Principal’s Desk News & Information Upcoming Dates High School Counseling

Our Inaugural J-Term on the Ledge concludes this Friday. Grades for J-Term will be posted in Skyward on Tuesday, January 23. J-Term grades will be officially posted as part of the Semester II Report Card for all students. Likewise, J-term course grades will be recorded with Semester II grades (each year) on student transcripts.

On Friday, teachers will be sharing surveys with students aimed at receiving honest feedback on each J-Term course. Also, in the week ahead, a comprehensive survey of the total J-Term experience shall be pushed out to parents, students and faculty. Your feedback will be very important to helping SMSA improve J-Term for January 2025. Results of the comprehensive survey shall be shared with SMSA stakeholders.

Tuesday, January 23 is an A-Day and marks the start of Semester II. The rotating A-B Day Block schedule and normal daily bell schedule will resume at that time. Students and parents should review academic schedules on Skyward. Parents and students should connect directly with the Counseling Office about any schedule related questions.

Last Monday, our nation celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Many organizations, including schools close on this occasion each year so that people can participate in learning more about Dr. King’s legacy of social justice and nonviolent protest of injustice. I recently re-learned that a great example of creative nonviolence was MLK’s direct action campaign in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. During that campaign, thousands of African Americans, mainly teenagers, were arrested for marching nonviolently against segregation. The protesters even marched into fire hoses that were turned against them. Many of us have seen these disturbing images from the past. One day – almost miraculously – firemen put down their fire hoses and allowed the young people to continue their march unobstructed. Segregation fell soon after.

Dr. King himself spent that Easter week behind bars where he wrote his moving “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” In it, he wrote: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” It was an image of humanity as the body of Christ that he imagined.

Of course, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist minister, well versed in the scriptures. His inspiration for nonviolence as a model of righteous protest was in fact the life of Jesus. Jesus showed that there are vastly more creative alternatives with nonviolent resistance to evil and injustice than with violent resistance. In the Garden of Gethsemane when he was being forcefully arrested, Peter used his sword to strike a soldier – severing his ear. Jesus admonished Peter to put down his sword, and refused to resist his own arrest.

From the perspective of Christian nonviolence, the Gospels present a new image of what it means to be human. In the life of Jesus, we discover that to be human is to be nonviolent, to be nonviolent is to become, like Jesus. Nonviolence leads us to the fullest possibilities of humanity—to becoming people of universal love, universal compassion, universal solidarity, universal peace.

As we continue our mission of Catholic education on the Ledge, we pray that our Ledgers might glimpse the radical possibilities of a Gospel inspired life…including nonviolent language, behavior, and even protest.

I am pleased to announce the recent hiring of Ms. Danielle Tesky in high school. Ms. Tesky shall serve as a full-time Math teacher, instructing Ledgers in Algebra I, Geometry and Honors Geometry. Before joining the faculty of SMSA, Ms. Tesky taught math at Campbellsport High School, and student taught at Neenah High School. She is a graduate of UW- Oshkosh, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Math Education and where she also served as a Math Lab tutor, made the Dean’s List in all 8 semesters and graduated Magna Cum Laude. She has earned her Wisconsin licensure in math education grades 5-12. We are very excited to welcome Ms. Tesky to the Ledge, and she is equally eager to meet her students and their parents in weeks ahead.

Please click on the buttons below to view the High Honor and Honor Roll students for Semester I.

High Honor Roll for Semester I 

Honor Roll for Semester I

Our Lady of the Ledge, pray for us.

Mr. Eamonn O’Keeffe,
High School Principal

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The SMSA Ledger Hockey team is set to take on Brookefield East, Saturday, January 20, 2024 for Youth Hockey Night!

Puck drops at 12:30 p.m. for the Varsity game and 3:00 p.m. for the JV game.

See you there!

Our annual Bibles and Blankets Project for Catholic Schools Week is made possible this year by the generosity of our Elementary and Middle School students and families who supported our Penny War this past fall! Students from all grades will have the chance to help cut and tie blankets or create prayer cards for our bundles. The Holy Family Warming Shelter will receive 30 twin size fleece blankets to be used in their facility as a result. Thank you!

