Good Afternoon, Students, Parents, and Guardians,

More and more, I am learning at home that my calendar is not my own. Between tee ball, little kid soccer, little kid lacrosse, swim lessons, and dance, pretty much every day is taken on our calendar except for Fridays. And I will continue to hold onto that little sliver of freedom for as long as I can! 

But even with that much of a loaded schedule, I still found time last week to meet up with my younger brother, Michael. Mike is the head rowing coach at Yale University, and they were in town to race Pennsylvania and Columbia last Saturday. So, on Friday morning, I drove down to the river and hopped on the coaches launch to go for a ride and watch his guys practice. I had forgotten how much I had missed being out on the water...on a nice day. I do not miss the brutal March mornings and afternoons at all.

During our ride, he was talking to our former high school coach who was with us. He was telling him that this year, he put in a new team rule: If you wanted to complain about a rower, a coxswain, a boat, a practice, a race, whatever, then great, that was your right to do so...but don't dare come to the coaches with a complaint unless you have a suggested solution of how to fix the alleged problem. Not all solutions work, and not all suggested solutions are taken, but he said it has created a more productive (and more enjoyable) environment. And when you're stuck in a boat with 8 other people for 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, that can be a big help.

So when I got back in the car to go home, and the stress of everything that was on my schedule at home that was no longer my own came back, I tried to take his rule into account...what's my solution? And, after sitting in traffic on 76 for long enough, I had one...I wouldn't change my schedule at home for anything. The kids love what they do, and as long as they love it, it's my job to love it (and figure out how to get them to it) too. 

Our calendars get extremely busy as the school year moves to a close. I hope that we can all work to find that balance and find the success and happiness within it wherever we can. And where we can't....time to try and find a solution.

Please take a moment to review some of the reminders below...

Parking/Drop-Off Reminders:

Prior to 7:35AM, all students MUST be dropped off at the cafeteria doors. While we are fortunate to have a good deal of parking spaces on campus, almost every space is assigned to a student or staff member during the school day. Please do not park in any numbered spaces if the space is not yours. Should you need to enter the school building, please only utilize the labeled visitor spaces in the front parking lot. Thank you!

Attendance:

If you know your child is going to be absent from school, a Parent or Guardian must complete the Google Form found HERE, and on the school website under "Resources".

Early Dismissals must be called into the Main Office by a Parent or Guardian. A student will not be dismissed without a prior Parent/Guardian phone call.

For Early Dismissals, as much advanced notice as possible is required (24 hours is preferred). Recently, we have received a number of very late early dismissal notices (as in, parents calling as their child is walking into the office, or the child calling the parent to talk to the office as they walk out of class.) Please assist us in ensuring that we have as much notice as possible. Thank you!

The Senior Prom will be held on Friday, May 9th at Elmwood Park Zoo. Seniors must be in good standing with their tuition accounts to be able to attend the Prom. Rules and guidelines for the Prom were sent out by Mrs. Young before Easter.

On Friday, May 9th, the Seniors will be excused from school and do not have to attend classes. However, any Senior that wishes to attend Prom must be in school on Thursday, May 8th. If the student is absent on May 8th, they are not permitted to attend the Prom.

For any underclassmen that are attending the prom as dates/guests: those students must be in school on Friday, May 9th from the start of the school day through 4th Period. At the conclusion of 4th Period, those students who are listed as dates/guests will be excused for the second half of the day. If a date/guest is late to school on Friday May 9th, or is not present for the required amount of time, they will not be permitted to attend the Prom and refunds will NOT be provided.

If you have any questions regarding the dance, please feel free to E-mail Mrs. Young - JYoung@jcarroll.org.

Yesterday, a letter was sent out to all parents, asking them to complete the Title I Family Survey for the 24-25 school year. This information allows Archbishop Carroll to access specific materials and services for our students. As close to 100% participation in the survey is necessary for us to maximize our available resources.

The letter and survey can be found HERE. The survey will remain open through Monday evening. Thank you for your help!

Financial Aid awards will be sent around mid-May at the latest.  It will be posted to your FACTS account once the 2025/2026 FACTS accounts are activated.

The financial aid application for the 2025-2026 school year is now available online by logging into your FACTS account.  Applications must be submitted prior to January 31, 2025 to be considered for financial aid.  We are asking all current families to complete an application.  If you currently receive financial aid and/or scholarships you will need to complete an application in order to receive aid and/or scholarships for the 2025-2026 school year.

Please ensure that your account is current by logging in to your FACTS account .  Our tuition policy can be found here: 2024-2025 Handbook

 If you have any questions regarding your tuition account (charges, credits, etc.), please log into your FACTS Account or call FACTS at 1-866-441-4637 . You are able to make a payment, view your balance, payment schedule, payments made and charges/credits to your account.  Any other questions or concerns please contact Trish Dudas at tdudas@jcarroll.org or 267-667-4874.

 Seniors are reminded to please send to Guidance your college acceptances and scholarship offers. We do need to collect this information. The names of your scholarships will be printed in the Graduation booklet.

Congratulations to the class of 2025 - you have earned an amazing level of scholarship dollars! Your class has now surpassed 41 million!! This is the highest total by a senior class in recent memory. You have certainly set the bar high for future classes! 

Seniors who will be playing at a DI or DII school in the fall were sent information on requesting their final amateurism certification. That information can be accessed here.

Seniors were sent a google questionnaire asking for their post-graduation plans. This form must be completed in order for us to send final transcripts to your chosen college. 

Each quarter the Guidance Department publishes a Newsletter with information for each grade level and mental health resources and tips. You can find the 4th quarter Newsletter here.

The juniors and sophomores were sent information regarding visiting colleges over the summer. This is a really good time to visit as it is often easier to travel to schools over the summer than it is during the school year. You can review this information here.

PACAC, the Pennsylvania Association for College Admission Counseling, is hosting a huge college fair at Villanova on May 21. The registration for this event is now open. You can access that here. There are typically well over a hundred colleges that attend, so it is a wonderful and local opportunity to meet admissions reps and find out about these schools that you might be interested in attending.

Each year St. Denis holds a Fun Fair and they are always in need of volunteers to help out. If you would like to volunteer for this good cause, please review this flyer for information and registration.

The Howley Foundation is now offering scholarships for our seniors to help with the cost of college. This is a wonderful opportunity and we are grateful to the Foundation for partnering with us. This information was emailed to the seniors, but you can access the flyer HERE.

We receive on-going information regarding summer programs that colleges & universities sponsor. These programs are great ways for students to delve deeper into an area of interest and gain experience on a college campus. We often email students with this information, but you can see the list of all the programs HERE and click on the links to read all the details and access the applications. This list can also be found on our website.

Due to a number of families missing the deadline, the Graduation Shop for the Class of 2025 has been reopened and will remain open until April 27th. There will be no more orders accepted after April 27th.

Please click HERE to access the offerings!

In addition, the pre-order shop for graduation flowers and other items is open and can be found HERE.

...We hope to see many of you on campus over the next two weeks to support the end of many of our Spring Sports regular seasons, and to support our students in their production of "The Music Man"....opening tonight! 

Best of luck to all of our students and have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Mr. Gennaro