STM CAVALIER HRONICLES “DEVELOPING C PERSONAL Announcing that RCCSS has joined the National LIFE Runners Team! LIFE Runners is the AND world's largest Pro-Life Running/Walking Team. Members pray, fundraise, and run/walk as a Team until they Cross the finish line that ends abortion. The most important thing the RCCSS ACADEMIC Team can do is to remember the unborn through prayer and sharing the message. So at EXCELLENCE 7:31am on the first Wednesday of every month we will meet at STM for prayer, and then in our LIFE Runners apparel, we will share the message by going for a 20-minute walk. IN THE CATHOLIC Please consider joining the team! If you prefer not to walk, please come for prayer and then wear your shirt as you go about the rest of the day. To register and buy apparel, visit TRADITION” liferunners.org. There are two Rapid City chapters. We are the RCCSS chapter, but all LIFE Runners are invited to participate in all events INSIDE THIS ISSUE: STM Cavalier Chronicles Superintendent 2 Registration 3 Middle School 4 CONGRATULATIONS Discovered—2013 Poetry Collection High School 5 Love & Logic 6 Several young authors were recognized and Madelyn Soulek was the latest "Artist of The Week” on Artsonia. celebrated at a recent event acknowledging their CUF Raffle 7 talents. French/ Fine Arts 8 RCCSS students that were published — Speech/ Art 9 Casey Ballard, Austin Bartunek, Ellie Bernard, Scholorships 10 Emily Blote, Elizabeth Carlisle, Jens Christensen, Contests 11 Ryan Eilers, Joseph Hanson, Annie Lien, Austin Nelson, Izabella Riter, Rachel Schmahl, Chase Honor Roll 15 Thurness, Grace Wittenberg, Greer Wittenberg, Alexia Wright P A G E 2 From the Superintendent’s Desk Dear Parents, National Catholic Schools Week is such a beautiful celebration. It was wonderful to see so many of you at our all system Mass and have the opportunity to pray together. Our Catholic school community is a very special group of people, and God has blessed us in so many ways. Thank you for your commitment to Catholic education and for all you do for our students, faculty, and staff. It is with great anticipation that we begin the registration process for our 2014-15 school year. Current families are asked to register their returning students beginning Monday, February 3rd. As you know, we have moved to online registration, and we hope you will find this to be convenient. Packets are available in the main offices if you prefer to complete one by hand. Please take the time to register your students as soon as possible, as we will be enrolling new families beginning February 18th. With the increase in enrollment we have experienced this year, we want to make sure all of our returning students are registered in a timely manner. We do anticipate some classes filling for the next year, with the possibility of waiting lists being established. Timely enrollment also helps us as we plan staffing for the upcoming year. Changes to Tuition Assistance Policy I am pleased to inform you that the amount of tuition assistance budgeted for the 2014-15 school year is $160,000, which reflects an increase of $40,000. Strong enrollment, major gifts and endowment funds have helped make this possible, and we are happy to be able to share our blessings with you by making more assistance available. It is important to note this change in policy: THERE WILL ONLY BE ONE ROUND OF ASSISTANCE AWARDED THIS YEAR AND THAT AWARD WILL BE BASED ON THE PERCENTAGE OF NEED CALCULATED BY TUITION AID DATA SERVICES (TADS). There will be NO follow-up round as in the past. TADS is a third party vendor used by the school to remove the judgment of school officials from the award process and to maintain confidentiality of the financial information provided by families. The application deadline is April 30th. Please be advised that it can take several weeks for the TADS application to make it through the audit process. After your initial submission, TADS will notify you of any additional documentation required to complete the process. Policy states an April 30th deadline, but we recommend all applications to TADS be submitted by March 31st in order to meet our required deadline of April 30th. Applications must receive a good or fair status with TADS to be considered for assistance. Please call the RCCSS Business Office if you have any questions at all regarding tuition assistance. In Christ, Barb Honeycutt, Superintendent 2014-15 REGISTRATION Rapid City Catholic School System Student Registration 2014-15 School Year 3 & 4 year-old Preschool Programs Grades Kindergarten - 12 St. Elizabeth Seton Elementary School 2101 City Springs Rd., Ste. 100 St. Thomas More Middle School 424 Fairmont Blvd. St. Thomas More High School 300 Fairmont Blvd. CURRENT FAMILIES - RE-ENROLLMENT: February 3-14, 2014 NEW FAMILY ENROLLMENT - ALL GRADES: Begins February 18, 2014 Please call or visit our website @ www.rccss.net for information about Rapid City Catholic School System