A Message from the Office of the President: |
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Happy New Year and Welcome Back, Little Flower Students and Families!
We are thrilled to be on the threshold of welcoming students back to the building on Monday, January 11, 2021, for a reentry to the hybrid learning model with our “A” cohort. Students are reminded to complete the COVID screening tool prior to entry and to take their temperature upon entering the building. It goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway, that masks must be worn at all times except for eating and social distancing must be observed. While not perfect, the opportunity to be together again is a happy step in a positive direction and now the vaccine rollout is beginning to gather some steam, we are hopeful that the light at the end of the COVID tunnel is beginning to brighten.
There are several seminal moments in the school year that we are working hard behind the scenes to maintain and schedule as part of the school year. Depending on the guidance provided on the benchmark day of January 15, 2021 when the current Philadelphia Department of Health restrictions are set to expire, we look forward with great excitement to getting back to Junior and Senior prom planning and scheduling events for Freshman and Sophomores to have some safe in person bonding experiences. Mrs. Rayer is working with the Activities’ Moderators and Student Leaders to bring these opportunities to our students.
To limit the chance of events being cancelled, we have scheduled Baccalaureate Mass and Graduation (the Conferring of Diplomas) as a combined event on Friday, June 11, 2021 at 10am at Holy Innocents Church in Juniata Park, where the Ring Mass was held. We anticipate that this will be a beautiful and intimate tradition and we pray that we can have more than 2 guests per family as hopefully restrictions ease.
We are also going to add an additional event on Thursday, June 10, 2021, we are calling the “Golden Sisterhood” ceremony, time TBD. This will be a chance for the Class of 2021 to be with their Golden Sisters from the Class of 1971. We are also going to invite our Sisters from the Class of 2020 to be with their Golden Girl Sisters from the Class of 1970, both who missed out on being together last June.
I am proud to report that we are 40 students ahead of this time last year in enrollment for the incoming class. Additionally we are tracking about $150,000 ahead in donations compared to this time last year. The momentum for and with Little Flower is undeniable. The wider world sees what we know to be true: Little Flower is here to stay and her devoted and growing following is committed to moving our mission forward.
We will be hosting a virtual information session on Wednesday, 1/13/21 at 630pm via Zoom, where you can learn more about some exciting new initiatives at Little Flower.
I encourage you to share widely with your friends and neighbors who have high school aged daughters who are searching for a place to call home that they need to Look No Further than Little Flower.
In gratitude –
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Jeane McNamara, President |
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SAVE THE DATE:
Little Flower Alumna, Dr. Barbara Klaczynska Schmidt ’64, will be presenting a virtual lecture and discussion on the topic of Little Flower High School and Catholic Girls’ Education in Philadelphia through the American Catholic Historical Society.
A zoom link will be offered and the event is free to the public.
FOOD DISTRIBUTION AT LITTLE FLOWER:
Starting Tuesday, 1/12/21, representatives from our neighbors at the Lenfest Center and North10 will be handling food distribution as follows in front of Little Flower at 1000 W. Lycoming Street:
Tuesdays from 12pm-2pm: Fresh produce from Philabundance
Wednesdays, from 9am-11am: Nutritional Development Services through the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is offering student breakfast and lunch meal boxes.
Thursdays from 12pm-2pm: Fresh produce from SHARE
All pick ups will occur in front of the LF entrance on W. Lycoming Street.
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A Message from the Office of the Principal and Academic Affairs: |
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Little Flower is preparing to administer the Covid vaccine to teachers as soon as the next tier of vaccination begins. We are strongly encouraging all employees to get the vaccine while distribution is targeted to frontline workers.
We are very hopeful that better times are ahead of us as the vaccine is rolled out.
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MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY AND WEEK
While Little Flower is closed for classes on Martin Luther King Day Monday, January 18, we are asking for volunteers to do Community Service at Little Flower, 10-12am.
Qaniya Benjamin is representing Little Flower at the Prayer Service for MLK Day. Little Flower will be sending a small group of students to join the congregation. (See flyer below)
We will celebrate the life and works of Martin Luther King throughout the week of January 18 with readings, reflections and presentations from the Black Student Union.
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NEW PROGRAM FROM THE SUCCESS CENTER
The Great Books program has been in existence for over 50 years. The goals are many, including appreciation for great literature, increased reading comprehension and participation in the shared inquiry method of learning.
This process is an active and collaborative search for answers to questions of meaning about a text. It is a research-supported method of learning that promotes deeper thinking through reading, discussion, and writing. Shared Inquiry enables teachers to work with students in an exciting intellectual partnership through a range of interpretive activities that stimulate students’ thinking. The Shared Inquiry approach develops students’ reading comprehension, critical thinking, and communication skills in the context of thinking about genuine problems of meaning raised by a rich work of literature.
