SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2021
JUNIOR RING MASS The Ring Mass for the Class of 2023 is Thursday, November 18, 2021. The liturgy begins at 7PM in the Performing Arts Center of Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School. Refreshments to follow; masks required. Please email Mr. Stephen Fromhold with any questions. *The school store is offering Gwynedd ties at a discount for any dads interested!*
PAL EVENT: NOVEMBER 23 Freshmen reminder! To help us kick off the holiday season, we invite the freshman class to join us for S'mores and hot chocolate. This event will take place on Tuesday, 11/23/21 after the Powderpuff games, until 6:00pm. Please remind your daughter to complete the attendance form, emailed from Mrs. DeCicco, before the event. We will have fire pits set up in the parking lot near the café. Pick up will be in the front of the school building. We hope the freshmen will enjoy spending time with their classmates before the Thanksgiving break!
DEIJ From the Institute Office of Anti-Racism and Racial Equity within the Sisters of Mercy: "This month is National Black Catholic History month. We invite you to celebrate with us the gift of the Black community by using these materials in your prayer and reflection for the month of November. We highlighted in this calendar a few Black holy men and women who through their charity and service in the church made a difference in the world." View the calendar here. NOTABLE DATES No Classes, Faculty Retreat
NOVEMBER 17 Junior College Kickoff
NOVEMBER 18 Junior Ring Mass
NOVEMBER 21 Freshmen Mother/Daughter Retreat
NOVEMBER 24-26 No Classes
DECEMBER 3 Junior Retreat
DECEMBER 6 Mercy Hospice Dinner
DECEMBER 7 Advent Evening of Reflection
DECEMBER 15 Candlelight
CALENDAR UPDATES In order to accommodate the tradition of Powder Puff, but also balance the instruction time for G/H days in this cycle we have made an adjustment to the calendar for the day before Thanksgiving break. We will follow a special schedule that allows for Liturgy, 30 minutes class periods, and Powder Puff.
This change means the calendar for the day before Thanksgiving and our return from the long weekend will look like this:
Tuesday 11/23 Special Schedule Monday 11/29 G Day Tuesday 11/30 H Day Wednesday 12/1 A Day (follow the calendar as is from this date)
Special Schedule for 11/23: A 8:15 – 8:45 B 8:50 – 9:20 Liturgy 9:25 – 10:25 C 10:30 – 11:00 D 11:05 – 11:35 E 11:40 – 12:10 F 12:15 – 12:45 G 12:50 – 1:20 H 1:25 – 1:55 Powder Puff will take place from 2:00 – 4:00 pm followed by the Freshmen PAL event. **NOTE: Students will eat lunch during their assigned seminar period (C, D, E, or F)
HEALTH CORNER
IMPORTANT REMINDER As a reminder, with the weather getting colder, the holidays coming closer and with more people out and about or having sleepovers, head lice are sometimes prevalent in the school age population.
Lice can come from almost anywhere - a classmate, an upholstered seat in a movie theater, or another student's sweater or hat. Lice outbreaks are common among high school age and even the cleanest student can easily become infested. It's important that you act IMMEDIATELY to prevent their spread to other members of your family.
IN-SCHOOL COVID TESTING Gwynedd has COVID testing available on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:20. Please register using the attached link. Students and staff who have already registered do not need to sign up again. Your registration and consent will remain on file.
COLLEGE COUNSELING
COFFEE TALK RECAP Thank you to those who joined College Counseling's Coffee Talk-Arts last week. Here are is an overview of the music audition and college admission process from Mary Smith, Senior Associate Director of Admission at Gettysburg College.
JUNIOR COLLEGE KICK OFF NIGHT: WEDNESDAY, NOV. 17 at 7PM Join College Counseling in the PAC on Wednesday, November 17th for our Junior College Kick Off Night! This evening program from 7pm-8pm will empower you to support your daughter through the college application and admission process. Topics covered include: college fundamentals, terminology, application timeline, student responsibilities, the role of the parent, and the support and resources offered by college counseling. From this session you will take away a clear college application timeline for your daughter. Please register for the event by completing the registration form.
LEADERSHIP DEPARTMENT, L.E.A.D.
ETHICAL LEADER AWARD Abigail Bernesky '22 was awarded the October Ethical Leader Award. A member of Diversity Club, Abby was nominated by Ms. Anita Roberson, Leader of DEIJ, for demonstrating excellent leadership skills and creating a culture of belonging.
Click on the photo to see Abby receive her award!
TRAVIS MANION FOUNDATION This week Gwynedd Girls were featured in the Under Armor and Travis Manion Foundation commercial that aired on Veteran's Day. The commercial illustrates Travis Manion Foundation's mission "If not me, then who" to empower and rally people to support our veterans. Through the commercial Gwynedd Girls and others who are a part of the Travis Manion family work to spread the initiative of "Character Does Matter." We thank Travis Manion for allowing Gwynedd Girls to be a part of this amazing opportunity and we thank all the veterans that have served our country
ONE WARM COAT Gwynedd will be hosting a coat drive on November 29th - December 17th through the non-profit organization One Warm Coat and will be accepting donations and winter coats. The drive is being led by Ava Kolp '24 as a project for the LEAD Council. Ava Kolp '24 chose to initiate the drive this year to go with the Sisters of Mercy theme of the Earth because One Warm Coat's motto is to "provide free coats for children and adults in need while promoting volunteerism and environmental sustainability". Currently about 60% of clothing end up in a landfill every year with The Fashion Industry producing more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping together. One Warm Coat works to keep around 1 million pounds of clothes out of the landfill per year. To find out more visit: https://www.onewarmcoat.org/. Keep an eye out for more information and any coats to donate!
