Category: General

For the students and their families, Back-to-School night is Thursday, August 22nd from 4:00 – 6:30pm. 

Students will

• have their school picture taken in the social hall (Uniform is not required)
• drop-off school supplies in their classroom
• and meet their teacher. 

All 5th graders and anyone new to middle school (5th – 8th grades) will attend middle school orientation at 4:00pm in Mrs. Sharon Johnson’s room.

We look forward to seeing everyone!

Learn more about what is happening at our school, in the Lourdes Letter school news for August 21, available here.

During the school year, the ‘Lourdes Letter’ is published weekly on Wednesday. This newsletter contains a variety of information to guide you through all that is happening at Our Lady of Lourdes School. The newsletter is sent to families using the email and phone number from your child’s PowerSchool information.

Information included in the Lourdes Letter:

• Upcoming dates/events
• Volunteer opportunities/events
• Letter from Principal Young
• Student academic accomplishments
• Athletic events
• Important information from GRACE
• Activities occurring at Our Lady of Lourdes Church and in the local community
• How to contact the school office and/or provide information to be included in the school newsletter
• and more!

We encourage you to review this school news on a regular basis. During the school year, you many also receive classroom news from your child’s teacher(s). Together, these communications provide you all the information needed to support your child(ren) and be involved in our school community. In addition, we have parent mentors for each grade level, who will also contact you throughout the school year. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

If you are unable to locate the Lourdes Letter in your INBOX or in your TEXT messages, please visit our school website. The newsletters are available in the Resources tab, click here.

In addition to the Lourdes Letter, we also share information of what is happening in our school on social media. We encourage you to like/follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Learn more about what is happening at our school, in the Lourdes Letter school news for July 10, available here.

By Matt Riebe, Director of Athletics and Activities, GRACE

I am honored to have been welcomed into the GRACE community since I started in my role in November 2023. This brand-new position to spearhead system-wide athletics and activities resulted from efforts involving key focus areas of the GRACE Strategic Plan. My role at GRACE is focused on helping communication and collaboration between GRACE Schools and to the greater community. GRACE is blessed with so many amazing individuals who give their time and talents to creating positive learning experiences to help our students grow and enjoy being a part of something bigger than themselves. To start, I have focused on identifying needs and supporting athletics programs, but my aim is to work on growing GRACE school activities in the near future.

My first weeks in my role revolved around ingraining myself at each GRACE school community. I met with the principals and athletic directors at each school to gather perspective on what extracurricular opportunities are currently available, common challenges faced by each school, and ideas to help build system-wide athletics at GRACE. My work has focused on creating avenues of communication for site athletic directors, booster clubs, and parish staff to work together and share knowledge between other GRACE schools and communicate effectively. 

The end goal is to find a way to communicate effectively and to cultivate environments that lead to positive experiences for students. We are working to increase participation in athletics at each school and building bridges across the system to open opportunities to play as many sports that may not be available at every school. We want to showcase the great things our schools are doing for students.

The connection with our CatholicLink partners, St. Norbert College and Notre Dame Academy, has opened up tremendous experiences for our students. We are creating amazing experiences for our students to interact and learn from high school and college student-athletes. Through this partnership, all GRACE students can attend St. Norbert College and Notre Dame Academy athletics events for free! Student-athletes from both schools are eager to give back and we are opening up opportunities for some great experiences for GRACE students.

I am very excited for the future of athletics and activities and I hope you join in on the fun!

Accomplishments

• Met with administrators at every level of athletics at each GRACE School to better understand the system, share knowledge, and provide support & guidance
• Hosted 7th and 8th grade basketball and track and field championships at St. Norbert College
• Formed a booster club at Chesterton Academy to help guide growing athletics programs and engage the school community
• Created a communication hub for all athletics seasons on gracesystem.org
• Established partnerships with area organization to supplement referee pools for games
• Met with CatholicLink partners to set up numerous collaborations such as volunteer programs, event passes to SNC/NDA games, and facility rentals
• Held an archery clinic for middle and high school students at St. John the Baptist, which included students from every GRACE school
• Guided the Holy Family Booster Club in filling their athletic director role and served as their interim athletic director to support the leadership transition

Future goals

• Growth of activity offerings and create collaborations between schools
• Introducing the GRACE Athletics Handbook to better communicate common policies and showcase opportunities for students in all sports
• Fostering athletics participation and forming independent teams at St. John Paul II and St. Thomas More
• Seek out opportunities to play other Catholic schools in our diocese

At Chesterton Academy, our Catholic Classical high school, athletics and activities have started to grow with boys and girls basketball and golf teams that finished their second seasons, as well as a chess team that finished in the top ten in the state this spring. We will be starting cross country and track & field programs starting next year, guided by the newly-created booster club to help build the necessary structure to support students and create strong high school programs.

