Thomas A. Kardish, President Lauren Carr '00, Principal Wednesday, December 30, 2020 It is only through the generosity of each and every one of our Alumnae, Current Students, Faculty and Staff, Past and Current Parents that Villa Joseph Marie has been able to rise to the many challenges that this unprecedented year has brought us. Through the generosity of your time, your prayers, and your financial support, Villa has been able to embrace our Mission, continuing to empower and challenge our Jems through both digital learning and in-person instruction. Please continue to pray for our faculty, staff, and students, knowing that we hold you, our entire Villa family, in prayer, as well. As we look back on 2020, we're so proud of what our Jems have accomplished this year. Make a gift today to allow Villa to continue to grow and lead our students to be the successful leaders of tomorrow. Give online or via Venmo @VillaJosephMarie (code: 0560). *Please put your full name (and class year, if applicable) in the Venmo notes. 2020 started strong with multiple fun events like... - Quizzo in February: "Yoda" was the most popular costume and theme amongst teams. Join us on February 6, 2021 for our next Quizzo event. www.vjmhs.org/quizzo
- Villa's first ever Women's Symposium — Women Today Leading Tomorrow — in February brought us 7 inspiring speakers, including 3 alumnae. Stay tuned for more information regarding this year's Symposium on Saturday, February 27, 2021. www.vjmhs.org/wtlt
Through our first period of online learning, which began on March 16, our students excelled. With only 3 days of lost instructional time, our faculty and students were able to quickly work through the transition to an online learning model utilizing Canvas, Villa's learning management system for the last 3 years. Classes continued for 3 months on our standard 8-period schedule. In addition to the virtual class conferences, we got creative with some extracurricular fun: - We celebrated Wellness Wednesdays to focus on our mental health and allow for screen time breaks.
- We had a student/staff push-up challenge.
- Our staff joined together to sing "Let It Be" to let our students know they were missing them.
- Students and staff recorded daily vlogs to share announcements and updates.
- Student Council elections occurred virtually with students campaigning on Villa's Instagram.
- We even held a virtual Spring Spirit Week with fun daily "challenges."
- We held our first online Annual Spring Auction, which resulted in almost doubling the amount of bidders we typically have at our in-person event. Join us on March 20, 2021 for our next Annual Spring Auction. www.vjmhs.org/auction
In May, Villa invited the Class of 2020 back to campus with their families for the first time since mid-March for our drive-through "Be the Light" celebration. Villa staff lined the entire school driveway — at least 6 feet apart with masks — to celebrate them. And, at the end of the month, Villa held a socially-distanced graduation on campus on our originally scheduled graduation day. The 94 students in the Class of 2020 accrued $16.9 million in scholarships and grants and was recognized through a variety of awards, including full tuition scholarships, Catholic High School recognition awards, and scholarships for excellence in athletics, community service, music and art portfolios. Ending our school year with a virtual class awards day, our students received actual grades. They truly earned them, and we are so proud of every one of our Jems for their strength, achievement and success! After multiple sessions of in-person summer classes, Villa determined that 5-day in-person instruction was possible for all of our students beginning in September. Administration got to work making our campus safe with signage and floor decals to remind everyone to stay distanced: Desks and tables were shifted at least 6 feet apart; all staff and students received Villa masks; temperature checks were required every morning; additional cleaning procedures were added multiple times a day; and seating charts were required for every class and meeting. The Bucks County Courier Times even highlighted our school with a spotlight article after visiting Villa on our first full day. And, with the cooperation and support of our students and staff, we successfully completed 12 weeks of in-person instruction. In addition to those 12 weeks of learning, we were ecstatic to add additional fun with some events: - With more limited schedules and additional precautions, our Fall sports practiced, competed, and completed seasons.
- We held our Fall Spirit Day outdoors on the soccer field, while simultaneously offering a Flu Clinic for all students and staff in our gym.
- We welcomed Archbishop Nelson Perez for our Opening School Liturgy with half of our student body in the PAC and the other half in the gym watching via live conference.
