Dear McNamara Families, The first four weeks of school have come and gone. I hope that as a family you are all back into the routine of "school!" The faculty, staff and I are all very excited about this school year! It is a year in which we begin a true celebration - a celebration of 90 years of Catholic education here at Bishop McNamara Catholic High School. As our motto states, “We are dedicated to maximizing the potential of our stu-dents - spiritually, morally and intellectually.” Bishop McNamara has truly withstood the test of time! My guess is that we have been able to withstand the test of time over the past 90 years because we have a formula for success. If I may, I would like to share with you what I feel are the key elements of this for-mula. It begins with our Catholic faith - the foundation for all that we do. The sec-ond part of this formula is dedication and commitment on the part of the many families that have sent their children through the doorway of St. Patrick’s, St. Pat-rick Central, and Bishop McNamara Catholic High School. The time and treasure shared by so many over the years is simply remarkable! Next is communication - the open dialogue between school and home is an essential ingredient for longevity. Just as I have told our faculty to consistently communi-cate with you the parents, I also encourage you to communicate with your son’s or daughter’s teacher on a regular basis. In today's world of technology, this has become so easy. I would however, like to caution you not to forget the best-ever form of communication - the face to face conversation with your child's teacher, with me, or possibly both. I feel at times that today's technology has made it too easy and has elimi-nated the old fashioned "conversation." Another important part of this formula is current and relevant curriculum and educational practices. We, as a faculty, are constantly reviewing our pedagogy, making sure that we are providing the best possible education to our students. The last, and quite possibly,the most important part Continued on page 8

A Message from Principal Granger

INS IDE TH IS

I S SUE :

New Ministers 2

Play Tryouts 3

Student Council 4

French News 5

Foundation

Scholars

7

New Staff 8

Guidance Ga-

zette

10

September Dates

14…………………………..Midterm

24………….……. Mass 9:30 in Cafe

28……..Homecoming Football game

29 ………....…..Homecoming Dance

October Dates

8……………..…………..No School

12……………...Sophomore Retreat

17………….…...……......C Schedule

19 ………..……..End of 1st Quarter

19 ………..……..Mass 10:15 in Gym

24…………..Ceile Calendar Kick-off

Be sure to visit the school calendar

at www.bishopmac.com

Bishop McNamara Catholic H.S.

Parent Newsletter S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 2

V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1

SPEC IAL

PO INTS OF

INTEREST :

• Tennis Team

• Foundation

Scholars

• Mac PAC

P A G E 2

Twelve students were

commissioned as Eucha-

ristic Ministers during our

first school Mass on Fri-

day, August 31.

Congratulations to: Mi-

chael Hoekstra, Sean Cor-

coran, Haley Gubbins,

Sean Hurley, Jake Tutt,

Nicole Haas, Michelle

White, Bradie Vaubel,

Mackenzie Goselin, Alex

Llorens, Meghan Kelly and

James Clodi.

B I S H O P M C N A M A R A C A T H O L I C H . S .

Eucharistic Ministers

The Kankakee County Sheriff’s Department provides a com-munity wide mass notification program – free of charge. By subscribing to this service, you will be notified of public safety issues, weather warnings,

school closings, and such.

It is important for you to know that Bishop McNamara Catholic High School will use this system to personally alert you regard-ing any of our specific school emergencies and/or school

closings.

The community alert system managed by the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Department h a s t r a n s f e r r e d t o CODESPEAR – a program

Parent Directory Bishop McNamara Catholic High School recognizes and un-derstands the importance of communicating with all parties that are involved in educating our youth. We are pleased to provide our families with a Par-ent Directory. It will reside in the password protected area of Edline. Look for this link to be available soon.

Volunteer Parent involvement forms were mailed out this month. Please remember to return these to the Ad-vancement Office. We appreciate our parent volunteers!

The newly commissioned ministers are pictured with Fr. Dan and Mrs. Bovie.

Sheriff’s Dept. Notification which offers a number of en-hancements to the existing ser-

vice.