This is an excerpt from the Spring 2024 GRACE Newsletter. Check out the whole newsletter by clicking the button below!

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8.) The school has open enrollment and provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. The best way to learn more is to visit! Schedule a tour here.

A Catholic education at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School provides students with a strong foundation of academic excellence and instills in them moral and spiritual values that will shape their futures.  

We believe that our focus on promoting the development of lifelong learners and leaders within a strong tradition of faith prepares our students as future leaders of our community.

We are proud of our Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School graduates.

87% of OLOL graduates were named to Academic Honor Rolls in high school.

• 83% of OLOL 2019 class (seniors) were named to Academic Honor Rolls. 
• 60% of OLOL 2020 class (juniors) were named to the Academic Honor Rolls.
• 92% of OLOL 2021 class (sophomores) were named to the Academic Honor Rolls.
• 100% of OLOL 2022 class (freshman) were named to Academic Honor Rolls. 

Congratulations on a job well done!

A history of Our Lady of Lourdes School graduates academic success is available on our school website. (View here)

Learn more about what is happening at our school, in the Lourdes Letter school news for June 19, available here.

By Samantha Skifton, Technology Integration Specialist, GRACE

Artificial Intelligence. If you read those words and immediately think that it can’t be good for the future of education, many would likely agree. Artificial Intelligence (AI) hit the world like a tidal wave in November of 2022 thanks to ChatGPT, a chat-based platform that can instantly generate text. There are a few common misconceptions we would like to clarify. First, AI is not a new creation. It has been part of the technological world since 1950, albeit in different forms. Second, you use AI almost daily and might not realize it. Do you ask Siri or Alexa to play your favorite songs or to schedule a reminder? Have you ever Googled something? Has your digital map recommended the shortest route? And don’t get me started on personalized ads! These daily tasks all use AI to some degree.

GRACE’s Technology Services team was tasked with researching AI at the start of the school year. Immediately hundreds of questions posed threats to how we view education. Did students need to hand write essays? Was this something that students or staff should even use? The questions didn’t stop, and neither did we. We knew that AI couldn’t be brushed under the rug for another day. Our investigation started exactly where it should: with our faith. Pope Francis has been addressing AI since 2016, and throughout that time his opinion hasn’t changed: AI is a gift from God which needs to serve our human potential and will challenge our teaching methods, however we are called to use AI morally and ethically to promote critical thinking (Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to Participants in the “Minerva Dialogues”, March 2023). 

Our focus became finding AI tools that were created specifically for educators. These tools save our teachers something precious: time. AI provides an almost instantaneous digital assistant to our teachers. The teacher who used to spend three hours creating review materials for students can now create a starting point in seconds. The first-year teacher who wants to create a project based on the novel Wonder has a multitude of ideas in minutes. The teacher who wants to give each student a personalized Christmas story can save hours of time creating them.

There are a few things we would like to affirm. We discourage teachers from distributing AI materials without first editing and making materials their own. AI is a starting point not the final draft. The use of ChatGPT is discouraged for all because, quite honestly, there are better tools available. As for students, the expectation is that their assigned work be original, not AI generated.  Blocking or banning use is almost impossible, instead the focus within the classroom is exhibiting academic honesty while demonstrating skill mastery.

We have before us a rare opportunity to pioneer an ethical and moral use of AI for education grounded in our GRACE mission. Our teachers will focus on utilizing AI to enhance academic rigor, professionalism, effectiveness, and evangelization while striving for excellence.

This is an excerpt from the Spring 2024 GRACE Newsletter. Check out the whole newsletter by clicking the button below!

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8.) The school has open enrollment and provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. The best way to learn more is to visit! Schedule a tour here.

The school days for the Class of 2024 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School have come to an end, but their futures are just beginning!  We are confident that these students are prepared, not only for high school, but whatever life has in store for them. 

We are proud of their efforts and what they have accomplished:

6 students have attended OLOL since Kindergarten. This class has welcomed many new friends through the years.  Together, they have made memories that will last a lifetime.

