Thursday Parent Newsletter 10.22.26

Thank you Lisa Twining, alumni coaches, parents, 8th grade concessions, volunteer supervisors, parish office, janitorial staff and our wonderful student players. Please enjoy this wrap up video of the week. There were so many highlights and moments that melted our hearts. Congratulations to the winning teams of St. Carlo Acutis and St. Joan of Arc!!

“Be kind and compassionate to one another,

forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.” Ephesians 4:32

In this newsletter you can read about video wrap up of Holy Hoops, playground angels, Trunk or Treat, Pumpkin Carving contest, 8^th grade wreath fundraiser news, Chess Club starting up, XC news, Youth Group Blast, School Mass schedule, photos wanted, Attendance/Tardies and office reminders, Peacemaker virtue, November Extension Camp, saint question, New High School Tour @Sacred Heart,  Skobels uniform update, Vocations Week coming, and much more!

Thank you for reading!

Our Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest: October 28^th

We are already planning for the spectacular Growing Great Kids Auction and Gala!!

The 11th annual Holy Hoops was a slam dunk! From the opening whistle to the final buzzer, players, coaches, and families came together to make the week unforgettable.

Boys’ Division Champions
The boys’ competition was fierce, but St. Carlos Acutis took home the championship title! Coached by the dynamic duo of Nico and Robby, the team showed incredible teamwork and determination fighting their way through the bracket. The winning roster included Collin (8th), Joe  (8th), Agam (7th), Henry (6th), and Eli (5th). Congratulations to these talented young athletes!

Congratulations to Collin Dennis for winning 4 years in a row! New Holy Hoops record!

Girls’ Division Champions
On the girls’ side, St. Joan of Arc emerged victorious under the leadership of Coach Ava and Coach Sophia. The team’s impressive run to the top was a true show to their determination and skill. Players Katrina (8th), Lily (7th), Kirsti (7th), Emerson (6th), Madison (6th), and Lily (5th) played with heart and hustle, making their victory well-earned!

Competition Highlights
In addition to the main tournament, Holy Hoops 2026 featured individual competitions. Congratulations to all of our competition winners:

• Free Throw: Catherine (8th) Elodie (8^th) and Lily (7^th), and Collin (8th)
• Three-Point Contest: Macie (8th) and Collin (8th)
• Lightning: Macie (8th) and Collin (8th)
• Saint Poster Contest: Saint Vernoica and Saint David

Teachers and Alumni Game
One of the highlights of the week was the always-entertaining Teachers and Alumni Game (Mrs. Williams, Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Roberts, Mrs. White, Mr. Sherwood and  Coach Petz), where both skill and laughter were on full display. Congratulations on the teacher’s victory! It was a great reminder of the bonds that make our community so special!

A Team Effort

A huge thank you to our Holy Hoops officials and scorekeepers: Jen Sheafer, Katie White, Anthony Petz, Drew Zender, Taylor Rush, Chad Perrin, Mike Shoff, David Gage and Michael Petz.

We also want to recognize the incredible coaches who gave their time and energy to guide the teams: Drew Johnson, Ben White, Ava Patelli, Greadon Wolf, Morgan Veldman,  Sam Williams, Stella Wolf, Sophia Gage, James Herrling, Enrico Luther, George Streeter, Nico Pethick, Terra Machinski, Erick Dennis, Pablo Ordonez, Mark Lockhart, Laurisa Diaz Vargas, Finley Twining, Sam Twining, Nick Williams and Liam Krzysiek.

A Special Thank You
We are deeply grateful to the parents, families, and friends who filled the bleachers with their enthusiasm and support. You are the heart of this event, and we couldn’t have done it without you. And a final shout-out to our incredible sponsors, whose generosity makes Holy Hoops possible year after year!

As we wrap up another successful year, we look forward to what Holy Hoops 2027 will bring. Until then, let’s continue to carry the spirit of community, faith, and good sportsmanship into all we do. Don’t forget to come cheer on our girls and boys basketball team this season.

