Dear Alumni, Parents, Prospective Students and Friends of Bishop Loughlin:

We welcome the holy season of Lent as an opportunity to grow in holiness through the disciplines of the church; fasting, penance and almsgiving.  The school community gathered in prayer on Ash Wednesday to receive ashes and to remember our place in the order of things.  During this season, there will be many opportunities for service to our twinned school in Kenya and for prayer and reconciliation.

Recently, we had our TACHS registration day which offered us some encouragement in the midst of these economically troubling times The turnout was solid..  It was our last registrant of the day that gave me the most affirmation and confirmed that we are who and what we say we are. In short, our institutional integrity was affirmed.

At 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4th a mother and her daughter arrived at the school to register for Bishop Loughlin.  The doors had just closed but they were welcomed by our Director of Admissions, our Principal and our Assistant Principal.  As they sat and chatted, she explained why they were late.  Literally, they were in another school prepared to register there for next year.  The mother related that as she waited she felt "not right".  Phone conversations had been pleasant but once on site she thought the environment was cold and uninviting. She remembered the phone conversation she had with Babajide, a Loughlin student and an outstanding member of our debating team.  This mother was struck by how well spoken this young man was, how forthright he was with his answers to her questions, and how convinced he was that Loughlin provides a challenging, quality education.

The impression left by this Loughlinite was so overwhelmingly positive that the two left the school they were in and came, the short distance, to Clermont Avenue.  The Mother and daughter had found a home.  I am glad they discovered what our Middle States team noted in their report.  The team wrote:

"Fascinatingly, if one lost the Mission Statement, it would be possible to rewrite it through many of the comments offered by students.  In their interviews, the young people offered observations like these:

• We're like a family here.  You're not a stranger in your own home.
• I love Bishop Loughlin.  Just the whole environment.  The way they run the school.  They make you ready for the real world.
• In some schools, teachers who had you last year, they don't remember your name. Here they remember you and talk to you.
• In Freshmen year, I didn't want to come here, but now I can't imagine being anywhere else, we have a community.
• You get to spread your wings.  They open up a lot of adventures.
• People say you can be anything you want to be.  Bishop Loughlin helps that a lot. You can be anything you want to be.
• Ms. McKeever, when she puts your schedule together, she really puts your schedule together for YOU.  You can do it.  It's at your level.  It's possible.  They make everything happen for you.
• Mr. Flack made us practice the Regents Test many times.  I got a 94.  I don't know how I did it.  But I did it.

In the students' minds then, clearly, Loughlin seems unambiguously devoted to its Mission to foster, build, achieve, develop, nurture, challenge and commit."

Live Jesus in our hearts!

Brother Dennis