*We have had two additional confirmed cases of Pertussis (whooping cough) at Mercy. All have been or are currently being treated with antibiotics. The girls are recovering quickly are staying home and no one is currently contagious. We have found no connection between the confirmed cases - only two are in the same grade. All the girls had proper vaccinations and boosters.

Pertussis begins like a common cold. If your daughter has a cold (not unusual at this time of year) please keep an eye out for the additional symptoms outlined in the information from the County Health Department. Click HERE for more information.
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*Mercy Parents,

Please remember that it is of the utmost importance that you keep your daughter home if she is ill.  I understand that some students have concerns with regards to unexcused absences, but please know, that in lieu of the impending flu season, we will gladly excuse her absence.  A child who is sick will not be able to perform well in school and is likely to spread the illness to other students, faculty and staff. We ask that you do not send your child to school if she has:

1. A fever in the past 24 hours 100 degrees or higher

2. Vomiting in the past 24 hours

3. Diarrhea in the past 24 hours

4. Strep Throat (must have been taking an antibiotic for at least 24 hours before returning to school).

5. Bad cold, with a runny nose or bad cough, especially if it has kept her awake at night.

6. Head lice – live bugs or nits (lice eggs)

7. Rash

8. Pinkeye- (must be on antibiotic eye drops for 24 hours, which includes 4 doses, before returning to school)

If your child becomes ill at school and  we feel that she is too sick to benefit from school or is contagious, you will be called to come and take him/her home from school.

Again, our intent of the changes to attendance policies was to decrease our truancy rates and eliminate absences, which were not due to illness.  These guidelines are meant to serve the best interests of our entire Mercy community.

Wishing you health and wellness,

Summer Dittmer 
Assistant Head of School for Student Life 

Click HERE for Healthy Habits to Stay Well and Prevent Spreading Germs 

All school information

Open House...
tell your friends!

Our Open House will be on Sunday November 20 from 12:30 to 3pm.  Make sure to tell all your friends who have daughters in 5th-8th grades to join us!  The afternoon will feature academic presentations, arts and athletics information, campus tours and much more. Families should register in advance on our website, though walk-ins are welcome.  

• Food & Beverages Needed for OPEN HOUSE  The Mercy Open House is on Sunday, November 20th and we are asking for donations of refreshments for the event. Note some items can be dropped off on Wednesday, November 16th and others are requested for Sunday morning drop off.  All items may be dropped off in the catering kitchen located on the main floor of the Mansion. As always, we appreciate your contribution! 
  Click HERE to sign up to donate! 

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*Upcoming Dates: 

• 12:20 p.m. early release for students on Monday, Nov. 21.
• No School Wednesday-Friday next week. 
• 12:20 p.m. early dismissal for students on Wednesday, Nov. 30.

*Final Exams: 

Mon., Dec. 19
8 a.m. to 10 a.m., Period 1
11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Period 5

Tues., Dec. 20
8 a.m. to 10 a.m., Period 2
11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Period 6

Wed., Dec. 21
8 a.m. to 10 a.m., Period 3
11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Period 7

Thurs., Dec. 22
8 a.m. to 10 a.m., Period 4

mercy parent club

*Please Join Us for a Toast to Mercy!

Friday, Nov. 18, 2016 - 7:00 PM, Kohl Mansion
50% of all wine sales will be donated to Mercy High School

Don't Miss Out on an Evening of Tasting &
Conversation at the Kohl Mansion!

Advanced Tickets $20 Online -till Thursday 5PM, Click HERE for tickets 
Tickets sold at the door $25
This is a great opportunity for our Mercy Community to invite friends for a evening of tasting and conversations at the historic Kohl Mansion splendidly decorated for Christmas!  Contact Jennifer Munsey at jmunsey@mercyhsb.com or 650-762-1199 with any questions.

Mercy Wine Tasting
Night of Event
VOLUNTEERS Needed! 
Click HERE to signup

upcoming events 

financial assistance

*Financial Assistance Program for 2017-2018
Mercy High School recognizes that families have varying financial needs and make financial sacrifices which include adjusting spending priorities and maximizing both parents’ earnings to provide their daughters with a strong academic education. The Financial Assistance Program at Mercy strives to help those families who, even with personal sacrifices, have a difficult time meeting the full tuition obligation. Awards are made for a one-year period, families must re-apply each year.

The application process is fair and confidential. Assessments are done by an outside firm (TADS) that specializes in school financial assistance programs. Financial aid awards are made based on a family’s demonstrated need and the availability of school funds.

