We look forward with excitement to tonight’s, tomorrow’s and Monday’s Silver Teas. The students have been working for weeks on their performances, lovingly prepared as a Christmas gift for their parents.

• MIDDLE SCHOOL (Classes 5-8):  Friday, December 12  •  7:30 p.m.
• LOWER SCHOOL (Classes P-4):  Saturday, December 13  •  2 p.m.
• PRE-PRIMARY:  Monday, December 15  •  10 a.m. (for morning class) and 2 p.m. (for afternoon class)

The Academy Band will give a Christmas concert on Sunday, December 14, at 2 p.m. in Rauch Memorial. On Thursday, Dec. 18, the band will perform their concert for the whole school, and classroom Christmas parties will follow.

In a tradition dating back many years, each Academy family is invited to provide a basket of food for the needy. As we joyfully anticipate Jesus’ birth during Advent, assembling items for your family’s food basket can become a special family activity and a new holiday tradition. When students (P-8), faculty, staff, parents, alums and friends gather for Christmas Basket Mass on Friday, Dec. 19 at 10 a.m. in Rauch Memorial, hundreds of bountiful baskets will fill the bleachers, representing the incredible generosity of our families. Not only is this a prayerful way to part before the holidays, it is also an opportunity to realize the abundance of our blessings.

Academy alumni will lend support to this effort by assembling additional food baskets the evening before Basket Mass. They’ll gather from 7–9 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 18 in the White Center.

Dismissal for Christmas break is Friday, Dec. 19 at 11:30 a.m. [NO LATE DISMISSAL]

Finally, all are invited to attend our Christmas Eve Liturgy at 10 p.m. Dec. 24 in the Shrine of St. Philippine Duchesne. This is a beautiful, joyful and prayerful way to celebrate the birth of Jesus!

If you have questions about any of our December events, please call the school office at 636-946-6127.

Following the conclusion of the SHCOG Visiting Team’s time with us Wednesday, the faculty surprised the students with an afternoon play day—a mini Congé, when lessons were set aside in favor of fun and games. Sister Glavin’s surprise announcement over the P.A. was happily received!

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Today we celebrate the Feast of our foundress, St. Rose Philippine Duchesne. While Academy of the Sacred Heart families and alumni celebrate November 18 with joy each year, there’s cause for added fervor in 2014, for two reasons.

The Academy joins the entire metro area in celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the City of St. Louis. Our 9:30 a.m. Feast Day liturgy in Rauch Memorial gym has been added to the STL250 Event Calendar. There, it is noted that “St. Louis had existed for only five years when Rose Philippine Duchesne was born in Grenoble, France. Forty-nine years later, in 1818, she and four other Sacred Heart nuns disembarked in the frontier town of St. Louis, and opened a school for girls in nearby St. Charles. The Academy of the Sacred Heart was the first formal, and currently the longest running, school in the St. Louis area. Celebrate the feast day of this remarkable pioneer woman—Missouri’s adopted daughter and one of the first North American saints—with the Academy school community on Tuesday, November 18.”  The public is welcome to join us in celebrating Philippine’s life and the impact she had on our region.

Secondly, in conjunction with our every-five-years Sacred Heart Commission on Goals (SHCOG) process, a visiting team of Sacred Heart educators from Houston, New Orleans, Chicago, Princeton, N.J. and Halifax will be with us for Philippine’s Feast. We welcome them and look forward to hearing on Wednesday their reflections on how we can more deeply live our mission as a Sacred Heart school, as expressed in the Goals and Criteria of Sacred Heart Education.

Read more about Philippine.  In addition, visit the Shrine of St. Philippine Duchesne website.

Photo: John Storjohann

This week we welcome five Sacred Heart educators from Chicago, New Orleans, Houston, Princeton, N.J., and Halifax, Nova Scotia, who make up the Visiting Team for our Sacred Heart Commission on Goals (SHCOG) process currently underway. They’re conversing with a number of students and adults alike, exploring how we live the Goals of Sacred Heart Education. On Tuesday the Visiting Team will celebrate Philippine’s Feast Day liturgy with us, and on Wednesday morning, they’ll read their reflections to our school community. We appreciate their presence among us, and their discernment in how the Academy lives the Goals and Criteria.

At today’s all-school prayer service for peace and justice in our world, we prayed this prayer by Pope John Paul II:

“Lord Jesus Christ, who are called the Prince of Peace, who are yourself our peace and reconciliation, who so often said, “Peace to you,” grant us peace. Make all men and women witnesses of truth, justice, and brotherly love. Banish from their hearts whatever might endanger peace. Enlighten our rulers that they might guarantee and defend the great gift of peace. May all peoples on earth become as brothers and sisters. May longed-for peace blossom forth and reign always over us all.”

Congratulations to our Robotics Club for their successful performance in one of First Lego League’s qualifier tournaments this past Saturday. Team moderator and 5th/6th Class science teacher Mr. David Putnam reported that, not only did each of the 18 Academy participants exhibit great focus, enthusiasm, and grace under pressure, but each of the Academy’s three teams placed in the top six of all teams in the robot games portion of the competition. One Academy team—the Crazy Card Players—won awards for both their robot’s design and its performance in the robot games, and qualified for the Eastern Missouri Regional Competition in December. [In order to qualify, they had to be one of the top four teams out of the 24 that competed. To be one of the top four teams, they had to be near or at the top in each of four areas: robot games, robot design presentation, team exercises, and a presentation on an engineering solution to a problem of their choosing.]

Way to go, ASH Robotics!

We’ll be putting out the red carpet for visitors on Wednesday, November 12, when prospective families and guests are invited to our fall Open House. Have you ever wondered about Sacred Heart education… about private elementary school… about the Academy? Come join us and learn how the Academy has been hands on, minds on and hearts on since 1818. Reserve your spot by contacting Admissions Director Lisa Tebbe at ltebbe@ash1818.org or 636-946-6127, ext. 1620.

Shopping and cookies are an irresistible combination! Thanks to our Mothers’ Club officers and to the many Academy moms who baked and volunteered, the fourth annual Taste of Christmas Boutique event at ASH was a wonderful success. With appreciation and gratitude to event sponsor Mercy Kids, we are delighted that the Sister Anna Mae Marheineke Student Enrichment Fund will grow with proceeds from this charming day. Special thanks to Mothers’ Club officers Melanie McClure, Megan Lee, Aimee Centorbi and Erin Grieshaber, for coordinating the many details of this boutique event.

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Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind opportunity to shop for unique and truly special items for family and friends—and the chance to treat yourself! Nearly 50 vendors will set up shop in Rauch Memorial, White Center and the Playroom on Saturday, November 8, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. You’ll find gift items, jewelry, clothing, accessories, home décor, embroidered products, children’s books and toys, stationery and much more to make holiday shopping enjoyable and easy! Home-baked cookies created with love by Academy moms will add a special touch to the day. All proceeds will benefit the Sister Anna Mae Marheineke Student Enrichment Fund.

Participating vendors shown below. For further information, call the Advancement Office at 636-946-5632.

Our school community celebrated the communion of saints today at an All Saints Day liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo. Third Class students dressed as the saints they have been studying.