Assumption Catholic Schools

Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this Wednesday, August 21st, 2024.

Have your host, James J. Mayloff here.

Welcome in the studio, our good friend, President of Assumption Catholic Schools.

Daniel Minter joining us right now.

Daniel, good to have you with us. Thanks for being here.

Thank you for having me over here.

Enjoy coming over here and enjoy the support that the radio stations give to us at Assumption.

We look forward to talking about the schools.

We love back in our local schools.

We love highlighting Assumption and the sports and all the different things that you have going on over there.

And we're going to dive right into that with, of course, the start of the school year.

It is right around the corner.

I hate to be the bearer of rough news, anybody out there.

But we are excited about this, though. It's a fun time of year.

It is a really fun time of the year.

You know, we spend, you know, administration-wise, we spend a lot of time in the summer,

getting plans ready for the new school year.

The teachers and staff for us reported on this past Monday.

We had a couple days of in-service.

Yesterday, all the teachers and administrators, we had a in-service with a gentleman from Minneapolis.

And he was showing us how to use pop music and movies to increase our Catholic spirituality.

So it was a good day.

So, yeah, so staff is back now.

And then the students, the seniors report on Monday the 28th.

That's their first day of school.

And then everybody else for us, 4K through 11, will be back on a week from today, on Wednesday.

We get started a couple days earlier than the public schools do.

Yeah. Daniel, I appreciate you mentioning that as far as the kind of the techniques and some

of the things that you guys do over there.

For those that don't know, I've known a lot of teachers in my life and a lot of people that

in the off season, if you will, work on those kind of things, work on ways to improve

their lesson plans or different ways to reach kids.

But most of the people I've known are just in public schools, not so much in a Catholic school or

something. So it's uniquely here that kind of, that you and your staff look for different ways

to reach kids, to find different ways to incorporate kids and families.

Yeah. I think, no matter what, whether we're talking, the regular academic subjects,

English, math, social studies, science, via those subjects, or our faith side of our schools,

it's important that they look at changes every year, make it a little fresh, a little new.

And so in that respect, it's no different public or private in terms of the summer preparation

for the teachers. We just get to also have the extra opportunity of building our faith right

into the classes that they're teaching. It's a unique opportunity. And it's very

cool to hear kind of the behind the curtain a little bit, if you will, on some of that.

And speaking of behind the curtain, when it comes to the prep and the work that it comes to

get the school ready for these kids, all of that, we do want to send a shout out to all the people

that do the behind the scenes work on so much of that. Oh yeah. No, our custodial and maintenance

staff, they spend basically from the first day of summer to the last day of summer, polishing

the floors, scrubbing the lockers, every once in a while painting, general cleaning maintenance,

stuff to get the buildings ready. We had a couple of big projects this year.

Our Lady Queen of Heaven over here on the west side of town, that's our 4K to 2nd grade building.

Major project this year. They got new windows, new lights, lowered the ceilings, new drop

ceilings, rewired the electrical. They painted the whole inside of the building. They tuck

pointed the bricks on the outside. And then in about the last week or so, all the teachers got

to come back in and unpack everything that they packed up at the end of the school because they

had to put their classrooms. So I heard we had a lot of parents and grandparents and everybody

is over there. I won't say scrambling to get things ready, but working really hard together

to make sure that that building is ready to go next week when the kids come in for the first day

of school. They are going to be so excited to see all that. Oh, I think they are. And at the high

school building, our big project there was and we don't know how long this has been. The black top

people told us you don't have any black top on your student lot. It's all turned to gravel.

So we finally were able to repave the student parking lot for the kids.

And I think they'll be excited. I hope they'll be excited. I think I might not be excited to

come back, but I hope they'll be excited for the new parking lot. You know, that's the thing

about this time of year. There is that kind of almost melancholy little bit of feeling of,

oh, we've got to get summers over or whatever. But so many of these kids also do get excited

and not only see friends of theirs again in teachers, but different little things like that that

go a long way and maybe even farther than you and I may realize as far as the comfort

or being able to do that. Oh, definitely. They are excited. Like you said, they're excited,

but they're not excited. But when that first day rolls around and they walk through the building,

particularly each of these, our schools are split up. The third graders have never

been to St. Vincent before. So that's their first time in that building. The sixth graders have

never been into the, well, maybe they've been there as a sports fan, but they've not attended

classes at the assumption building. So, you know, we have those couple of levels where they're

going to be really excited. Kindergarteners, the 4k kids, that's for them. It's their first,

it's their first school experience. So they're always really excited. The parents are the sad ones

with those really little ones, you know, when I go over there on the first day of school and you

watch the parents, it's like, okay, go home. It's going to be okay. You know, yes, your babies

in school now, but it's okay. I have to raise my hand. I was that dad. You were there. I was that

and I was a teacher, but I was still that dad. It's a beautiful moment to be able to be a part of.