Marcia Werner 605-343-8484 x203 [email protected] “Developing Personal and Academic Excellence in the Catholic Tradition” RAPID CITY CATHOLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM P A G E 4 Middle School Memos Developing Healthy Self-Esteem The MS During the 2nd semester, we have an important part of the middle school curriculum that focuses on developing healthy self-esteem through our virtue formation programs. At this age, your child is address has experiencing an emerging self-identity, and they are establishing their image and peer group. Although they are developing abstract thinking, they still tend to generalize, want detailed changed to: explanation on why they should do something, and rely on social media and peers in their decision making process. Due to the negative effects of our current social environment, it is even more important that we take an active role in shaping a student’s moral values and developing strong 424 Fairmont character that flows within the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Blvd. Each grade level program is specifically designed for the appropriate developmental stage of the student and encourages parental involvement. Information about each program, parent discussion Rapid City, SD guides and supplemental resources will be distributed during parent/teacher conferences on 57701 Monday, February 3rd or can be picked up in the middle school office. Religion teachers will be sending information home or posting their curriculum on Edline when the programs begin. The 6th grade curriculum is a continuation of the RCL Benzinger Family Life Series that started in with us: the 3rd grade at St. Elizabeth Seton. Human Reproduction (Level A) would have been covered in Have you attached an 5th grade dealing with the male and female reproduction systems and continues with pregnancy and th email address to your childbirth (Level B) in 6 grade. If you are new to our system, there are wonderful parent resources on these topics at www.rclbfamilylife.com, username: flfamily, password: flrclbf01. The 7th grade Edline account? This (and 10th grade) curriculum uses Theology of the Body curriculum by Ascension Press, which is an easy way to covers the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual benefits to saving sex for marriage. ensure you get all the Classes will be taught in gender separate lessons with Brigit Decker from our Diocese office notices you need! teaching the girls and Andy Hiipakka teaching the boys. These classes also incorporate medical guest speakers from our Catholic family. The 8th grade curriculum is a series of lectures with community guest speakers that deal with social media, pornography, sexting, depression and suicide, eating disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, and dating and domestic violence. Other topics in the curriculum include moral decision making, characteristics of healthy relationships, and the celebration of God’s mercy and love. The Catholic Church recognizes you as the primary and best source of information and inspiration for your child as they grow and develop. Christian sexuality concerns the way a person expresses him/herself through love, friendship and community with others as part of growing closer to God’s plan and vision for us. Having discussions with your child about the moral values inherent with Catholic teaching on love, sexual intimacy, and the beauty of the human person in the light of faith can be difficult. We ask you to take an active role in being familiar with the curriculum so that you can have wonderful discussions with your child that reflect your belief system. This will help in the formation of your child’s self-esteem and establish a respect for who God wants them to be. If you have specific questions regarding this curriculum, please contact me or Father Marcin. Keiz M. Shultz Sullivan’s Corner DO YOU KNOW? Have you ever had a kid take the wind out of your Dear STM Families, sails by not showing a lot Questions regarding the fundraising of extra curricular activities of remorse or concern when you deliver a con- sometimes come up. I would like address that in this newsletter. STM offers the sequence? Has that ever following extra curricular activities: made you really want to "drop the hammer"? Academic Activities Leadership Activities Social Activities Athletic Chadron Academic Contest Student Council Drama Boys Basketball It happens to the best of West River Math Contest Class Officer Language Clubs Girls Basketball us. When most people West River Science Contest Club Officer Society of Savio Football get off track, it is because they've lost sight of the Science and Engineering Fair National Honor Society Art Club Track real goal (respectful, re- Essay Contests Boy’s and Girl’s State Talent Show Volleyball sponsible kids) and fo- Debate HOBY School Dances Golf cused on a lesser goal Knowledge Bowl Youth Business Prom Tennis (winning).