School News

Loyola Memorial Garden Completed in Honor of Lost Students

Declan & Maeve Chmielewski, Charlotte Cole, and Audrey Dufrene, Loyola College Prep Students

AFTER MONTHS OF PLANNING, fundraising, and construction, the beautiful Memorial Garden on Loyola College Prep’s campus is finally complete. The garden will be a quiet, reverent place for students to pray, reflect, or spend a peaceful moment honoring the students to whom the memorial is dedicated. During the 2020-2021 school year, the Loyola family suffered the losses of two cherished students- Colten Miller ‘24 and Aubrey Bailes ‘21. Feeling called to honor the lives of his classmates, Declan Chmielewski ‘22 asked several students (Charlotte Cole ‘22, Maeve Chmielewski ‘23, Audrey Dufrene ‘23) to put their faith into action and coordinate a permanent memorial to honor all students who passed away during their time at Loyola. Fundraising for the Memorial Garden began in late February with the Aubrey Bailes Bowlathon. Over 115 bowlers enjoyed a night celebrating Aubrey’s favorite sport. The event, along with a donation link, raised a total of $6,000 for the memorial fund. The Colten Miller Golf Social in May and its donation link reached similar success, drawing in over 100 attendees and raising over $6,000. Students also purchased t-shirts, featuring a quote from Colten, to wear as they enjoyed Colten’s passion for golf. Hoogland’s Landscaping generously agreed to coordinate the project with the team and graciously donated half the cost of installation. Mr. Mike Hoogland, father of three Loyola alumni, has worked with Loyola in the past to include the landscaping around Hudley Field House and St. Vincent’s Hall. For the memorial, he designed a beautiful space featuring stone benches, an irrigated plant bed, and engraved bricks. The following names will be featured on the bricks:

Charles Gerard Barbour, 1970 David Randall Hall, 1972 Theresa Ann Rush, 1973 Deborah Annette Allen, 1974 Michael T. Volz, 1979 Brice Cort Adley, 1991 Virginia Marie Brice, 1998 Gerald W. Pinckard, 1999 Patrick Edward Schwartz, 1999 Aubrey Rann Bailes, 2021 Colten Wayde Miller, 2024

The garden, located in front of the Residence Building, provides a focal point for the school, highlighting a statue of Mary that overlooks the space. The Memorial Garden will serve as a lasting reminder of how we are called to live out our faith, and to love our neighbors, classmates, and friends unconditionally. The student coordination team would like to thank everyone involved in the process, especially the families of Aubrey and Colten as well as the generous donors.

THE 69TH ANNUAL LOYOLA COLLEGE PREP STYLE SHOW & LUNCHEON

Join the Loyola College Prep Class of 2023 for this year’s totally rad 69th Annual Style Show! The annual style show is sponsored by the Loyola Parents Association and will honor the graduating seniors who will model clothing provided by local vendors. The Style Show has a long history at Loyola College Prep dating back to 1952. Loyola Seniors will take the stage for the main show where groups model clothes from local stores in addition to the senior walk. A long-standing tradition at the Style Show is the Alumni Walk where seniors and their parents and grandparents who attended Loyola, Jesuit, St. Vincent Academy or Notre Dame High School. All Flyer Alumni and Future Flyers are invited to join in the fun! With special seating available for each group, the Style Show is a great way to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones!

DATE

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

LOCATION

Bossier Civic Center 620 Benton Road Bossier City, LA 71111

TIME

Doors open at 11 a.m. Show begins at 11:30 a.m.

TICKETS

$45 in advance $50 at door Tickets available at www.myschoolbucks.com

Shaver’s Catering will serve a delicious meal included in the ticket price. Loyola College Prep invites middle school students for private tours of Loyola’s campus during Open House week scheduled for Oct. 25-28. Tours are done in small groups, and registration is required. To schedule a tour, visit https://www.loyolaprep.org/openhouse-2021 “We are excited to welcome future Flyers and their parents, and walk them through a typical school day at LCP. Guests will get to engage with current students, alumni, faculty and staff,” said John LeBlanc, Principal. “Loyola offers a different high school experience that is grounded in our Catholic identity with opportunities for students to evolve in academic excellence, faith in action and student involvement.” In addition to small group tours of the campus during a typical day, students and parents will have the chance to learn about college placement, financial assistance, accommodations, admissions and more. Loyola College Prep offers a faith-based high school experience grounded in Catholicism, with a focus on growing students in conscience, character and compassion. Scan this code to register for our fall open house!

LCP 2023 NATIONAL MERIT SEMIFINALISTS

now eligible to continue in the competition to compete for nearly 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring.

Saint Joseph School News

Polly Maciulski, Middle School Religion

SJS FOCUSES ON FAITH IN 2022-23 We are two months into the 2022-23 school year, and our students in grades third through eighth have all had the opportunity to go to Confession with their classes. We have celebrated numerous Masses together and even had Bishop Malone with us for our 71st Anniversary Alumni Mass on Friday, Sept. 16th. What a treat! As we continue our mission to form each child in the virtue of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we rotate through the theological virtues each year, and this year we are focused on the Virtue of Faith, seeking ways each day to better understand and illustrate this beautiful gift from God.