Bibles and Blankets Project

BMR Committee:

Valerie Everson — 920.251.3719
Stephanie Fessler — 920.960.0556
Katie Mathos — 920.979.6757
Lisa Shannon — 920.539.2892
Sasha Smith — 920.517.1693

Sign up with a partner in the office and pick a scene to rehearse. No memorization needed.

Prepare a snippet of a song (show tune preferred but not required).
Make sure to pick up an audition form and fill it out to bring to your audition time. Auditions will be held in the MS choir room, 2077

Tech Crew will pick up a form in the office and fill it out. You will then turn it into the office. FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE!
Show dates are April 19-21

If you are the parent of a SMSA student athlete, please consider giving your time to help out in our basketball concession stand or with admissions. The Booster Club supports ALL SMSA sports, so feel free to help out at those activities your kiddos are not involved in, assuring other parents can watch their son or daughter in that particular sport. This is a great opportunity to serve and see/meet more of our Ledger family.

Signing up is easy…. just click on one of the links below and select a date that best fits your schedule. Thank you to those that have already signed up and given their support! Go Ledgers!

Winter Sports:

Boys HoopsGirls Hoops

Parents with students in the performing arts, come to help support the performing arts at SMSA! If your child is in high school or middle school band or chorus, theater, or jazz vocals/band, we’d love for you to join us!

PPA meeting Dates for the rest of the school year:
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Tuesday, May 14, 2024 Note the change in usual day

All meetings will be held at 6 pm in the Lauby Lounge (first floor teacher lounge).

Contact Anne Brunette (6brunettes@charter.net) with any questions about the PPA!

Planning has begun for our annual Ledgerfest fundraising event (our largest and one of the most fun events of the year)! In previous years, we have collected money from each grade level and put together amazing auction baskets that will be in our silent auction.

Follow the link below to donate to your students grade, making this the Best Ledgerfest to date.

Donate

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January 19th – J-Term Ends
January 22nd – NO CLASSES: Faculty In-service
January 23rd – Semester II Begins
January 29th – February 2nd – Catholic Schools Week

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Dear Class of 2024 and 2025!!

The next Envision Fond du Lac tour is set for Tuesday, January 30th from 11:00 – 12:30 at C.D. Smith Construction. These tours are designed for students looking to go into the Trades. We are looking for 4 Juniors or Seniors  to attend this tour.

Business & Tour Information

C.D. Smith Construction promotes,  we build spaces – spaces where people work, play, live, learn, heal, create, worship and serve. Whether a 20,000 square foot addition or a new 600,000 square foot facility, we are dedicated to building lasting relationships and safely delivering superior craftsmanship. 

During the tour students will have the opportunity to review the career opportunities at C.D. Smith specifically geared towards our skilled trades roles in the field along with a hands-on jobsite tour with one of our Superintendents at a current project under construction in North Fond du Lac’s grade school.

Transportation and Parking

The tour begins at 11:00 am and goes until 12:30 pm. Students are responsible for transportation to and from C.D. Smith tour site. Students will be excused from class at 10:40 am and will be expected to be back on campus after the tour. Closed toed shoes and pants required. C.D. Smith  will provide safety glasses, hard hats and hi-vis vests

The tour begins at C.D. Smith’s main office building located at 125 Camelot Drive, Fond du Lac. From there students and chaperones will be transported to a current project under construction in North Fond du Lac’s grade school.

Students will need to fill the Archdiocese Student Driver Form prior to the tour. If  you or your student do not have the form completed please stop in the North Hall Office to pick one up. The high school counselors will be chaperoning the tour and will meet the students at the tour site prior to the tour.

IMPORTANT & REQUIRED: This form needs to be completed for any student under age 18 before being able to go onsite. These forms need to be returned to Mrs. Cauley or Mrs. McCarthy before the tour date.

Pizza will be provided for lunch after the tour. If there are any special dietary needs please let us know ahead of time.  

Please email the high school counselors if you are interested in the tour and please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!

Please refer to the information provided at the link below, for local and state scholarships that SMSA seniors can apply for. This list is always subject to change and may not be all-inclusive.

Local scholarship opportunities (Fond du Lac area) are listed first, followed by opportunities for residents of the state of Wisconsin.

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