Please take the time to sub-scribe to this program and please note that due to the change in provider, all current users must re-subscribe in order to receive notifica-tions. To do so, please visit www.sheriffalert.com and fol-low their website commands. If you should need further step by step instructions, please go to the Bishop McNamara website, click on School News, and se-lect the “Sheriff’s Alert” prompt.

V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1

To read or not to read? That is a silly question. It is especially silly in light of the wide variety of material available in the Bishop McNamara Library. Here is an overview of some of our recent additions. We’ve got a job tells the little-known story of the 1963 Birmingham chil-dren’s march. Master of deceit: J Edgar Hoover and America in the age of lies, well, the title says it all. For those interested in cur-rent events, Kids of Kabul tells the plight of children in war-torn Afghanistan. For the politi-cally minded, there are John Locke’s Second Treatise of Gov-

Smith Media Center News ernment and John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty. Fiction fans will en-joy The List, in which an anony-mous document names the prettiest and ugliest girls from each high school class, and then the fallout begins. Readers seeking adventure will find it in The Door of No Return the story of an African American teen whose grandfather’s stories of royal ancestors and lost treas-ure might be more that just stories; and Sovay, a novel about a thrill-seeking, teenaged noblewoman who robs stage-coaches and whose father is charged with treason.

ily? Is it the pair of squirrel-hunting hillbilly sisters with their rifle? The former Vegas showgirl with a knack for knit-ting? The maid with a single digit IQ? The grouchy cook? The bitter journal-i s t ? The troupe o f mimes? Gretchen, Rachel and Stefan return from the dead, and with the audience’s help, teach Freddie what it takes to be a real detective. Complete with a hilarious chase scene, a chance for several of the char-acters to interact with the au-dience and a few surprising plot twists, this refreshingly fun, murder mystery comedy is the perfect play for high school a g e s a n d u p . A Family Reunion to Die For will be presented November 16-18. CAST: four males, ten females, plus three roles that can be either. Scripts are avail-able for perusal outside of

room 31.

Fall play auditions will be held Thursday, September 19th, at 7:00 PM in the cafeteria. This year’s show is a murder mystery comedy with audience interaction written by Matt Steele and Mike Steele and di-rected by Deacon Pat Skelly. It’s time for the Knotting Family Reunion, and newlywed Chris-tine Franklin is eager to show off her husband Freddie to the family she hasn’t seen in years. The joyful reunion quickly turns sour though when

Aunt Gretchen, Cousin Rachel and Cousin Stefan are all mur-dered. The members of the Knotting Family are dropping like flies, and Christine seems to be next in line to become a victim! To make matters worse, a terrible storm has trapped all of the guests in-side. It’s up to Freddie to catch the murderer and save his blushing bride. After all, he is a detective — well, a mall secu-rity guard turned wannabe de-tective, anyway. Who is trying to wipe out the Knotting fam-

And finally, there is wisdom from The Book: Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15

2012 Fall Play

Please Note The faculty parking lot is not a student pick-up loca-tion. If you wish to pick your child up on the west side of the school, please pull up to the curb or use Meadowview. Do not pull into the faculty parking lot.

2012201220122012----2013 Mass 2013 Mass 2013 Mass 2013 Mass ScheduleScheduleScheduleSchedule

All parents , alumni and friends are welcome to join us for our school Masses. Mass is held in the cafeteria at 9:30 on the following dates:

Sept. 24 Homecoming

Oct. 19 Mass with Bishop *10:15 Gym

Nov. 20 Thanksgiving

Dec. 7 Immaculate Conception

Jan. 28 Catholic Schools Mass

Feb. 13 Ash Wednesday

March 25 Triduum Mass

Apr. 24 Final All-School

May 26 Graduation

2012-2013 Student Council Executive Officers President –Haley Gubbins Vice President - Caitlyn DeLong Sophomore Class Officers President - Sophia Koziol Vice president - Jenna Lawler Secretary - Corinne O’Connor Junior Class Officers President - Alli Kuhn Vice President - Mike Malpasuto Secretary - Carly Zoladz Senior Class Officers President - Meghan Kelly

Freshman Class Officers to be an-nounced

Concerned about grades?

