Providence Academy

Ski and Snowboard Club Registration
Come join the Providence Academy Ski and Snowboard Club on the hills this winter! The club is open to Middle and Upper School students. Students are advised to return completed forms promptly, as the club quickly reaches its limit of 70 students. Registration forms can be found on Madame Woodbury's web page. See you on the slopes!

Special Invitation from the Vocation Office at the Archdiocese
Team Vianney and Theotókos extend an open invitation to high school men and women to join Catholic college students and seminarians for prayer, faith formation, and a light meal on the first Thursday of the month. Meet at St. John Vianney College Seminary at the University of St. Thomas at 5:45 p.m. for the Marian procession. Team Vianney and Theotókos then meet separately for food and talks until rejoining for Mass in the St. Thomas Chapel at 7:15. Next 2009-2010 dates for Team Vianney and Theotókos: Dec 3rd, (not in January), Feb 4th, Mar 4th, Apr 1st, May 6th. More details can be found at www.10000vocations.org.

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Lower School News
Lower School Choir
Lower School Choir rehearsal is held on Tuesdays from 3:15 to 4:00 p.m.

Thanksgiving Food Drive for CROSS
This week, the Lower School Service Club will host a Thanksgiving Food Drive for Christians Reaching Out in Social Service (CROSS). All students can bring their donations to their classroom. All nonperishable food items, including items to supplement a Thanksgiving dinner, are welcome. Specialty items such as pickles, olives, cherry pie fillings or sweet potatoes can be donated. Christmas cookie mixes, frostings and decorations are also welcome. Thank you for your generosity!

Providence In The News
November 16, 2009 - Providence Teacher Joey Lahr Inspires Students' Spanish Speaking Confidence
Providence Academy Spanish language teacher, Joey Lahr, always looks for ways to improve the conversational abilities and confidence in public speaking of her students. In one such classroom activity students are asked to bring in a sentimental object of their choosing, describe the object and its meaning in a ten minute Spanish presentation and answer peer and instructor directed questions. (Click here to view the press release in its entirety.)

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Providence Academy Parent Association (PAPA)
Donations Needed
Do you have any of those travel size toiletries that we all take from hotels when we travel? We need your donations of travel size toiletry items for the next Lower School Family Service Project. These will be used in personal care bags for the Benedictine Nursing Home residents. Please help us to help them. We are also looking for any

gently used or new blankets or donations of fleece (1 1/2 yard pieces) for us to make blankets for the homeless at Sharing and Caring Hands. There will be a box in the office for the items that you are willing to donate. Bless you for your generosity!

Father/Daughter Dance Thank You
A big thank you to the incredible group of hard-working moms that planned and implemented the Second Annual Upper School Father Daughter Dance. It was a special night for all who attended. These memories will hold dear for many years to come! Moms, mark your calendars for the First Annual Upper School Mother Son Game Night on February 27th.

Lower School Family Service Project
The October Lower School Family Service Project event was a wonderful time for families to get together on a Sunday afternoon for a few hours and do service for others. In two hours, we made over 300 sandwiches to be delivered to the homeless through the organization 363 Days, we created about 50 breakfast bags for the Ronald McDonald

House that will be distributed to families that have sick children in the hospital, we made about 100 cards of thanks for the Plymouth Fire Department, we decorated over 50 place mats and bags to be used for Meals on Wheels and we also made and delivered about 100 Halloween gift bags for the sick kids at Children's Hospital.

Get involved! Come as a family and do service for those in need. It is amazing what we can accomplish together! Bring your family to the next Family Service event on Sunday, December 6th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Great Room. The whole family is welcome and encouraged to attend and participants are asked to sign up in advance at MySignUp. Have questions? Please contact Mrs. Sandy Hodgkin at shodgkin@comcast.net or (763) 553-0518.

Parent Parties
The following Parent Parties have been scheduled. Please be sure to RSVP soon!:

5th Grade: Friday, November 20th at Axel's Loretto. Hosted by Chris and Wendy Leines and George and Athena Andrews.

8th Grade: Friday, December 4th at Medina Golf and Country Club. Hosted by Pam and Doug Christensen and Matt and Beth Geurink. Invitations will be mailed soon.

11th Grade: Saturday, December 5th at the home of Cheri and Tom Kamp. Kindly RSVP to Cheri at Shopping802@yahoo.com or (952) 835-8366.

Teacher Christmas Gifts
As we enter into this time of Thanksgiving and the miracle that is Christmas we wanted to give everyone a chance to show their appreciation and love for their child/ren’s teacher/s. Providence Academy has a policy in place regarding Christmas gifts for teachers. We ask that families not purchase individual gifts for teachers. Instead you may contribute up to $16 per child to a fund for teachers gifts. The money will be pooled together and Visa gift cards will be purchased for all teaching faculty at Providence Academy (Pre-K thru 12). This does include all specialists.

We will be mailing a letter home around Thanksgiving break which will include a return envelope to mail back to school so that no teacher will have to handle money for his/her own gift. If you wish to contribute, please put a check made out to PAPA in the self-addressed stamped envelope. Checks must arrive at school by December 11th. You may write one check for the whole family. The gift cards will be distributed at a faculty Christmas Breakfast on the 18th of December. If your child would like to make a homemade gift for their teacher they are welcome to do so and may give that to the teacher themselves. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Allison Adducci at adducci@mac.com or (763) 509-0160.