Northern Deanery High School Tour 10/29

Regional Catholic High School hosting an open house on Thursday, Oct. 29

The Northern Deanery Regional Catholic High School (NDRCHS) will host an open house at Sacred Heart Parish Hall on Thursday, Oct. 29, from 4-6 p.m. There will be information on curriculum, athletics and activities, the bell schedule, tuition and financial aid, and the application process. A presentation on the current status of the school and what’s next will start at 4:30 p.m. Refreshments will be provided.

NDRCHS was recently highlighted by the Fulcrum Foundation and Cascadia News. You can listen to the Fulcrum podcast here and read the Cascadia article here.

The mission of NDRCHS is to inspire learners to encounter Christ, critically engage important ideas and apply their gifts for the good of the world. The school’s vision is to create an Archdiocesan Catholic high school that serves more than 200 students, prepares young people for all vocational and college pathways and reflects the rich diversity of the Catholic Church and the broader community. The school will carry the name Northern Deanery Regional Catholic High School until a formal naming process is completed. Sacred Heart Parish Hall, located in the Fairhaven neighborhood in Bellingham, will serve as the school’s initial temporary location.

Specific questions about the school , including student application and enrollment, can be directed to Andy Remien, NDRCHS administrator, at andy@ndhighschool.org or (206) 605-9827. You can follow NDRCHS on Instagram at @northerndeaneryhs.

November Extension Camp:  GRADES 2–5: Get Ready to Line Dance! 🎶

Patti Hoelzle, our counselor, speaker, and coach, is also an incredible line dancing instructor! She’ll be leading a four-day camp during the SECOND week of November for students in grades 2–5 who are ready to kick up their heels and have some fun!

Patti brings so much energy, joy, and enthusiasm to this fun activity, and we can’t wait to see our students learning new steps, building confidence, and dancing together! Sign up below! $30 dollars per student, and scholarships available. Please reach out to Bev Williams to request one or with any other questions. 

Extension Camp 2 -Line Dancing November 9, 10, 12, 13 – Fill out form

• Have an idea for a camp? Know a volunteer, coach, artist, or organization that would love to work with our students? We would love to hear from you! Please reach out to Mrs. Williams with your ideas and connections.

PHOTOS WANTED!

ACS Parents! Mrs. Dennis is putting the finishing touches on our Annual Report and is looking for high-quality photos that capture the spirit of our community. She’s especially hoping for authentic moments, good lighting, and high-resolution images from some of our special events throughout the year. If you have photos you’d be willing to share from the following, please send them to ddennis@assumption.school. Thank you for helping us highlight the people, events, and experiences that make Assumption such a special place to learn, grow, and belong.

• Pickleball Tournament
• Harvest Festival
• Holy Hoops
• Grandparents Day
• Christmas Bazaar
• Catholic Schools Week
• Growing Great Kids Auction
• Fun Run

Calling Playground Angels!

Throughout the year, we have an ongoing need to keep these safety positions filled.

             October!       November!

Practices will be held on Wednesdays in Mr. Sherwood’s room starting November 4^th at 2:15pm. Limited to only 20 students in 2-8^th grades.  Our coach this year is Mr. Jon Humphrey and there is still a need for two parent volunteers to help out.  Contact the office if interested in volunteering.

Your school individual pictures are ready!  Use the link below to login to access your child’s school pictures!

https://shop.jostenspix.com/login

School Name:  Assumption Catholic School

School Code:  FE221126

Skobels Uniform Store Partnership 2026-2029

1.  Email hey@skobels.com with your order number and a picture of the items.
2.  Ship all items back to us using the pre-paid shipping label Skobel’s email to you.
3.  Once we receive your return, we will process the new order for your replacement.

Jordan Ferris is our Skobel’s representative for their products and wants to be there for us if we have any questions or concerns.  Mr. Ramos and Mrs. King have been in contact with her over the last month to fix the production problem. With this partnership we have discontinued our temporary school website with Land’s End.  As many of you know that this has been a two year process that was made longer with the Dennis Uniform store going out of business.  Please know that we will give students and parents grace for clothing items that may be in the process of being replaced and not received yet. As in any matter, a call or email to the office will help us know that your child is still waiting on an item(s). 

