MCCHS FRIDAY FOCUS

Did you see that story about the miner, covered in soot, taking his kid to the University of Kentucky basketball game? Michael McGuire is not a name you need to log into your memory, but his witness certainly should be. His story is what leadership looks like, sacrificing for the good of others and ordering things correctly. It’s the sort of leadership we should aspire to as a Marian community.

We all must agree his priorities are good. In this case, laboring for the sake of his family and sacrificing for his child. Even if he is exhausted or others are judging him for looking dirty, he wanted his child to be happy and wanted to rejoice with his kid. While parents need not destroy themselves for their kids, Michael’s sort of sacrifice is Christ-like.

Compared to this feel good story, life can be a lot more complicated.

We make decisions regularly that affect us and others. To be christians, we cannot take these decisions lately. John the Baptist reminds us why, “the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Oh man, that’s a bit intense. I was just trying to enjoy my friday.

Often we make decisions with only a short term vision and with nervousness on if we acted right. Advent is a future looking season of hope and anticipation. At Marian, we invite our students to look forward which keeps the rest of their lives ordered to their happiness. There is a greater peace when students have that focus.

During advent, all of the prayers and scripture readings point to a reality that we are expecting, but is not yet here. To be a Christian is to live with the anticipation of meeting Christ, and being found fruitful and faithful. If our lives are not producing the kind of fruit that Jesus calls for, then advent is a wake up call. Has my life led other people to believe in Jesus? If not, then we haven’t produced any fruit.

At Marian, we celebrate Michael McGuire, for the same reason we celebrate the successes of our students, and the same reasons we celebrate Advent. To be forward looking, filled with hope, trusting in our Lord’s guidance.

Rev. Charles Warren

Final Exams are coming. Are your students ready?

This week, our Student Mentors stepped into the freshmen Advisory classes to talk to our freshmen about the upcoming semester exams. For most, this will be their first experience with a culminating exam or project that counts for 20% of their overall semester grade, and that can be daunting! Our Student Mentors have a unique talent for connecting with their mentees and helping guide them through this time of year without too much stress. We are very thankful for our Student Mentors!

We also recognize that the freshmen aren't the only group of students feeling a little stressed out about exams! Although most of our students, at one time while at Marian, have had a mentor who shared these same tips and tricks, oftentimes, they don't remember them for the next year. Additionally, sometimes parents need a little help managing their student(s) as they navigate semester exams!

It is for this reason that the Mentors wanted to share their "secrets" to getting through semester exams. Please see the document below that provides tips on how to study for exams as well as how semester grades are calculated. We hope that this helps students (and parents) at all grade levels.

Remember... you got this!

Mrs. Hilton and Mr. Kruse have been busy this week delivering and explaining PreACT results to our 9th and 10th graders. All freshmen and sophomores who tested in October were given their paper score reports and test booklets. We encourage parents to review their student's PreACT score report. The results help identify where your student is performing academically so far - identifying strengths and areas for improvement, help with starting to make more concrete plans for the future, and help with setting academic goals. The results also give a predicted ACT score and an indication of whether your student is on target for success in college.

The booklet linked below is helpful for understanding scores/score reports:

Using Your PreACT Results (scroll to the bottom of the page)

Also, the sophomores have received information regarding some leadership opportunities that are available to all Marian Central sophomores called, HOBY (Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Conference) and ILS (Illinois Leadership Seminar). All sophomores are welcome to apply for these weekend-long, summer conferences by grabbing an application in the Guidance Office. Marian chooses 3 sophomores to attend the conferences and pays for the registration fee. The application deadline has been extended to Friday, December 9th.

Next week during lunch, the Student Council will be collecting money to provide a Christmas to at least four local families. Our goal is to raise at least $1,600, which would allow us to spend about $400 per family. If we can increase that to $2,000, we could have an even greater impact this Christmas Season.

And of course, we will try to entice the students to participate with not one, but TWO dress down days. The winning class, which will be determined by average points per class, will receive dress down days on both Monday, December 12th and Tuesday, December 13th prior to finals. Here is how points will work:

Classes will receive positive points for every coin placed in their class jug. Points are allocated as follows:

Penny = 1 point

Nickel = 5 points

Dime = 10 points

Quarter = 25 points

Negative points will be assessed for dollar bills placed in each class jug. Points will be deducted as follows:

$1 bill = negative 100 points

$5 bill = negative 500 points

$10 bill = negative 1,000 points

$20 bill = negative 2,000 points

At the end of lunch on Friday, points will be determined and averaged based on the number of students in each class. The class with the highest average points will win the dress down day. However, it is the families of our community that will really win this competition. Please be sure to encourage your son or daughter to participate in this meaningful drive as we can all have a significant impact on the community this Christmas season!

Marian Central’s National Honor Society is hosting a service project for Project Linus involving students from both Marian and the McHenry Deanery elementary schools, culminating during Catholic Schools week. Project Linus is an organization dedicated to making blankets for patients in the NICU, undergoing chemotherapy, those in children’s hospitals, and kids in foster care programs.

To raise money to purchase material necessary for making these blankets, NHS is sponsoring a raffle. Our raffle gift is a basket themed around “surviving finals”, and will include Air Pods, snacks, candies, and other assorted items. All money collected from this fundraiser will go towards buying the materials needed to create these blankets.

Tickets can be purchased in Landers Pavilion each morning from December 5 – 9 from 7:30-8:00 am. Tickets will also be available for purchase during the girls’ home basketball game on Wednesday December 7th. Individual tickets will cost $5 or 5 tickets for $20.

Many of our Marian Central students have benefited from the Empower Illinois tax credit scholarship program over the past 5 years. Despite its immense success, the Tax Credit Scholarship Program is a pilot program, and has a sunset clause which would end the program in 2023, unless our state lawmakers vote to extend or make the program permanent.

We want to be able to continue providing scholarships to students who need them through this program, but we need YOUR help! Please click this link to send an auto-generated email to your legislator!

FINE ARTS BOOSTER MEETING

Tuesday, December 6th (Date Change)

Marian Central Annex

6:30 pm

Our Athletic Program needs volunteers to sell tickets, 50/50 raffles and other various duties at home basketball games. Please consider helping out at a game and click the link below to view the positions needed. Thank you!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4facaa23a2f8c43-marian1

Junior parents, please save the date for the annual Junior College Information Night. This in-person program will take place on Tuesday, January 24th from 6:30pm - 8:30pm, with a meet and greet with college reps from 6:00pm - 6:30pm. More information will be available after the first of the year.

UNDERSTANDING INITIAL-ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS WEBINAR For College-Bound Student-Athletes

Do you want to compete in college sports? Join the NCAA Eligibility Center on Wednesday, December 14 from 6-7 p.m. Eastern time for a webinar for college-bound student-athletes and your families. The discussion will include review of the most recent COVID-19 automatic waiver relief. We’ll also go over requirements you must meet to pursue your dreams of studying and competing at an NCAA Division I, II or II school. We’ll also go over requirements you must meet to pursue your dreams of studying and competing at an NCAA Division I, II or III school.

Click here to register.