Principal’s Message
A New Year’s Prayer for You
Jesus, guard and guide your members,
fill them with your boundless grace,
hear their prayers in every place.
Fan to life faith’s glowing embers,
Grant all Christians far and near
Holy peace, a glad new year.
Joy, O joy, beyond all gladness!
Christ has done away with sadness!
Hence all sorrow and repining,
For the Sun of grace is shining!
CW 366:4
What will the New Year bring? What changes will there be for you in your job? How about at home and with your family? Will there be health challenges? Relationship issues? Financial or employment trials? Expected challenges or will you be faced with something that completely catches you off guard in a good or a bad way?
Our school faces questions too, as we enter into 2023. What will our enrollments look like in the future? With the shortage of teachers that we have, will we find teachers to fill our needs? Will we be able to stay within budget? Will our income match our expenses? Will our Lord bless our faculty and staff with good health? With all the construction surrounding the Highway 14 expansion, will God bless our students and families with safe driving for the next year?
We have all these questions in front of us for which we have no answers. So, we place ourselves into God’s hands and trust that He will never present us with more challenges than we can handle. Just as He has watched over us in 2022, 2021, etc., he will certainly watch over us in 2023. We’re reminded of his perfect consistency in Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
As we look ahead to 2023, it is my prayer for you and your family that our gracious Lord will bless you in the New Year. I also pray that He blesses our faculty and staff and their families and everyone in the collective MVL family. We will have challenges. There will be tears. There will be laughter. The words of the hymn above are my prayer for you. God bless you in 2023!
Happy New Year
January 4 – 2 hour late start
January 8 – Christmas Concert 6:45 p.m.
January 14 – Winter Formal
January 16 – No School
January 18 – Test Results Night
National Honor Society
Invitations to join the MVL chapter of the National Hon-or Society will be sent out to current juniors (and cur-rent non-NHS seniors) who have achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or better. The invitation will be in the form of a packet of materials that the student should discuss with his or her parents. Even though a student’s GPA has no bearing on their final acceptance into NHS, students are expected to maintain a 3.5 GPA in order to remain eligible; they are also expected to fully participate in NHS activities.
The application requires students to list their participation in organizations, their leadership experiences, their service activities, and their employment history. The application also includes a place for students to explain why they want to join this service organization. A letter of recommendation must accompany the student’s application. The letter cannot be written by a family member, an MVL teacher, or any MVL coach. The person who writes the letter should know the student quite well and should be able to vouch for the student’s work ethic, leadership, responsibility, and character.
The actual selection process will follow the guidelines set by our NHS constitution and by-laws. If a student qualifies for invitation by virtue of his or her GPA, that student will receive an invitation to pursue member-ship. A student may decide that he or she is not interested, or that distance from school prohibits his or her participation, or that employment or co-curriculars make NHS membership inadvisable. All invited students need to return a response form (included in the invitation packet) regardless of whether or not they plan to pursue membership. A submitted application does not guarantee membership.
Winter Driving, Snow Days and E-Learning Days
We have already had four snow days before Christmas. Depending on the weather after Christmas, we may need to implement virtual learning days. At our faculty meeting on January 4, we will discuss the guidelines for virtual learning days and share them with our students and with you. While we may still have some snow days in the second semester, we can certainly have virtual learning days instead of adding days back into our schedule.
The following information was shared in the December Newsline and we thought it worthwhile to share it again.
For those coming from the east, we should not expect County 25 between Nicollet and Courtland to be free of snow and ice. The stretch of Highway 14 that is still open between Courtland and MVL is not high on MNDOT’s plowing priority list, so navigating that three-mile section will be a challenge. For those of you coming in on County 21 and then driving down 561st Avenue, that route will be equally as treacherous. Please be careful driving to and from MVL!
Please know that we will take into account all the driving challenges this year as we make decisions on whether to have school or not. As always, if you do not feel comfortable sending your son or daughter, then communicate that to Mr. Buboltz.
We will keep you informed on school related closings via email or Infinite Campus Messenger. As always, feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. God bless you and your family!