Encourage your child to seek assistance before and after school when teach-ers are in their classrooms.

Visit our main web page at bishopmac.com to:

• Sign up for the Sherriff’s Alert and

receive emergency info related to school closings.

• Follow us on Facebook & Twitter

• Check your child’s progress on Edline

• Visit Wayba to view & purchase great photos from school events.

• Check the daily announcements

Homecoming Week September 25-29 2012 Theme: “MARVELous”

Photo: 2012-2013 Student Council Executive Officers. Class Officers will be pictured in the next issue.

The girls are off to a great start this year. We have many new players this year which has been very excit-ing! We have a lot of p o t e n t i a l and talent o n t h e

team. Our next HOME matches at Cobb Park will be Mon. 9/17 and Mon. 9/24. Please come out and cheer them on! Our motto is to Play Hard, Have Fun, and Stay in the Zone!! Go Irish! Coach Fred Bell and Linda Franco

2012 Girls’ Tennis Team

WAYBA

P A G E 5

B I S H O P M C N A M A R A C A T H O L I C H . S .

P A R E N T N E W S L E T T E R

Senior Scholarship News College scholarship opportunities are posted monthly on the Guid-

ance Office webpage. Log on to www.bishopmac.com

and click on the “Guidance” under the Academics heading.

News from the French Program Bienvenue aux classes de français. Wel-come back and welcome to new French students and families from Ma-dame Linneman. New students are learning the French alphabet, class-room objects, months, days, seasons, and numbers so they can be ready for some good conversations (en français, of course). Second and third year stu-dents have reviewed some concepts and have begun reading a book for comprehension of vocabulary in con-text. Fourth year students have just finished their first unit of Le Petit Prince.

The first French Club breakfast will be

held in September and other activities

having to do with French culture take

place in and out of the classroom. The

blockbuster cultural event of the sum-

mer of 2012 was the trip to France in

June, when Michelle White, Maria Lara,

Maggie Johnson, and Cy West accom-

panied Madame Linneman on an ACIS

sponsored 11 day tour of France. The

group spent three days in Paris, several

days in the Loire Valley and Normandy,

a morning at the Palace of Versailles,

and three days on the French Riviera.

A great time was had by all. Madame

Linneman plans to return to France

with students in 2014. Students who did not purchase a yearbook on orientation/fee days can still do so! Take advantage of discounted pricing of $50 by ordering before December 21st. (Yearbooks ordered after December 21 will cost $65.) Please make checks payable to Bishop McNamara and submit your order to the attention of YEARBOOK at Bishop McNa-mara. (Don’t forget your student’s name!)

Yearbook Orders

Mrs. Linneman, Maria Lara, Maggie Johnson, Michele White and Cy West enjoyed a trip to France this summer.

Michelle took this great shot of the Eiffel Tower! All photos courtesy of Michelle White

digital form. They may be emailed by your photographer or submitted to Mrs. Kinstner on a CD or jump drive. Photos must meet the follow-ing specifications to be included in our publication.

• Vertical studio headshot with solid medium gray or other medium tone background

• No backlighting • No outdoor scenes or pets • No poses with arms folded

under chin or finger on cheek • Photos should not be

cropped too tight. The year-book staff will zoom in on images so as to create consis-tency throughout the section.

Any questions can be addressed by contacting Mrs. Rhonda Kinstner by

If you are planning to submit a senior portrait, now is the time to sched-ule your sitting. Area photogra-phers suggest hav-ing portraits taken by October 1 to meet the Year-book submission deadline of De-cember 21. (There will be a $20 late fee for all pictures sub-mitted after this date.) Senior portraits must be submitted in

De-clutter! As you do your house cleaning, bring those un-needed items to Sequels and put them in Bishop McNamara Catholic’s name. Money we re-ceive will benefit the Thanksgiving Dinner.

Turning in Senior Photos

P A G E 6 V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1

SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR FALL PLAY

The BMCHS Drama Department Presents

November 16 & 17, 2012 – 7:00 November 18, 2012 – 2:00 BMCHS Cafetorium Stage

Admission: $5.00 Directed by: Patrick Skelly

This photo of

Reese Lopez ‘12

is a good example

of how a senior photo

should look.

email at rkinstner@bishop-mcnamara.org. Submis-sions can be made to the same email or in person by the student.