Please use the QR code for now or next week there will be hard copies of the order form for you to take to family, friends and colleagues.  Cash or check can be accepted via a hard copy order form.  All proceeds from this fundraiser goes to help with 8^th grade retreats and graduation in June. Thank you so much.  -Class of 2027

Adopting a family for Christmas at Hope House!

 ACS 3RD-8TH GRADE GIRLS, SET THE WORLD ON FIRE!

Learn ways to spread kindness through faith, service, and leadership.

Snacks, special guest speakers, and fun activities at every meeting!

Join us for monthly Friday meetings at 3:45-5:45pm in the Sacred Heart Parish Hall.  

Check out our MEETING SCHEDULE.

Hope to see you at our next meeting on Friday, October 23rd! 

October’s Catholic social justice theme is “Community and Participation.” 

PLEASE RSVP for the October 23rd meeting HERE!

Tardy Unexcused Notifications

As the school year has progressed and we are all getting our routines down, the attendance office and teachers have given warnings to those students that have arrived late without notice to the office or late unexcused. All students are considered late by 8:10 and not in their homeroom.

Starting this week, the “unexcused tardy” notifications have been turned on in our FACTS system.  If your child is 5-8th grade, on the third unexcused tardy they will receive a lunch detention.  On the sixth unexcused tardy, the student will receive an after-school detention.  This will help all students and parents be aware of how important it is to be on time for class, especially in middle school.  If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact the office and/or speak to the principal.

Uniform Reminders

Starting this week, the “uniform reminders” for being properly dressed will now be a behavior write up as stated in the Parent/Student handbook. After a period of grace, families should have students in proper uniform whether that is regular, dress or Wednesday “spirit” wear with jeans and t-shirts.  After a student receives 3 “out of uniform” notices in Facts, they will have a lunch detention.  Please refer to the uniform policy listed in the handbook and online here.Uniform policy. 

Building Blocks:

Our new security cameras are officially installed! We’re getting comfortable with the system, completing training, and enjoying the added peace of mind they bring to our campus. A big thank-you to everyone who patiently navigated the installation process. We’re grateful for this additional layer of security—and happy to have a few more eyes on things around campus!

Otherwise, it’s business as usual in Facilities. Maintaining a building that has been standing for more than 100 years is never dull. There’s always a small repair to tackle, a touch-up to make, or something reminding us that historic charm occasionally comes with a maintenance schedule of its own!

Over Thanksgiving break, we’ll take advantage of the quieter halls to work on painting and touch-ups around the school. We’re also adding privacy slats to our chain-link fencing to provide an extra measure of privacy and security.

The work may not always be glamorous, but keeping our historic campus safe, welcoming, and ready for learning is a job that never quite goes out of style. We’ll keep working behind the scenes to make sure Assumption continues to look its best—one repair, one paintbrush, and one well-maintained century at a time!

For news and mass times in Whatcom County: check out whatcomcatholic.org for info.

ACS Mass Schedule

Mass Friday: October 23rd 8:15am in the gym(dress uniform)

• Servers include Baylen Richmond, Blake McGuire, Will Trosin and Koda Lane
• **For servers to come at 7:45 for preparations

Mass Friday: October 30th 8:15am in the gym

• Servers include Eva Molano**, Annalise Twining** and Madison Roberts
• **For servers to come at 7: 45 for preparations
• Students may dress as their favorite saint for the procession of mass and for the day. All other students are required to wear dress uniform.

 Virtue for October- Friendship

In our school-wide program called “Virtues in Practice” we will be talking all month long about friendship. Here is how friendship is defined: Friendship is sharing a mutual love that seeks the good of the other. This is very close to how we define Love in our faith- willing the good of the other. However, we can see in this definition, the relationship is identified as reciprocal. The “good’ mutually offered to each other is not just in material form, but also in relational harmony and spiritual support (CCC 1939-1942). We are a good friend when we seek to diffuse tensions, serve each other where we can, and encourage deeper communion with God. This is also called solidarity. 