We do also want to remind everybody when we have any opportunity, the beginning of the school year,

keep an eye out for these kids. Approach the roads. It was safer. You know, here in Wisconsin,

we're always used to looking on the sides of the roads for deers and these things. Be sure to maybe

leave a little bit earlier for wherever you're going in the mornings. Just keep an eye out for kids.

Slow down a little bit. Make sure to be aware of buses and the work that they are doing there.

And just because there wasn't a bus stop there last year doesn't mean that there isn't a bus stop

there this year because obviously people move, people come in, people go out. So yeah, I think

Lamar's in Safeway would both second that opinion and say, yes, please be aware of the buses, be

aware of the kids at the side of the roads on the sidewalks and all over. We just want everybody to

get to where they're going safely. Yeah. And the job of one of the jobs of adults is looking

out for kids, you know, and this time of year, any time of year. So be sure to keep an eye out for

them and let's have a safe fun beginning to the school year. Dan, you mentioned open houses

and I understand that that's been kind of taken care of by now and everything for a lot of the

kids and the parents out there. But is there any other notes for the kids and parents of assumption

Catholic schools that they should keep in mind before the school year begins? Well, this would go

for parents and just for generally anybody in the community. You know, if you're looking to find out

what's going on at any of the Assumption Catholic Schools buildings, I advise you recommend highly

visit the school website, which is AssumptionCatholicSchools.org. And there's an events page there with

a Google Calendar and also the Athletic Calendar. And we are doing our best to keep that up to date

as events get added. So, you know, the official open houses for the new students. They're coming up

yet this week and early next week. I believe middle school has won tonight, so the sixth to eighth grade,

the new sixth to eighth graders. The little ones that are lady there tomorrow. No, I'm sorry, they're

next Monday. Same Vincent is tomorrow. But, you know, always check the website for that information.

And you can always call any of the school offices and ask too. But the website is a go-to place to find

out events that are going on. That website is AssumptionCatholicSchools.org. AssumptionCatholicSchools.org. Be

sure to find out more there and be sure to follow them on Facebook. It's another great way to keep

up to date on things that are going on over there. Good luck with the open houses. I hope they go well.

You have fun kids. Daniel, you mentioned in our pre-game a little bit about the anniversary

that is coming up. So, yeah. So, we have, I'm kind of a quadruple. Actually, almost quintuple of the

last part. The fifth part is really necessarily an anniversary. But, but I'm kind of a quadruple

anniversary this year. So, for those who don't know, AssumptionCatholicSchool was started in 1951.

The first couple of years they attended school at what was then St. Mary's now our lady. While the

high school building was being built, the building opened for students in the fall of 1954.

So, that building is celebrating its 70th birthday this fall. And then the first graduating class

from Assumption High School was the spring of 1955. So, 70th graduating class this year.

That's the first two anniversaries. So, more specific to the Assumption High School itself.

Well, about 25 years ago in 1999, that's when the establishment of the AssumptionCatholic Schools

or back then, Wisconsin Rapids Area Catholic Schools Racks, which some people still call us racks,

began. And that was the merging of the parish schools. So, our lady St. Vincent, Sacred Heart,

St. Peter and Paul, St. Phillips, St. Lawrence, into a combined system with the idea of

you'd start in kindergarten and you go through high school senior year in one school system.

That first happened in 1999 and then in 2009. So, that's the fourth anniversary.

We renamed, we were renamed AssumptionCatholic Schools to make it more of a connection with that

flagship high school building. That's Assumption. So, those are the four anniversaries that we have

going on this year. A 70th anniversary and a 25th and a 15th. And then I mentioned sort of a

quintuple of fifth thing. In the early 2000s, we had our own 4K program in the system. And then

that went away for a while and we were working with Wisconsin Rapids public for a few years as a

site for the local 4K programs. We're finally bringing our own Catholic 4K program back.

So, this year, we'll have 4K, our own 4K students. They'll be at the Our Lady Building.

And we have a group of 16 that are starting next week Wednesday in 4K,

along with I believe it's 28 or 29 kindergartners. So, that's one.

