Joseph Academy’s 

JA Minute

December 2017 Volume 31, Number 3

In This Issue ● Joseph Academy Junior Board

● Therapy & Curriculum Updates

● Educational Field Trips & Fun

● Community Sponsors

● Staff News

For locations and contact information, please visit our Website 

www.josephacademy.org 

Upcoming Events 

January 8 : Classes resume January 12 : Early Dismissal January 15 : Martin Luther King Birthday - no school January 25 : Exams/Parent Teacher Conferences/Early Dismissal January 26: End of 1st Semester/Exams/Parent Teacher Conferences/Early Dismissal January 29 : Staff Inservice - no school January 30 : Report Cards Mailed / Second Semester Begins  Editor: Diane Malek

d malek@josephacademy.org

FASTT Math - JAMP

Joseph Academy Junior Board Joseph Academy is proud to announce the addition of our very own Junior Board . The Junior Board Inaugural Meeting was held on November 16 th and is comprised of thirteen young professionals who will be working to improve fundraising efforts, grant opportunities, and more!  A number of the members are graduates of the University of Notre Dame, where Executive Director, Mike Schack, obtained his MBA. Each dorm at Notre Dame has a charity they support throughout the year with service and campus events, and Walsh Hall at Notre Dame agreed to “adopt” Joseph Academy!   

Therapy & Curriculum Updates The students at JAMP have been participating in our new math program since September and there has been evidence of significant growth and improvement in their fact fluency. Students are rapidly increasing their math fact fluency with just ten fun-filled minutes a day. FASTT Math has motivated our students to master the materials and move to new levels quickly. They are so excited to be able to see their own progress! Since September, 100% of the students who participate regularly in the program have made growth at their individual fact fluency levels.   Congratulations to Steven Kmiecik who successfully completed the TESS (Transitional Extended Student Services) Program at JAHN! Steven will be attending classes at College of DuPage and will begin his job search. He has worked hard in TESS and will be leaving with two work experience internships, letters of recommendation, and his resume. Good luck Steven!  On December 20 th , JAMP hosted their 5 th Annual Winter Family Night ! Students and their family members came out in their pajamas and enjoyed an evening filled with pancakes, yummy toppings, hot cocoa and holiday fun including open gym, arts and crafts, and raffle prizes! Special thanks to Costco and Starbucks for their donations that helped support the event!  

JAHN - TESS

Girl’s Club at JADE

JADE Volleyball

Therapy Puppies

Room 108 at JAHN is comprised of 11th and 12th graders who are starting the “Move Out” project. This project offers the students real life scenarios where they can create their budgets, finances, resumes, et., to be successful on their own. This project will certainly help to prepare the six seniors in the class scheduled to graduate in June!  

Educational Field Trips & Fun Girl’s club at JADE took a Christmas journey on the train to Downtown Chicago where they visited City Hall, two news stations, enjoyed hot chocolate at the Thompson Center, and perused the goodies at the Daley Plaza Christkindlmarket. They also experienced the windows at Macy's, followed by the tree viewing in the Walnut room, the city tree and the bean in Millenium Park. They stopped for pizza at Pizano's and enjoyed other culinary delights they never had before and then departed for the train ride back to Des Plaines. JADE is proud to report that all of the girls had met criteria to attend.  Eligible students from all campuses have been participating in CAAEL (Chicago Area Alternative Education League) this school year! JAMP students took first place in soccer, while JADE was undefeated in volleyball. Students from all campuses are looking forward to participating in CAAEL basketball after the winter break! 

Community Sponsors A special thanks to St. James Parish and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul for helping JAMP sponsor some of our families over the Thanksgiving break. Their support helped provide turkeys and food bags to eight families. With their help, JAMP was also able to hold the Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon for the students.  Special thanks to The JM Foundation for sponsoring two Joseph Academy families this holiday season with generous food bags, coats, hats and gloves. The JM Foundation is a non-profit organization that helps struggling families who live in Brookfield and the neighboring suburbs. Joseph Academy and the families were very grateful of the support received. For more information, please visit their website at www.thejmfoundation.com .  Staff News A friendly welcome to Riley Malek and Queenie Schack, the two new therapy puppies in training. Riley is owned by Principal Malek (JADE) and Mrs. Malek (JAMP) and will be working with students at both campuses, while Queenie is owned by our Executive Director, Mr. Schack and his wife, and we are excited to have her visit all of our campuses!