October 3 , 2008

Dear Parents/Guardians & Friends:

Open House is Sunday, November 2
All prospective students and their parents are cordially invited to our Open House on Sunday, November 2 from 1-4pm. Please help us spread the word about this important event. Registration for incoming ninth graders starts that day and families who come to the Open House receive $25 off the Registration fee.

Magazine Sale Goal Reached!!
Congratulations to all who helped support our Annual Magazine Sale. For the first time in 11 years we reached our goal. Special thanks to Kellie Shonk who runs the sale for us, and to the Student Council Governors and the Seniors of Student Council who served as Captain. The Houses had a stiff competition for points in this sale. Results are as follows:

House of Tipperary $5821
House of Limerick $5521
House of Clare $5036
House of Cork $4755
House of Donegal $4608
House of Kildare $4589

Thanks again!!

30 Volunteers Still Needed for the County Fair
If you know anyone who can help us out, it would be very much appreciated! The FCAA receives $6500.00 for this fundraiser.  Please share this information with grandparents, friends, family or any FC supporter.  To volunteer, contact Brian and Elaine Householder at 687-4626 or ehouseholder@columbus.rr.com. 

Homecoming Queen Named
Congratulations to Sarah Sahr who was named Homecoming Queen at the Dance last week.

Mandatory Parent Substance Abuse Meeting
The Advisory Board of Fisher Catholic has ratified a new Substance Abuse Policy which is in effect for this school year (It can be found in the handbook). As part of this new policy, which has been put together through a hard working Student Wellness Committee through out the course of the summer, all parents are required to attend a one hour workshop on issues of drugs and alcohol on an annual basis. The dates for this year’s workshop (parents only need to attend one) are Sunday, October 19 and Thursday, October 23, both beginning at 7pm. Both parents must attend, although not necessarily together. Please mark your calendars and plan on attending one of these meetings.

Guidance News
Be sure to check the weekly Guidance Office Attachment. Also, in the Guidance section of the website is a calendar of all the colleges that are coming to visit Fisher.

Chess Club
Dr. Chris Miller at Ohio University Lancaster is starting a Chess Club over at OUL on Wednesdays from 6-9pm in Room 201 of Harold Hall. There is no cost to join and non OU students are welcome. Chess sets are provided. For further information you many contact Dr. Miller at 740-205-2478.

Student of the Month Named
Student Council has named Luke Changet as Student of the Month. He is a hard working member of Student Council and was especially helpful with our Homecoming Dance. Luke gets a primo parking spot all month and free lunch. Congratulations, Luke!

Paper Recycling
We have a dumpster in the back of school that accepts paper and makes money for the school. Feel free to bring your paper and paper products there. It is good for the environment and good for our school.

Thunder Alley
Please see the front page of the website for information on the bowling extravaganza that benefits our bowling team. We also encourage any interested students to try out for the bowling team. Try outs begin Monday, November 17 through Wednesday the 19th. For further information contact Tim Deitz at 687-5610 or 808-1743.

Shopping at Target Brings in Dollars
We recently received a check for $166 through Target’s Take Charge of Education Program. If you are a Target Shopper make sure and sign up. We receive %1 of everything you spend there. Thanks, Target.

Family Notes
Please keep Annie Cleary and her family in your prayers. Annie’s Grandfather passed away this week. She lost her Grandmother just before school began.

Principal Observations
When I was 15 years old working at my Dad’s restaurant, Deibels, in German Village, I fell in love one night with the Rodeo Queen. To be honest, I am not sure what Rodeo she was the Queen of. She was in Deibels with a lot of other rodeo people. She had long blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes and a smile that would win the heart of the stoniest of people. I remember her hat most of all. It was a big white cowboy hat with a leather band fronted by a turquoise oval on the front. She also wore long cowboy boots, out of which came legs that seem to go on forever. I was a cook at the time, dressed all in white, stained with the dinners of the evening. The night was late, and the kitchen was all but done. I used to come out of the kitchen and, believe it or not, do Louis Armstrong impressions with Esther the accordion player, Max the versatile musician, and Adolf the banjo player.

When I came out to sing that night, I noticed the Rodeo Queen right away. I didn’t know she was the Queen at that point. I was simply struck by her beauty. After my song, (I would sing Hello Dolly, Bill Bailey and a song I don’t remember which called for me to sing as Louis and in a woman’s voice!) and I came down off of the bandstand, the Queen approached me as sweet and softly as the sunrise on Christmas morning. There was a tradition at Deibels called “Pass the Hawaiian Lei”, plastic imitations of the real thing. Esther passed them out and you would give it to someone and give that person a kiss. That person, in turn, would give it to someone else. Well, the Queen had a lei and as she approached me she stretched it out in its fullest circle. Remember now, I was only 15. I am sure I turned red as she placed the plastic lei over my head. The kiss was very innocent. A peck on the cheek, but it was from the Rodeo Queen, and I was in love.

Later I spent some time talking to the Queen, which is how I found out that she was the Queen, and some of the rodeo people, all of whom were very nice. The Queen was 16. I don’t remember the conversation; I only remember that I was in love. At the end of the evening she told me that they were all staying at the Neil House Hotel downtown and that the next night they were having a party. “Why don’t you come”, she said. I couldn’t say no.

The next night, night, without telling my parents, I hopped a COTA bus downtown to meet the Queen. I stopped first and bought some flowers for her. I approached the Neil House, hair combed, teeth brushed, wearing my best bell bottom jeans and paisley shirt. I entered the doors of this elegant old hotel and looked around. The doorman, all dressed to the nines in his long coat with tails, asked me if he could be of assistance. He was an older black man with a broad smile. I told him I was looking for the Rodeo people. He told me that they had all checked out of the hotel that day. My heart was broken! Amazingly, I told my sad story of woe to the doorman. He listened with rapt attention and told me that I was a “nice lad” for bringing flowers. He asked me what the Queen’s name was. I realized that I didn’t even know! I suddenly felt the full embarrassment of my 15 full years, standing there with my flowers and a vanished Queen.

This doorman, a man I never had seen before and who I would never see again, actually sat me down in the lobby of the Neil House Hotel and told me the story of how he met his wife at the old Union Train Station in Columbus one Saturday evening many, many years ago. He told me that he fell instantly in love with her, and made many attempts to engage her in conversation before she finally took the initiative and spoke to him. He told me how from that night they were inseparable and that he was as in love with her at the time of our conversation as he had been the first time that he saw her.

I gave him my flowers and told them to take them home to his wife. He thanked me, patted me on the shoulder and wished me a “good night and a happy life.” I walked out of the hotel, got back on the bus and headed home never to see the Rodeo Queen or the doorman again!

Now I have sat here at the computer for almost an hour trying to make a connection to this story with something happening in school. I give up. I guess just wanted to recognize the kindness of a stranger, a man who is probably long deparated from this earth, as is the Neil House Hotel. While I will always be in love with the Rodeo Queen I will always remember the Doorman and his long, long love for his wife. May all of us be blessed to love and be loved as we go through this world.

Thanks for all that you do for your children and our school.

Jim Silcott
President/Principal

	October 3rd Guidance Newsletter