Volume 22~ February 2, 2020
St. Joseph's Regional Jr. High School
News & Notes ~ Week of February 2, 2020
Mission Statement: St. Joseph Regional Jr. High School is a Catholic, inclusive school for 7th and 8th grade where students learn and grow in respect for God, themselves, and others, engage in academically rigorous curricula and a wide-range of meaningful service and enrichment experiences. 
Budding Leadership at St. Joe's

You may have heard your children and the teachers talking about postiions I've asked them to step into or tasks I've asked them to oversee recently. I'm asking them to level-up their leadership. At this age, students need to be explicitly mentored in how to lead in effective and contributing ways.

I'm observing the students and teachers and learning about their strengths and the opportunities to engage them in meaningful work. For example, in this newsletter, you will find that several articles written by students and teachers. They are responding with enthusiasm, motivation and questions. For example, Adam Sweet, who has been serving as our girls' basketball team manager, wrote this week's sports recap. The student council members will be contributing an article each week about their work and Paul Thibault will be coordinating readers and servers for all of the masses as the Religious Chair of the Student Council. Franklin Rop, who is an exceptional math scholar skilled in not only the calculation but applying the concepts, is our new Bear Cave School Store Financial Manager. He will be working with me to develop the plan for a successful future for the Bear Cave School Store that supplies scholarships for field trips. Kim Bui, a budding photographer, will be bouncing around school with her own gorgeous camera to assure we have high quality photos for our yearbook. Salina Giavagnoli and Meghan Schmidt, who are passionate about cooking, will be leading the coordination of the 8th-grade graduation breakfast as I teach them to plan and organize a classy and delicious meal for their classmates.

It's important for the kids to see that they have a common and positive mission, they each have their own part in creating the school they want to inhabit. To me, my own leadership is about raising up each person, delegating with wisdom to other capable leadership.

In addition to academic and cultural leadership, I have had talks with students about their social leadership. This is not appointed, this is earned and equally important. It is easy for us all to get carried away and say things amongst friends for a laugh or to spout when we are upset. However, measured words are those that have loving intent and communicate a respect for others, even when we wrestle with difficult feelings. As I work with teachers and students in the classrooms, hallways and other settings in the school, I am having ongoing personal conversations with students who need mentorship in this truth. If I hear or witness that someone has said things to another student that do not align with the mission of our school, Jesus's teachings and do not have loving intent, that student and I will be having a chat. Temperance means you think very carefully about how those words will land on the person to whom you are speaking.

'The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,
and their tongues speak what is just.
The law of their God is in their hearts;
their feet do not slip.— Psalm 37:30–31"

Jesus tells us that the things that come out of someone’s mouth originate in their heart. ( Matt. 15:18 ) A leader needs to pay attention to the things they say because their words are an indicator of their spiritual condition. A good leader’s words will bring light and life.

Leadership is dimensional and visible. It matters to us that we support the development of the whole student, mind, body and spirit alongside you. I want these students not only to envision their academic (and later) professional success, but I want them to envision the beautiful relationships they will have with God and those around them when they rise up to be the leader they were meant to be.
~ Dawn