- In September, we had our most successful golf outing to date at Jericho National Golf Club.
- We gave our Juniors a Ring Day to remember in October, developing a new tradition of parents placing the rings on their daughters' fingers.
- As the first school in our area to hold in-person theater performances, our drama department put on 6 in-person sold out shows (with limited 20% capacity in the PAC, in compliance with PA's mitigation guidelines at that time) of Legally Blonde: The Musical in November. We're unbelievably proud of the entire cast and crew for their perseverance in making this show happen and their willingness to follow all precautions throughout rehearsals, and we wholeheartedly thank everyone that attended our performances.
Heading into Villa's planned period of virtual learning surrounding the holidays in November and December, our students and staff were more ready than ever to complete this short period of virtual learning and enjoy their hard-earned Winter Break. We can't wait to welcome our students back to campus in January. Acknowledging that there's no possible way to include every event of 2020 here, there are some additional amazing accomplishments that happened this year that we would like to highlight: -
Our SWORD Writing Center opened and encouraged current students to engage in meaningful conversations about their writing assignments with trained peer readers. - Growth Mindset was introduced to our students and staff at just the right time this year, which only aided us to succeed during difficult times.
-
The swim team competed at the AACA Swimming and Diving Championships in February, and we sent them off with an outdoor pep rally of loud cheers and enthusiastic school spirit. - Our rowing team held their second annual Erg-a-thon.
- Our Alumnae Association held elections for their Executive Board.
-
With 3 dates for potential Jems to take our in-person 8th Grade Scholarship/Entrance Exam, we had more students register and take the test than we've had the past 3 years. -
Villa Soccer finished their 2020 season 2nd in the state behind the #1 ranked team in the country. -
Congratulations to Coach Rich Finneyfrock for being named the 2019-2020 NFHS Pennsylvania Girls' Soccer Coach of the Year! - At the beginning of this school year, Villa's newest club, Sports Media, got their start with a taste of intense game play and success following our soccer team. In November, two other new groups — No Place for Hate and Jems Who Game — gained interest. We can't wait to see these new clubs continue to flourish with our other extracurriculars when we return in the new year.
- Though different from last year's basketball tournament, Villa and the Abel family hosted the Kate Abel Memorial Alumnae & Friends Event outside with bonfires, a food truck, and raffles, earning over $15,000 for the scholarship fund in Kate's name.
- The Villa Alumnae Association hosted Business Bingo, which began on Small Business Saturday, to promote and encourage the Villa community to support businesses owned by Villa families and friends.
- As of December 2020, the Villa Class of 2021 has already earned $9,057,296 in scholarships.
-
The Bucks County Courier Times announced Villa as one of the Top 3 in the "Best of the Best" Private School category. -
Once again, Villa received an "A" overall grade from Niche.com, landing us at #14 (of 73) for the "Best Catholic High Schools in Pennsylvania," with 5 of those schools above us being all-boys. We also ranked, according to Niche, #22 (of 1,005) for the "Best High Schools for Athletes in Pennsylvania," which includes both Catholic and Public schools. And, rising almost 30 spots in the last 5 years, we were ranked #52 (of 196) for the "Best Private High Schools in Pennsylvania." Those are just some of Villa's most impressive rankings by Niche.com, but you can check out our full profile and view our other rankings at www.niche.com/k12/villa-joseph-marie-high-school-holland-pa/. While we certainly will never forget the difficult times of 2020, including the passing of Maria Middleton '21, we know that the Villa community is stronger now than ever before. All that we have accomplished during this demanding year will stay with us in our hearts and guide us to persevere and succeed in 2021. And, while we may not all be able to be physically together at this time, we will continue to flourish as a community and family in the spirit of "Always more, Always better, Always with love." 6 feet apart, but always together #AlwaysVilla Important Links to learn more about what's happening at Villa Contact Erica Franzzo '03 at efranzzo@vjmhs.org with questions or feedback for this newsletter. Thanks for reading! Past editions of Calendar/This Week at Villa can be viewed here. Past editions of the Alumnae Newsletter can be viewed here. |