Regina Jr Sr High Newsletter
March 2019
From the Principal
More importantly, the season of Lent starts this week. Each week of Lent will have an opportunity to experience and draw closer to Christ as a whole school and more personally in the Chapel. Here are the main activities scheduled for Lent. Mrs. Conlon has done a tremendous job organizing all of these activities.
- March 6-8: Mural painting and posters in the Chapel to get students thinking about what they are doing this Lent in terms of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
- March 11-15: We have Mass this week. The theme is overcoming hurdles. Students will be able to think about things they find difficult in their lives and to ask for God's help in overcoming them.
- March 18-22: Spring Break
- March 25-29: There is a prayer service followed by Reconciliation this week. The theme for the week is "Just Be." There will be Eucharistic Adoration on Friday.
- April 1-5: We have Mass this week. The theme is "I abandon success." Students will reflect on their needs/desires for success (which can overpower our lives) and how to give them to God.
- April 8-12: We have Mass and the theme is loyalty to God. Students will be asked "How is loyalty to God lived out in my actions?"
- April 15-19: There is a Stations of the Cross prayer service on Friday. Students will imagine what God might write in a letter to them, their school, or their church.
I pray that all of you have a reflective and meaningful Lenten season. Here is a Lenten prayer I would like to share with you.
Loving Father,
I invite you into my life today and make myself available to you.
Help me to become the-best-version-of-myself
by seeking your will and becoming a living example of your love in the world.
Open my heart to the areas of my life that need to change
in order for me to carry out the mission and experience the joy you have imagined for my life.
Inspire me to live the Catholic faith in ways that are dynamic and engaging.
Show me how to best get involved in the life of my parish.
Make our community hungry for best practices and continuous learning.
Give me courage when I am afraid,
hope when I am discouraged,
and clarity in times of decision.
Teach me to enjoy uncertainty and lead your Church
to become all you imagined it would be for the people of our times.
Amen.
Religious Celebrations & Faith Activities
March 6: Ash Wednesday prayer service @ 2:30
March 13: 7-12 Mass @ 2:15
March 27: Lenten Reconciliation and prayer service @ 8:30
April 3: 7-12 Mass @ 2:15
Mass and prayer services will be held in the Jr/Sr High Gym, unless noted.
Make-up Days
We apologize for any scheduling mishaps this may cause as we previously said we would not be using President's Day as a make-up day. We did not anticipate missing as much time as we have over the past month. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Financial Aid Information
Household Size - Eligibility Level
2 - $67,640
3 - $85,320
4 - $103,000
5 - $120,680
6 - $138,360
7 - $156,040
8 - $173,720
Please keep the April 15th date on your calendar for returning your application. If you have questions or need help with the application please email or call Sandy in the business office. Email: sandy.feeney@icregina.com or 337-2580.
2019 -2020 Tuition Information
My Favorite Teacher Contest
Girls Go CyberStart
This year in Iowa, at least 10 high school girls will each get $500 scholarships to help them pay for college.
For more information, visit girlsgocyberstart.org and cyber-fasttrack.org. To see the types of challenges students will face in the games, please visit https://go.joincyberstart.com.
Senior Trip Meeting
Parents and Seniors,
We just a month away from this year’s senior trip. I have sent in many of the final payments for tickets over the past week.
Students will be given the two forms attached to complete for the senior trip. The two forms are a student conduct form and a student health form. Students need to turn in these forms by the parent meeting on March 10. Students will not be allowed to attend the trip without the two forms.
The Senior Trip meeting is scheduled for Sunday, March 10, 2019 at 7 p.m. for all students going on the senior trip. The meeting will take place in the Regina cafeteria. It is highly recommended that parents attend the meeting to be informed of all trip details including student conduct. Students who do not attend the meeting will need to meet with Mr. Foley to go over the trip details.
Students who have a conflict and cannot attend the meeting need to see Mr. Foley before spring break.
Agenda for Meeting
1. Trip Conduct and Forms (Student Conduct, Health)
2. Trip Itinerary
3. Packing Tips
4. Meals/Spending Money
5. Questions
Final payments are due before Spring Break. Total cost of the trip is $450 per student.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Mr. Foley
Surgeon General Tipsheet on Vaping for Parents
DEPARTMENT NEWS & UPDATES
From the School Counselor
ACT Testing: April 13th
The next ACT held at Regina is April 13th. Interested students should create an account and sign up through actstudent.org. The regular registration deadline to sign up is March 8th. The late registration deadline with an added late fee is March 25th. All college-going Juniors, who have not completed their first ACT, should sign up for the April test. June and July test dates are also available, but held at the University of Iowa. Fee waivers are available for those who qualify; see Mrs. Zoulek for more information._____
Course Registration for the 2019-2020 school year is in full swing. Mrs. Zoulek has been in each classroom, grade 6-11, to discuss course options. Registration forms and the $100 registration fee is due to the Jr/Sr High school office no later than March 29th.
