A huge congratulations to all First through Eighth Class students for leading the parent-teacher conferences last Friday. Inviting each student to consider and articulate how he/she is developing as a person, as a member of the community, and as a learner will hopefully develop the kind of reflective habits which will serve each one in their life as a learner and as a person growing in “courage and confidence.”

ALSO…

Thanks to all parents who attended the General PCC meeting Tuesday evening. The time spent gathering input for the Action Plan document was very valuable and much appreciated.

As a reminder for those who are interested, the SHCOG Self Study, the SHCOG Visiting Team Reflection, and the Provincial Team letter are all posted in the Resources section of the Parent Portal. Upon completion, the Action Plan will be posted there, as well.

Maureen Glavin, rscj

Dear Academy Parents,

Next week in our student-led conferences, we will be experiencing our students’ living of Goal V, Criterion 3.

Goal V:  Schools of the Sacred Heart commit themselves to educate to personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom.

Criterion 3: Students grow in self-knowledge and develop self-confidence as they learn to deal realistically with their gifts and limitations.

Two aspects of this practice tap into deep roots of our educational philosophy:

1.  The preparation process invites each student to be reflective about themselves as a learner and as a person. Our belief is that the very act of introspection launches our students to:

• Self-awareness, which is a precursor for self-confidence
• Openness to growth, which is a necessary ingredient in the process of life-long learning, healthy relationship building, and moral development.

2.  The presentation process invites each student to:

• Courageously own their truth,
• Courageously use their voice,
• Experience their ownership of their growth and development,
• Experience the affirmation of honest assessment.

We hope you enjoy the work the students have done in trying to be self-reflective beings. We also hope you delight in the growth you will see as they share what they know about themselves as learners, as members of a community of learners, and as children of God, growing to become ever more reflective of the Heart of Christ.

From our perspective, it is a true privilege to see the growth and progression from the First Class students, who can share their strengths with clarity, to the Eighth Class students, who can not only own their strengths but identify their challenges and set the next set of goals for ongoing growth.

See you on the campus next week!

Maureen Glavin, rscj  

With the trimester model, our students in Classes 3–8 are busy thinking about exams at this time of year. An important reminder for all of us through this experience is that the process is just as, if not more, important than the outcome.

The process allows for:

• Learning to create study guides or other preferred study tools
• Using time management skills to pace reviewing
• Practicing the application of information, rather than simply regurgitating information
• Recognizing what skills/information need to be practiced/studied
• Appreciating the amount of information that has been learned

The outcome allows for:

• Honoring the outcome, whatever it may be
• Understanding that best effort/personal best is the reward
• Reflecting on what worked for me, and what needs to be changed for me in this process

The exam process has been a valued tool at the Academy for many years. As educators, we continue to see value in the process and reevaluate both the process and the content annually. Alums often tell us that the experience of exams at the Academy gives them an advantage in high school.

So may our collective support, encouragement and reassurance energize our children throughout their experience as they gain confidence in knowing themselves as a learner.

As a point of information, the results of the exams will be shared with the student the week of February 17.

United in the desire to make learning a joyful experience,

Maureen Glavin, rscj                 Mrs. Marcia Renken

With Catholic Schools Week approaching next week, let us all remind ourselves of the deepest reason for our Academy’s existence— to root each person in a deep knowing of God’s GREAT LOVE, a love so profoundly personal that it is the source of inner strength and deep joy.

To come to know and then educate others to God’s Love is the particular gift of the Society of the Sacred Heart to the Church. We call this our charism: to discover and reveal the Love of the Heart of Jesus. We come to know God’s Love, revealed to us through the Heart of Christ, and manifest that Love through life’s loves and choices.

How do we educate to God’s Love?

1.  RELIGION CLASS provides an intellectual foundation to learning about God. It supports an understanding of faith and provides an opportunity to discuss the experience of God.

2.  PRAYER OPPORTUNITIES provide ways to personally experience and come to know the God who is Love. Among them are:

• 

  Prayer at the beginning of each day in homerooms and/or assemblies

• Prayer to open class
• The celebration of the Eucharist
• First Friday Eucharistic Adoration in the Shrine
• Daily quiet time (Espacio)
• Retreat experiences for Seventh and Eighth Class students

3.  BEHAVIORAL EXPECTATIONS at the Academy are predicated on the assumption that each person is created in the image and likeness of God, and thus each person deserves the same reverence that we would give the person of Jesus if He were in front of us. This is what our faith teaches and this is what we aspire to do!

