Dear Middle School Families,

The holiday season is upon us! While the days are considerably shorter, I enjoy seeing the twinkling lights that decorate homes as I drive home from Visitation each evening. As we enter into seasons of Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas, please be sure to check out the Holidays at Vis page on our website. There is much to celebrate!

The Middle School has many occasions to come together in prayer. This morning, we held our All School Thanksgiving Mass. During the late start on December 3, Visitation is hosting an optional Mass for faculty, staff, and students from Visitation School and St. Thomas Academy that will begin at 8:00 and be followed with light refreshments. If students are interested in taking part in this time of worship, please register them here. Other important moments include the Immaculate Conception Mass on December 8 and the Advent Prayer Service on December 18. We also invite all members of our Visitation community to join us in the Chapel to celebrate daily Mass at 11:40 a.m., pray the decade of the rosary on Wednesdays at 7:45 a.m., and participate in Praise and Worship on Fridays at 7:45 a.m.

This week, we are excited to host Career Day, a day when professionals visit campus to discuss various professional pathways in fields such as the arts, medicine, and business. After hearing from our Head of School, Dr. Jennifer Bigelow, students will have the opportunity to attend a career fair, where they can visit with various professionals and learn about different career pathways. I am grateful to all those who offered their time and talent. It is inspiring for the girls to realize that they are learning not for school but for life: Non Scholae, Sed Vitae.

We look forward to seeing you at next week’s conferences on November 24 (via Zoom) and November 25 (in-person). If you have not already signed up to meet with your daughter’s teachers, please sign up here and reach out to Ms. Donielle Dixon if you encounter any difficulties. We are grateful to partner with you during this formative time in your children’s lives, and I can think of no better way to close out our school days before the Thanksgiving break!

Sincerely,


Anna Bachman Barter, PhD
Director of Secondary Education