Pope John Students Mandated by Archbishop Lucas

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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.

2016 Pope John XXIII Graduate Wins Second Place in AKSARBEN Art Contest

Chase Artwork

chase-priesterA 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 Students Carry a New Kind of Book

Chromebooks at Pope John

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.

Pope John XXIII Class of 2016 Exceeds State ACT Average Score

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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 Receives Tribute at FFA Meeting

Anne Meis

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.”

Pope John Welcomes Former Teacher and Principal

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(Pictured l. to r.): Sister Patricia Hoffman, Sister Francitta Pazhukkathara and Sister Mary Diez visit students in the library

As Pope John XXIII Central Catholic High School enters a year-long celebration of its 50th year, past students, faculty and staff are welcome to visit the school.  This past week, Sister Mary Diez walked the halls of Pope John once again. She taught high school English, Humanities, French, and Religion to many of the 200 students enrolled in Pope John from 1970-1976 and was part of the Administrative Team from 1973-75.  Sister Mary was also an advisor for the school paper and speech team.

After spending part of her childhood in the Niobrara and Creighton, Nebraska area, Sister Mary joined the School Sisters of St. Francis in the 1960’s and graduated from Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1967.  She currently serves as President of the International Leadership Team for the School Sisters of St. Francis (SSSF), which is a an international community of Catholic sisters. Sister Mary spends about four months out of the year visiting the areas  around the world where the School Sisters organization has 750 nuns in service.  Sister Pat Hoffman, math instructor at Pope John is one such nun. She has been serving the school since 1972.

Sister Mary and her fellow Leadership Team Member,  Sister Francitta Pazhukkathara, received a tour of the school.  “Bringing in St. Boniface School is such a good use of the building and is a good connection to make between high school students and the elementary students,” stated Sister Mary.  She was also impressed with the condition of the facilities, “It has really been kept up nice and updated, ” she commented.  When asked for her final thoughts about Pope John High School, she said, ” There is such a strong spirit in this school, it was that way when I served here and it is still here today.” After taking a brief stop back home in Milwaukee, Sister Mary is headed to visit a SSSF province in India.