VILLANOVA
PREPARATORY
SCHOOL
OJAI, CA
Preparing Leaders
Through
NovaNotes
NovaNotes
December, 2011
From the President: Visit With Our Friends and Family on the Pacific Rim
Unity
Villanova Preparatory School has been visiting our international families for over 17 years.
The purpose of the trip is to make personal contact with the parents who live thousands of
miles from Ojai and who do not have the opportunity to participate in regular, personal
contact with faculty and administrators. In addition to the familial contact, the trip provides an all important opportunity to recruit students for the next academic year. It also
provides an opportunity for parents to participate in fundraising endeavors that help
bridge the gap between the cost of education and tuition charges.
Truth
Love
When is the next
home game?
Boy’s Basket- 12/14
ball
Girl’s
Basketball
12/7
Girl’s Soccer
12/6
Periodically we join TABS (The Association of Boarding Schools) with approximately 35 other boarding schools throughout the United States and Canada in school recruitment fairs.
This not only affords parents the opportunity to find a school suitably matched for the education of their child, but to network in the industry, to share ideas of how to make our
programs even more productive and beneficial for our students.
This year we were able to focus on countries that traditionally had high visibility at Villanova but have waned over the years for numerous reasons. In a continuing effort to diversify
the international population at Villanova we had promising results in Thailand, Indonesia
and Japan.
International parents are very appreciative that Villanova shows the interest and courtesy
to include them into the family that is known as Villanova Preparatory School.
In Christ Jesus and St. Augustine,
Fr. Gregory Heidenblut O.S.A.
Boy’s Soccer
12/7
Girl’s Water
Polo
12/7
Page 2
A Message from the Headmaster
“What does love look like? It has the hands to help others.
It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes
to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sigh
and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”
Fun Bands
St. Augustine
“Pray as
though everything depended
on God.
The tremendous efforts the Villanova students made in collecting food during November certainly confirm their understanding of Augustine’s words. Because of this
generosity, many families in the Ojai area enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast, and will continue to have food in the coming weeks. The love and care for others joins us together as a community as we acknowledge the many blessings in our lives and the
needs of so many others.
During Advent, as we await the coming of the Christ Child, my prayer for each student and member of our Villanova community is that you may know the peace and
love of Christ in your lives as Augustine did, and be inspired by his words to share
that love each day in your own life.
Even as we prepare to end the first semester, work continues in preparation for the
accreditation visit by representatives from WASC and WCEA on March 4-7. At
the Parent Guild Meeting on Tuesday, December 5, Mr. Rice will report on the
work of the committee he has chaired which has focused on Curriculum and Instruction. Parents are encouraged to join the Parent Guild meetings the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00PM in room 17.
Think nobody knows
about your club?
The final exam schedule is posted on Edline. Mr. Rice, Assistant Headmaster
for Academics, has written suggestions in this Nova Notes on how to help
students prepare for exams, so that they may do their best and not feel
overly stressed about finals. To help prepare students teachers continue to
Ask your adviser to get it
post grades weekly on Edline so that students and parents are updated regumentioned in NovaNotes!
larly. All teachers are available at least 45 minutes every day after school to
tutor students, and many teachers are in their classroom well after 4:00PM
helping students. Sister Timothea, Academic Counselor, is available each day
to guide and assist students. A chat with Sister Timothea is often just the encouragement that a student needs to keep his or her focus and motivation. The resources available to assist with academic success are some of the many blessings
that Villanova students have available to them, and are encouraged to use.
Sincerely,
Carol Hoffer
Headmaster
Page 3
NovaNotes
A Word on Finals: Relax
”Work as
though everything depended
on you.”
St. Augustine
Studying for finals is one of the
traditional rites of passage of
the high school and college student. The romance and drama of
last minute cramming, the
sleepless nights, the diets of
coke and coffee, only to show
up baggy eyed and worn out to
sit for 2-4 hours per exam and
try to recall everything. While
this scene is familiar, research
and common sense tell us that
the scenario is just plain dumb.
First of all, knowledge that is
crammed in at the last minute is
forgotten as fast as it is learned.
