Congratulations and good luck to our Class of 2018! The graduates enjoyed a special ceremony in the church on Thursday, May 31st followed by a celebration in the Parish Center with dancing, a photo booth, and dinner served by our seventh grade parent volunteers.

Students enjoyed a fun filled day on May 18th during our annual PTO Field Day. Thank you to Emily Meyer and Kim Tedesco, our event chairs, and to the many other volunteers that make this day possible.

On Friday, May 11th, students participated in our annual PTO Walk for Technology. Students earned an out of uniform day by raising donations of $7,704.98, exceeding the goal of $7500.00. Thank you to our PTO Walk-a-thon committee for organizing a fun-filled event that also inlcuded a sock hop and our first annual award ceremony for "Teacher of the Year", "Student of the Year", and "Friend of the Student" awards.

Father Kyle recently visited the Second Grade students during their religion classes to talk about First Communion and to answer any questions they had. The students really enjoyed spending the afternoon with him and asked a lot of great questions!

Our student activities for Right to Read Week included reading a book of their choice during our daily book alerts, enjoying some time with Faith Families, and dressing in western garb last Friday. Several classrooms even received a surprise visit from our Blue Jay. Students also collected 1,788 books to donate to two local Catholic schools, St. Francis DeSales and St. Lawrence. Congratulations to the following classrooms for meeting the "50 books or more challenge": Mrs. Borgman, Mrs. Hayes, Mrs. Sander, Mrs. Sellers, Mrs. Rapien, Ms. Wilmes, Mrs. Charles, Mrs. Unkrich, Mrs. Peters, Mrs. Shotwell, Mrs. Schneider, Mrs. Vest, Mrs. Spanish Smith, Mrs. Zipperer, and Mrs. Green. These classrooms have earned an "Out of Uniform Day" for Wednesday, May 16th. Many thanks to the Right to Read Committee for all your hard work!

The students from St.John the Baptist, St. John Neumann and Corpus Christi received the sacrament of Confirmation on April 19, 2018 at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral downtown. Archbishop Schnurr presided over this beautiful celebration in the presence of family and friends.

Our Spanish Club recently visited La Piñata Restaurant in Stonecreek Towne Center. Students had fun practicing their restaurant vocabulary while enjoying some mexican cuisine. Studies have shown that students learn best when presented with situations where they use vocabulary in context.

Congratulations to our 7th & 8th Grade Academic Teams for a job well done at the LaSalle High School Academic Competition.

Our junior high religion classes recently had the opportunity to participate in a poster design contest for the Cincinnati Right to Life Eductional Foundation. Five students submitted their artistic designs representing their understanding of what preserving life means. Congratulations to our students that won 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place, along with two honorable mentions. Prizes included a certificate for each participant, a ribbon for 2nd and 3rd place, and a check for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place winners.

The 6th Grade was visited by Glenmary Home Missioners on Thursday, April 26, following the Feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist (April 25). Rachel Thome (Office Projects Coordinator, Mission Education and Ministry) and Lalo Mercado (Glenmary Seminarian) spoke to the students about missionary discipleship and evangelization in addition to presenting information about Glenmary Home Missioners. Students made their own “missionary maps” to help them focus on where they can evangelize in their lives now. Glenmary Home Missioners was founded by Fr. William Howard Bishop in 1939. Glenmary's name comes from combining the name of the place where the Society was founded, Glendale, Ohio with the name of Mary, the society's patroness under her title "Our Lady of the Fields." Father Bishop also founded the Home Mission Sisters of America (Glenmary Sisters) in 1941.

The seventh grade science classes recently visited Sharon Woods to learn about the Ohio River watershed and participated in assessing the health of Sharon Creek. Students collected and identified macroinvertebrates and fish, and tested the water quality of Sharon Creek. They then learned how limiting the use of pesticides and fertilizers can help improve the health of our area streams and rivers, and ultimately the health of the Ohio River.

On Friday, April 20th, the 7th Grade visited Matthew 25 Ministries to conduct their grade level service project. They learned that Matthew 25 Ministries’ mission is based on Matthew 25:34-40. This charitable organization collects excess products from corporations and manufacturers as well as the general public and ships these donations to those in need. Students helped by sorting unusable diapers and padding from useable products and by sorting donations into categories such as linens, curtains, clothing, etc. When you volunteer at Matthew 25 Ministries, you never know exactly what you will be doing for the day, but you can be sure that it will be something that makes a positive difference in the lives of many.

