The Pope John Jr. Right-to-Life group will be hosting a Life Chain at 11:00 am in Elgin on Sunday, October 2nd. The public is invited to attend and help show support for human life. The life chain will be formed on the sidewalk west of St. Boniface Church, along Highway 14. The group will pray for human life and display signs supporting life!
back row left to right: James Short, Justin Funk, Chad Bode, Brody Hupp, Noah Knievel, Miles Schrage front row left to right: Jordan Mescher, Erin Beckman, Shantel Preister, Emily Seier, Amy Nelson, Elizabeth Selting, Gracie Bullock
Pope John XXIII Central Catholic High School will celebrate Homecoming Week, beginning on September 25th. The 2016 Royalty will be crowned in ceremonies beginning at 7:00 pm in the St. Boniface Gym on Sunday, September 25th. Activities planned by the sophomore class will follow to cap off the night.
Dress up days will follow: Monday: What the Heck are You Wearing Day, Tuesday: Class Destination Day, Wednesday: Class Movie/TV Show Day, Thursday: Throwback Thursday, and Friday: Spirit Day. A Wolfpack pep rally will be held on Friday at 2:30 p.m. before the football team takes on Howells-Dodge at 7:00 p.m. Following the game a pizza party and dance will be held for students from Pope John and Elgin Public.
The thirteen members of the senior class are king and queen candidates.
Queen candidates include the following:
Erin Beckman (daughter of Gary and Lori), is a member of St. Boniface Parish, Elgin
Gracie Bullock (daughter of Stephen Bullock and Natalie Bitney), is a member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Neligh
Jordan Mescher (daughter of Bill and Teri), is a member of St. Boniface Parish, Elgin
Amy Nelson (Randy and Diane), is a member of St. Boniface Parish, Elgin
Shantel Preister (Scott and Kaylyn), is a member of St. John the Baptist Parish, Petersburg
Emily Seier (Craig and Gini), is a member of St. Bonaventure Parish, Raeville
Elizabeth Selting (Lynn and Amy) ,is a member of St. Boniface Parish, Elgin
King candidates include the following:
Chad Bode (Charlie and Shelley), is a member of St. Boniface Parish, Elgin
Justin Funk (Ron and Angela), is a member of Rural St. John Parish, Clearwater
Brody Hupp (Ben and Jamie), is a member of Rural St. John Parish, Clearwater
Noah Knievel (Edward Knievel and Lauren Sheridan-Simonsen), is a member of St. Boniface Parish, Elgin
Miles Schrage (Jerry and Tami), is a member of St. Bonaventure Parish, Raeville
James Short (Paul and Erin Ruterbories), is a member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Neligh
On May 6, 1966, Omaha Archdiocesan School Superintendent Msgr. Roman C. Ulrich called together 14 representatives from the parishes of St. John the Baptist, St. Bonaventure, St. Boniface, St. Francis, St. Theresa, and St. John to discuss the building of the Central Catholic High School in Elgin, Nebraska. This school would be built, maintained, and operated by the corporation representing these six parishes.
Seven Pope John XXIII high school students were mandated as lectors and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion (EMHC) Wednesday night, September 7th at a special 7:00 pm Mass. Archbishop Lucas along with many area priests conducted the Mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Norfolk.The Archbishop thanked the students for their willingness to serve both their school and home parishes.
Mandated as a lector was Marie Meis, daughter of Jim and Anne Meis. EMHCs were Heather Bauer, daughter of Terry and Mary Bauer, Grace Henn, daughter of Tom and Sandi Henn, Logan Henn, son of Denis and Jan Henn, Sydney Kerkman, daughter of Steve and Becky Kerkman, Calli Krebs, daughter of Jeff and Lynette Krebs, Paige Meis, daughter of Ben and Anna Meis, The group consists of students from parishes from St. Boniface in Elgin and St. Francis of Assisi in Neligh.
A recent Pope John XXIII graduate, Chase Preister of Petersburg, won Second Place in the Grades 9-12 Division of the AKSARBEN Agricultural Art Contest. He was recently notified that the AKSARBEN Purple Ribbon Auction Committee selected his artwork from nearly 100 submissions. His original artwork was submitted during his Senior year at Pope John, and will be framed, displayed and auctioned at the AKSARBEN Purple Ribbon Auction to be held September 25th at the Century Link Center in Omaha. The funds raised will be used to support AKSARBEN programs and scholarships.
Pope John XXIII junior and high school students received a new kind of book to carry this school year. Chromebooks were issued to every student for use at home and at school during the school year. The Google-inspired device includes a built-in keyboard, stores most of its files online and runs applications directly from the Internet. After utilizing ipads for each student the past four years, the addition of the keyboard was welcomed by many students.” Pope John is a certified Google Education School, so the device is a ties in well with technology education the students are receiving.” stated Julie Dwyer, Technology Coordinator at Pope John.
The Archdiocese of Omaha recently released information regarding the performance of its students on the ACT – a college readiness exam. 17 Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Omaha have beaten their ACT composite score setting a new archdiocesan record of 24.9. Archdiocesan students in every ethnic group outperformed the state averages on the ACT within that ethnic group.
All students across the board outperformed state averages. Students continue to outperform other Nebraska school districts in English, mathematics, reading and science for the past 25 years. Locally, the Pope John Class of 2016 is a part of that long standing trend. The group of 17 seniors scored a composite of 23.4 on their ACTs. This exceeds the state school average of 21.4 and places them near the 24.9 record set by Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Omaha.
Anne Meis was the guest speaker at the August FFA meeting held at the KC Hall. Anne presented on her LEAD experiences and her work as a board member of the Nebraska Soybean Board of Directors. A special treat was in store for the FFA members and Anne as Northeast Community College was there to film the event. It was revealed that Anne will be receiving an award from Northeast Community College and this was just the beginning of her being filmed over the next couple of months as they make a “tribute” to her and her work with various agriculture industries, clubs and her own family farm.”