P A G E 7

Foundation Scholars Each year the Bishop McNa-

mara Foundation Scholar Soci-

ety awards scholarships to top

students. The scholarships are

funded by donations from

Foundation members.

This year’s winners are pictured

with Principal Terry Granger and

Foundation President Tim Ger-

non. They are L to R: Zeb

Reshenskas, Samantha Parish,

Hanna Franklin and Kyisha

Hunt.

B I S H O P M C N A M A R A C A T H O L I C

H . S .

Bishop McNamara’s Athletic Booster Club presents the

"Playoff Payoff!"

11th Annual Irish Mega Cash Bash

Saturday, October 20, 2012

7:00 p.m. - 11 :00 p.m. McNamara Gym

TOP PRIZE $3,000.00

Other Cash Prizes totaling more than $2,000.00 will be awarded. Maximum of 300 tickets will be sold.

Tickets are $100 each and admit two people (food and drinks included)

MUST BE 21 OR OVER

For tickets stop by the school or call 815-932-7413.

Mr. Chris Kirkpatrick

Ms. Jessica

Turner

Mrs. Sandy

Malpasuto

Mr. Todd

Yeoman

Mrs. Shelli

Trevino

Mrs.Lamanda

Garcia

...Principal continued from page 1 of the formula is "trust" - your trust in us as educators to pro-vide your children the faith based education that you, as parents, desire. For this we simply say, "thank you!" My wish as we dive into the heart of this school year, is that you have already experienced a sense of community within our school. I know I have said it many times, but it is so true that we could not do all of the awesome things we do without the help of you the parents, all of the alumni, the friends of Bishop McNamara, and, of course, the students them-selves. My hope is that this sense of community based on Catholic values, continues to flourish dur-ing this exciting time in Bishop McNamara's history. Peace, Terry Granger Principal

Mrs. Sara

Mulcahy

New Staff

Mrs. Mary

Robbins

Mrs. Tracy

Valant

Mrs. Patti

McThenia

It’s finally here! Bishop McNamara has formed a new Parent Group which has officially been named “THE MAC PAC” - (Parent Action Community)! Though the Mac Pac is new, we have already assisted with a couple of events - Senior Awards Night (last May) and the Parent Party on the River which was held in July. This group will be helping with some existing events that happen here at McNamara as well as coming up with some new, fun, social events for our parents. We also hope to raise funds that may be used for things such as student scholarships, classroom enhance-ments, etc…. All parents and others who have students at McNamara are mem-bers of this group. If you would like to be more active, we will have meetings/gatherings through-out the year that you are welcome to attend. We will keep you posted on all of our happenings on the school website so you may pick and choose what works for you. In the near future we will have available “THE MAC PAC” shirts which will be for sale for all parent figures. Our first meeting was held on

Wednesday, September 5th. The following are some of our immedi-ate happenings:

Grounds Beautification Day (for Homecoming week):

Saturday, September 22nd at 9:00 a.m. (rain date, the 23rd at noon)

Please come out and help as we will be cleaning up the court yard, planting mums, assisting with any other light yard work projects that are necessary.

Homecoming Mass: Monday, September 24th at

9:30 a.m. in the cafeteria All are welcome to attend this

mass. We will be serving light refreshments immedi-ately following.

Community Event – St. Pat-rick’s Day Half Paddy:

Wear your McNamara t-shirt and meet us at 6:15 p.m. where we will listen to some great Irish music by Colm O’Brien, followed by the Chancey Brothers!

Our First Fundraising Effort: Bring in your student’s old

McNamara Spirit t-Shirts and Sweatshirts for re-

Announcing... The New Parent Group! sale. We will be collecting these items beginning now. Please bring them to the main office. We will re-sell them to our students dur-ing their lunch hours, at bargain prices, sometime in October.