This is how we, the Academy of the Sacred Heart,
hope / want / desire to be ALIVE IN CHRIST!

Our work here, and your support of our work here, helps us to BUILD God’s Kingdom (which is comprised of goodness, kindness and love). We try to do so one heart at a time, one child at a time, one person at a time, and one day at a time!

Let us continue to do so, humbly and fervently!

United to each of you in God’s Loving Heart,

Maureen Glavin, rscj

Welcome back, and Happy New Year!

As we enter a new calendar year, we also CONTINUE to celebrate the Incarnation of Jesus the Christ! As a point of information, in the official Catholic calendar, the Christmas SEASON begins with the celebration of the birth of Jesus and lasts until the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. The FEAST of Christmas lasts 12 days – from Christmas day itself until the Feast of the Epiphany. Traditionally, the Epiphany had been fixed to January 6, and the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the octave (eighth day) of the Epiphany.

If you visit the Shrine, we, true to the liturgical season of Christmas, still have our Christmas decorations up and still have our Nativity scene displayed as we continue to celebrate the JOY of the Incarnation AND as we (this week especially) celebrate the AWAKENING of the Epiphany!

How does one understand the Epiphany? As with every one of our beautiful feasts, there are layers upon layers of understandings. Among them, the one I offer for reflection is the Epiphany as celebration of the manifestation of Christ. Another way of putting this is to say that it is a celebration of the discovery/awakening of the fact that this baby is a manifestation of God.

That this human child is REVELATORY of the Creator of the universe,
that this little baby is a manifestation of the one we call God,
is a powerful statement!

I love the phraseology here because the mission of any Religious of the Sacred Heart is to:

Discover and Reveal the Love of the Heart of Christ.

So my task is the task of the Magi: To humbly come before the Christ child and to humbly be open enough to lay down my gifts at the service of the Christ child and to humbly discover my God through and in that Christ child is the first half of what I commit myself to do in life.

The other half is to try to, through my own life and loves and actions, reveal the Heart of Christ to others!

This is also the task of any and every educator of the Sacred Heart. It is also meant to be the life goal of any and every child of the Sacred Heart.

During this week of the Feast of the Epiphany, I pray for each of us, that we:

• continue to grow in our ability to do the necessary work to seek/discover the Christ Child (as did the Magi), and
• allow ourselves to be humble enough to worship/be open to the Christ Child before us (as were the Magi).

If we do these things, the second half of the formula flows naturally and we WILL reveal the Heart of Christ to those around us.

May it be so!

Maureen Glavin, rscj

It is often easier for me to tell success stories of our alums who do well in the development of their mind: Successes in high school, college and career are bountiful and perhaps a bit more measurable. But, a Sacred Heart education is an education of both mind AND heart.

So, today I would like to tell a simple story of heart success. As you may know, Academy alumni have begun joining you, our generous and good parents, in collecting and donating baskets for distribution after our Christmas Basket mass. They began doing so last year. The work, energy and excitement about this among our alum leaders is a heart-success story, in and of itself! But, I want to tell a more singular story.

This week, a young alum who is doing a practicum in a medical career united her work colleagues to join in creating a basket of food for our mass. Not only did they collect food, but they collected some money which is allowing the alum basket coordinators to fill out a few other baskets. The FACT that she did this (while still in college) is indeed indicative of a beautiful heart. But the fact that she did this and dropped the basket off at the Academy with such JOY and LOVE moved me to gratitude, awe and tears!

Children of the Sacred Heart really DO become, each in their own way:

Courageous and confident leaders who know and love God, and who reveal that love by serving others!

Developing the habit of generosity is something our students become practiced in. Not only do they learn it from you, their parents, by watching YOU be generous, they have opportunities to engage in generous activities themselves. Advent opportunities included:

• The toy drive
• The Middle School Adopt-a-Family
• The Christmas baskets
• The visits to nursing homes

By engaging in acts of selfless service, each of us becomes ever more heart-ready for God to be born anew in the world through us.