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Kirkwood Community College in Johnson County is offering summer courses for students currently in grades 8-11th grade. These classes allow for high school credit and college credit and are free of charge.
Course:
- HSC- 168 Nurse Aide (must be 16 prior to the start of class)
- CON-322 Estimating for Construction and Architecture (a Weblive online course)
- CON- 932 Construction Internship
- CSC-142 Computer Science
We will be accepting registrations until each section fills or until the registration deadline which is April 1st (no fooling)! See Mrs. Zoulek in student services for more information. A flyer is attached below.
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On February 21st, Mrs.Zoulek took 5 students to the Collins Aerospace day, "Introduce a Girl to Engineering." There, they assembled a a robotic arm, tried out their skills a driving a drone, made electrical circuits, and drove the airplane simulators. Some pictures from the event are included below.
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On March 4th, the portal to apply for a fall internship will be opened through the Workplace Learning Connections. Internships are available for all Juniors and Senior students. View more at www.workplace-learning.org.
The application portal will close Thursday, April 11th.
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Juniors and Seniors who would still like to explore college coursework for Fall 2019 should set a time to meet with Mrs. Zoulek. Individual courses can be selected from Kirkwood or University of Iowa. The deadline for registering for those courses with completed paperwork is March 15th.
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National Honor Society invitations and applications have gone out to Sophomore, Junior and Senior students who have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher, and who are not already members. Completed applications must be turned in to Mrs. Zoulek no later than 3:30 on Friday, March 15th.
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College Representatives to visit Regina in March:
March 6: Ellsworth Community College
March 12: Central College, Pella
March 27: Saint Ambrose University
Mark your calendars: Sophomores and Juniors are encouraged to attend the college fair at Iowa City West High school on March 28th from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. More information will be out later regarding this.
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AP Exams
AP Exams for all subjects will be during the first two full weeks in May. All students currently in an AP course (or completed a semester AP course during semester 1), will automatically be ordered an AP exam, per school policy.
If a student would like to take an AP exam, who didn't complete a course (take the AP Chinese test because they have been self-taught, or completed an independent learning of an AP subject), they are to sign up with Mrs. Zoulek no later than Wednesday, March 27th. Exam fees this year are $95, payable to Regina.
For information regarding AP courses and the exams can be found at www.collegeboard.org/ap.
News from the Band Room
Our 7-12 Spring Concert is Wednesday, March 12 at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts. We will be joined by the Iowa City Flute Choir, a group of two dozen professional and amateur flautists from eastern Iowa. They will be joining the junior high band in their last selection and then will be performing several pieces by themselves. It's a pretty cool sound with bass flutes alto flutes and piccolos! Concert dress is black and white. The Regina High School Band will have a dress rehearsal at 6:00 PM and the Regina Junior High starting at 6:20 and this will be our only chance to work with the flute choir so it has to start on time. The high school band will be performing first on the program.
The Junior High Jazz Band will be performing Friday, March 8th at noon at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital. We will be performing on the ground floor for about 1/2 hour. They will go for lunch at the food court at Coral Ridge Mall. They will be back at Regina about 2:00. Don't forget the JAZZ BAND t-shirt that day.
A big thanks for to the parents that went with us to Chicago on the 16th! It was a great trip and we even avoided most of that snow storm. Everything went like clockwork and nobody fell in the shark tank!
Jazz band will have JAZZ NIGHT on Wednesday, April 3rd at 7:00 in the band room. We will have the 6th grade jazz band joining us. We will be having treats afterward.
Business Department Updates
Economics- The Economics class is just wrapping up their third unit covering Absolute and Comparative Advantages. We will then begin working on our longest unit of the semester, covering chapters 4, 5 and 6. The unit on supply and demand is a central concept to understanding economics. Student will spend time understanding why prices and quantity change based on given criteria. They will also spend time making a review video at the end of the unit to prepare for the exam. This unit spends a lot of time learning graphing of the concepts.
Senior Seminar – The seniors are in the process of finishing their senior research paper. This project was a collaboration between the English Department (Mr. McFerren) and the Senior Seminar class. The project focused students on the topic of Poverty covering 4 different subjects: Fatherless Children, Poverty in Our Backyard, Children the True Victims of Poverty, and Prejudice Toward Poverty. Students are continuing to work toward their post-secondary dreams by working on scholarships, roommate searches, etc. Beginning next week we will start looking at what an Award Letter means, Discussing missed days going forward (Spring Break, Senior Trip, AP Tests, etc), working on Graduation Invites with Mr. Demory and Beginning a project with the Dream Center to conclude our year long project
Personal Finance – The students are finishing their Credit Unit this week and will be testing next week. The students have spent time learning about APR, Bankruptcy, Loans and laws that protect them. We will then begin our unit on Identity Theft and ways they can prevent becoming a victim.
