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February 3, 2015
catholic schools
T
he Valley Catholic
Archbishop Mitty High School Embarks on Student Wellness Campaign
For the last fourteen months Archbishop Mitty High School (AMHS)
has been involved in an exploration of
student wellness within its community.
This process, which is preventative in
nature, allowed the school’s administration, faculty, staff, and student body
to evaluate the programs and processes
in place at Archbishop Mitty that allow
its students to find balance with the
school’s culture of high expectations.
The process began back in the winter of 2014 when the administration invited Dr. Denise Pope, a senior lecturer
at Stanford University and co-founder
of Challenge Success. Dr. Pope was
invited to speak to the faculty and staff
about her research into providing high
achieving college bound students with
an academic experience that is both
rigorous and balanced.
Archbishop Mitty High School
partnered with Challenge Success in
March 2014 to conduct a wellness survey of the student body in an effort to
collect data on many facets of students’
lives, including sleep and homework
habits; relationships with parents,
teachers, and friends; involvement in
co-curricular programs; and indicators
of student stress.
The results of the survey were
evaluated by the administration and
the school’s Wellness Committee,
which determined that two areas of
focus would be undertaken this school
year: reduction in homework load and
improvement of student sleep habits.
In November 2014, students took
part in a homework survey to provide
information for each academic department about the quality and quantity of
homework issued nightly. This data
provided valuable insight into student
perceptions of homework in their subject areas and informed a discussion of
ways to reduce the quantity of homework assigned nightly without sacrificing the rigor necessary to best prepare
students for successful achievement at
the university level.
At the same time the Associated
Student Body (ASB) began work on a
student sleep initiative that provided
sleep education to the entire student
body. The ASB officers joined with the
class presidents to share their findings
and unveil their sleep campaign at divisional meetings in early January 2015.
Students were challenged to “unplug
and grab a pillow” in order to increase
the quality and quantity of sleep each
night. The ASB will continue its sleep
education and awareness campaign
with public service announcements
throughout the school year.
Archbishop Mitty parents were
provided with the summary results of
the school’s wellness survey as well as
an overview of the wellness exploration
done by the school and were encouraged to take some time for meaningful conversation with their sons and
daughters about their academic and
co-curricular loads, their sleep patterns, and their engagement with their
families.
The work of the AMHS Wellness
Committee will continue to direct
healthy discussion regarding those
programs and policies that promote
balance and wellness in the young men
and young women of Archbishop Mitty
High School.
Advent Novena at St. Justin School
St. Mary School, Gilroy create “ultimate foil boats”
Eighth grade students at St. Mary
School, Gilroy reported their results
for the “ultimate foil boat” in a poster
session on January 13.
Mrs. Georgia Stern, St. Mary School’s
junior high science teacher, challenged
student groups to design and build a
foil boat that would hold a maximum
amount of weight, using math to pre-
dict the weight held and experimentation to build the boat and prove their
prediction.
Students reported an appreciation
for the power of collaboration, the
importance of taking precise data and
an appreciation for the process used
by science to achieve results, as a consequence of this project.
Advent is a time of giving. Following Jesus’ teaching from Matthew
25, “Amen, I say to you, whatever
you did for one of the least brothers
of mine, you did for me”, St. Justin
School students hosted a daily prayer
service (Advent Novena) and collected
items for families in need in their community. For each day of the nine day
Novena, students collected specific
items: new coats and jackets, socks,
blankets and sleeping bags; games,
scarves, hats, gloves, toiletries, toys,
and books. The Novena concluded
with the Kindergarten class reenactment of the Nativity.
Also during the first weeks of Advent, St. Justin School parent volunteers, through the Project Cornerstone
ABC readers program, read the book
Big by Coleen Paratore. “Big” illus-
trates how children can take small
steps to achieve big outcomes at home,
school and community. After the book
was read, each class from Kindergarten through fifth grade, made “tie”
blankets. Each child tied one knot in
the blanket, which eventually crafted
a whole blanket. The children learned
that while it is true that they only did
something small by simply tying a
knot, the whole blanket would be able
to cover and keep a child warm this
winter season. This small action created a greater outcome.
These hand-made blankets were
then donated to the Advent Novena,
which made the process even more
special! All of the items collected from
during the Novena will be distributed
through the St. Justin Community
Ministry Program.
DONATE YOUR VEHICLE
and help families in need.
EASY PROCESS - FAST FREE TOWING - TAX DEDUCTION
We accept working or non-working cars, RVs, trucks,
trailers, boats, and motorcycles. Call or visit us online.
CarDonationCC.org
www.valleycatholiconline.com
1(866)565-5912