Message from the President
Dear FCS Parents, Guardians, Families and Community Members,
“Jesus waits for us in this sacrament of love.”
Saint John Paul II
Welcome Back to another exciting school year! I am deeply honored to join the Fresno Catholic School System as its new President. Meeting so many of you at Back to School Nights and other welcome-back events was a pleasure. Every month I will be sending out a Fresno Catholic School Newsletter to the parents, guardians, and community members of our four schools. The purpose of this newsletter is to share the good news of our FCS system and keep you informed of what the system is up to. As I mentioned at Back to School Night, the purpose of the Fresno Catholic School system is to partner with families in Fresno and the surrounding area to provide their children with a quality, Catholic education from preschool through high school. As part of this monthly newsletter, I will also include a monthly survey question that will take you less than a minute to complete and will serve as a quick temperature check for myself and the leadership of our four schools. Your opinion matters to us.
This year, the faculty and staff of all four schools in our system began their year with a retreat. Setting aside a day to come together in prayer is vital to remind us of why our schools exist and help remind us of our Mission, the seed from which everything else at a Catholic school flows. I felt truly blessed to begin the school year with all four schools at their school retreats. There aren't too many jobs where you get to attend four retreats in one week, which is just one of the many reasons I love what I do.
This school year, we will intentionally focus on the Eucharist. This "sacrament of love" is the source and summit of the Christian life (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1324). Our schools are so blessed to be able to celebrate the Eucharist often on our campuses. As our Diocese and country celebrate a Eucharistic Revival, our schools will continue to find simple and meaningful ways to incorporate the celebration of the Eucharist into the everyday life of our communities.
Back to School Blessings
Pamela Lyons
FCS President
Record-Setting Year for Memorial's Top Rated AP Program
In early July, the College Board’s Advanced Placement division released the May 2024 exam administration results. It was a record-setting year for Memorial’s top-rated AP Program when 178 students (predominantly seniors and juniors) took 407 exams during a two-week testing period in early May. A record-setting 83% of AP students scored a three or better on at least one exam—nearly four times the national rate. These results are the highest level of success in 14 years at Memorial since AP exams became mandatory in 2010. Even more impressive was Memorial’s pass rate of 75%--the highest in 14 years! Finally, another school record was set when 45% of all scores and 62% of all passing scores were 4’s and 5’s.
Twelve students earned AP Capstone Diplomas, including five juniors, bypassing both AP Seminar
and AP Research and four other AP exams, while sixteen students earned the AP Capstone
Certificate by passing both Capstone courses.
A record number of students (70) earned AP Scholar awards, and twenty-five of these students
earned the coveted AP Scholar with Distinction award.
New Chaplain for Holy Cross Junior High
Chaplain, Fr. Bill Lucido. Fr. Bill Lucido has been a Deacon in Fresno for many years and was ordained a priest on August 17th. Those who know him find him the most genuine, loving, and faith-filled man. We have been praying for a chaplain for our junior high since we opened our doors, and GOD IS SO GOOD!
Fr. Lucido and Mrs. Rosas, Holy Cross Principal, met this past week to discuss our students, community, and their faith needs. Fr. Bill will not only say masses for us each week but will join us for informal student lunches, retreats, and confessions during the Advent and Lenten seasons. Fr. Lucido also serves as the Parochial Vicar to Holy Spirit Church, Fresno, and Chaplain to CalVet Veterans Home of CA, Fresno. Please keep him in your prayers as he begins his priestly journey! We welcome you to Holy Cross, Fr. Bill!
Virtues Program Implemented at St. Helen's Catholic School
It's been a great first few weeks at Saint Helen's School! After a great retreat with Bishop Brennan, the staff worked extremely hard getting ready for the kids! It's hard to believe it is already September! We had a great Back to School Night, and the kids are working hard!
We are focusing on our new Virtues program by the Dominican Sisters, and the children are working towards "merits" instead of "demerits," and we are seeing excellent results. The students are being kinder to each other and trying to be noticed doing good. The students also led the August 25th Mass for the Church.
Gratitude the Theme for the Year at St. Anthony's School
We then introduced the theme of gratitude to our students and our first morning prayer and then to our parents at Back To School Night. We have many things to be grateful for and sometimes we forget how fortunate we all are in our lives.
We at St. Anthony's believe that if we can put the Eucharist at the center of our lives as well living a life of gratitude this will be an extremely powerful school year.