Business Law – Students are wrapping up their second unit that introduces them to the US Court System. Students have spent time learning about the differences between State and Federal Courts, Criminal and Civil cases, and the sources of law.
English Department News
8th Grade English and Language Arts
The 8th graders just wrapped up a unit on poetry and nonfiction and are just beginning the novel The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. We have discussed Tolkien’s background as a Catholic writer and the concept of a hero journey. It is fun to delve into Tolkien’s world of trolls, elves, hobbits, and wizards as we combat the end of a very dreary winter.
In grammar, the students are finishing a unit on pronouns and starting a unit on clauses and sentence types. We will work on perfecting our use of commas as we wrap up our biographies and start our research papers. Students will delve into MLA formatting, citations, and bibliographies as we begin work on research papers just before spring break.
Senior English Nine seniors received recognition from the MIdwest Region of the National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for their poetry and prose. Five of the received honorable mention (placing in the top 15% of the over 6000 entries in the region) and four received Silver Keys (placing in the top 4-10%). The award recipients are (in alphabetical order): Breanna Balke Scott Blondin Grant Lenz Anna Martin Tatiana Ochoa Tyler Van Swol Molly Vittetoe Jonah Warren Xiaoya Zhai
Math Club Links
Regina will host a Math League competition on Saturday, 3/9. There are 3 divisions: Elementary (Grades 3-6), Junior High, and High School. Check-in for the Elementary and Junior High competitions is at 8 am with competition beginning at 8:30 am and the last round and awards at approximately 11:30 am. Check-in for the High School competition is a 2 pm with competition beginning at 2:30 pm and awards at approximately 6 pm.
Please sign up to compete here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0C4FAAAD28A1FE3-march
Please email beth.hill@icregina.com with any questions.
Volunteers and Food/Drink Donations Needed for Math League Competition at Regina on Saturday, 3/9
Food/drink donations can be dropped off on 3/8 in the Main Office. Parents are welcome to volunteer for the morning and afternoon competitions. High school students can volunteer for the morning competitions.
Please sign up here to donate food and drinks or to volunteer: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0C4FAAAD28A1FE3-march1
Please email beth.hill@icregina.com with any questions.
Information from Mrs. Hartwig
Algebra 1 just completed a chapter which focused on equations that make lines. They made posters to review the main characteristics of different forms of linear equations (one is pictured here). Next is solving for solutions shared by two linear equations.
Math 7 is finishing a chapter about ratios. scale models, and proportions. They did an activity using maps to find distances along a path from Trenton, New Jersey to San Francisco, California. the next section is all about ratios out of 100 also know as percent. We will investigate how to find percent, percent interest, and percent change.
Information from Mrs. Welter
VIA: We are currently in our final switch and the topics include Vocations with Ms. Osweiler and Mrs. Welter, Puberty and Abstinence with Mrs. Conlon and Mrs. Boland, and the New Testament and Prophets with Mrs. Wallace and Mrs. Sprengelmeyer. Our next unit will focus on Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Season with our own Via classroom.
Theology 11: We have started our unit on Vocations. Our main focus is analyzing the gifts and talents God has given us and seeing what some future plans could include. The student will look at some colleges and majors that they are interested in. Our next unit will be to look at the vocation of Marriage-what the sacrament is and it's history. The junior class will be in charge of mass on March 13th.
Pre-Algebra: It has been a challenging month with all the snow days, but we did finish our unit on slope-intercept form. We have started exponents and will continue this into March. This will include scientific notation and the rules associated with exponents.
Science
We are learning about Mendel’s genetics. The students are learning about how to use the phenotype (appearance) data to determine the genotype (genes) of Brassica rapa. The students were given the F1 generation to grow and will cross pollinate them to get the F2 generation. Using data from these two generations, the students will be able to pick out the dominant and recessive parent plants from a tray of various subspecies of purebred Brassica rapa. When we aren’t collecting data and taking care of our plants, we are learning about DNA, mutations, and survival of organisms.
Earth & Space Science
“The President Wants You” is the title of the unit we are working on right now. The students have been tasked to learn about earthquake and volcanic activity, types of tectonic plate interactions, and earthquake processes. They are expected to use this information to design and test a structure that is earthquake-proof. All of their data will be captured in a one page letter to the President, making recommendations on housing placement and designs. Lots of great learning happening in class in this unit.
Chemistry
In early February, chemistry students were learning about chemical reactions. They performed the Qualitative Analysis Lab, where they studied the various products made by unknown solutions in order to determine the solution's identity. Students are currently working on stoichiometry in class. They studied limiting reactants by doing a S'mores lab, and quantitative relationships in chemical reactions were analyzed in the Salt lab. It's been a busy month in the lab!