Thank you for manifesting God’s Goodness and Love through your acts of generosity. And, thank you for partnering with us and allowing your children to manifest God’s Love by engaging in acts of generosity. May God’s Love continue to be made more manifest in this world which so desperately needs it!

With deep and loving gratitude and wishes for a beautiful, joy-filled, love-filled Christmas,

Maureen Glavin, rscj

When most of us think of a Sacred Heart school, we often say (and feel) that this place is more than ‘just’ a school. We often refer to the Academy as a second home, a 21st Century neighborhood, or a family. The reason for that, I would suggest, is because of Sacred Heart’s holistic attention to each person’s life. Our ultimate desire is that each child is launched on this potentially 90-year journey ahead of them, well-grounded in what is important and what is not important. Through this process our hope is that our graduates will know the key to deep peace and ultimate happiness.

To launch our children well on this road of life, we, the adults, must be clear about what is important on the journey of life. Otherwise, how can we be helpful to those whom we are guiding? To continue the analogy, we— parents and educators—can’t always make the path smooth for our children’s life-journey, nor can we prevent storms or bumps as their journey is traveled, but we can indeed clearly point in the direction that leads to Life.

As we travel our own journey of life to Life, and as we guide those whom God has entrusted to us, the liturgical seasons become a helpful map. Each season, draws us ever more deeply in the direction of Life and Love. The liturgical season upon us now, of course, is Advent—a season rich in images, stories and songs, all of which are wisely leading us to an interior attentiveness meant to till the soil of our hearts and minds.

So, I implore each of us during this season to slow down enough and to be heart-open and mind-open enough to allow the soil of hearts and minds to be truly tilled. The purpose of tilling is for a future emergence—a future blooming. As we know, birthing and blooming never happen all at once! These are slow processes. So too with Advent. My deep prayer during this Advent season is that the exterior progression of candles being lighted symbolize the interior progress made within each of us on our journey! I also pray that each of our journeys eventually show evidence of our progress in the blooming forth of Christ (within us and through us).

For Christ to be more evident through us, our task NOW is to allow for the stillness—open our hearts, open our minds—and let God do God’s work within. THAT is the path! And, yes, bumps WILL occur along the way. But, we must stay the course. And, if we do, eventually the fullness of LIGHT, LIFE and LOVE (Christ within-us and among-us) will be ours! The direction is ‘to Christ.’ When we get there, we will celebrate.

In the meantime, day-by-day, step-by-step, week-by-week let us encourage each other on the journey!

Maureen Glavin, rscj

The Academy experienced a joy-filled week! We welcomed our SHCOG Visiting Team on Monday, we celebrated the Feast of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne with joy and gusto on Tuesday, and yesterday we celebrated the visitors’ Reflections with a mini-Congé organized and orchestrated by the faculty!

A HUGE thank you goes out from me to the Academy’s SHCOG Steering Committee. Under the leadership of Co-Chairs Sandy Ahlheim and Joan Runge, the committee worked hard to prepare and execute an inclusive and thorough process which eventuated into our own Self Study document.

Another thank you goes out to all who authentically, earnestly, generously and eagerly participated in the process.

My heart is filled with gratitude for so much at this school.

Excerpts from the Reflections:

• We are pleased to state to the Provincial and her Team that the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles is deeply committed and devoted to living the Goals and Criteria
• The curriculum at the Academy of the Sacred Heart, which is rooted in the Goals and Criteria, is clearly thriving.
• The dedication and commitment to live by the five Goals and Criteria unite this community. This consistent thread among each member of the community is what permeates your hallways and keeps this magnificent school strong and vibrant in God’s love and purpose.

What Next: A soon-to-be-named Action Plan Committee will take the Self Study, the Visiting Team’s Reflection and the Provincial Team’s letter to us (soon to be written) and create an Action Plan which will continue the process of deepening our living of the Goals and Criteria.

May we enter into this week of Thanksgiving by counting our blessings and praying to God in gratitude for all God’s love and grace,

Maureen Glavin, rscj

Dear Parents,

As we wind down this first trimester of the school year, I look forward to seeing you next Tuesday evening, November 11, in Rauch Memorial Gym for our first Parent Coordinating Council meeting of the year. Since the evening’s presentation and the distribution of student report cards are both essential aspects of your partnership in the exciting adventure that we call Sacred Heart education, we expect that at least one parent in each family will be present.