Treats for Faculty Meetings
Please help me in showing how appreciative we all are of our incredible faculty here at Providence Academy. I would like to provide a treat at each faculty meeting throughout the school year. It can be anything really: fruit, cheese and crackers, a home baked goodie, chips and dip-let your imagination run wild. E-mail me at adducci@mac.com to get the date of your choosing and please specify if you would prefer the Upper, Middle or Lower School meeting. Thank you.
--Allison Adducci

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Athletics Update
Football All Conference
Congratulations to the 10 boys who received all conference or honorable mention honors for football. The total this fall is now 30 athletes named all conference or honorable mention, with girls’ swimming still pending. Congratulations goes to the following individuals:

All Conference
John Noble
Jeff Graybill
Hunter Strop
Blake Sandvold
Ryan Dart (HCA student)
Phifer Nicholson (HCA student)

Honorable Mention
Marshall Klitzke
Mason Adolph
Colin Kraker
Daniel Liedall (HCA student)

How to Receive Sports Communication
The best way to receive information at home about upcoming events and driving direction is to utilize the Providence Academy website. Simply go to http://www.providenceacademy.org and click on the rSchoolToday Calendar link. Information can also be obtained by calling the Sports Hotline at (763) 258-2580. The Hotline is updated daily and contains all of the day’s information and happenings.

Schedules and Directions to Away Events
Both schedules and directions to away events can be found on the Providence Academy website at http://www.providenceacademy.org From the home page, simply click on the rSchoolToday Calendar link. Then select a sport from the View Schedules list on the right side of the page.

Weather-Related Cancellations
In the event athletic schedules change, the Sports Hotline is updated by 2:00 daily. Please call the Hotline at (763) 258-2580 for the latest information. The rSchoolToday Calendar will also be updated as soon as information is available.

Webcast America
www.webcast50.com is the place to go this fall for varsity athletics. For ease of access, there is a link on PA’s home page to the Webcast America site. Note all games and events on the site remain available to view for a calendar year. Check out all the action you may have missed on Webcast America.

Results
Looking for results for Providence Athletics teams? Visit the Providence Academy website and click on the rSchoolToday Calendar link. From there, select the blue tab labeled “Scores/Standings.”

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College Counselor's Corner
Special Announcement
We are pleased to announce that Ms. Margaret Otten, former Senior Associate Dean of Admissions at Carleton College, will serve as Mrs. Hogan’s maternity leave substitute for the month of January into early February. Ms. Otten will join Mrs. Hogan for another day in early December to meet students, faculty, and staff, to help prepare for the transition. Please help welcome Ms. Otten to Providence Academy.

Seniors
Financial Aid Applications
All seniors are encouraged to apply for financial aid, merit-based and need-based. The majority of colleges and universities require the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) while some require the CSS PROFILE (through College Board). Both are accessible online; www.fafsa.ed.gov and https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/index.jsp. Mark your calendars for Thursday, December 3rd for a financial aid night for seniors and their parents from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Upper School Lecture Hall (light refreshments will be served).

College Admission and Scholarship Applications Reminder
With rare exceptions, you need to complete the Transcript Request Form (found in the US office by Ms. Hanson’s desk or online in Naviance/Family Connection under ‘Documents From School’) two weeks before you require us to submit your recommendations and transcripts. It is okay to complete the request form (the one on blue paper) while you are still working on your online portion of the application.

Sending ACT/SAT Scores
Remember to send your ACT and/or SAT scores directly from the testing companies, unless you are applying to a military academy or for an ROTC scholarship (see Mrs. Hogan). Please review the following information that was given to you last year, given to you again this year and found on the testing web sites, www.actstudent.org (ACT) and www.collegeboard.com (SAT).

If you have lingering questions about application processes or components, please stop by to schedule a meeting with Mrs. Hogan before school, after school, during lunch or study periods by the end of the month.

Juniors
Any sophomores who took the optional, free Princeton Review Assessment (PRA) on Saturday, November 7^th will receive scores back in early December, hopefully around the time PSAT scores will be available. It is recommended that students take both the ACT with Writing and SAT Reasoning test at least once in the spring of the junior year.

Fourth Annual ACT Prep Course will offered again at Providence Academy on three Saturdays in January (before the February 6^th ACT). All ACT exam subject areas (Math, Science, and English, including the ACT written essay, which is recommended for all ACT test takers), will be covered. The classes are taught by Providence Academy teachers and will be held at the school on the following Saturdays: January 16, 2010 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon, January 23, 2010 2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. (to accommodate SAT test takers in the morning) and January 30, 2010 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. All juniors were given the registration form and must return it with their $100 payment (to Providence Academy) no later than Monday, November 30^th. Texts for all registered students will be ordered at the end of the day on December 1st and will be handed out right before Christmas break. Students should complete one practice exam before the classes begin.

SAT Test Prep
All juniors were invited to attend an optional workshop (Thursday, November 12) on Method Test Prep, a free online test preparation program through Naviance/Family Connection. Providence has a trial subscription to the program and encourages any interested juniors to utilize this free service. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Hogan.

Sophomores
Any sophomores who took the optional, free Princeton Review Assessment (PRA) on Saturday, November 7^th will receive scores back in early December, hopefully around the time PSAT scores will be available.

Freshmen
Freshmen should continue to work hard in their classes, cultivating good study habits while also becoming involved in the greater school community.

Upcoming College Visitors
A few more representatives will visit PA in November and December. Seniors applying to a school should stop by when their Admission Representative is at Providence Academy. Juniors should plan to attend to gather information and to introduce themselves to the representatives. Check Family Connection, read the E-Bulletin, listen for the reminder announcements, and/or check out the posters outside the College Counselor’s Office. Remember, college visit passes must be obtained from the US Office no later than the morning on the day of the visit.

Wednesday, November 18thUniversity of Kansas – 12:55 p.m. in the Upper School Conference Room

Headmaster’s Notes Todd R. Flanders

Headmaster’s Notes
Todd R. Flanders