staff for establishing solid academic foundations; developing curious, engaged learners; and nurturing personal growth and leadership. The Class of 2021 proves the value of a St. Ursula Villa education and we are very proud of our 8th graders for their achievement!
Kent Halaby
Interim Principal
EDUCATION
3rd graders created grid maps as a culminating activity for their map skills unit. They applied their knowledge of cardinal directions, map keys, grid location, and indexes to design and name their own town.
Traditional 3-year-olds learned about the arctic and the animals that live there.
5th grade Math students built tiny houses and determined the total surface area of their unique creations by multiplying and adding decimals.
Students in Montessori C learn about the rain forest through activities such as correctly placing various animals in the 4 habitat layers.
We are very proud of our students who participated in the 4-8th grade Spelling Bee during the homeroom qualifying rounds and advanced to the school-wide competition. Congratulations to winner Lily Pavelka (6th grade) who will represent St. Ursula Villa at the city competition.
Many classrooms, including 3rd grade, watched the 2021 Presidential Inauguration and witnessed the transfer of political leadership and power to the 46th President of the United States.
In Gym class, Traditional 4-year-olds built structures as part of their architecture/builder studies.
Traditional Kindergarteners learn about Arctic animals with activities that combine reading and science. The students become Arctic Explorers and read non-fiction text about 6 different animals, recorded important information in a journal, and created a replica of each animal. 
In Science, 8th graders studied magnetism, explored the different characteristics of magnets, and discovered how to create temporary magnets.
In December, the 2nd grade class read Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure! together. Students were asked to share an adventure with Stanley over Christmas Break, take pictures to document their fun, and write a journal entry describing their adventure. 
In Social Studies, the 5th Grade is studying "The History and Culture of Latin America." They examined 12 explorers whose travels took them from Europe to the Americas on various routes and charted their journeys. Each student chose an explorer to feature in the Explorer Gazette and explained how and why the explorer came to South America.
Montessori preschoolers develop large motor skills, balance, and coordination while playing Hopscotch in Gym class.
4th grade Math students learned decimal place value and used this knowledge to make Decimal Art creations. Students filled in a hundreds grid to make designs and images, then calculated the decimal and equivalent fraction for each color used.
Toddlers develop letter recognition and name familiarity through repetition and engaging classroom activities.
FAITH
Each month, a Primary, Intermediate, and Junior High student is selected by our faculty for demonstrating one of the nine Characteristics of an Ursuline Education. We commend these Ursuline Students of the Month for exemplifying January's characteristic of Emphasis on Diversity Within the School: Lainey Kluska (Primary), Luke Wittekind (Intermediate), and Caitlyn Frodge (Junior High).
After learning about Old Testament prophets and their messages, 8th grade Religion students completed a project about a Modern Day prophet. Students chose a person from modern day society, researched and presented interesting facts about them, and created word cloud images from quotations attributed to their prophet. Prophets included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Rosa Parks, Michael Jordan, Malala Yousafzai, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
We celebrated St. Angela Merici's Feast Day with a Mass officiated by Fr. Barry and helped by our 8th graders. The Mass was live-streamed to the classrooms and can be viewed here.
COMMUNITY
Collection bins have been designed in preparation for upcoming Catholic Schools Week and Community Appreciation Day. We are launching a sock drive to donate socks to Mary Magdalen House, an organization that is "an oasis of hospitality providing a safe and pleasant place for persons in need to shower, shave, brush their teeth, use a toilet, and have clothes laundered."
The Villa is pleased to announce Gina & Ryan Kyte and Val & Matt Iacobucci as honorary co-chairs of Villa Royale - Villabration 2021. With a combined 28 years as Villa parents and a total of 5 children, the Kytes and Iacobuccis share a love for St. Ursula Villa and its signature event, Villabration. Please plan to attend Villa Royale - Villabration 2021 on April 17th for an exciting evening of food, fellowship, and fundraising to benefit St. Ursula Villa. More event details and information is available here.
Villa Parents' Organization (VPO)
VPO is getting ready to celebrate Catholic Schools Week by providing a catered lunch for faculty and staff on Teacher Appreciation Day and snacks for the teachers all week.
Villa Boosters
These 8th grade girls recently played their last home basketball game in the Villa gym and is the first Villa girls basketball team to play in Level 1, the most competitive division in GCCYS, from 6-8th grade. Coached for the last 6 years by Doug Nienaber and Dan Ferris, the players developed game skills and excelled on the court to earn Level 1 placement. We look forward to an exciting GCCYS tournament in February! Go, Eagles!

As a reminder, spring sports registration closes February 1st. Please visit suvboosters.org to sign up today!
Faculty Feature
Monsieur Olivier Tylka has been St. Ursula Villa's French teacher (Kindergarten - 8th grade) for 9 years. Mr. Tylka grew up in Paris, France and still has family there. He describes his most significant accomplishment as "graduating from an American university and earning a B.A. in History from the University of Cincinnati." Mr. Tylka enjoys jogging, history, and baking - and baked the apple tart with almond cream filling pictured here.

More fun facts about Mr. Tylka:
  • Favorite Food: "So many favorites - pizza, 'pave au poivre,' creme brulee, and pumkpin pie"
  • Favorite Super Hero: "Superman because he is an immigrant from another planet"
  • Favorite Quote: "I am fine!" Ross Geller in Friends
  • Favorite Book: "Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand - it is a great classic in French literature"
  • Most Beautiful Place: the region of Provence in France
  • Why I Love Working at the Villa: "So many reasons - I enjoy motivating the students and the support of my co-workers."