Parents and Friends,

We are doing the best we can. And, we can do better. Can these both be true at the same time? I believe they can. Last week, I wrote that we need to find ways to become more resilient as the realities of the pandemic are likely not ending soon. In our Wellness Wednesday webinar this week, Mrs. Cardinale, Jesuit’s Wellness Counselor, talked to parents and students about how to develop “grit.” Grit is the ability to persist in something you feel passionate about and persevere when you face obstacles. Our keynote speaker, Jamie Tworkowski, emphasized that to grow grit, we must first be honest with ourselves and those in our close circle. Then—and only then—can others help us to keep going in the direction of our values. Honesty means paying attention to ourselves so that we can communicate effectively with those we trust. If you missed our webinar, here is the recording:  Men’s Mental Health 2020. We encourage you to watch this as a family.

I also want to take a moment to acknowledge and thank our students. In all of our planning for our Safe Return, we continually reflected on how the students would respond to all that the return entails. We have been overwhelmed by their patience, cooperation, kindness, and understanding. They bring joy to the campus, and they are serving as models for many of us adults to show what grit really looks like. 

Lastly, I want to comment on Wednesday’s emailed message to our Jesuit community from our On-Campus Medical Professional, Mrs. Jennifer Riffle, RN, regarding the positive case detected during our weekly COVID screening. We are pleased that our program could identify this positive case before the student attended classes on campus, thus avoiding any direct on-campus exposures. We should also let this serve as a reminder to take the questions regarding symptoms or possible exposures seriously. The screening program is only one element of our mitigation strategy, and we must stay vigilant by attending to our activity on and off-campus. Additionally, we will require all students to do their Immunify antigen screening test during their scheduled Red or Gold times on-campus only. Students should not be going to their clinic on their own.

AMDG

Michael Wood, Ed. D. 
Principal

Next Week’s Calendar At-A-Glance