St. Joseph's Regional Jr. High
News & Notes ~ Week of November 10th
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Much Respect and Gratitude to the Veterans in Our St. Joe's Family and Beyond
I would like to extend the deepest gratitude to all of the service members in our St. Joseph's family. I know many of you have given your heart and soul in the name of service to our country. You have spent time from family, you have acted on behalf of our freedom, trained tirelessly, and from all of us at St. Joseph Regional Jr. High School, I'd like to you to know, we are humbly thankful.
No stranger to the sacrifices service members and their families make, I have always held a special place for Veteran's Day. My grandfather served in WWII, myy father served 20 years in the USAF, my brother served in Mosul, Iraq for a year as a 19-year-old and my son is now entering his fifth year of enlistment. We rarely, if ever have holidays in which we are all present. I grew up with a countdown chain on my wall for the number of days until my dad came home from TDY, prayed and waited for news after the mess hall was bombed on my brother's base, and sent my son on a plane bound for Texas, not to see or hear from him for months.
I listen to our National Anthem with my heart, not my ears. I hear planes differently above us. Each has a unique sound. When you have seen your father in his flight suit on the flightline and dress blues upon retirement, pictures of your baby brother in dusty ABU's and your boy marches to the drumbeat in uniform on the 90 degree tarmac for the first time amongst 700 other graduates, your heart skips a beat, a little from pride and a little from fear. They know what they have promised and they've done so wholeheartedly.
Veteran's Day is a special holiday to my family and it may also be to yours. To those who have served, are serving, and their families, much respect and gratitude for your wholehearted promise. We appreciate you.
~ Dawn
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September 3, 2016, our son graduated at Lackland AFB, with highest honors into what would be a six-year enlistment. Today, he serves as an air traffic controller. He is a fourth-gneration military service member, that includes my grandfather, father, brother, and Joe.
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The Virtuous Adolescent
This month students have been learning about the experience of the four cardinal virtues:
prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude
upon which all other virtues are "hinged".
Characterized by stability, a virtuous adolescent not only strives to be a good person, but also seeks what is good and chooses to act in a good way. Aristotle defined virtue as “that which makes both a person and what he does good.”
Students will continue to learn about imparting the virtues in their daily thoughts and actions. This is a critical time for them, riddled with temptation and identity-seeking.
What can you do at home?
Have purposeful discussions at dinner about the ways in which they are tempted to act against their virtuous calling.
By deliberately choosing to do what is good, and through perseverance, a person acquires and strengthens virtue. Therefore, play out specific scenarious with them about contexts in which they could be tempted. Most of all, listen. Even if they don't know how to clearly articulate their understandings, questions or situations, the dialogue with you helps them develop the language.
Ask them also
about their experience of
Eucharistic Adoration
. Mrs. Jones was able to take them to the St. Anthony's chapel, where they had sacred time to engage in this devotion. She returned with them beaming about their reverence, especially the 7th graders. To do this in the context of a school day is such a blessing!
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Ask your students
to show you their Goodreads accounts! They have already started tracking their reading, scouring book reviews and selecting books for their "to-read" list!
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A few quick housekeeping notes:
Today is the last day to register for 2020-2021 school year with the 30% in honor of National Catholic Schools week!
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Update Bears Athletics
The Basketball Team has been selected!
All practice and game schedules are posted on our website on the
ATHLETICS page
as is our Pay-to-Play link for payment and the downloadable Health Form.
Each player
must maintain a C
or above in each class and have a
conduct grade of at least a 3
. There are too many opportunities for students to receive extra help for them to have any grade lower than a C and the conduct grade is non-negotiable. Student must be demonstrating their best character in classes.
We DO want all students to participate in our athletics program, therefore, please be sure all health checks and concustion forms are completed and Permission to Participate forms are submitted. Purchase new mouth guards if you must.
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Important Upcoming Dates
November 11th - Veteran's Day - No School
November 12th - Quarter 1 report card
November 14th - Parent Conferences, 3pm-6pm in gym (no basketball practice)
November 15th - Soup Kitchen visit
November 20th - Mass
November 20th - St. Joe's Night at Five Guys Burgers on South Willow Street
November 21st - Trinity Admissions Test,
8am-10am
November 21st - First basketball home game
November 22nd - Thanksgiving Celebration at lunch
November 27-29 - Happy Thanksgiving (Break)
Looking Ahead:
December 20th - 10:00am Christmas mass at St. Anthony's Parish
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Fun
draising!
We are now set up as a charity that you can support with every purchase you make through Amazon! Right before the holiday shopping begins,
please go to the following link and select YES for enrolling in St. Joseph's charity page. This is an easy way to support our fundraising and development with something you are already doing!
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NYC Here We come The second payment of $59.to the New York City trip is due November 20th.
Once again, since we are going digital for your convenience, here's a link to pay with credit cards via Square.
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Report Cards Are Ready to GO!
Thanks for your patience! I was able to bring all report cards home this weekend for a final review. The kids should be very proud of their hard work. I've had conferences with many of the students about their grades, conduct and effort and the ways in which they can assure they are demonstrating fortitude and self-discipline. If they are receiving anything less than a 3 in conduct and have been invited onto the basketball team, they have two-week probationary period during which time I will check in with their teachers. Should they improve, it's off to the courts!
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St. Joe's Service Spotlight
As tradition has it, St. Joe's has donated to Thanksgiving baskets in partnership with Trinity High School. When you are shopping over the next few weeks, please consider purchasing a box of macaroni and cheese for our donation box. We'll be delivering our box to Trinity by the 18th.
Thank you! ~ Our Student Council
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Thanksgiving Feast at St. Joe's
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We are on our way to an amazing afternoon of feast and fun!
St. Joseph Regional Jr. High School will be having a Thanksgiving lunch for students with your help. Sharing this experience will allow the students to have a wonderful, life-long memories of the years we all dressed up in our "Sunday Best" and shared our thanks for this beautiful school community, our stories and laughter.
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