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

SMSA Honor Rolls are currently being recalibrated to align with the grading scale changes initiated this school year. SMSA Honor Rolls shall be published for each high school grade level at the end of Semester I & II, as these are the grading periods which reflect “permanent grades” – those that identify academic credit earned or unearned and which are required to appear on a student’s permanent record transcript.

As a point of reference, Quarter grades and Mid-Quarter Progress Report grades – while valuable markers of student progress – are never recorded on the permanent record transcript of any student.

J-Term course selection/registration shall occur on Tuesday, October 31 through the completion of electronic forms in homerooms. During registration, students will indicate a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th choice of J-Term classes. While we hope to accommodate student’s 1st choice as often as possible, most students will be taking a J-Term class that is their alternate choice. As a small Catholic high school, we accept that unlimited curricular options or human and financial resources are not possible or reasonable. The same is true with J-Term options. We trust that our Springs community understands this functional limitation and will gracefully respect all final course placement decisions. Please trust that each J-Term course has been designed to offer excellent value to students. Over time, SMSA educators believe that the cumulative J-Term experiences of this unique learning model will help students obtain valuable perspectives – whether through a first choice or alternative choice course! Scheduling decisions of the principal are final.

With this inaugural J-Term 2024, we celebrate history on the Ledge! Introducing this new academic term is a first of its kind moment which positively differentiates St. Mary’s Springs Academy in the region as the only high school in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Flyway Conference to offer a J-Term program and model!

Our dedicated and creative team of high school educators are very excited to launch this new learning experience at the Springs. Planning for this initiative has been interesting and inspirational, firmly focused on providing unique, hands-on, value added and mission driven learning experiences for our Ledgers.

As we continue to strive for improvement and ways to advance learning at SMSA, I am confident that J-Term will become a treasured and distinguishing feature of the Ledger experience. The high school administration, faculty and staff are very pleased to reveal this finalized initial booklet, which includes course offerings for January Term 2024 and academic policy reminders that apply during J-Term.

SMSA is grateful to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for providing a G.I.F.T.S. Grant to help financially subsidize the development of our first J-Term! We are grateful to Moraine Park Technical College for their creative collaboration and enthusiastic embrace of this project . A hearty thank you to the Springs parent and student community for their positive support for this new model. Finally, many, many thanks to the exceptionally generous and talented faculty and staff of SMSA who have gone the extra mile and a half to imagine and develop our first J-Term!

Pupil Services During J-Term: One exciting feature of the SMSA based daily schedule is the inclusion of special afternoon programming through SMSA Pupil Services and the Counseling Office. Because of the unique J-Term schedule and model, there will be dedicated time to manage important aspects of student life that always seem to run short of time, including social-emotional learning and support; student health and wellness; SCOIR platform orientation; college and career exploration and inventories; College essay boot camp; four year planning and course scheduling. Motivational speaker programs will also be integrated.

Dress Code: Unless explicitly noted as part of a class excursion/ field trip activity, students are expected to be in uniform during the 13 days of J-Term. Some activities off-campus may require alternative attire, and students enrolled in classes that are impacted will be notified.

Grading: Each J-Term course shall use the unweighted grading scale (4.3 GPA for A+). Students will earn a letter grade for J-Term courses. Student cumulative GPA shall be calculated including J-Term grades.

Field Trips, Excursions and Guest Speakers: J-Term is designed to encourage experiential learning. To accomplish this, sometimes learning will occur on-campus in a lab or classroom. Sometimes the primary learning activity will occur away from SMSA, and even away from Fond du Lac. Some day trips will require students to be off campus for 3-4 hours, and some for 7-10 hours. Some classes plan to invite guest experts to join with our students – either ‘in the field’ or in the classroom. Like normal practice, any learning that may take place off campus will require parental permission slips which will be facilitated through the J-Term teacher.

Service During J-Term: Independent of their chosen J-Term class, all senior Ledgers are required to participate in the Beatitude Project – the new SMSA senior service capstone project. To help facilitate this, seniors will be free after 1pm each day of J-Term. Approval for Beatitude Project senior service will be obtained through Semester I senior theology courses and Mrs. Gentile. Seniors are expected to perform 12 hours of service at their chosen site during the 13 days of J-Term. In addition, the J-Term course “Have Mercy, Will Work” features a variety of community service experiences. Other J-Term courses may also include service as an aspect of the curriculum.

AP & Dual Credit Courses: To enable continuity in preparation for AP exams, each AP course shall be scheduled to meet four times during a special ‘ZERO hour’ rotation during J-Term. College Dual Credit courses will not meet during J-Term but shall resume in Semester II.

Jazz Ensembles: Both the Vocal Jazz and Instrumental Jazz ensembles will meet during J-Term on four afternoons. Specific dates will be shared when course plans are finalized. This will enable our music students to maintain their preparation for the State Solo and Ensemble competitions in February.

Athletics: The SMSA high school athletic calendar and programs shall be maintained during J-Term. Planning has been taken to avoid conflicts with game days. There may be times, however, when a student athlete may need extra leniency from a coach for being late to practice due to a J-Term excursion that has returned late.

From the SMSA 2023-24 Curriculum Guide: “As a graduation requirement, all Ledgers shall earn 0.5 credit annually during J-Term. Medical documentation shall be required for any student who is absent for more than 3 consecutive days of J-Term. All SMSA academic, attendance and co-curricular policies apply during J-Term. The Ledger Way Core Values are SMSA cultural guide posts during all academic terms.”

Our Lady of the Ledge, pray for us.

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BMR tickets have been distributed to the youngest child in every family. If you did not receive your tickets, please contact Kristin Zitlow at kzitlow@smsacademy.org, or a member of the BMR committee (listed below). Sold tickets can be returned to SMSA any time before the live drawing on January 12, 2024.

Please make all checks payable to SMSA. Additional tickets can be picked up at the North, South or Scrip offices at SMSA, or from the following locations in our community: Central Barber, Everson Law Office, Flood Oil Company, Holiday Automotive, Holy Family Catholic Church, Hopper’s Silk Screening & All Star Trophy, Michels Corporation and Twohig Family Dentistry.

Who will be the Grand Prize winner on January 12, 2024, taking home $20,000? Will it be YOU?!

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

Parents with students in the performing arts, come help support the performing arts at SMSA!

PARENTS! WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THE FALL PLAY A SUCCESS!  Check out these opportunities to help!

Sign Up

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 2023:
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Wednesday, December 20, 2023

All meetings will be held at 6 pm in the Lauby Lounge (first floor teacher lounge). Contact Anne Brunette at 6brunettes@charter.net with any questions about the PPA!

If you are the parent of an athlete, please consider giving of your time to help out in one of our concession stands or with admissions. The Booster Club supports ALL SMSA sports, so feel free to help out at activities your kiddos are not in, to assure 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 and select a date that best fits your schedule.

A big thank you to those that have already signed up and given their support!

Varsity Football

Volleyball

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No news at this time.

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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.

Tue, Oct 31st, 2023 | 1:45 pm – 2:25 pm – Carroll University

Please register on SCOIR or email Mrs. McCarthy if you are interested in meeting with any of these college reps – thank you!

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