Through the years, these students were active in a variety of school extra-curricular activities.  The list includes: Band, OLOL Athletics (Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball, Tennis, Track/Field), Boy & Girl Scouts, Forensics, Student Council, Kids for Running, OLOL Youth Ministry, Theatre/Musical, and OLOL Parish ministries.  

It is when you give of yourself, you truly give.  These students provided 439 service hours in 2023-24. Their most memorable service projects through the years included: Middle School ‘Love Begins Here’ Mission Trips, Paul’s Pantry, Make pizza with Grandpa at his old school, Walk to Mary crossing guard, Cleaning up trash in neighborhoods, Rennes Health and Rehab center, Syble Hopp and babysitting for family and friends.

3.4 is the average grade point for the 8^th grade class. 79% of the students achieved 4.0, High Honors or Honors.

13 different awards were earned by one or several of the students.  These include Honor Rolls, Science Fair, Knights of Columbus Contests (Spelling and Math Awards, Right to Life Essay, Poster Contest, Free Throw Contest), Patriot Pen Essay, Two undefeated volleyball seasons, Helen Mears Art Contest, Winner of School Spelling Bee, Catholic Leadership Conference participant and Mathematics Knowledge Contest.

Their advice to the underclassmen:

Be a good human being and act appropriately. Hand in your homework.  Treat everyone with respect and you will get respect in return. Make corrections when offered the opportunity. Do your best. Plan ahead and be prepared.  Have fun at Lourdes before you have to take things seriously & have more responsibilities. 

Their favorite saints. Mother Teresa, St. Sebastian, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Raphael the Archangel, La Virgen de Guadalupe, St. Josephine Bakhita, and St. Clare.

High Schools for The Class of 2024:  De Pere High School, Neenah High School, Notre Dame Academy and West De Pere High School.

They aspire to be … Middle school or High school teacher, engineer, after school a good career without financial issues, professional soccer player, forensic pathology, medical technician, publish a children’s book and novel before graduating high school, pediatric oncologist, live in New York or another country, travel the world and have a job that allows me to go to London, Dubai and Rio de Janiero, be an interior designer or sell smoothies on the beach, live with my brothers and take care of my family, work with anything where coding is involved.

Learn more about what is happening at our school, in the Lourdes Letter school news for June 5, available here.

Today, we’d like to spotlight the outstanding principal from Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School with a question-and-answer. We are so blessed by dedicated and talented leaders such as Mr. Jeffrey Young! Join us in thanking him for his commitment to Catholic Education at OLOL!

Q: Principal Young, why do you choose to work for GRACE?

A:  The best part of my role is the ability to serve the OLOL students, families, and staff. Everyone who is invested in the school has a special place in my heart. I know each and every student and that helps me make decisions. I know the people that are affected by my decisions and my focus. I know the importance of “stacking” good decisions for the benefit of all stakeholders of our wonderful school. I love the relationships that I can build with our blessed community.

Q: What are some fun facts about you?

A: A fun fact about me is that I was the jump rope champ in my elementary school. The contest wasn’t about who could do the most tricks or the most jumps. We were set up in the gym and all told to jump rope. When the rope stopped for any reason then you were out. I was the last student standing and declared jump rope champ. That taught me a valuable lesson and one I still use to this day. Determination, focus, and never giving up can overcome any obstacle.

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8.) The school has open enrollment and provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. The best way to learn more is to visit! Schedule a tour here.

Dear Members of the GRACE Community:

Warm spring greetings during this beautiful time of Easter, growth and reflection. I am filled with gratitude for the blessings that continue to enrich our beloved GRACE community. 

One of the cornerstones of our mission is to ensure that our schools are beacons of faith and knowledge, open to all those who seek the light of Catholic education. With the support of our 23 GRACE-affiliated parishes, we are steadfast in our commitment to welcoming every child into our classrooms regardless of background or circumstance. Together, we embrace our community knowing that it is through unity that we truly thrive to reach the kingdom- our ultimate yearning. 

The impact of a GRACE education extends far beyond the walls of our schools. By providing more students with access to quality education, we not only foster academic excellence but pave the way for brighter futures and boundless opportunities. Our commitment to nurturing a thriving community around us is rooted in the belief that Catholic education is the cornerstone of our students’ futures. 