Secondly, no one is at his/her
best having stayed up all night,
and, finally, high-sugar and high
-caffeine drinks are good for a
quick rush and a long afterslump, adding to the possibility
of something akin to depression
arriving about mid-exam.
As you help your student prepare for final exams, I would
suggest the following:
(1) Start early. They should set a
study schedule for each subject
for the last weeks of school and
take the subjects one bite at a
time. Remember, this is just review, not new learning.
(2)Organize all class notes
around the central concepts of
the class. Study materials should
reflect the central ideas in the
class, often found in the syllabus. Textbook chapter titles can
help. (3) They should pick a
reliable study buddy or two for
each class. This can not only be
helpful, but fun. Clear the kitchen table, make snacks, and let
them go at it. (4) If there are a
lot of terms and concepts in a particular course, encourage them to
make flashcards. You can help by
quizzing them with these…when
they ask you. (5) This last comment
is important. Your job is to help them
achieve a balance between lax overconfidence and gut wrenching
stress, it is called relaxed preparation. (6) On the day of the exam, be
sure that they get a good night’s
sleep and eat a healthy breakfast.
Get them to school in plenty of time
so they are not rushing into the exam. Pick them up and go for a
treat…they deserve it.
Of course the very best way that a
student can prepare for finals is to
study consistently over the term, to
regularly review, and to always take
good notes, but students are usually
so focused on the next thing at hand
that they rarely have the sense to
consistently review what they are
learning. The best teachers often
build this into a course.
Finals at Villanova are opportunities
for summative assessment, to assure
that each student has mastered the
overarching concepts of a course, as
well as an opportunity to practice for
college level exams. So my best advice for parents is “You relax first’.
Help your child to see that final exams are important, but to be kept in
perspective. Be supportive, but not
over-bearing. Remind them that they
are lucky: in life, we get the test first
and the lesson later.
Dennis Rice, M. Ed.
Assistant Headmaster for Academics
NovaNotes
Page 4
Are You 100% Villanovan?
If you are reading this you know that
Villanova prepares young adults who
are critical thinkers, who understand
the importance of human dignity and
empathy, and who live their faith
through action. Each year we accomplish all of this by being good
stewards of our resources and by
bridging the gap between what we
have to spend and what we need
through the Annual Fund.
But this year is different.
Rising operational costs and the increased demand for tuition assistance brought on by the current
economic recession has resulted in
an ever-widening gap. Villanova is
counting on filling the gap with donations to the 100% Villanovan Annual Fund campaign! Meeting our
Annual Fund financial goal each and
every year is important, but achieving 100 % participation from our
friends and donors THIS YEAR is
even more important.
Here’s why:
Villanova is applying to Foundations that make grants to Catholic high schools. Percentage of
participation in Villanova’s Annual Fund is one of the factors that
will be weighed in the foundations’ review of our grant applications. Please help us reach as
close as possible to 100 % participation in our Annual
Fund Drive by making a generous donation by December 31st.
Please give what you can or join
me as a President’s Club* donor
by sending $1000 or more to
VPS today. Your annual fund donation is tax deductible! Everyone who donates gets this great
window cling that announces to
the world you support Villanova
100 %.
All President’s Club donors receive a handsome Villanova license plate frame
All donors get the 100% Villanovan window cling. Please donate
today at www.villanovaprep.org/
donate
National Honor Society
Congratulations to all of our new National
Honor Society Inductees. You proudly
hold up Villanova’s history of academic
excellence.
Jeanne Brown
Director of Development
Page 5
NovaNotes
College Counselor Visits
The College Counseling office just said goodbye to
the last college admission visit of the year. Every
fall, we invite college admission counselors to come
to Villanova to meet personally with our juniors and
seniors. During these visits, admission counselors
review admission requirements, application procedures, and share the academic and program highlights of their college campuses. This year, we hosted 50 colleges! This opportunity allows students to
connect with the person most likely to review their
applications, ask questions they have about the
campus, and demonstrate their interest which can
be important in an admission decision!
A visit with Westmont College
Upgrades to Our Internet Service
Our teachers and Students increasingly rely on the internet for classroom activities. Attendance
and grades are done online. Teachers stream educational videos. Students do research and take
advantage of interactive web activities. Because of all of these new developments in how our students learn and are taught, Villanova is upgrading its internet service.
