Ursuline Update

A Message from the President – Gretchen Z. Kane

The annual meeting for the Leaders in the Ursuline Sponsorship Ministries of the Central Province was held at Ursuline Academy of New Orleans Sunday through Tuesday of this week. Participants continued discussions on how the Ursuline Sisters’ Chapter Message is implemented in our schools.

 Strengthened
by the Word of God
and by communion
with each other,
let us have the courage
to go beyond borders
and, with Angela, to be signs
of reconciliation
and of hope.

General Chapter, 2007

This message offers a challenge, as well as a guide, for living in the coming years. Sr. Mary K. Milne, OSU led the group in a very good discussion on reconciliation and hope and gave participants time for reflection and sharing about the implications of being signs of reconciliation and hope in our leadership roles, in our schools, and in the larger community.

We concluded the conference with a prayer service entitled, “Springtime – Season of Hope.” The introduction read:

“Lent” is the Medieval Germanic word for what we have come to call the season of “Spring.” In our northern hemisphere, the coinciding of spring and Lent has great spiritual significance. The signs of new life that bud forth in spring are reason for hope.

 And, together we prayed the following prayer of the missionary sisters of St. Charles, Honduras:

 To have hope
Is to believe that history continues open
To the dream of God and to human creativity.

To have hope
Is to continue affirming
That it is possible to dream a different world,
Without hunger, without injustice,
Without discrimination.

To have hope
Is to be a courier of God
And a courier of men and women of good will,
Tearing down walls, destroying borders,
Building bridges.

To have hope
Is to believe in the revolutionary potential of faith,
Is to leave the door open
So that the Spirit can enter and make all things new.

To have hope
Is to begin again as many times as necessary. 

To have hope
Is to believe that hope is not the last thing that dies.

To have hope
Is to believe that hope cannot die,
That hope no longer dies.

To have hope
Is to live.

A Message from the High School Principal – John Gabriel

I wanted to spend this week’s message talking about an event that occurred here on the Ursuline campus several weeks ago. On the Friday prior to Mardi Gras, we assembled the student body in the auditorium to hold our first Student Forum. The guidelines for the forum were simple: we told the girls that they could question any policies or procedures that they wanted to question and that no individual classes or teachers could be named (those concerns needed to be addressed to an administrator privately).

Two microphones were placed near the stage of the auditorium so that students could line up and ask questions. Karen Mortillaro, our Dean of Students, accompanied me on stage and wrote down all questions asked by the students. The Forum began slowly, as students were initially hesitant about voicing concerns. After about ten minutes, they caught the drift of the proceedings and began to get involved. When I finally declared the Forum to be over more than an hour later, we still had another fifteen students wishing to express concerns or ask questions.

Their concerns were interesting. Among the topics they brought up were lunch and snack times, bookstore operation times, the formation of a debate team, use of the red tile porch for the students at lunch, restarting a recycling program at UA, cleanliness of the restrooms on the third floor, repositioning the bumpers in the parking lot, and re-instituting athletic physical education. I was impressed with the number of thoughtful questions and suggestions the girls gave us. 

The lesson we are attempting to teach here is that the girls have a voice in what happens at Ursuline. The High School’s administrative team is already working to address many of the students’ concerns – because the concerns the students raised were valid and will help us make Ursuline a better place to learn. But there were other concerns that we told the girls were not negotiable, as in detentions for uniform violations. I think it is important that we teach our students to recognize the differences between what is open for discussion and what isn’t – at least right now. The ability to carry on a civil discourse and work toward a better school was our ultimate goal. I think we made an excellent first step that Friday morning. We look forward to further forums and the improvements that come from student imput.

On a separate note, if you own a business or know someone who does and would be willing to post one of our “Annie” posters to advertise the show, please contact Kim Harper at kharper@ursulineneworleans.org  or call 504-866-5260. You can make “Annie” reservations by calling Ms. Mel at 504-866-5260 or sending her an e-mail at mprovenzano@ursulineneworleans.org.

A Message from the Elementary School Principal – Kim Harper

6^th and 7^th exams continue through Friday of this week. The 3^rd quarter ends on Friday, March 12. Grades are due in to the office on Tuesday, March 16, and report cards will be mailed home on Friday, March 19.

Terra Nova testing begins on Wednesday, March 17 and continues through Tuesday, March 23.

Please make every effort to get your Cash Raffle tickets sold. The first class to reach 100% will receive an ice cream party and a free dress down day in addition to the day off on April 6.

All classes reaching 100% will receive the day off on April 6 and a free dress down day.

Students who sell 2 pack of tickets will get wear their pajamas at school all day and have a wonderful breakfast by Ms. Betsy Falk.

Students who sell 3 packs in EC and LS will get a sock hop in the gym. MS will get a pool party at Mrs. Brown’s house.

See additional incentives posted on Ursuline web site. All tickets are due back by March 25.

If you own a business or know someone who does and would be willing to post one of our “Annie” posters to advertise the show, please contact Kim Harper at kharper@ursulineneworleans.org  or call 504-866-5260. You can make “Annie” reservations by calling Ms. Mel at 504-866-5260 or sending her an e-mail at mprovenzano@ursulineneworleans.org.