ACTIVITIES & ACADEMICS
PODCAST CLUB Gwynedd's new Podcast Club features alumnae interviews! Students are working in the fields of production and marketing to help this podcast come to life. Our recent podcast features Mary Ott, a recipient of the Trocaire Leadership Award. Search "The Monarch Impact" and tune in on Spotify, Google, and Apple to learn more about our alumnae.
MATHEMATICS Students in Dr. Clementi's Intro to Statistics class are beginning a unit focused on regression models. They collected data for Barbie Bungee Jump by launching Barbie from the top of the red lockers, and recorded the distance traveled. This data will be used later in the chapter to extrapolate how many bungees Barbie needs to launch from the top of the bleachers!
ENGINEERING Senior Gabi Warner shared her architectural summer internship experience with her engineering class. In addition, she also shared a summer Drexel online architectural course she completed. Thanks, Gabi! Sharing our experiences is so important.
ADVANCEMENT
Want to help make a difference while you shop in the Amazon app, at no extra cost to you? As your holiday shopping begin, consider adding Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School as your favorite charity and support Gwynedd's Mercy Fund. Using the Amazon Shopping app on your mobile phone, simply follow the instructions below to select "Gwynedd-Mercy Academy" as your charity and activate AmazonSmile in the app. Amazon will donate a portion of your eligible mobile app purchases to Gwynedd. How it works: 1. Open the Amazon app on your phone 2. Select the main menu (=) & tap on "AmazonSmile" within Programs & Features 3. Select "Gwynedd-Mercy Academy" as your charity 4. Follow the on-screen instructions to activate AmazonSmile in the mobile appQuestions, contact Jeannine Hartz in the Advancement Office at 267-946-0953 or jhartz@gmahs.org.
Thank you to co-chairs Meg Yezzi P'23 and Susie Wenz P'21, '23, '25 for coordinating this year's Mercy Hospice Workshop held on Wednesday, November 10. Thanks to the generosity of so many moms and volunteers, Mothers' Club was able to create over 40 toiletry gift bags, candy treats plus 40 gift sets of towels and hat, scarves and gloves for the women at the Mercy Hospice shelter located in Philadelphia. Class of 2022 Senior Moms and Guardians – Invitations were mailed to our annual Senior Moms Christmas Tree Trimming celebration which will be held on Tuesday, November 30 at 7pm. Join the other moms in the Class of 2022 to hang your daughter's Senior Ornament on the PAC lobby Christmas tree. Enjoy a night of fellowship and light fare. This is a moms only event. Contact Mothers' Club President, Michelle Stetler P'22 or Event Chair, Janel Mullen P'16, '20, '22 with questions. Our annual Book Talk Meeting will take place on Wednesday, February 9, 2022. Our book talk will be lead by Amy Herm P'24. This year's book selection is We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker. Take some time over the holidays to enjoy reading this selection. Look forward to our discussion in February!
Save the Date for our Mothers' Club Fashion Show in January!
Thanks to the 50 plus dads and daughter who came out for our Father Daughter outing at TopGolf on Sunday, November 7. A great time was had by everyone in attendance!
Save the Date - Our next Fathers' Club meeting will be held on Thursday, January 13 at 7pm in the cafeteria.
ATHLETICS
GWYNEDD FIELD HOCKEY Gwynedd Field Hockey advances to the PIAA State 2A Semifinals after Saturday's 2-1 win over Palmyra High School. Goals by Sydney Mandato. Next game: 11/16 with details TBD
WINTER SPORTS Sports available for the winter season are: Basketball, Indoor Track, Swimming & Diving, and Crew (Erg). The winter sport season officially begins on Friday, November 19, 2021. Please contact your Coach with any sport specific questions (practice/game schedules, etc):
Basketball@gmahs.org Swimming@gmahs.org, swimmingjv@gmahs.org track@gmahs.org crew2@gmahs.org, lou@adcassociates.com
MERCER FALL CLASSIC Gwynedd Crew had another great day of racing at the Mercer Fall Classic! Team members competed in a head race around Mercer Lake (approx. 4.5k) with results determining heats for the afternoon 2k. Results:Varsity 4+ : (AM) 3rd in time trial (PM) 3rd in A final Novice 8+ : (AM) 5th in time trial (PM) 2nd in A final Varsity 8+ : (AM) 8th in time trial (PM) 2nd in B finalSHE IS THE FUTURE. ©2021 Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School 1345 Sumneytown Pike, PO Box 902 Gwynedd Valley, PA 19437 |