I am delighted to report that our enrollment remains strong, a testament to the unwavering dedication of our staff and families and the enduring appeal of Catholic education in greater Green Bay. With robust and thriving schools, our students are provided not only with excellent academic opportunities but also with vibrant social experiences that help shape them into well-rounded individuals. Each child brings a unique perspective to our community enriching our classrooms with a tapestry of personalities and ideas. 

A steady enrollment also serves as the bedrock of our fiscal practices, ensuring the stability and sustainability of our schools for generations to come. Through the support of our growing community, we are empowered to uphold the traditions and teachings of our Catholic faith in partnership with our parents and parishes, nurturing the hearts and minds of our students. 

As we celebrate our successes, let us also cherish the bonds of friendship and unity that are forged within our GRACE family. Together, parents and educators alike form a supportive network that cultivates our beautiful community and creates a sense of belonging and lasting friendships for our students that endures long after graduation. 

I extend my deepest gratitude to each and every member of our GRACE community for your unwavering support and dedication to our mission. Together, let us continue to uphold the values of faith, excellence, and community that define us, inspiring future generations to shine brightly in the light of God’s love. 

With prayers, peace and warmest regards as we enter into these final days of the academic year!

Kimberly A. Desotell

President, GRACE 

This is an excerpt from the Spring 2024 GRACE Newsletter. Check out the whole newsletter by clicking the button below!

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8.) The school has open enrollment and provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. The best way to learn more is to visit! Schedule a tour here.

The latest GRACE Spring 2024 newsletter is now available to read! This issue highlights the Father Allouez Catholic School Faith Fair, puts a spotlight on newcomer Father Adam Bradley, a thoughtful reflection from Deacon Dan, an update on GRACE athletics from new Director of Athletics and Activities, Matt Riebe, and even more!

Check it out by clicking the button below.

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8.) The school has open enrollment and provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. The best way to learn more is to visit! Schedule a tour here.

During the school year, we have been learning about various saints. During the month of November, we learned about many saints and each student identified saints ‘among us’. Some of these saints were recognized during our school masses during the month of November.

Today’s school mass, Fr. Jim’s lesson was to understand that there are many saints and often there are saints with the same name. While today is the feast day of St. Isidore, did you know that there is more than one St. Isidore? Today’s feast day, is St. Isidore the patron saint of farmers and rural communities. During the month of May, it is common practice for farmers, their farm equipment and seeds to be blessed along with prayers for a successful growing season. In the dairy state of Wisconsin, it is common practice for a mass to be held in the Diocese of Green Bay for the farmers in the community.

We also learned that there is another St. Isidore, whose feast day is April 4. He is known for making Spain a center of culture and learning. He was sometimes called “The Schoolmaster of the Middle Ages” because the encyclopedia he wrote was used as a textbook for nine centuries. He also wrote books on grammar, astronomy, geography, history, and biography as well as theology. Some consider him to be the most learned man of his time, thus why St. Isidore of Seville was named the patron saint of the Internet.

At Our Lady of Lourdes, we have integrated St. Isidore of Seville in our school/parish community. For 22 years, a Packer Party fundraiser is held to support technology expenses for the school. When GRACE was established in 2011, the event continued to fund technology for the Our Lady of Lourdes campus with the St. Isidore of Seville fund being established (Patron saint of technology).  With this fund, technology in school is for the extras, beyond what GRACE provides.  Technology for the parish has included the gathering space message board, cameras/livestream, door/camera security, WIFI for the church and parish office. 

Due to the continued success of this event and successful management of the St. Isidore of Seville funds, this annual fundraiser also supports our local community as Our Lady of Lourdes.  This year’s recipients were:

• West De Pere Soccer and Baseball teams (they assist on the day of event)
• Bigger than the Trail -and- NAMI
• DPCO (Food Pantry, Christmas Store)
• Freedom House
• Syble Hopp
• Ecumenical Partnership Housing
• Brown County – Shop with a Cop
• Christmas Wish Warmth
• Special Education RE program
• De Pere Fire/Rescue – Shop for Christmas
• Sleep in Heavenly Peace
• Disabled American Veterans
• St Vincent De Paul – OLOL group
• OLOL Church decorating team

This year, the Packer Party fundraiser agreed on another donation.  They wanted to do something special for our faculty/staff, for their commitment to OLOL School and the children they serve. A gift was provided to faculty/staff at the end of the school mass.

Learn more about what is happening at our school, in the Lourdes Letter school news for May 15, available here.