The competition to see who had the most Family pride and fever was conducted the week of September 21-25. The week began with students decorating their Family suites, or the group of rooms that Family "lives" in. Several students from each grade make up a single Family. There are nine Families at Assumption, representing nine foundations Catherine McAuley founded in Ireland. On Thursday, September 23rd, students sported accessories in their Family color accompanying their uniform. The spirit was prevelant as everyone prepared for Family festivities the next day.
On Friday, September 24th, Mercy Day, students enjoyed spending time with students in their Families and participating in various activities as they celebrated and honored Catherine McAuley's work. The day began with a Mercy Day prayer service in which sophomore Kelsey Kaiser, junior Mary-Kate Smith, and senior Catherine Palmer-Ball, as well as faculty and staff, were honored as Models of Mercy for their outstanding exemplification of our Mercy values. After the prayer service, students returned to homerooms to write letters to Mercy sister schools across the country. My particular family, Kingstown, wrote a letter to a Mercy school in Virginia in which we all signed our names on the Smart Board.
Saving the best for last, the week wrapped up with an all-school Family competition in the gym by putting a twist on the series "The Bachelor." Representative teachers and students from each family competed in a relay race consisting of putting on dresses in their family color, ribbons in their hair, and waltzing with a teacher across the gym floor. Amy Vanover, Logan Higgins, and Tylisha Mitchell were the three finalists who had to explain to Catherine McAuley how their foundation spread her mission. Amy Vanover ended up winning the competition for her Family, of course with her Family supporting her and cheering for her the whole time. She even received a rose from one of our teachers and got her picture taken. It was a great week for students to come together as a community and prove why their family was the one to beat.
-Jaclyn O.
The Tri-M talent show is a really cool show where students can audition and display their super cool talents. One girl played guitar and sang an original song and another girl tap danced. Others sang, played piano, and the AHS Step Team performed. It was really cool to see friends share talents that I didn't know they had. Plus, all the money raised from the show went to supporting the school that students built in Cambodia. It was a really fun night for a really great cause. 
Fiddler on the Roof was an AWESOME show. Many of my friends are in the show, or are techies, so I knew many parts of the show, but it went well beyond my expectations. I was spell-bound, and left thinking that Doug Sumey, our theatre director was a genius. I can't wait to see the show again and again!!
Canstruction kickoff was a great way to introduce why we need to collect cans for Dare to Care. It really put an emphasis on the importance of what Dare to Care does and how much it depends on Assumption for cans. I also loved seeing the girls do the can-can relay. I laughed so hard at everyone!
Last Tuesday was Assumption's annual Canstruction kick-off. As always, the assembly was so much fun - but it also got pretty crazy. Girls doing the can-can with cans? Not exactly something you see everyday! The assembly was great because it got all the families pumped up and ready to bring in those cans. Not only do we want to win, but we also all see the importance of this event. The cans will be donated to Dare to Care and we have a history of bringing some of the biggest donations. It's great to have something like Canstruction to be able to help people and have a blast at the same time!
The 2010 Walk theme was SleepWalk. Girls dressed up in their footy pajamas and hair curlers and they prepared to get their walk on! The Walk was a blast - all the girls were dressed up and so were the teachers. It was fun to just see everyone's spirit. We raised a record-setting amount of more than $57,000 - we did an amazing job and so did our top seller. She raised $1,000 dollars - how wonderful! We came together as a community and helped so many girls. Assumption did a great job this year and the theme was fun, too!
On Tuesday, September 28th, the whole school gathered in the gym to listen to a guest speaker from the Center for Women and Families, Amanda Houpt. Students were extremely interested and intrigued as they learned about a new program called Green Dot. The Mary Byron Project introduced the speaker and sponsors the program because they believe it is time for more students to get involved in putting an end to power-based personal violence. The Green Dot Program gives students a chance to do additional training at Assumption with Amanda and learn how to be a bystander that knows how to react in situations where violence is occuring. Students seemed eager to learn more after attending the assembly. The Mary Byron Project closed the assembly by introducing an event they are working on called Walk A Mile in Her Shoes in which they are partnering with St. X and Trinity to have high school boys walking in high heels to advocate against teen dating violence. Together, these two programs provide the education and opportunity to make Assumption a leading school in violence prevention and awareness.
The competition to see who had the most Family pride and fever was conducted the week of September 21-25. The week began with students decorating their Family suites, or the group of rooms that Family "lives" in. Several students from each grade make up a single Family. There are nine Families at Assumption, representing nine foundations Catherine McAuley founded in Ireland. On Thursday, September 23rd, students sported accessories in their Family color accompanying their uniform. The spirit was prevelant as everyone prepared for Family festivities the next day. 