THE MAC PAC’S next meet-ing:

Wednesday, October 24th, 6:30 p.m. at Sammy’s Pizza

Stay tuned for more….If you should

have any questions or would like

to be attached to “THE MAC

PAC” email list, please contact

Sandy Malpasuto here at school,

ext. 223 or by email at smal-

pasuto@bishop-mcnamara.org.

Photos: It was great to see so many parents in attendance at July’s “Parent Party on the River”.

Some Websites that may be of interest http://www.collegeboard.com/student/apply/the-application/23626.html http://www.petersons.com/college-search.aspx http://www.knowhow2go.org/ http://www.college.gov/ http://www.colleges.com/ SCHOLARSHIPS Be on the lookout for updated scholarship postings in the next week. Go to www.bishopmac.com Click Current Students Click Guidance Office Click Scholarship News

Senior year is filled with excite-

ment as students complete one

chapter of their lives and move

on to the next. As we move into

the senior year of high school it

is important to think about the

age old question of “what do I

want to be when I grow up?”

For most, if not all of you, it will

involve post-secondary educa-

tion. This could be 2 year, 4 year

or vocational education. There

are many things to think about as

you navigate the waters of the

application process.

Hopefully you have already

started to think about, research

and make decisions about where

you are interested in attending.

Some of the factors to keep in

mind include: location, majors

available, size of the school, aver-

age class size, cost and extracur-

ricular activities offered. If you

haven’t made a list and evaluated,

NOW is the time. Once you

have some options laid before

you it is time to visit the campus,

take a tour, meet with admis-

sions counselors, meet students

and decide if it is a match for you

and if you can see yourself

spending the next couple years of

your life living and learning at this

place.

When you have a list of potential

schools it is time to apply.

Look at the requirements for the

application online.

Complete the application com-

pletely without blanks.

Decide if there is any supplemen-

tal information required for ap-

plication including artifacts and/or

recommendations.

Come to the Guidance Office to

request an official Transcript be

sent to the school you are apply-

ing to. Remember the 1st is free

and any additional cost $2 to

send. The Guidance Office will

not know to send a transcript

unless you inform them that you

completed an online application.

As you work on applications, be

mindful of what the deadlines

are. Some things to keep in

mind:

Early Admission and Early Action

Deadlines

Scholarships available through

the university or college (many of

these tie in with early applica-

tion)

Many schools have deadlines in

October and November for early

action

Each school will have their own

dates and deadlines that do not

waiver. If they say they want

information by October 15th,

then it needs to be in by Octo-

ber 15th. Make sure you request

ACT Scores and Transcripts to

be sent at least, 1 week prior to a

deadline to ensure they make it

on time.

Senior Year and the College Application

DAT E S T O

K E E P I N M I ND

PSAT

Testing

10/17

Quarter 1

Ends

10/19

ACT

Testing

10/27

Parent/

Teacher

Conferences

11/1

B I S H O P M C N A M A R A B I S H O P M C N A M A R A B I S H O P M C N A M A R A B I S H O P M C N A M A R A

C A T H O L I C H I G H C A T H O L I C H I G H C A T H O L I C H I G H C A T H O L I C H I G H

S C H O O LS C H O O LS C H O O LS C H O O L

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 2 V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1

SPEC IAL

PO INTS OF

INTEREST :

• Junior Year and

Standardized

Testing

• Zero Hour

Counselor Mrs. Monica Nugent

Admin Asst. Mrs. Patti McThenia

Guidance Gazette

V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1 P A G E 1 1

Upcoming ACT Test Dates

October 22, 2011

December 10, 2011

February 11, 2012

April 14, 2012

June 9, 2012

Zero Hour - What is it?

The Guidance Office

Junior Year and Standardized Testing

PSAT testing will be offered on

Saturday, October 15, 2011

for any interested Junior stu-

dents. It will be from 8:30 -

11:30AM and the cost is $15.

