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All-School eNews | April 24, 2020
FEATURED STORY:
Grateful Acceptance
By Damian Hermann, Head of School
Shouldn't we gratefully accept both good and bad as coming from the hand of God, for both are inclined to our advantage if we know how to profit from them.
-St. Madeleine Sophie Barat
Each day I try to express gratitude. I know this to be good for my perspective and my mental health. However, this quote is particularly challenging given our current circumstances. What does she mean by advantage and profit? There is so much that is bad to mourn right now. Loss of loved ones, loss of in-person relationship, loss of community, loss of control, and loss of normalcy are just a few. Mourning all of the bad is much easier than expressing gratitude for the good, much less finding advantage and profit in it.
But when I reflect and pray on what St. Madeleine Sophie is saying, I guess I get it. I say all the time that we grow so much more when we are uncomfortable and forced to look at things differently, when we have to adapt and overcome, when we have to admit that we are not in control. Our community of Sacred Heart educators, Sacred Heart students, and Sacred Heart parents have been truly challenged to do this and you all have been an inspiration to serve. Please keep the faith and keep up the amazing work.
While there is much that is still out of our control, that does not mean that the ASH team has stopped planning. In addition to adapting our instructional model to remote learning, we also have begun contingency planning for the summer and the fall. With student safety as our primary concern, we are developing plans that provide for a variety of scenarios. We have every intention to start the 2020-2021 school year in the building, but prudence also requires that we have many new safety systems and contingency plans in place.
We don't have answers for every question yet, but rest assured that we have task forces working on all the necessary areas to provide an exceptional Sacred Heart experience and community no matter what the circumstance. We benefit from being small by design. This gives us the agility that other institutions just don't have. I can't tell you how proud I am of the synchronous educational schedule we are able to provide for our students in Grades 5-12, as well as the developmentally-appropriate work and support that our Early Childhood, Primary and Lower School teachers are designing. I haven't heard that anyone else is doing this quite like we are. We have awesome teachers who believe that providing students purpose, community, and engagement is immeasurably impacting their ability to thrive in these difficult times.
I invite you all to our upcoming Virtual Town Hall Webinar on Thursday, April 30 at 4 p.m. During this webinar, I will be sharing with you our plans as well as answering and addressing as many questions as time allows. I would be grateful if you could submit questions in advance using this Google Form. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions live by submitting questions to our moderator using a chat function. Watch for login information early next week. In the meantime, stay safe and stay healthy.
Congratulations to Our Valedictorians & Salutatorian
The selection of the Valedictorian and Salutatorian for a graduating class is determined by several factors including full attendance during her junior and senior years (transfer students must have brought with them a minimum of a 3.60 GPA). The Valedictorian is the student with the highest cumulative GPA. The Salutatorian is the student with the second-highest cumulative GPA. Normally the Valedictory speech is given at the Commencement Exercises, and the Salutatory speech is given at Prize Day. This year, due to our unusual circumstances, all speeches will be given at the Commencement Exercises scheduled for Saturday, August 8.
For the class of 2020, Academy of the Sacred Heart is proud to recognize two Valedictorians (with tied cumulative GPAs): Sofia DeSanto and Catherine Pardi.
We also recognize Shea Henderson as our Salutatorian. We congratulate these academic leaders for their exceptional diligence and excellence! Watch a special congratulatory message from Mrs. Kozler here.
Congratulations as well to the entire Class of 2020 for their many academic achievements and accomplishments throughout the years! View college decisions for the Class of 2020 here.
How Are You (Feeling)?
By Emily Avendt, Director of Learning Support
Today, living through the COVID-19 pandemic, emotions are running high and changing often. Now more than ever, it's normal for us to experience complex and contradictory emotions simultaneously: hope and fear, gratitude and frustration, joy and sadness.
At Academy of the Sacred Heart, we work on building our emotional intelligence skills all year long via our use of the RULER approach to social and emotional learning, and that work serves us well during this unprecedented time. RULER, developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, is an acronym for the building blocks of emotional intelligence:
One of the core RULER tools that we use in faculty meetings and classrooms of all ages is called the Charter. It's a framework for groups to proactively shape the emotional climate of a situation, by honoring each person's voice, needs and ideas. The Charter is built by answering these two questions:
1. How do we want to feel as a [insert: class, team, family, etc.]?
2. What do we need to do to experience these feelings more frequently?
During a time of changing emotions and a sense of a loss of control over many aspects of our lives, the Charter grounds us in the choices we can make to positively impact the emotional climate of our homes. I encourage you to learn more about how to create a family charter in this article by Dr. Marc Brackett, co-creator of the RULER Approach, and these step-by-step directions. It is a fun, creative and collaborative activity for the whole family.
Parents, I know very well how uniquely difficult and joyful these times at home all together are and I've found great hope thinking about the resilience we are building as families and as a broader community. Please make sure to check out the additional articles, webinars and resources on the RULER COVID-19 Resources for School Communities webpage.
Please also save the date for our next Heart of the Matter Film & Speaker Series event featuring Dr. Lisa Damour, a psychologist, best-selling author and regular media media consultant. On May 7 at 4:15 p.m., Dr. Damour will be giving a virtual presentation to the ASH community about managing stress, anxiety and parenting during COVID-19. We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Damour for this presentation! Please stay tuned for more details in the weeks to come!
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ACADEMY OF THE SACRED HEART