So, it's been a while since we've had our own in-house 4K and we had the opportunity to bring

it back this year. So, we're excited. I can imagine, I can hear it in your voice, you're

excited about that. How did that come about? So, over the, well, I've been here. This is my 7th year

now here as the president of the system. And I've been involved in schools before when I was a

parischool principal of schools that had 4K programs. We've even had a 3K at one of our school,

two of our schools had 3K. And it's something that, you know, I liked our cooperation with Wisconsin

Rapids Public Schools as a site for them. But, it just really was something that I want to be

able to, with those little stuff, our little kids, be able to really teach the faith to them,

you know, yes, God is love and God loves you and God created things. Generic message for everybody,

whether they're Catholic or Lutheran or any of the Christian, you know, any of the denominations.

But, to be able to actually incorporate that into the lessons with them, into their daily

lessons, was something that we had wanted to bring in. And we just finally had the opportunity,

found a teacher that is Catholic and she was open to the idea of coming to work for us. And

just said, this is the year to do it. We talked about it and sometimes you can talk about things

for a really long time. And then you just have to say, all right, I think it's time. And so,

it was time. Wonderful to hear. And a wonderful addition to the school and to the community,

really, to be able to offer that to kids and to parents and kids out there. That's wonderful.

Looking forward to that and looking forward to helping you guys celebrate these anniversaries. And

it's got to be a lot of fun, not only certainly bringing in new kids and kids from years past,

coming in and stuff, but these anniversary groups that are coming in, that's a really unique

opportunity. That's going to be a lot of fun. Oh yeah, there's always a lot of connections with

our alumni. I know our advancement director has given several tours this summer to those classes

that are celebrating their 10th or 20th or 30th or 50th. We have, obviously, we have 69 classes

that have graduated. I don't remember if any of the much beyond the 50th were around this summer

for things, but they do come back. They visit the events. They like to come back and see that

walk those halls where they were 50 years ago. Yeah, yeah. We're speaking with Daniel

Mint or president of Assumption Catholic Schools. And Daniel, you guys have some big events coming

up this year as well. We're going to touch on a little bit of it with the anniversaries and

everything. You've got Bingo coming up, some other stuff. Yeah. So a couple of events here for

the fall that'll be coming up. Obviously, like we mentioned, check the website for the calendars

for the sporting events. All the fall sports are up and going. Our homecoming game is until the

middle of October. And so that'll happen later in the fall. But the sports are going on.

I know that we have coming up. It's on the website. It's in mid-September, a golf scramble out at

Tri-City for the basketball team. So if you like the golf, there's that opportunity. Bingo,

you mentioned Bingo. We brought back a couple of years ago, our Royal Parents, which are our

version of a parent teacher organization. On the first and third Mondays of every month during

the school year, not starting till the third. I said, did I say Mondays? I meant Sundays.

Okay. First and third Sundays of the month. The doors open at noon at Assumption. They'll start

that on the 15th of September. So they're not going to go on the first Sunday of September,

which happens to be Labor Day weekend. Not a good day to try to get. Other than have fun with your

family, go on the lake, whatever. But on the 15th of September, Bingo will start and then it'll go

twice a month through May. And so and I heard I don't have the exact figure, but they do a blackout

game at the end of the Bingo. And I heard that rolled over from last year from the last event

is a blackout jackpot of over two thousand dollars. So September 15th, come play Bingo at Assumption,

doors open at noon. And they do 10 regular games of Bingo and then a blackout game. And if somebody

gets blackout, they win the jackpot. Otherwise it keeps on rolling forward. I believe the jackpot got

one once last year. That's how it grew to two thousand dollars. Right. We'll see if somebody wins

it this year. It's a fun one. It is a fun one. Everybody loves Bingo. Yeah. Yeah. And a shout out to

you guys hosting that. That's going to be a lot of fun. And you mentioned the sports. You know,

one of the things that stands out certainly about Assumption is some of the sports programs that

they have over there. We love to cover them right here at WFHR every chance we get whatever games we

can play. And there's a lot of excitement going on there with those teams. So keep on the lookout

and support these teams taking these games whenever you can. And if you can't, we you chances are

we'll have them right here at WFHR for a more looking forward to being able to cover more Assumption

sports. And we thank you for coming out to cover the sports. It's a service for those who can't make

it to the to the event or the game. It helps. We have a mutual friend at Randy Paul.

Yeah. Shout out to Randy Paul at the great work that he has done in this area for decades.

Yeah. We appreciate you, Randy. Are there any other events, Danny? You wanted to touch them?