In Sirach 6:14-17 we read:

“Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter;

whoever finds one finds a treasure.

Faithful friends are beyond price,

no amount can balance their worth.

Faithful friends are life-saving medicine;

those who fear God will find them.

Those who fear the Lord enjoy stable friendship,

for as they are, so will their neighbors be.”

Saint Question of the Week

Last Week’s Question/Answer: St. Teresa of Avila and the winner is ….no one.

New Question of the Week: “Open wide the doors to Christ,” urged this message during the homily at the Mass where he was installed as pope in 1978.

Born in Wadowice, Poland, he had lost his mother, father, and older brother before his 21st birthday. His promising academic career at Krakow’s Jagiellonian University was cut short by the outbreak of World War II. While working in a quarry and a chemical factory, he enrolled in an “underground” seminary in Kraków. Ordained in 1946, he was immediately sent to Rome where he earned a doctorate in theology. 

Communist officials allowed him to be appointed auxiliary bishop of Kraków in 1958, considering him a relatively harmless intellectual. They could not have been more wrong!

As a bishop, he attended all four sessions of Vatican II and contributed especially to its Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. Appointed as archbishop of Kraków in 1964, he was named a cardinal three years later. Elected pope in October 1978, he took the name of his short-lived, immediate predecessor. He was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. In time, he made pastoral visits to 124 countries, including several with small Christian populations.

The Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 was marked by special celebrations in Rome and elsewhere for Catholics and other Christians. Relations with the Orthodox Churches improved considerably during his papacy.

His 1979 visit to Poland encouraged the growth of the Solidarity movement there and the collapse of communism in central and eastern Europe 10 years later. He began World Youth Day and traveled to several countries for those celebrations. He very much wanted to visit China and the Soviet Union, but the governments in those countries prevented that.

In his 27 years of papal ministry, this saint wrote 14 encyclicals and five books, canonized 482 saints and beatified 1,338 people. There was an attempt on his life, but he survived. In the last years of his life, he suffered from Parkinson’s disease and was forced to cut back on some of his activities.Pope Benedict XVI beatified him in 2011, and Pope Francis canonized him in 2014.

Vocations week is happening Nov. 2nd-6th.

This year we have invited a variety of Priests, Deacons, Sisters, and Seminary students to come share their stories of their calling into religious life. Our wonderful Priests and Deacons from the Whatcom Catholic Parish family will be with us, as well as Sister Maria Juan and the Sisters of Mercy from Shaw Island. This year for the first time, we will also have Fr. Anthony and senior students from Christ the King Seminary High School in Mission, BC join us. With them comes an invitation to 7^th and 8^th grade boys who are interested in checking out monastic life at the seminary. The seminary at Christ the King hosts weekend “live-ins” a few times a year where interested middle/high school teens can stay with students and experience what life is like in the seminary high school. Fliers will be in the Wednesday envelope as well as posters around the campus with more information if you are interested. We are looking forward to an awesome vocation’s week!

November 1st – https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D4CA4A728A1F5C70-65628264-coffee

January 31st- https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D4CA4A728A1F5C70-65628275-coffee

April 11th- https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D4CA4A728A1F5C70-65781107-coffee

May 2nd – https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D4CA4A728A1F5C70-65781249-coffee

Upcoming calendar items:

• October 22^nd Retakes and Classroom Photos today only!!!!
• October 28^th– Black and Orange Day-Pumpkin Carving Contest
• October 30^th – Whatcom Pregnancy Dinner Fundraiser
• October 31^st– Halloween with Trunk or Treat on ACS campus 6:15pm
• November 2nd– Pizza Lunch
• November 4^th – NDHS Family Information Night
• November 7^th – Spirit of Newman
• November 8^th – Fall Open House 11:30-1:30pm
• November 11^th – No School/Veteran’s Day Holiday
• November 17^th – Human Supply Chain for Hope House
• November 20th- Grandparents Celebration Day & Dismissal at 11:45
• November 23/24^th – Teacher Conferences –No School