Juniors and Parents/Guardians
Juniors will receive their ASVAB score reports and will attend an ASVAB score interpretation presented by SSG Carley Merrill from the Army National Guard on Friday, January 6th during the two activity periods. Students should already have access to their PSAT score reports from October. If they have not been able to access them, they have been encouraged to find Mr. Smith for assistance.
Seniors and Parents/Guardians
Don’t forget to get your FAFSA (https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa) submitted for Fall 2023. Potential college choices cannot create a financial aid package for you without receiving this information first. Here is a eight-step guide to completing the FAFSA: https://studentaid.gov/articles/steps-to-complete-fafsa-form/
However, I think it can be actually be condensed into 3 steps:
- Student and one parent/guardian create a FSA ID (used to sign the form electronically). Create your FSA ID here: https://fsaid.ed.gov/npas/index.htm.
- Student signs into FAFSA (https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa) using their FSA ID. Complete FAFSA (ensure you are selecting the correct year: 2023-2024) and add all potential schools to the list so that they receive your information.
- Submit your FAFSA. Email that you used should receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) within 3-5 business days of submission. This SAR will include your family’s Estimated Family Contribution (EFC). The EFC is used to determine the aid the student will receive at each institution.
*Mr. Smith is willing to meet with and help a family complete their FAFSA if they would like that assistance. If interested, please have your student speak with Mr. Smith or contact him directly at: tjsmith@mvlhs.org or 507.233.8685.
Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors and Parents/Guardians
Wednesday, January 18th – Test Results Night
On Wednesday, January 18th I will be sharing the results from our testing day with parents and students. The presentation for freshmen students and parents will start at 6 p.m. (PSAT 8/9) and the PSAT/NMSQT results for sophomores, juniors, and their parents will begin at 6:45 p.m. More information on this event will be emailed out to you as the date nears.
Volunteers Needed
Volunteers are needed in the concession stand for basketball games. Has your child benefitted from choir robes, band uniforms, Knowledge Bowl vests, or other Booster Club purchases? Pick a boys or girls basketball game and have the whole family help out in the concession stand! As one of our major fundraising activities, the concession stand only works if all of our families help out.
Thank You
Thanks to all who donated toward Christmas gifts for our faculty and staff. Your generosity is appreciated.
Jeans and Dreams
Don’t forget! The “Jeans and Dreams” 2023 Booster Club Auction is April 1 at Turner Hall in New Ulm. Mark your calendars for a 5 pm start to a fun evening supporting MVL. If you’d like to donate items for the auction, watch for details soon.
Apparel
If you’re looking for Chargers gear, the link and specials are on the front page of the MVL website.
Wow, has our beautiful fall weather turned into the roaring blowing snows for winter! Unfortunately, we’ve had a few weather changes in our schedules, which have led to some three to four game weeks.
A special “Thank You” to Dave Biedenbender and Martin Luther College for opening up their gym to our girls’ team and their game with Cedar Mountain on December 19. Their help and cooperation allowed us to get that game in while our gym was set up for the Christmas Concert.
As we move forward into 2023, I hope everyone can get out to MVL and enjoy a game or two with some warm popcorn, maybe a fresh slice of Swany’s pizza and connect with friends new and old.
Boys’ Basketball
We’ve squeezed in our three regularly scheduled games before Christmas with a loss at Sibley East and wins over Cathedral and Springfield. We have a big squad of 16 of the hardest working guys I know. Each practice they strive to make each other better.
Chargers vs Cancer
On January 27 our boys’ and girls’ basketball teams will host another Chargers vs. Cancer basketball night against various teams. The weeks ahead of this event our teams will be collecting pledges for free throws. They will shoot 100 free throws, then collect the money pledged to them for each free throw made for the battle against cancer. There will be other events ahead of January 27 to help us reach our overall goal of $10,000. Come on out and cheer on our teams and raise some money for the fight against cancer.
3:30 – JV boys vs BLHS
4:45 – JV girls vs TCU
6:00 – Varsity boys vs BLHS
7:30 – Varsity girls vs BLHS