Lumen News – May 13th, 2022

Important Upcoming Dates:

May 13: Last School Mass, 7:45am
May 16: Lumen Spirit Wear Day (kickball games during 7th period, 1pm) May 17-19: Finals, Early Dismissal (11am)
May 19: Last Day of Classes
May 26-28: Garage Sale (Set Up 26th, Sale 27th-28th)

Principal’s Update:

Last week, we said farewell to the mighty Class of 2022! If you were not able to attend the graduation ceremony, I encourage you to watch the video on our Facebook page. We celebrated the accomplishments of our very own, Mrs. Megan Spillers, who has received a Masters of Science in Secondary Education (with an emphasis in Social Studies) from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia (all the while teaching our students!) Mrs. Spillers is not able to attend her own graduation, so we recognized her last week and she walked across our stage here in front of adoring fans. You should also listen to the speeches of our Valedictorian, Mr. Joshua Van Tuyl, and Salutatorian, Mr. Liam Thomson, as they describe the powerful impact of their classmates and their experiences within the Lumen Christi community. We are fiercely proud of these young men and women and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors!

Next week, we enter final exams and the end of the school year. Please note the early dismissal times on Tues-Thurs. We will kick the week off with a Spirit Wear day and kickball games during the 7th period! Come at 1pm on Monday, bring a lawn chair, and watch the end-of-year fun!

Finally, Anne Gore and I have fielded a few inquiries regarding other schools’ use of federal allotment money from Family Partnership for tuition payments here at Lumen. Under this initiative, private schools become a vendor for Family Partnership (and perhaps other homeschool programs) and families could be reimbursed for the the cost of “secular/non-religious courses” (a large portion of tuition) using allotment money.

I know that other schools have started to use this approach with some of their families. While I know those that are starting to become involved in it are super excited about the possibility, going forward, I would like to examine and discern this initiative more closely and ensure that we are looking at it from all angles. I intend to bring in some members of our illustrious School Board as well as the Archdiocese of Anchorage Juneau to assist in this effort in coming weeks.

After my initial inquiries and discussions, I have two major concerns/questions that I hope to answer in further study:

1. As the “Defining Characteristics of Catholic Schools” (from the NCEA National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools found at https://ncea.org/NSBECS/The_Standards/Defining_Characteristics/NSBECS/Standards/Defining_Ch aracteristics_of_Catholic_Schools.aspx?hkey=36193389-1a3c-4736-b212-332906083fd1) suggests, “All curriculum and instruction in a Catholic school should foster: the desire to seek wisdom and truth, the preference for social justice, the discipline to become self-learners, the capacity to recognize ethical and moral grounding for behavior, and the responsibility to transform and enrich the world with Gospel values. The Catholic school should avoid the error that its distinctiveness rests solely on its religious education program (Archbishop J. Michael Miller, The Holy See’s Teaching on Catholic Schools, 2006, pp. 43–45, 52).”

   In other words, all Catholic schools (Lumen included) should seek to have a rigorous academic curriculum based on the teachings of the Catholic Church and infused with the principles of Catholic social teaching. Over the past 26 years, Lumen has been working hard towards this ideal.

   My questions: If we make our math, science, social studies, and/or language arts curriculums “nonsectarian” (i.e. non-religious) to have them approved by the ASD public charter school Family Partnership, then are we undermining the Truth about who we are as a Catholic school? Further, how then are we truly distinct from other schools? Do we end up with a school where we have a solitary religious portion of our curriculum (Theology class) and the rest of the curriculum is just like any public school? As the Principal, I’m responsible for the Catholic identity of Lumen, so these questions cause me to pause.

2. On the flip side, what is the impact if we do present our curriculum as “nonsectarian” or “non-religious” to meet the Family Partnership requirements for reimbursement, yet actually teach to “transform and enrich the world with Gospel values? This includes starting and ending class with prayer and in a specific example, infusing Catholic bioethical moral decision making considerations into Biology units on cloning or stem cell research. If we say one thing while doing another, are we being untruthful and in fact, disingenuous? This too causes me to pause.

   As I have stated elsewhere, I don’t mean to be the proverbial “wet blanket” on what may prove to be a huge benefit to our families. On its face, this looks like a great deal. However, my Dad (a wise man) once told me that if something seems too good to be true, it most likely is, so check it out further.

To reiterate: My concerns in going slowly are to ensure that we don’t “water down” the Catholic identity of Lumen, nor put the school in a position of having accepted taxpayer funding in potential violation of state and federal separation of Church and State laws.

As with anything, I’ll concede that I could be looking at things very simplistically and missing the point. But I think prudence suggests that more research (especially on the legal side) needs to be done to ensure we are not headed down a slippery slope.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. If you have questions or concerns or comments on this matter (or any other matter), please feel free to contact me directly at 414-617-5620 or bross@lumenchristiak.org. I am happy to meet for coffee to discuss further and hear your perspectives.

Archangel Sports:

Soccer 2022

The attached pdf below is a copy of the soccer schedule for the high school team next fall. Please note there may still be a couple of date tweaks for games as well as the addition of games against OLV at Kincaid and out in Palmer.