Well, let's see. We touched on Bingo. We touched a little bit at homecoming. My

advancement office working on our next Royal Auction or Auction Royal, which will take place

on the the first Saturday evening in November. So watch the website for information and that's

opportunity to come out. You could have a dinner with us. We sell tickets to dinner. There will be

live auction prizes, silent auction prizes, raffle baskets, all the good fun stuff. That'll be

held over at Bullseye. And the golf scramble for the Boys and Girls Basketball team will be in

the middle of September out at Tri-City. In the same day, I want to say, I don't want to give the

actual number of the day, but that same day, there's going to be a cross-country meet out at Tri-City.

And we're the host. And last year, there were 10 or 15 cross-country teams from around the area that

came and ran in that event. Homecoming is in November, excuse me, October. And then the cranberry

classic, my athletic people would not forgive me if I don't mention cranberry classic, the Friday

and Saturday after Thanksgiving. They're deep into the heart of preparation for organizing that event.

So, assumption will be there and usually many of the local, relatively speaking, local

local teams come on those two days for Boys and Girls Basketball. We love the cranberry classic,

especially here at WFHR. We love covering that, love having a presence down there, being able to

talk about it and hype people up and get ready for it. It's, to me, it is one of the signature

events I can't, I think of Thanksgiving, I think of the cranberry classic, like they go hand in hand

now. It's one of those events that's been entertaining us and bringing us some great basketball for a

long time now. We're really looking forward to that one. You know, and as long as we're on Thanksgiving,

we don't have the details of this all worked out timing-wise, but our advancement director is

working on our own version of a turkey trot for Thanksgiving morning. Just a little short run walk,

more details to come watch the website, but it'll be, don't need a food item for the food bank,

and then get to participate in the turkey trot. I'll have to see, we did it with just the school

kids last year and we had a teacher dress up in a blow-up turkey costume. I'm going to attempt to

convince her again to be the turkey. Hopefully she'll show. I don't know if she's listed, but hopefully

we will have somebody in that turkey costume that day. That would be awesome. That would be,

they would be awesome. It's not going to be, again, another fun event right there for people to

look forward to, encourage them to check that one out, and check out so much more at assumption

Catholic schools and the different events that they have going on, because not only can you take

in great times and enjoy things, but you're supporting these kids, you're supporting local

school and being able to add to what they're doing over there. We're very proud to be a part of

the Wisconsin Rapids community. Catholic schools have been in the Rapids area since the late 1890s,

with St. Phillips up in Rudolph, and then the schools here in town, you know, established in the

early 20th century. We have a great community, and I don't care if it's our schools or if it's

manual Lutheran or St. Paul's, or the Rapids public schools, the Koo support Edwards, you know,

the support that all of us in the schools get from the community is greatly appreciated and well

well thought out, and we just love, we love to be able to give back to the community when we can

like those food bank drives, you know, and things like that, but we just enjoy knowing that you all

enjoy seeing what's going on in all the schools, not just my schools, not any of the schools.

We have such a supportive area that supports all of our local schools, whether it is, you know,

events that you host or do, or sporting events or any of the above, certainly beyond the look

out for, you know, band performances and different things like that from our public schools and

keep an eye out and attend any of these events you can and help support and put back into our

schools here in this state and in this community. Thank you. Yes, definitely. Daniel,

if people have followed questions, one of the more about some of what we talked about today,

how can they get in touch with you? So if you go onto the website,

AsumptionCatholicSchools.org, there's an about us tab and that will take you down. I am located

in the central offices, so my contact information is there. Our main phone number is 715-420-900.

That will get you to my executive assistant and she could direct you to any of the places,

you know, if you need specific, you know, question about what's going on at St. Vincent. She can

direct you over that way. Off the website, you can get to my email, our email addresses,

and so really contact us through there. There's actually a contact us form on the website,

you can fill it out and somebody would get back to you. So we've had people do that every once in a

while. Again, AsumptionCatholicSchools.org is the website, AsumptionCatholicSchools.org,

and be sure to follow them on Facebook. It's another great way to keep up the date on things

that they're doing. Share what they're doing and you just never know who might see it that wouldn't

otherwise, so encourage you to do so. Daniel, we'll have you back soon. Thanks so much for joining us

today. You're welcome. Thank you, James. Appreciate it and everyone have a safe end of the summer

and good start to everybody's school year. Well said, well said, sir. Will a more midday

magazine coming up for you here at 97.5 FM 13.20 AM WFHR. We are locally grown radio.