Dear Saint Ursula Community,

If your daughter attended the Winter Formal this past weekend, Lelia and I hope that she had a blast!  Thanks to all of the efforts of Student Council and their faculty advisors, we had our largest dance ever at SUA:  840 students from across the area gathered for a night of dancing, fun, and friendship.  It is an absolute joy to see our students and their guests enjoying themselves on campus.

There are so many great things happening around SUA that I want to bring to your attention in addition to the successful dance:

• All four of our National Merit Semi-Finalists were recognized as Finalists.  Congratulations to Madelyn Edmonson, Natalie Gockerman, Rachel Reyering, Grayson Rohmiller on this outstanding accomplishment!
• The SUA Aquadawgs placed 6th in the State this weekend.
• Our Bowling Team is advancing to Districts this Thursday.  
• A couple of weekends ago the SUA chapter of Interalliance participated in a weekend technology conference and presented their showcase project as part of the Cincinnati TechOlympics 2024 Empower.  We were one of the youngest teams, from one of the smaller schools, and the only team from an all-girls school - and our team placed an impressive 5th out of a dozen teams!
• Last week we said goodbye to four students from France who were part of our school community for the past two weeks.  They came to us from a private Catholic school in the town of Viry Châtillon, about 30 minutes outside of Paris.  They were hosted by SUA French 1 and 2 students and participated in all aspects of SUA to learn more about American life.  French teacher Mr. Icsman coordinated their visit with the male exchange students who attended St. Xavier High School for an on-campus collaboration with both schools and host students.  We are so grateful for these efforts to further our global education right here on our campus.
• The annual student-organized blood drive last week resulted in the potential to save over 105 lives through their donations.
• Athletic Director Kelly Powers shared with me that the lacrosse team volunteered this past weekend at the Night for the Fight with Kids Free Cancer.  They raised over $9,000 for cancer research.

As we look ahead, on Wednesday, March 6, our students will celebrate International Women’s Day.  The theme for this year is Inspire Inclusion.  Please mark your calendars that we will have an 8:30 am start on Wednesday, March 6.  Thanks to the considerable efforts of our Service, Equity, and Global Education Department, our students will participate in a wide variety of cultural activities of their choosing here on campus.  The day features cultural collaborations with many members of our community and includes opportunities such as African Drumming and Dance, Henna Art, interactions with various artists across several mediums, ballet with CCM Prep, Word Play Interactive Poetry, Community Jazz, and many other activities.  It is sure to be a wonderful day of celebrating women and their contributions in many forms and cultures.

Please note a change to our schedule:  on Friday, March 15, the school day will end at 1:25 pm.  This early release at 1:25 pm is to allow our faculty and staff to participate in some professional development.

Go Bulldogs!

Kathy

Here is the updated two-week calendar.