Student Life

After School Bowling Program: A once a week supervised environment for children to enjoy physical activity, social interaction and BOWLING! Organized by two local bowling alleys, children are transported to the bowling alley by bus after school.

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Band: The Carroll High school band department offers a tuition program to learn band instruments a couple times a week during and after school for students grades 5 through 8.

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Birthday Book Club: The BBC allows families to recognize their child’s birthday or other event (graduation, First Holy Communion, etc) with a donation to the school library. Parents sign students up at the beginning of the school year and when it is close to the child’s birthday their child picks a book from the BBC cart. A bookplate with their name and birthday is then attached to the book and the child is the first to read it before it becomes a part of the library collection.

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Book Fair: This event is held to promote literacy, grow classroom libraries and raise money to buy additional materials for the school library media center. It gives students a chance to add reasonably priced titles to their home libraries and support the school at the same time.

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Boy Scouts: This program is offered to boys and girls grades first through eighth. This program is designed to build character, trains them in responsibilities of participating citizenship and develops personal fitness. Boys and girls can join at any time of year and no previous experience is necessary.

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Cantors: Students in grades 5 though 8 meet in the mornings to practice and lead the other students at school Masses each week.

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Catholic Schools Week: Usually held annually in late January or early February. This is a week filled with a variety of fun activities and events highlighting Catholic Education.

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Choir: Students in grades 4 through 8 can join an extracurricular morning class. Choir performs several concerts a year and goes on field trips.

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Club Week: Club Week takes place for grades kindergarten through 8th at the end of the school year.  A variety of clubs are offered and students select one club to be a part of for that week.

 

Dayton Holiday Festival: Students who participate in Choir are able to attend and perform at this event at the Kettering Tower during the month of December.

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Dress Code: Students are expected to be clean, neat and well-groomed with clothing in good repair. Students are required to follow the uniform dress code to support an environment that promotes learning.

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Eucharistic Ministers: Eighth grade students preparing for the sacrament of Confirmation have the opportunity to be trained and commissioned as Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers of Communion. Students serve in this ministry for our weekly school Mass and weekend Masses for our parish.

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Everybody Counts Week: This event is typically held in March and celebrates disability awareness.

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Faith Families: Families are made up of students from every grade level. They attend Mass together and gather throughout the year to build community. 

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Field Day: A day of outdoor fun and games for K-7 held in May

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Field Trips: Field trips are scheduled by the teachers with an educational purpose in mind. Permission slips are required and parent volunteers are appreciated.

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Grandparents Day: The entire school celebrates their grandparents and invites them to visit school that day.

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Learning Lab: Preschool through 8th grade have the opportunity to use this space for small and large group projects. It houses many resources such as a 3D Printer, Chromebook Cart, Maker Space, STEM Kits and supplies as well as an Electric Microscope and as well as other science lab equipment. 

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Living Rosary: Eighth graders lead the school in each mystery of the rosary in English and Spanish. To celebrate the month of the rosary in October, the eighth graders led the school in the Joyful and Sorrowful mysteries. To celebrate the month of Mary in May, the eighth graders lead the school in the Glorious and Luminous mysteries.

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Living Stations: Eighth grade students dramatically portray The Way of the Cross. This is a wonderful St. Helen tradition where the grade leads the whole school though an interactive interpretation of Jesus' great sacrifice.

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Safety Patrol: Safety Patrol members work one week a month during afternoon dismissal. They maintain car traffic and protect students and parents walking in the parking lot. They watch to make sure that once we have students on the lot that no car is moving and no cars move until the all clear sign is given.

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Science Fair: Students grades 6 through 8 are guided through the steps of the scientific process during class, with the actual experiment taking place at home.

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Servers: Students in grades 5 though 8 have the opportunity to be part of this ministry. They are trained by the Pastoral Associate, and have the opportunity to serve at weekly school and weekend Masses.

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Spanish: An introduction to Spanish culture and language for grades preschool through third grades. Formal classes are offered to grades 4 through 8.

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Spelling Bee: Students who win homeroom competition go on to compete at school and district levels.

 

Spirit and Joy Service Club: The goal is to find ways of making positive changes within the school community and to be of service to that community

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Spring Social: The social is planned and organized by the 7th and 8th grade PTO home room representatives and their committees. The dance is themed and provides a DJ and photo opportunities. The dance theme is voted on by the students in Junior High.

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St. Helen Night at the Dragons: St Helen reserves lawn seats by the 1st or 3rd base and families bring blankets to sit on and watch the game. You have the opportunity to catch the occasional foul ball. It’s a fun family event.

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Teacher Helpers: Eighth grade students are given the opportunity to earn service hours by assisting teachers in a variety of ways after school.

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Trojan Trot: The annual walk-a-thon fundraiser to fund school field trips, special presentations and projects.

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Tutoring: There are different ways to get supplemental help for the student. Intervention specialists provide tutoring during the day for students with ISP’s. Some parents or adult volunteers also tutor under the direction of classroom teachers throughout the day. If a student has a D- or less in any subject at the end of the school year, he or she will be required to be tutored in that subject by a certified teacher. The minimum amount of tutoring will be 10 hours per subject.

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Vacation Bible School: Held after school is out for the summer. Specific dates and details are available from the church rectory.

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Virtue Based Restorative Discipline (VBRD): St. Helen was the first school in Ohio to be certified Virtue-Based Restorative School of Distinction. VBRD is a Catholic response to bullying and conflict. Each month we focus on immersing ourselves in a specific Colossians virtue through activities in the classroom, petitions at Mass, and  singing songs related to that virtue at Mass. Students also participate in classroom circle time to build community and resolve conflicts. In addition to learning and living the virtues, 8th graders lead the school as Peace Pals to help younger students resolve minor conflicts and restore peace. While there still may be consequences for poor choices, the focus is always on how to restore the harm that has been done and seeing the face of Jesus in each other.