December 8, 2020
Electronic Signature Required for Mid-Term Grades

Parents - Mid-Term grades will be available on Thursday in your PowerSchool Parent Portal. After reviewing your child's mid-term grades for Quarter 2, we ask that you submit your electronic signature in your PowerSchool Parent Portal. To add your electronic signature, log in to your parent portal from a web browser: desales.powerschool.com (not accessible through the app), click on "Student Reports", then "2020-2021 M2 Progress Report." A“Signature” box will appear at the top left. To digitally sign the report, please click the “Signature” button at the top left. 

Parents are required to submit a signature for all SFD students in their family by Monday, December 14.

If you have any questions regarding this process or need your password reset, please email powerschool@desales.co.
Stallions in the Spotlight
Junior Miles Butler was named as a recipient of a D.D. Frye Fund Scholarship. The scholarship was established by a planned gift from Dan Frye, a graduate of Upper Arlington High School, who was a medic in the Air National Guard and was the founder of D.D. Frye & Co., specializing in restoring homes in German Village. Miles' scholarship is for $1,275.
Congratulations to junior Rori Draminski who was the Regional Poetry Award winner at the 2020 JustWrite Competition. Her poem, along with all the other state award winners' work, has been published in the book "A Collection of Voices: A JustWrite Anthology 2020."
Congratulations to senior Mia Slanoc who was recognized as a Student of the Month by the Westerville Rotary Club for her commitment to service.
Last Tuesday, the four students who turned in the most donations to our annual Canned Food Drive and the leaders of the top National Honor Society donation team headed to St. Stephen's Community House and St. James the Less' Food Pantry to drop off all the items collected last month. These donations will truly help those in need this holiday season.
Congratulations to the Class of 2021 for winning this year's Deck the Halls competition. All class hallways were decorated in different Christmas movie themes. It was great to arrive to school on Monday morning with a little extra Christmas cheer spread throughout our halls.
Holiday Annual Giving

TOGETHER, as Stallions, we are meeting the needs of providing excellence in Catholic education. Your annual gift each year makes it possible for us to continue to serve the students at St. Francis DeSales High School in a first-class manner. 

As we end this unique year, we would like to THANK all those who have given to the Holiday Annual Giving. Currently we have received 89 gifts with $19,525 raised! There is more work to be done to reach our goal of 300 gifts by December 31. Your generosity to the Stallion Way Fund will ensure the students commute is safer and will alleviate traffic on Karl Road.

Francis the Elf has been helping us reach our 300 gift goal with the “12 Days of Christmas Challenge.” We are on day 6 of the challenge and if the goal is met, Francis will open a gift of $5,000 to add to the Stallion Way Fund. So far, we have met 12 gifts each day. Help us to continue to rise to the challenge over the next 6 days!

We’ve been working hard on the planning and engineering of the Stallion Way project and are excited to get it started this summer with your support. Your gift will benefit the students at St. Francis DeSales High School for decades to come.
Nurse's Notes

COVID-19 Travel Advisory
Please follow CDC and the State of Ohio recommendations for travel. States with a 15% or higher positivity rate, require a 14-day quarantine period before returning to school. This also includes international travel. 

Positivity information for Ohio’s travel advisory is updated once a week on Wednesdays, please continue to check the following link for updates: COVID-19 Travel Advisory.

Notify the School Nurse, Kelli Fitzpatrick, of any out-of-state and international travel.

COVID-19 Symptoms to Watch for:
  • Fever > 100℉
  • New or worsened cough
  • Loss of taste or smell
  • Nasal congestion or runny nose
  • Headache
  • Body aches
  • New or worsened fatigue
  • Nausea/vomiting/diarrhea

Please keep your child home if they present with any of the above symptoms and contact the School Nurse, Kelli Fitzpatrick at (614) 267-7808 ext. 435 or email fitzpatrick@desales.co.

If a household member is being tested for COVID-19, students and siblings must stay home until results are received.

Keep your child at home until the following criteria are met:
Upcoming Events

Feast of the Immaculate Conception All-School Mass (White Group)
When: December 9 at 9:45am
To join us for Mass, please visit https://www.sfdstallions.org/all-school-mass.

Red and Green Dress Down Day and Pictures with Santa
When: December 10
A $2 donation will support the Holiday Blessings Program

Mid-Term Grades Available on the PowerSchool Parent Portal
When: December 10

Parent-Teacher Conferences
When: December 10 from 5:30pm to 8pm via Zoom
An email with the SignUpGenius link was sent last Thursday. Please contact Mr. Jones at jones@desales.co with any questions.

Early Signing (for College Football) Celebration Day
When: December 16 at 3:30pm
Where: SFD gymnasium
Congratulations to Quintell Quinn who will continue his football career at Ohio University. We will live stream the signing for those who cannot attend; a link will be available at www.stallionpride.com.

Wellness Webinar for Parents
When: December 16 at 6:30pm via Zoom
Register in advance for this webinar at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yrNuZOKNSc-dzTkXhkrXKg. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Please see more information on this event in section below.

Christmas Break
When: December 18 - January 3
Wellness Webinar
“How to Put Your Marriage First Without Dropping the Ball on Everything Else”

Via a Zoom webinar next Thursday, December 16 at 6:30pm, parents are invited to join presenters, Andrew and Terri Lyke, as they speak about the five pillars of healthy, thriving marriages, focusing primarily on the first, which is Primacy. The Lykes note, "Putting our marriage first is a tricky proposition, especially when we have careers, kids, church, community, and extended family. In each of those areas there are possible urgencies that grab our attention, claim our time, and use up our resources. We will talk about how to healthily put our marriage first despite such myriad urgencies and keep our commitments to the rest of life." To read more about Andrew and Terri Lyke's work, please visit https://catholicspeakers.com/profiles/terri-and-andrew-lyke.

Register in advance for this webinar at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yrNuZOKNSc-dzTkXhkrXKg. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Click on the image below for the Counselor's Newsletter.
Spiritual Reflection
Once again, during these Advent days, Lord God, we are blessed to hear a divine announcement to Mary. Her Son, to be born shortly, will be called holy—indeed, Son of God most high. Mary’s bewilderment is ours, too: how can it be that we deserve to have the divine Son of God come among us and teach us the lessons of holiness? We live in the midst of a great mystery, and we ask for faith that can help us truly understand. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.