I hope this will help with planning for the fall for all our families as I know schedules can fill up. -Coach Warren

2022 Lumen Christi H.S. Soccer schedule.pdf

Front Office News:

Final Exam and Bus Schedule

The final exam schedule in the Handbook does not correctly reflect our school starting time this year. Therefore, please use the following Final Exam schedule for May 17-19:

The fall exam daily schedule is:

May 17: Periods 1 and 2
May 18: Periods 3 and 4
May 19: Periods 5 and 6

The hourly schedule each day during finals is:

7:30-7:40am: Snack*
7:40-7:45am: Pledge, Prayer, and Morning Announcements 7:45-9:15am: Final Exam
9:15-9:30am: Snack*
9:30-11:00am: Final Exam
11:00am: Dismissal

*SNACKS! Can you help us provide those for students? Earn a Share Hour and keep those brains well greased! If you would like to bring a snack click here: https://signup.com/go/qCyKnKn.Thank you parent volunteers for your support!!!

Bus schedules will be as follows:
Morning runs from both St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Andrew/CSS will remain the same.

Afternoon runs will be as follows:
St. Andrew/CSS: This bus will depart Lumen at 11:05am and arrive at CSS at 11:20am;

Depart CSS at 11:25am and arrive at St. Andrew Parish at 11:50pm.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: If possible, we encourage parents of SEAS bus riders to pick up at Lumen at 11am as we will only have one bus run to SEAS, and we have more students than seats. For those parents unable to pick up at Lumen, the bus will leave here at 11:05am and arrive at SEAS at 11:20am.

For both the St. Andrew/CSS and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton runs, please pick your students up right at this adjusted arrival time. We know these early dismissal times can be tricky for logistics, but limiting the number of finals per day to two both limits the amount of stress on students and allows for max study time at home!

We are excited to share with you an opportunity to grow students’ language arts and math skills. Lumen will again be offering students a chance to participate in a Summer Skills Workshop. The goal is for our middle school and high school students to sharpen the skills obtained during this school year while also better preparing them for the coming year. Students can participate in math and / or writing. The workshop is free of charge and free of homework!

Space is limited!

Please contact us with your student’s name, grade they are entering, parent contact information (email and phone number) and which session(s) you want to enroll them in.

Contact:

Kimberly Guzman

lchs@lumenchristiak.org

A special shout out to Erik Holmquist who has received first place in the 2022 State Piano Competition. He will be performing this Sunday at the winner’s recital to be held at the UAA recital hall, at 7pm on May 15th.Congratulations Erik!!! We are all super proud of you! Continue the amazing hard work!

Student Opportunities: FBI Teen Academy

The FBI Anchorage Field Office is currently accepting applications for its 2022 Teen Academy Program, which will welcome rising junior and senior high school students for an opportunity to get a comprehensive look into today’s FBI. The FBI Teen Academy will be on August 11-12, 2022, from 9:00am – 12:30pm, at the FBI Anchorage Field Office. Visit the FBI Anchorage website to learn more, and to apply online: https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/anchorage/community-outreach.

The application deadline is May 31, 2022.

Alaska Aviation Club

This summer The Alaska Aviation Museum will be holding Alaska Aviation Camp Programs this summer.The Aviation camp is a five day experience. Campers will get to explore science & history of flight in the wild north. Please see flyer for contact information.

The August F. Reetz Foundation Scholarship

This is a new scholarship opportunity for any school family who are having financial challenges and would like assistance in offsetting tuition. Details and deadlines are in the attached letter.

The August F. Reetz Foundation Scholarship.pdf

Coming to Lumen in 2022-23 – DRONES

We’re thrilled to announce receipt of a $3,000 Grant Award from ConocoPhillips Alaska. The grant funds will be used to purchase high quality drones and teaching modules for use by the science department. We’re so grateful to ConocoPhillips Alaska for providing us with “hands on” learning opportunities for our students! While undoubtedly they’ll see flying drones as fun, we see it as a way to develop STEM skills like conceptual physics, mathematics and computer programming while emphasizing creativity, problem solving, communication and collaboration.

THANK YOU CONOCO PHILLIPS ALASKA !!

REQUIRED Parent Share Hours & Faith In Action Opportunities

1. Annual GARAGE SALE! What was once just an idea to raise a few bucks has become a large, annual 2 day event that brings in anywhere from $6,000 – $8,000!! This year we’re planning on holding the event, Friday May 27th and Saturday, May 28th. This is a labor intensive event and even though school will officially be out, volunteer hours will count towards this year’s Share Hour requirement. We anticipate needing help on Thursday afternoon, May 26th setting up tables and sorting donations; Friday and Saturday helping keep tables organized and new items placed.

Donations: start your own spring cleaning at home! We will gladly be accepting items
that are in considerably good condition starting Tuesday, May 24th after 12pm –

NO EARLY DONATION DROP OFFS due to a series of events happening on campus.

Next school year’s calendar is out! Click here to see: Lumen Christi 2022-2023 Calendar (Final as of March 23 2022).pdf

https://www.instagram.com/lchs_student/

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