Rooted in the Socratic method, Shared Inquiry is distinct in its focus on high-quality texts and the participation of a trained leader who helps participants arrive at their own well-reasoned interpretations of the text. There are a variety of ways to implement Great Books programs, but Shared Inquiry always involves close reading, questions, collaboration, and reflective thinking.
Students would gather one afternoon a week after classes to participate.
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WOMEN SPEAKER SERIES
This week I set out a challenge to the Little Flower community to see if we could bring a woman speaker in to talk to our girls every week until the end of the 2021 year. Little Flower girls can not wait for the world to right itself to live their lives to the full. We have lost many things over the last nine months. I am calling on this community to create the absolute best Little Flower experience we can for our girls and for ourselves.
Support Our Sisters Women Speaker Series Upcoming Speakers
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Monday, January 11
Sarah Dunphy Lelii, Professor of Psychology at Bard College. Sarah will be sharing her experience of working with a chimpanzee troop in Uganda.
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Thursday, January 20
Dr. Nicole Stokes, Associate Provost Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for our MLK week of celebration.
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Support Our Sisters Speaker Series
Next Friday, January 15th, Little Flower High School is very excited to announce that we will be holding our first ever Support Our Sisters Speaker Series. This will be an event where women leaders in our communities and beyond are invited to speak to our Little Flower community for a couple hours about topics relating to Self-Love/Care, leadership, unity, and other important topics.
During our first presentation with Ms. Cindy Gadzicki, students will look deeply at those aspects of our social, emotional and spiritual development that need a lift and demonstrate interactive ways to work toward loving ourselves in order to be able to love each other.
Our second presentation will be led by Ms. Abby Morgan, where Students will experience the tenets of learning to lead and analyze the courage that it takes to fail in order to move forward on the leadership journey. Students will sign up via Signup Genius, where links to the sessions will be posted. We are very excited to welcome all of our speakers.
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TECHNOLOGY REMINDER
Little Flower has welcomed Mr. Lucas Ostrowski as our new Director of Technology.
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UPDATES FROM THE ACADEMICS AFFAIRS OFFICE |
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We look forward to welcoming back our students to the building on Monday, January 11, 2021.
Students will complete their midterm assessments towards the end of January in anticipation for the close of the second quarter on January 29th, 2021. This will conclude our first semester at Little Flower for the 2020-2021 school year.
Monday, January 11, will be an "A" Group or Maroon Day.
It will be a D day in the Cycle Days.
During Period 2 on Monday, there will be a guest speaker for all students.
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You can access the NHS Virtual Tutoring by clicking on the link below and enter the passcode "tutor"
Meeting ID: 845 691 6257
Passcode: tutor
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A Message from the Student Life Office: |
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Congratulations to our Little Flower Concert Choir for their beautiful rendition of
"Somewhere in my Memory"!
Special thank you to Choir Director, Ralph Purri, for his hard work with our LF vocal sudents!
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ATTENDANCE AND OTHER REMINDERS
Parents, if your daughter is absent due to illness or any other reason, please call the Student Life Office (ext. 1128) and leave a message, or email Sister Margaret Peter at [email protected].
Students, please take responsibility for your attendance by emailing your teachers if you have technical difficulties or know that you are not going to be in their class for some reason. Always copy Sister Margaret Peter and Mrs. Rayer on your emails.
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Any student who arrives late to school as we return to our school, should come to the Student Life Office for a late pass. You will not be admitted to class without one. |
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Transpasses will be distributed on Monday, 1/11 and Tuesday, 1/12 at lunch periods. Please arrange to stop by the table in the cafeteria and get your transpasses. |
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SGA
Freshman SGA Rep Nominations will take place on Tuesday, January 12, for "B" Group students and on Wednesday, January 13, for "A" Group students.
The Freshman SGA Elections will take place on Tuesday, January 19, at the beginning of First Period.
The Installation will be at 8th period on Friday, January 22.
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If anyone needs a refresher on all of this information check the CSC Google Classroom page for the flyer, and if a student needs anything help with the Google Class room contact Miss. Stankiewicz. |
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A Message from the Guidance Department: |
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College Guidance
COLLEGE ACCEPTANCES
Now is the time seniors begin hearing about their college acceptances, if they applied to early action or early decision schools. Also, some colleges, that use rolling admissions, have begun sending acceptances too. Please be sure that you email these acceptance, scholarship and financial award letters to Mrs. Sheridan at [email protected]. We are excited to hear about your accomplishments and it is not too soon to celebrate! We will be collecting award letters throughout the spring.