The PSAT is a test that is a

preparation for the SAT

(college entrance exam) and

enters students into the Na-

tional Merit Scholarship Cor-

poration for recognition and/

or scholarships. Information

will be provided to all Junior

students next week. Inter-

ested students will need to

sign up in the Guidance Office

by October 7, 2011. For more

information about the PSAT,

please visit the following web-

site

http://www.collegeboard.com/

student/testing/psat/about.html

Junior Year is also the time to

take the ACT college entrance

examination. It is recom-

mended that any junior stu-

dent that is interested in at-

tending college take the ACT

in the spring of their junior

year of high school. The col-

lege application process starts

the first 3 months of senior

year. You don’t want to miss

the important deadlines in the

application process by waiting

to take your ACT your senior

year. For more information on

the ACT please visit

http://www.actstudent.org/

ACT Prep Class Information

available in the Guidance Of-

fice.

There is no need to make an

appointment. This time has

been specifically designed to

meet the individual needs that

each of our students may have.

This is an opportunity for

teachers to work with stu-

dents to cover topics they may

not understand, questions with

homework or to gain under-

standing for a day a student

may have been absent.

Teachers want to meet with

ALL STUDENTS to help them

in their academic pursuits. All

of our students are encour-

aged to take advantage of this

opportunity!

Zero hour is the time prior to

the start of the regular school

day. Every morning all McNa-

mara students have the ability

to receive additional help with

their schoolwork from their

teachers.

From 7:45AM to 8:35 AM

students are able to work with

their teachers to receive the

additional help, instruction and

guidance that they may need in

that particular subject area.

B I S H O P M C N A M A R A C A T H O L I C

P A G E 1 1

Upcoming ACT Test

Dates

October 27, 2012

December 8, 2012

February 9, 2013

April 13, 2013

June 8, 2013

Zero Hour - What is it?

The Guidance Office

Junior Year and Standardized Testing PSAT testing will be offered on

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

for any interested Junior stu-

dents. It will be from 8:30 -

11:30AM and the cost is $15.

The PSAT is a test that is a

preparation for the SAT

(college entrance exam) and

enters students into the Na-

tional Merit Scholarship Cor-

poration for recognition and/

or scholarships. Information

will be provided to all Junior

students next week. Inter-

ested students will need to

sign up and pay in the Guid-

ance Office by October 12,

2012. For more information

about the PSAT, please visit

the following website

http://www.collegeboard.com/

student/testing/psat/about.html

Junior Year is also the time to

take the ACT college entrance

examination. It is recom-

mended that any junior stu-

dent that is interested in at-

tending college take the ACT

in the spring of their junior

year of high school. The col-

lege application process starts

the first 3 months of the sen-

ior year. You don’t want to

miss the important deadlines in

the application process by

waiting to take your ACT your

senior year. For more informa-

tion on the ACT please visit

http://www.actstudent.org/

ACT Prep Class Information

available in the Guidance Of-

fice.

What is the Guidance Office?

The guidance office works with

students to help all students be

successful academically, so-

cially, emotionally and voca-

tionally. This includes, but is

not limited to, college and

career planning, academic sup-

port, social/emotional support

and service plans.

For the 2012-2013 school

year, the Guidance Office has

seen a few changes.

Mrs. Patti McThenia is the

Guidance Office Secretary and

Mrs. Monica Nugent will be

working with all of the stu-

dents as the Guidance Coun-

selor.

Throughout the school year

the Guidance Office will be

publishing the Guidance Ga-

zette to inform students and

their families about important

topics and information pertain-

ing to the guidance office, col-

lege preparation, testing, etc.

guidance that they may need in

that particular subject area.

There is no need to make an

appointment. This time has

been specifically designed to

meet the individual needs that

each of our students may have.

This is an opportunity for

teachers to work with stu-

dents to cover topics they may

not understand, questions with

homework or to gain under-

standing for a day a student

may have been absent.

Teachers want to meet with

ALL STUDENTS to help them

in their academic pursuits. All

of our students are encour-

aged to take advantage of this

opportunity!

Zero hour is the time prior to

the start of the regular school

day. Every morning all McNa-

mara students have the ability

and are strongly encouraged to

receive additional help with

their schoolwork from their

teachers.

From 7:30 AM to 8:10 AM

students are able to work with

their teachers to receive the

additional help, instruction and

G U I D A N C E G A Z E T T E