Don't forget to check out the teacher/specialist blogs, too!

 Dear Parents and Guardians,

Please plan on joining the fun at the SWING Kick-Off Party tomorrow night, Friday, from 7-10 p.m.  The SWING committee has planned a wonderful evening.  All of the faculty will be present.  You will find each homeroom teacher with a clipboard, happily checking off the names of parents who are attending!

Over the past eleven years, SWING has made a huge impact on this school, our programming and facilities.  Everything from the tile in the cafeteria, to the enrichment room, to the roof over our heads is from the hard work and generous support of our HCS parents and guardians.  What started as a carnival for parents in 1999, has become one of the most successful single evening fundraising events in the Twin Cities.  It is everyone's favorite party!

I am looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow night!

Jane Schmidt
Principal

A Guide to Catholic Schools Week

Everyone enjoys the activities of CSW-a time to celebrate our school and each other!  The chilly weather in the thick of winter is the perfect time for a little community-building fun!  Here are a few clarifying points for this year's action!

Website Medallion Hunt - Beginning this weekend, your child can search for a HCS medallion on our website.  Each morning, those students who have located the medallion should write their name and the location on a slip of paper and drop it into the raffle bin in the lobby.

A winner from the daily entries will be chosen at 8:30 a.m.  The medallion will move every day, so a student may enter every morning with their name and new location.

Families Moving Forward Collection:  Each homeroom has a brightly colored cube outside their classroom to deposit new socks, undies, and t-shirts for any age.  Homeroom teachers will track the donations and we will treat the homeroom with the most donated items on Friday!  This is an urgent need for the FMF program and we are happy to help!

School Prayers: Students will be offering the Gift of Prayer to all Lumen Christi Catholic Community parishioners during CSW.  Members of our HCS Student Council will be on hand following this weekend Masses to direct parishioners to write their prayer intentions on several posterboards.  We are pleased to offer this gift to the many parishioners who built and continue to support our great school.

Out- of Uniform Days:  Our HCS Student Council determined our four out-of-uniform days.

PJs and Bad Hair:  Arrive at school looking like your rolled out of bed.  Our Yearbook Committee will be roaming the halls looking to capture those awful hairdos on camera!  (Remember that recess still happens!)

70"s/Comfortable Clothing:  You can run the gamut from tie-dye to platform shoes, or arrive in your most comfortable clothing for roller skating action.  We would love to have parents/guardians join us for roller skating fun.  Directions to Saints North Rink are available in the office.

Sports Day:  Wear your favorite jersey from a professional team or your own sporting experience.  (I will attempt to wear my Favre jersey one more time!)

Twins Day:  Dress like a friend, or two, or three, or four friends, ....  (Do not be exclusive.  I would be disappointed to hear that someone had their feelings hurt by not being included.)  Many of us will opt to show our enthusiasm for the Minnesota Twins.  Twins jerseys, t-shirt, baseball caps are all encouraged as we gear up for Spring Training!  Go Twins!

Roller skating: Grades 2-8  Students may want to bring some pocket money for treats or in the case of the older students, laser tag.  It is not necessary.  The folks at the rink will keep us occupied with music and games!

All School Mass:  Please join us for our special CSW All School Mass.  Our choir will help lead the music and Fr. Feela is our celebrant.  Following Mass, please stay to meet our distinguished alum, Michelle Salmen.  Michelle will speak to our students following Mass.  She is a wonderful product of Catholic Education!

Hotdog Dinner and BINGO; Fabulous family fun from 4-6 p.m.  We will serve a hotdog dinner to the first 500 guests ($2/person) and Mr. Rob Petersen will be our BINGO caller.  The purchase price of your card is determined by your arrival time.  Come early and play every game!  We will have a special black-out game, with new cards, at 5:45 p.m.

HCS Band Concert:  Stop in and enjoy our school band performances at 2:00 in the church and 6:30 in the Community Room.  They are amazing!  Everyone is welcome, not just the band parents!

S.A.L.T. Day; We are excited about our day of learning new things!  I was amazed by the many course offerings.  Thanks to our volunteer parents and to Mrs. Carol Broadnax, Mrs. Katie Atlas and Mrs. Linda Mischke for organizing all of us!

Hill-Murray Band Concert:  Friday, we are being treated to a jazzy, upbeat performance from the Hill-Murray Band, which will feature two of our eighth graders, Graham Kaluzny and Brian Veenstra, AKA Scrooge.

It will be a great week!  (Hopefully, we can live through it!)

Don't Miss the Book Fair!

The newest and best books can be found for sale in our school library Monday through Wednesday night.  Teachers have browsed the offerings and are hoping some generous parents will gift them with a new book for the classroom, too.  I can hardly stay out of there!  Thanks to the many volunteers who make this book fair possible!

SCRIP and Jeans Passes. 

What a great way to support the school without costing you a dime!  If you buy groceries, gas, drink coffee or go to restaurants, you can help.  Buy gift cards at face value and Hi-C earns a percentage of the value.  The money earned through the Scrip program is used to purchase educational aids and supplies for the teachers.

If you purchase Scrip in February, you will get a jeans pass for each child.  Stop by the kitchen on Wednesday mornings, or send in the green sheet found in your Thursday folder each week.

First Semester 2009-10 Honor Roll

DeLaSalle High School is pleased to recognize the following Honor Roll students for their academic success in the first semester of the 2009-10 school year.  These students are recognized for their scholastic accomplishment on either the High Honors Roll (semester grade point average of 3.8 or better) or Honor Roll (semester grade point average of 3.0 to 3.799), with no graders lower than a C.  Congratulations to HCS alumni:  Elizabeth Anderson, Sean McInerney, Anne Olson and Paul Olson!

Uniform Update:

Girls:  Wear socks!  I want to be able to SEE socks on every girl.  Ankle-high socks don't cut it. Plus, it is Minnesota. Thanks for your attention to this.

Chilly at school?  If a student is chilly at school, they may wear a school sweatshirt, crew or zip.   HCS Hoodies are not uniform pieces.  Hoodies may be worn on out-of-uniform days.  It is not okay to wear a random sweatshirt/hooodie during the school day. Kinda of defeats the notion of a uniform.

A Lovely Soul

Thanks to the Family of Kathy Kenney for the memorial checks to Highland Catholic School.  Mrs. Kenney was a long-time parishioner, strong school supporter and lovely grandmother.  May she rest in peace.

Helpful Students

Last Friday collection for Haiti netted a whopping $1,404.39.  Nicely done.  The money has been dispersed to Friends of the Orphans and Catholic Relief Services.  One generous kinder brought in his tooth fairy money!

Today, our 8^th graders are going to Feed My Starving Children to create meals for the Haitians.  They are an energetic class and I can't wait to hear how many meals they packaged!