On Tuesday, April 17th, the 8th grade went to the Freestore/Foodbank Giving Fields in Melbourne, KY for their class service project. They all braved the unseasonably cold and damp weather working outside for 3 ½ hours weeding beds for produce that will soon be planted. Originally they were going to be planting and possibly painting, but Mother Nature did not cooperate. The students had great attitudes and worked diligently with one another to prepare the ground for other volunteers who will plant seeds that will grow into fresh produce for needy people in Northern Kentucky. It felt great to be able to be a part of this effort! Afterward, they enjoyed a picnic lunch in the outdoor shelter before heading back to school.

Thank you to our families for all of your $1.00 donations that were brought in by our students on March 26th, which allowed them to be out of uniform for the day. We raised $365.00 for Pregnancy Center West. Through our generosity, they are able to provide expectant mothers with education, mentoring, and resources to make better choices for both themselves and their children. Our support has a direct impact on saving unborn babies and building the Culture of Life in our local community.

Our 8th graders just finished a six week course for Junior Achievement. Mr. Andy McLaughlin started teaching Junior Achievement to this class in the 3rd grade and has followed them every year. Through games, activities and group discussions, the students learned about managing money, credit vs. debit, insurance etc. We thank Mr. McLaughlin for his time and talent in helping our students.

Recently, 6th - 8th grade students from St. John the Baptist school gathered for a retreat in Daniel Hall at St. John Neumann Parish. There, they were greeted by a NET Ministries team of twelve young adults who were excited to share the love of Christ with them through games, skits, personal witness, small group discussion, prayer, and quiet reflection. The theme for the retreat was righteousness. People receive righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. Christ, the sinless Son of God, took humanity's sin upon himself and became the willing, perfect sacrifice, suffering the punishment mankind deserved. God the Father accepted Jesus' sacrifice, through which human beings can become justified. But, we are not justified by faith alone. James 2:14 states, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone has faith but does not have works?” The definition of righteousness is very simple: it is a God given attribute that implies that our actions are justified. It can mean explicitly that we have been "judged" as leading a life that is pleasing to God. Students learned that prayer, sacraments, fellowship, and service are all important ways grow in righteousness. It was a great day of personal reflection and fun faith formation.

On Friday, March 23 St. John's 8th graders spent the day at Camp Kern in Oregonia, Ohio. The class was broken down into small groups where they completed an Adventure Challenge in the morning which is much like challenges from the TV show, The Amazing Race. The groups competed to see who had the most points from all the challenges. After lunch they were divided into two groups where one group completed the obstacle course and all of its challenges while the other group climbed Tango Tower and then the groups switched. Students learned to work together and push themselves beyond their limits while their classmates cheered them on. Everyone enjoyed the day being together with each other.

Third graders recently enjoyed an enrichment from Hamilton County Soil and Water. They compared six different types of soils by looking and feeling the soil comparing it to sugar (sand), silt (flour), and corn starch (clay). Thanks to our PTO for providing funding for our classroom enrichment programs.

Thanks to the help of a few of Mrs. Flick's 6th- and 7th-graders and the support of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Mrs. Sellers' first graders got to experience a classroom breakout challenge. The leprechaun's gold coins had been taken and stashed in a box secured with a series of five locks. To save the coins, the first graders had to solve clues to get the combinations to the various locks. The students worked in groups, employing teamwork and critical thinking strategies to decrypt clues, which called on their math and reading skills. They used skip-counting and patterns and word families and more to get to the end of the rainbow and unlock the box of gold. Each group successfully solved all the locks to open its own box. We are grateful to the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, who awarded us a generous grant to purchase the breakout kits of special boxes and locks. The grant supports early literacy skills in our school, as well as skills across disciplines in all grades, in a fun and challenging way that also allows students to develop their communication and collaboration skills.

First graders had fun investigating bones during an enrichment with the Boonshoft Museum.  Thanks to our PTO for providing funding for our classroom enrichment programs!