For the seniors who are interested in attending college but have not yet applied, please take the following into account:
1) With rolling admissions schools, applications are reviewed as they arrive into the admissions office. As acceptances are sent out and spots are filled it becomes increasingly difficult to be accepted. While the deadline for most rolling admissions schools is late in the spring, I strongly suggest that students complete their applications for rolling admissions schools over the next few weeks. A few examples of schools with rolling admissions include West Chester, Cabrini, LaSalle, Jefferson and Holy Family.
2) With regular decision schools, like St. Joseph’s, Penn and Drexel, it is very important that all applications and supporting materials are submitted by the application deadline. Deadlines for regular decision schools are often in January and February. These schools will wait to review all applications at the same time and decisions will be released in April.
3) Deadline information for colleges can be found on their admission websites. Sometimes it is simplest to google what you need directly. For example, to find Drexel’s deadline options google “Drexel application deadline”
4) Students are strongly encouraged to check each of their colleges for additional scholarships. This information can be found with a google search, simply search “Drexel Scholarships”,” LaSalle Scholarships”, etc.
5) Don’t forget to apply for financial aid. Colleges build award packages from information submitted on the Free Application for Student Federal Aid (FAFSA). Even if you do not qualify for Federal Aid, your colleges may grant you their own need-based aid. The FAFSA can be completed online using your 2019 tax return information.
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COLLEGE ADMISSIONS BLOG
Here is a very helpful website where you can get many of your college admissions questions answered.
PHILADELPHIA FUTURES
The 31st addition of the Step Up to College Guide has been published electronically this year. This is the newest version of this great college resource.
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If you have a college question, do not hesitate to reach out to Kristin Sheridan at [email protected]. |
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Kristin Sheridan
Director of Guidance
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A Message from the Admissions Office: |
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To hold your daughter's spot in the Class of 2025, please Register Here. Please note that all registered students must have an application on file. Submitting an online registration form and payment is not an application. To submit an application, please visit Apply Now. If you have already submitted an application, you do not have to submit one again.
*All early acceptance determinations are conditional and contingent upon the fulfillment of all admissions requirements. Please visit Apply To LF Today for more details.
*Registration fees are non - refundable*
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Financial Aid Applications open! You can apply through May 1, 2021. Families must reapply each year. Everyone is encouraged to apply.
You can access the FACTS website here:
Please visit:
for further details.
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Please fill out the form linked below if you are in need of emergency aid or reevaluation of your current financial aid package for the 2021-2022 School Year.
Please note that this request is for current student only.
If you are an incoming student and would like to review your financial aid package, please contact Kia Benjamin, Director of Admissions at [email protected].
For current students, your request will be reviewed by the President and Tuition Offices. For additional questions, please contact Nicole Mathis, Tuition Officer at [email protected].
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Sit with a Sentinel
Shadowing is a perfect opportunity to see what a typical day at Little Flower is like! As we continue to persevere through the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, we would like to offer you the opportunity to “Sit with a Sentinel” in a virtual space and learn about the wonderful academic programs and activities Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls has to offer.
To register for the “Sit with a Sentinel” experience, please visit here
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Questions?
Please do not hesitate to contact the Admissions Department at any time for assistance. We look forward to working with you and guiding you throughout the admissions process.
Kia Benjamin
Director of Admissions
215-455-6900 ext. 1162
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The Day by Day in the Little Way
Fundraising Opportunity has been extended!
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The new publication titled Day by Day In the Little Way:365 Reflections on the Teachings of St. Therese Lisieux (which was offered as a part of a promotion to benefit Little Flower) has had the dates extended!
This book, which is currently available for purchase for $19.99 (plus $5.00 shipping per order), is available to purchase through the Catholic Life Institute website, Amazon and various Catholic bookstores and gift shops.
Little Flower has been offered an opportunity for our school to raise funds. By shopping on the Catholic Life Institute site (linked below) and purchasing the book, $8.00 is donated back to Little Flower for each book purchased.
The orders will be processed through their online store, and they handle the shipping of the books.
Little Flower will receive a portion of the proceeds at the close of the promotion!
If they sell 100 books, LF receives $800.00! There is no minimum number of books to purchase and there is no limit to the number of purchases!
This offer has been EXTENDED and is available until January 31, 2021.
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A Message from the Home and School Association: |
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Welcome back!!! Hope your Christmas and New year was filled with warmth and love!
We will continue to strive and work toward successful fundraisers, give you updates on school functions and volunteer opportunities, and bring some fun surprises to your girls!!
Check our Facebook page for dates and information. (Or you can always message us!)
Bless this year with love and light, bless this year with faith and sight, bless this year with grace and ease, bless this year with joy and peace.
Colleen, Stormy, Kristen, Kim, Sue, Tawanna
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