The General PCC Meeting agenda will include:

• The Living of our Mission – Our own reflection on Sacred Heart education
• From the Principal –  What you need to know about growth, development and report cards
• An update on responsible stewardship of finances
• Annual Giving Information
• Moving Forward into our Future!
• Distribution of Report Cards

We believe that you want and need to have the information we’ll share. From our end, we will certainly be respectful and mindful of your time in our preparation and presentations.

See you Tuesday evening,

Maureen Glavin, rscj

Dear Academy Families,

One beautiful aspect of Sacred Heart education is that we are a member of a national and international network of schools. Being part of something bigger forms our thinking, provides opportunities for professional development, affords us easy curricular, instructional and mission-focused collaboration, allows for significant sharing of operational best practices, and engenders inspiration. A very recent example of our participation in this larger community occurred this past Tuesday at our Network-wide webcast prayer service to conclude the centenary celebration of Mother Janet Erskine Stuart, RSCJ.

How else do we use or connect with this larger whole which we call our Network? I thought a list of recent and proximate connections might be instructive:

• Mrs. Renken and a handful of faculty have been (and will be) visiting other Sacred Heart schools for professional development/sharing/learning/observation.
• Some faculty members from our school in Halifax, Nova Scotia, spent a day at our school a few weeks ago.
• Middle School students who attended Network Summer Service projects have shared their experiences at morning assemblies.
• Middle School teachers have attended Network-wide summer service projects and have shared their experiences at faculty gatherings.
• Academy teachers and staff have been recently invited to apply for participation at next summer’s Network Summer Service Projects (some of our faculty and staff are submitting applications).
• Mrs. Renken, Mrs. Budny and Mr. Storjohann have been in conversation with other Sacred Heart middle school administrators to organize and orchestrate one week student exchanges as an opportunity for some of our older students.
• A Goal V (“Personal Growth in an Atmosphere of Wise Freedom”) Conference occurred here in St. Charles at the beginning of October, with participants from all over the United States and Canada.  Mr. Storjohann was on the planning committee and I was the keynote speaker. Our school hosted a portion of the conference.
• Beginning this evening, more than 100 members of our larger Sacred Heart family (Heads of School, Board Chairs, Business Managers and New Trustees from all 24 schools in the United States and Canada) will be attending a conference.  New Trustees will have a tour of Philippine’s Shrine and all with have dinner here on Friday night.
• A student from another Sacred Heart school will be spending the day with us tomorrow.
• In November, a meeting for those in each of our schools who are involved in Formation to Mission activities will be meeting for a conference.  (You may see them when you come for your parent-teacher conference.)
• The week of Philippine’s Feast (November 18) we will be hosting five visitors who will be here to help us continue to reflect on our living of the Goals and Criteria of Sacred Heart education. This official SHCOG Visiting Team will meet with representative members of all constituency groups and move us one step further on the journey of deepening the living of our mission.

The Network is not just a name of an association of schools. Rather, it is a vibrant web of connections that enriches each of us in our educational endeavors!

United in God’s Good and Loving Heart,

Maureen Glavin, rscj

Dear Parents,

On a daily basis, my heart sings with happiness when I see the following:

• the joy and enthusiasm exuded by our children in their learning,
• the work ethic and love that drive our teachers, and
• the leadership and passion projected by Mrs. Renken.

It is also true that my heart sings a little more strongly because of the generous and joyful souls who surround this Academy with their presence and their goodness. To be specific, I am talking about YOU, our parents.

I am humbled and awed when I see you:

• driving to and from Social Justice service sites,
• chaperoning field trips,
• donating bottles and Marketplace items,
• helping to find sponsors for our event,
• signing up to volunteer for Country Fair,
• making crafts, or
• helping to prepare for the day itself with set-up activities!

Your presence … your support … your assistance … your time … and your gift of self are important aspects of what make this school named after God’s Heart, so full of God’s Goodness!

I will see you all at Country Fair! Thank you, in advance, for ALL you do to help make this not only a fun, community-building weekend, but a key weekend for our school’s operating budget.

With a full and grateful heart united to each of you in the Heart of God,

Maureen Glavin, rscj