Unity at St. Joe's Through Service Work
Charitable Service Work at St. Joseph Regional Jr. High School
~ Language Arts with Mrs. Deignan~
Both seventh and eighth grades have been busy building skills in the areas of research and expository writing. We have used examples of text to differentiate narrative writing from expository writing. Our eighth-graders have chosen their own topics to finish the prompts: 
A brief history of ….
Why animals …..
Why do people ……
The causes (or effects)  of……
Their imaginations have brought up some very creative topics and they are learning and teaching us a lot! When we have finished, we will have insight into why people go bald, why people lie, avoid eye contact, become addicted to social media and use companion animals; we will have a better understanding of the Neuremburg Trials, the history of basketball and soccer, the origins and evolution of Marci Agra’s and Nintendo (did you know Mario and Luigi’s parent company was founded in Japan in 1899?!) 
The seventh-grade is busy at work with “Inventor Investigation”. We looked at many common items and narrowed down our lists to those that interested us the most. At the conclusion of the process we will meet the female inventors responsible for the life rafts that saved hundreds on the Titanic, created WiFi (which she thought upon the 40’s!), the ice cream maker and the skill saw. We will know from where the Zamboni came and how Adidas got its name and its fame; the history of the cotton mill and the evolution of the automobile.
Most importantly, everyone is seeing the value of the process, asking good questions and evaluating relevant sources. This may be the first time many of them have focused so much on the process rather than racing to the final product. It’s painful for those who could jump right to the final draft but the process will set them up for great success in the future. The kids have learned how to structure their five paragraph essays, edit with peers and use MLA format for citation. 
We hope to finish a creative piece to this research before February vacation. Please ask your kids about their question or invention research. If possible, encourage them to read more about the topic and show you their video text sources! Stay tuned for our final reveal! 
Peace and Blessings!
~ Mrs. Deignan
School Scripts Spelling Bee Winner
Brooke Harnden! Runner Up, Aimee Weber

The NH State Spelling Bee: March 7, 2020 @ 1:00 pm

The New Hampshire Union Leader is pleased to present the preliminary competition for the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Silver Center for the Arts at Plymouth State University.
Nearly 200 of the state’s top spellers will compete in the 2020 Union Leader State Spelling Bee.
The public is encouraged to attend this free event beginning at 1 p.m. The student to emerge as the top speller will represent the Granite State at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May in Washington, D.C.

Parent Engagement News


  • PLEASE NOTE: We will not have school on February 11th (Election Day) and 17th (President's Day). Our building is used as a city voting location, as many schools are, so we do not want students here. We will, however, have a professional development day for teachers. Please note these days off on our lunch calendars. The school calendar will be aligned next year across all Manchester Catholic Schools.

  • PTO Meetings: February 18th, 7-8pm, Click here to join us by video! Please consider joining us. The meetings are remote, video gatherings for your convenience and the more members we have the more we can do to support our teachers and curriculum projects like Mr.Rosa's terrariums.

  • Our Advisory Board meeting will be on March 5th , 6:00pm-7:30pm in the St. Joseph's library. Notes from the November meeting are here. This board has been reviewing outward facing documentation to assure it aligns with our mission. In January, we will be reviewing the St. Joseph Regional Jr. High budget.

  • You may visit our Family Page to pay for the January 31st, 10am-12pm, snowtubing trip to McIntyre, just one of our Catholic Schools Week Activities. Please submit all checks or go online to pay by Wednesday.
  • Please do check out the new scholarship from CMC called the Hearts and Hands and DO APPLY! (see our website)
Bears Athletics
Girls basketball 
By Adam Sweet, Girls Basketball Manager 

The girls finished the season with a 10-2 record. This earned them the number three seed in their division. In the quarterfinals, the girls went up against the number six seed, the Derryfield Cougars. In overtime, the girls managed to defeat the Cougars by a score of 49-45. In the semifinals the girls faced the number two seed Chester. In a valiant effort the girls were defeated by a score of 37-22. Next up is the catholic schools tournament where we hope to get first place!

In other sports news:
We are in need of a track coach! If you'd like the kids to have a track team, help us round up an enthusiastic mentor for the kids!

Always on Top!
Please note, I am monitoring grades, conduct and effort throughout the quarter. Students must maintain a minimum of C in each class and 3 or better in conduct & effort to be eligible to participate.
Important Dates Ahead

Looking Ahead:

February 7th: Valentine's Dance (Bring-a-Friend), 7pm-10pm (Date changed from the 14th)
February 11th: Voting Day, No School
February 17th: President's Day, No School
February 22-29: Winter Vacation
Enrichment at St. Joseph Regional Jr. High
St. Joe's Choir
Choir students should meet in the library on Wednesdays, 2020 at lunch. The first of their visits will be to St Teresa's Manor.