The Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, located on the Academy campus, has a new website: www.duchesneshrine.org.

The Shrine is a lasting tribute to the Academy’s foundress, the French missionary Religious of the Sacred Heart who brought formalized education and a zeal for sharing the love of God to the Missouri frontier in 1818. Previously, information about the Shrine could be found on a page of the Academy’s website. Now, the new Shrine website is host to more easily navigable information about Philippine, the richness of her life, a history and description of the Shrine, and how one can plan a visit, support the Shrine through donations and purchase items from the gift shop.

Please visit and take a “stroll” through the virtual Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne at duchesneshrine.org.

Happy faces young and old filled the hallways and classrooms of ASH on Grandparents Day, Sunday, March 10. After a 10 a.m. liturgy in Rauch Memorial, these special members of the ASH family were treated to refreshments and personal tours of the school given by their grandchildren. The students described how they spend their days here, and learned what school was like for their grandma, papa, nana or pop. What a fun day! We were delighted to welcome grandparents, and love sharing ASH with them.

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Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be poor? Our Sixth Class students got an eye-opening dose of reality one recent morning during a poverty simulation exercise in the White Center dining hall. The Community Action Agency of St. Louis set up and manned tables representing various social services and governmental agencies, as well as a bank, grocery store, child care center, pawn shop and jail. The Sixth Class students and some of their parents were clustered in small groups as families and assigned roles such as single mother, youngest child, etc. They then traveled the circuit of agencies, waiting in line, explaining their situation, answering questions, etc. Sometimes their appeal would be denied, and they’d be left to try another avenue of help.

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Mrs. Hitt’s Fourth Class students helped Mrs. Kaemmerlen’s Primary students paint a picture of sunflowers with watercolor paints. Surely, spring can’t be far behind.

After the snow, Academy Middle School students were thinking of summer, warm beaches and ocean fun! Middle School students took part in a Lenten fundraiser on Thursday, Feb. 28 for the benefit of Hurricane Sandy victims. For a minimum donation of $2, students in Fifth through Eighth Classes were out of uniform, played volleyball during PE and international language classes, and enjoyed some flavor ice at lunch. The volleyball teams were organized by spirit teams—the Red team raised the most money while the White team won the most games.

The day’s proceeds of $1,080 will benefit the “Sandy Ground Project: Where Angels Play.” Twenty-six parks will be built along the New Jersey, New York and Connecticut coasts that have been devastated. Each will be named in honor of one of the 26 children and adults who lost their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

In honor of National Engineers Week (Feb. 17–23), the Sixth Class welcomed Academy parent Mr. Kevin Swearingen to their classroom today. An electrical engineer at the Boeing Corporation, Mr. Swearingen spoke about what engineers do and about the different types of engineers. He described some of his projects, including working on an aircraft carrier and solving problems on planes, and spoke about the design process used by engineers. Sixth Class students got to build an airplane of sorts utilizing this same design process. Many thanks to Mr. Swearingen for sharing his time and knowledge with Academy students!

Engineers Week celebrates the positive contributions engineers make to society and is a catalyst for outreach across the country to children and adults alike.

More than a dozen high school seniors returned to their Alma Mater recently to talk about the expectations and challenges of high school life. Nine girls met with the Eighth Class girls and four boys met with the Eighth Class boys, offering their unique perspectives and answering the students’ questions. We very much appreciate these graduates’ time on a Friday afternoon, as well as their willingness to share their experiences with the Class of 2013.

Lent is a time of reflection, repentance and growth. Sister Glavin invites us to be attentive to our footprint.

Our Ash Wednesday liturgy on Feb. 13 will take place at 9:30 a.m. at St. Charles Borromeo.

Education opens doors to a better way of life. The Fourth Class is coordinating two projects that will enable the Academy to join with the Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Miami, Florida, the University of Miami, and Partners in Health to build Notre Dame de La Colline School in the impoverished country of Haiti. We want to help provide Haitian children with opportunities to become all God has created them to be.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in designating a different American Saint for each month of this Year of Faith, have named February the “Month of Philippine.” To contribute to the celebration, members of the Sacred Heart family from around the country are sharing reflections, homilies, poems and prayers― something different for each day of the month. The opening reflection, “Philippine: Woman with a Global Heart” is by Sister Glavin. See it on the Society website, www.rscj.org.
 
We at the Academy of the Sacred Heart are proud to be the stewards of Philippine’s first and last American school, stewards of her inspirational story, stewards of her saintly remains, and stewards of her holy example through our lives and our loves.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MR. JOHN STORJOHANN

Plan now to attend our 11th annual tropical Trivia Night on Saturday, Feb. 2 for fun, food, drink and an opportunity to share your vast collection of knowledge! Tables for eight are available. In addition to trivia, a bottle booth and 50/50 drawing, there’ll be a Silent Auction featuring sports memorabilia, photos, plaques and items celebrating St. Louis favorites. Click here for more Trivia Night info. For further information, call 636-946-5632.