St. Emily School Board

Dear Parents, Parishioners, and Prospective Families,

On behalf of the St. Emily School Advisory Board, I would like to welcome everyone to St. Emily School . We are looking forward to an exceptional 2008-2009 school year. St. Emily School is committed to providing the very BEST in academic excellence in a faith-filled environment. All of us on the St. Emily School Board are committed to working with our pastor, Father Ron Navoy, and our principal, Mary Hemmelman, in providing the best education possible for our children.

At the end of the 2005-2006 school year, St. Emily went through the rigorous School Improvement Process mandated by the Chicago Archdiocese. St. Emily School is pleased to report that continued Archdiocesan Recognition was granted. The Visiting Team witnessed a quality instructional program centered in a faith environment. In addition, St. Emily School has been accredited by the State of Illinois .

St. Emily School is in the process of implementing suggestions made by the School Improvement Team. One suggestion was to utilize Project Based Learning to enhance our already outstanding curriculum. In Project Based Learning, students work in teams to explore real-world problems and create presentations to share what they have learned. Compared with learning solely from textbooks, this approach has many benefits for students, including:

• Deeper knowledge of subject matter;
• Increased self-direction and motivation;
• Improved research and problem-solving skills

St. Emily School also offers a wide variety of extracurricular activities such as: Chess Club, Spanish Club, Drama Club, National Junior Honor Society, Student Council, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Altar Servers, Choir, just to name a few. St. Emily also has a renowned athletic program featuring basketball, cheerleading, cross country, softball, track and volleyball. The St. Emily teams have repeatedly earned the Northwest Catholic Conference Championship in many of the sports we offer. Many of our athletes travel downstate and compete on a statewide level.

St. Emily School offers additional benefits such as before and after school daycare, and bus service to most District 26 areas. St. Emily Parish is committed to enriching the faith of every child by having weekly all school masses and providing altar serving opportunities to our students. Our pastor and associate pastors are involved in our school. St. Emily School is blessed to have a strong parish community that is financially and spiritually dedicated to supporting St. Emily School .

The St. Emily School Board is looking forward to seeing all the parents and students at our school, our parish events, and our School Board meetings, which are generally held the second Thursday of each month. If you should have any questions regarding St. Emily Parish and School, please feel free to contact me through the parish office at (847) 824-5049.

God bless you and your family.

Sincerely,

Mike Hafner

President - St. Emily School Advisory Board