Congratulations to St. Dennis School eighth grader Anna Novak on her success at the Will County Spelling Bee that was held on February 23rd at Lewis University. Anna, a Homer resident, finished in 7th Place out of 52 participants. She earned the honor of representing St. Dennis by winning the school-wide spelling bee that was held on February 3rd (Zack Bregar was named alternate for taking 2nd place, Anna Pfeiffer took 3rd).

On Feb. 16, 2010, E.J. Slemp of Homer Glen spent the day in Springfield as a state legislator. He was the guest of State Representative Emily McAsey (D-Crest Hill). E.J. is a seventh grader at St Dennis School in Lockport. E.J. started his day with a tour of the congressional offices as well as the Capitol building. He then was a special guest on the House floor where he actively participated in the legislation process. He met many state representatives including his own, Rep Renee Kosel (R-Mokena) and the Speaker of the House, Rep Art Turner (D-Chicago). E.J. toured the governor and secretary of state offices in addition to observing committee hearings. E.J. won this opportunity through the generous donation of Rep McAsey to the St. Dennis annual Jubilation Dinner Dance.

On March 4, 2009, 3,600 Catholic School students, parents, principals and teachers attended a rally at the Capitol rotunda to voice support of legislation for our Catholic Schools. Our St. Dennis School representatives were fortunate enough to meet Governor Patrick Quinn, State Representative Emily McCasey and Senator A. J. Wilhelmi to remind them of the $1.2 million that St. Dennis alone saves the state every year.

Congratulations to all of our students who received medals at the Regional Science Fair at St. Francis University. Caroline Pfeiffer was also the recipient of two Special Awards. Caroline received a plaque for having the best project in the Consumer Science category. In addition, she received a plaque and a check for having the overall Best Project at the fair. All gold medalists will be heading to the State Science Fair at the University of Illinois on May 9, 2009. Good Luck!

The Catholic Education Foundation at the Diocese of Joliet distributes hundreds of needs-based scholarships each year. Students K-12 are eligible to apply for financial assistance to help cover the cost of tuition.

The tuition assistance grants are determined on an annual basis. Families must apply each in order to be considered. All determinations are based on the grant and aid application from the FACTS Company. Families are encouraged to complete this application in January and ensure that all required documentation is submitted by the March 1 deadline.

Families will be notified of grant awards in the Spring. The award checks will be sent directly to the schools.

More information and links can be found at the Catholic Education Foundation website.

Congratulations to the St. Dennis Jubilation Choir for receiving a Gold Medal at Sectionals on March 9th! When asked "What are you going to do next?", their response was "We're going to Disney World!" After submitting an audition tape, they were invited to perform during Disney's Magical Music Days in June!

These are St. Dennis Athletes who have volunteered at Feed My Starving Children in Aurora. The group consisted of athletes and parents packing meals for starving children in Haiti. The meals were a soy and rice based mixture. In less than 2 hours time their shift packed 1000 meals.

St. Dennis 7th grade boys’ basketball team came in 2nd place in the St. Joe Lockport Tournament over the 2009 Thanksgiving Holiday.