We are currently using a connection which allows downloads to happen at a speed of 6 Mbps
(megabits) and performs uploads at 1Mbps. The new connection is known as a “Fractional DS3”
and is much more suited to our needs. It performs both downloads and uploads at a speedy
20Mbps. The most important aspect of this upgrade has been installing about 800 feet of fiber
optic lines from our resource center to the main AT&T line that runs beneath Ventura Ave. Once
this fiber connection is installed, it is much easier to further upgrade our internet service as our
needs and availability dictate. This is the groundwork for services that can ensure that our students and faculty have a fast and reliable online experience well into the future.
Get ready for Nova Note’s new
look coming next year!
Campus Ministry
Many Mansions: Bowls of Hope
On Sunday, November 6, seven Villanova students helped Many Mansions with their
bi-annual “Bowls of Hope” fundraiser at Padre Serra parish in Camarillo. Our students helped set up the room for the fundraiser and learned about how Many Mansions supports families in need. People who attended the fundraiser were given the
opportunity to paint a bowl which is sold at the next “Bowls of Hope” event. Several
restaurants donated soup for the event, and people ate soup out of the bowls they
bought. There was also a silent auction to help raise money. The proceeds from the
fundraiser are spent to provide food assistance to the residents of the Many Mansions’
homes.
Maranatha: Come Lord Jesus!
Christmas vacation has almost arrived, and we are busier than ever! Students are preparing for exams, starting winter sports, finishing up
college applications, and completing Christian Service hours. We are decorating our houses, buying presents, and perhaps eagerly anticipating and planning for visits with relatives.
How appropriate it is that the holy season of Advent coincides with this busy time in our lives. Advent comes from the Latin word, advenio,
meaning “come to” or “arrive at.” Fr. Greg reminded us at Mass on campus for the First Sunday of Advent that there are two things we
need to do to prepare for this Advent season. We need to not just prepare our houses, but this Advent season is about preparing for the
coming of Christ. Advent is a season where Christians reflect on their lives, and how prepared they are for Christ’s arrival both at Christmas and at the end of their lives. The Church invites us to look at our lives, and ask ourselves whether we are ready for Christ, and if not,
what do we need to do to prepare for Him?
Advent is a penitential season like Lent, and this is why we see purple in churches and advent wreaths have purple candles. The pink candle
on the advent wreath reminds us half way through Advent to be joyful for Jesus Christ is almost born.
This Advent season, we pray that Villanova students have joy in their lives as they prepare for exams, finish college applications, etc. Yet
more importantly, we pray that we are prepared for Jesus Christ’s love in our lives, and we are transformed by His love. Just as we anticipate with excitement the vacation and visits with relatives, we pray we are just enthusiastic this Advent season for the coming of Christ, and
we echo the cry of the earliest Christians, Maranatha! – “Come Lord Jesus!”
Josh Kruse
Campus Minister
NovaNotes
Page 7
December Dates to Remember
5th
6th
8th
15th
16th
19-20th
21st
Jan. 5th
Posada...5:30 PM
Parents Guild Meeting…
6:30 PM– Hospitality
7:00PM—Meeting
Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Mass Day)
Block Day...Early Dismissal
Semester Exams Begin
Semester Exams
Christmas Break!
Classes Resume
Calling All Villanova Parents
Are you willing and able to proudly represent Villanova as a Parent Ambassador? Our Student Ambassadors have been in full effect since, well, before the start of school this year. In fact, some Ambassadors never stopped over the summer, meeting with new students in their hometowns to offer
advice and guidance. I have realized a need to recruit parent spokespersons whom are willing to
answer questions, tell potential parents about your own personal experiences with Villanova and
write reviews for the school on websites such as Yelp, Google Places, and the many school search
sites where we are listed.
I like to focus on the positive and if you do as well, then we will make a great team! Some of the
most flattering comments have come from parents through casual conversation. Let’s voice these
sentiments outward! Please come to the next Parent Guild meeting for more information about becoming a Parent Ambassador.
Tyler Hart, M.A.Ed.