Physics
Students finished up their study of momentum in mid-February and are now looking into work, power, and simple machines. The Physics pictures below show students working on their pulley lab.
Social Studies
7th grade Geography
The 7th grade students have just started their study of Central and Southeast Asia. Next week, they will be working on a Makerspace project with Mrs. Belknap on which they will be researching the impact of monsoon season on the people of India and designing a structure that would be suitable to withstand the monsoon season. We are looking forward to seeing them work together on their designs!
8th US History
We have worked around the crazy weather this month! Students looked at the candidates for the election of 1824 and voted in a mock election. John Q Adams was the winner. We finished our Biography IV project and studied the Monroe Doctrine.
World History
Students just finished up discussing and learning about the rise and fall of Medieval Society. Next module will focus on the growing sense of nationalism and the explosion of learning during the Renaissance period. Students will be making Renaissance baseball cards depicting different explorers, scientists, philosophers, architects, and more.
Government
Students have just finished the Unit 2 on the american political process. The next three units will focus specifically on the three branches of government. Starting us off will be the legislative branch. We will focus on how Congress is organized and what powers Congress holds. We will then explore the process of how bills are made into law. Finally we will look at how Congress controls the fiscal policy. Along with the federal Congressional seats of Senate and Representatives we will also look at Iowa’s representatives and senators on a state level.
AP US History
For AP US History, we are already working our way through Period 7 which covers the US involvement in World War I and World War II. The test date is approaching on May 10th so we will be working through the remaining periods over the coming month in order to review through the month of April.
AP World History
Student have completed Period 4: 1450s to the 1750s. Period 5 will focus on Industrialization and Global Integration form 1750 to 1900. We will focus specifically on the Enlightenment, Nationalism, and Revolutions. We will also learn about the impact of the Industrial Revolution. Finally we will discuss the growth of the United States versus Turkey, China, and Japan. Along the way we will connect different areas globally and explore the idea of Imperialism impact on these areas.
Spanish News
Spanish I
We learned how to describe classes and classroom objects, say where we are going/how to conjugate the verb "ir" (to go), and say where things are located and how we feel using the verb "estar" (to be). We reviewed class subjects and telling time. In addition, we learned about museums of anthropology and artist Frida Kahlo.
Spanish II
This has been a busy month for Spanish II students. Students have studied vocabulary for sporting events and teams. They learned how to use the past tense of ER and IR verbs as well as demonstrative adjectives. Their least enjoyable time was taking quizzes over vocabulary and past tense. They are also getting ready to take a test on culture this week as well as starting the next chapter and getting ready to present dialogues using the present and past tenses.
Spanish III
We are learning about how to talk about household chores, say what friends to with each other, and express feelings. We are also learning how to use reflexive verbs and impersonal constructions with "se."
Spanish IV
We learned vocabulary relating to arts and crafts, dances, and the New World. We also learned how to use direct and indirect object pronouns and how to expression relationships using more relative pronouns ("el que/el cual" and "lo que").
What's Going on in Foods 2?
This class if filled with a bunch of seniors that cook AND clean! If you have a child in Foods, don’t let them fool you - they can do both! In Foods 2, we “travel” the world and make some various foods from different countries.
We are starting out in the Southwestern United States and have made Huevos Rancheros and Southwestern Salsa Burgers, which were a huge hit. The students loved the chipotle seasoning, along with shallots in the burger. Many are hesitant to add anything they THINK they don’t like. I always explain the flavors all work well together so just try it. They have to try every food - it’s one of my rules. Next was the Northeast and they made blueberry waffles with real maple syrup and Philly Cheesesteaks.
Before that, we started out the semester with a cake decorating contest. First place was, “It’s Melting” made by 5th period’s Grace Sharpless, Alisa Pursley, Zach Kratz, Nick Li and in second place was Perry the Platypus made by 2nd hour’s Keiler Brown, Sean Chen, Mary Catherine Graff, Neal Eckhoff and Bella Nibaur. You might still be able to see the cakes on the Regina Catholic Education Center Facebook and Instagram page. Pretty impressive!
We plan on having a few guest chefs this semester. Juan Ochoa will be making authentic Puerto Rican food and Sergeant Chris Akers and also Officer Ashton Hayes will be making some of their specialities. The students always love having other people come in - probably because it’s minimal work for them, but they still get the benefit of eating!
On a side note, if you are ever getting rid of kitchen supplies, appliances, etc., please keep the FACS department in mind. I can always use baking sheets, utensils, silverware, bowls….anything really.
Regina Junior Senior High School
Email: glenn.plummer@regina.org
Website: www.regina.org
Location: 2150 Rochester Avenue, Iowa City, IA, United States
Phone: (319)-338-5436
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReginaEducation/
Twitter: @gap_4