MINIVINNIES RETURN Our MiniVinnies have returned this year - and with even bigger numbers than we had in our inaugural year! The first school conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul - termed “MiniVinny” - was a big hit in 2021-22 as we assisted our local conference with the Christmas service project, and we raised enough money to support an international effort to buy two houses for the poor in Haiti. This year we hope to be of even more support to the needy in our area and to other conferences, as well. The kickoff meeting was held Thursday, Sept. 1, in the Family Life Center of St. Joseph Catholic Church, and was led by Jim Beadles, Diocesan SVDP Conference Chairman. Jim shared with the group the story of Saint Vincent de Paul, and reminded returning members of how this great Catholic organization began: founded by students, in honor of this “Apostle of Charity and Father of the Poor.” The year holds great promise for this year’s conference, as we commission new members and elect new officers in the words of Blessed Frederic Ozanam, to “do what our Lord Jesus Christ did when preaching the gospel. Let us go to the poor!”

SJS GEARING UP FOR FALCON FEST 2022 Last year’s Falcon Fest fundraiser at St. Joseph Catholic School was a great success, and looks to be at least as successful this year! On Saturday, October 8, from 5-8 p.m., the SJS campus will be brimming with rides, music, and great food - even more than last year’s fundraiser. This event is not just for SJS families or even just parishioners, but for our friends and neighbors of all ages who wish to enjoy an early fall evening in a festive atmosphere. It’s free for adults, costs $25 for kids to play without limits, and for $18 you can buy the Falcon Fest 2022 t-shirt. It’s not too late to buy tickets, or to sponsor, so use the QR code on the left or visit our website at www.sjsfalcons.org

Saint Frederick High School News

Jill Weir, Development Director

LAST YEAR, Mrs. Jeanne Clark and two of her colleagues, Jacob Armand and Paula Garrett, used quilting to team teach a unit on American History as part of the school’s IB curriculum. Coach Armand’s History class learned how slaves traveling on the Underground Railroad used quilt patterns to communicate safe routes to freedom. Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Garrett used math and design to help students create their own quilt squares, using symbols and patterns to communicate hidden messages. Through this process, the students developed critical and creative thinking skills, and the teachers worked together to create an interdisciplinary unit that brought quilting into the spotlight. In the spring, Mrs. Jeanne Clark’s 7th and 8th-grade students extended the mathematical patterns they discovered in Pre-Algebra and Algebra in the creation of quilt blocks for babies. Each student was taught how to sew a four-patch block by hand. After the four patches were completed, Mrs. Clark cut other fabric blocks that coordinated with them and completed the top of each quilt. Over the summer Mrs. Clark quilted the blankets and bound them. They are now being given to Life Choices of Monroe. The quilts will be given to mothers whom the organization has previously counseled about their unplanned pregnancy options. The quilts were blessed during Mass on Tuesday, August 23, 2022, and delivered. It is our hope through the quilts that God will bless these sweet babies, comfort them, and keep them warm. All lessons taught at St. Frederick High School are meant to enrich the learning opportunities for students, but when these lessons are connected to the real world, they truly come alive. Whether through understanding our past or by working to ensure a brighter future, the goal of St. Frederick’s students and faculty is to make learning purposeful and Christ-centered.

SFHS CROSS & SHIELD CEREMONY

Our 9th graders crossed over from junior high to high school; they are shielded in prayer and support along their educational journey. Our 9th graders were issued a pin to commemorate this special occasion. This pin will also be worn at their graduation from SFHS as they cross from high school to college, armed with the necessary social, educational, physical, and spiritual means to be successful in today’s society.

St. John Berchmans School News

Trey Woodham, Principal

We Are Here To Evangelize, Serve and Teach!

AS A MINISTRY of the Cathedral, our school’s mission is guided by God’s teachings to respect life and evangelize through educating the whole student - mind, body, and soul. Mind: In order to expand and strengthen the minds of the students, we have enhanced our core programming, hired four exceptional teachers, and have added a Reading Resource Teacher. Our new math curriculum, Singapore Math, focuses on problem solving and teaches math concepts utilizing a multi-step learning process that will reach all students with a range of learning styles. Our K4-5th grade English Language Arts program, Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA), is a comprehensive program for developing reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, while building knowledge of literature, history, and the sciences. Our 3rd-8th grade writing program, M I Write, aids the students in learning how to write effectively by providing automated scores and immediate feedback. Providing an environment of academic excellence instills discipline and expands the student’s knowledge of the universe. They develop an understanding that their academic studies are intertwined with their Catholic faith. Body: Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6:19. The Bible verse guides the students in training their bodies for a life of discipleship through Christian practices like pilgrimages, abstinence, the sign of the cross, the movements of the liturgy, and the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Just as athletes develop their athletic skill through repetition and practice, we teach our student disciples to make Christian habits an inherited part of who they are through regularly engaging in Catholic traditional practices. Soul: We feed the soul through daily prayer, religious classes presenting scripture and God’s teachings, worship in the Cathedral, reception of the Holy Eucharist, Confession, and the practice of Christian virtues. We live the Catholic faith each day by embodying the Gospel message of Christ and cultivating a life of virtue, integrity, service, and a love for learning in each student that walks through our doors. Our mission and hope are that they will develop into disciples living and witnessing God’s Divine Plan and becoming leaders in the world. This quote from a 2022 graduating eighth grader provides that hope: “I take my faith very seriously. It is the most important thing in my life. I am a Catholic and plan on being Catholic my entire life. I feel like Catholicism is the most serious way of following God. Before I came to St. John’s, I was not anywhere near as close with God as I am now. Coming to St. Johns did so many good things for me. It also brought my parents closer to God because they wanted to be involved in the St. John’s’ program. Coming to this school truly changed my life forever.” The Cathedral of St. John Berchmans parish has provided education for the youth since 1902 with our school serving the Shreveport - Bossier area for more than 70 years with its uniquely traditional approach to education and enrichment.