All families who would like to be considered for financial assistance for the 2017-2018 school year must complete an online financial aid application. Applications must be submitted by February 10, 2017* with all necessary documentation.  This link https://www.mercyhsb.com/admissions/financial-aid-clone will direct you to our website for further information and the online TADS application.  Late applications are processed and reviewed, but meeting the appropriate deadline is strongly recommended to be included in the first round of aid awards.  Please contact Lynn Beal at 650-762-1101 or lbeal@mercyhsb.com if you have any questions.

*Please note returning 10th, 11th and 12th grade families must apply by February 10, 2017.  Families that have both an applying 8th grader and returning student must meet the December 12, 2016 deadline. 

Upcoming VPA performances

*Mercy High School Dance presents
How the Grinch Stole Christmas 

Thursday, Dec. 1st
7:30PM
Skyline College Auditorium

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*REMEMBER TO PUT A LITTLE JOY IN YOUR HEARTS THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON AND SUPPORT THE ARTS HERE AT MERCY!!  
Hope you can come for the evening!

SAVE THE DATE:  Tuesday, December 6th  
MERCY Tri-M Music Honor Society, Tri-School Chorus,
Chorales perform an evening of music!

• 5:30-6:30PM music of our Tri-M musicians 
• 6:30-7:00PM light dinner for Tri-M performers and recital audience
• 7:30PM Choral Concert!!

senior parents

*Hello Senior Parents,

It's that time of year to show your daughter how proud you are of her accomplishments by placing a dedication in their Senior yearbook. All the information is in this document (click here for doc). The website has guides and videos to help and there is a help desk by the company in case you get stuck. So start gathering your pictures (they will need to be digital and at least 300kb) that you would like to use. Parents sometimes use baby up to now, others have family photos, and other have pictures of their activities in high school with friends; it is up to you.

If you need any help or have questions please contact me, Randall Watts, yearbook advisor at rwatts@mercyhsb.com .

There is an early bird special at a discounted rate so do not delay.

Have a wonderful day,

athletics

*Make sure to follow all of our team results as they happen via our athletics twitter page. Mercy Athletics @MercyAthletics

*The Mercy High School Athletics Department is excited to unveil our new Varsity letterman jackets. Athletes who have lettered and competed in two varsity seasons of sport are eligible to order a jacket. Jackets can be worn with the school uniform on a daily basis and will be a long lasting memento of a high school athletic career. Jackets can be ordered for $115, which includes the block M. For an additional cost, athletes may embroider their name and sport, add their class year on the sleeve, and have a Mercy chenille patch on the back. Please see Coach RG (crietmanngrout@mercyhsb.com) for questions and an order form. Sample jackets are available to try on in the SBO Office. We would like to place our first round of orders by December 9th. Jackets take about six weeks to custom make. We expect the first round of orders to arrive by the end of January.

*All fall team members should have returned their uniforms to the Athletic Director by now. Any uniforms not returned by Friday Nov 18 will result in the family being charged a replacement fee.

*There will be a Track and Field interest meeting on Thursday Nov 17 in the cafeteria immediately following school at 2:30pm. All athletes interested in participating in T&F this spring should attend. Coaches will be present to discuss pre-season training and expectations for the season. Signups will be taken.

*Monday November 21: Mercy Varsity Basketball will be hosting a CCS Sportsmanship Game at CSM at 6pm. We will be playing Half Moon Bay High. Admission prices: Adult $5. General Admission: $3 for students, seniors 60+, Children 6 and older.

*Mercy Athlete(s)
of the Week: 
Senior Volleyball Players: Sophia Barberini, Claire Dame, Teme Fanguna, Louise Hardiman and Alyssa Parodi 
These girls led the team by example throughout a most memorable volleyball season for the Crusader Varsity group. Their selfless play spirited the team to 24 wins and a CCS semi-final appearance. All 5 girls will be missed tremendously.
 

Winter Conditioning will be held for the following Spring teams:

• Softball: 3-4pm on Monday and Wednesday. Meet at the Grassilli Center weight room
• Lacrosse: 4-5pm on Monday and Wednesday. Meet at the Grassilli Center weight room. It is important to note that we will base whether we have a Varsity only or Varsity and JV team for lacrosse on the amount of girls who do off season conditioning.

Every athlete must be fully registered in the Appryse system and cleared to play sports before they are placed on a roster. A physical is required to get cleared. You can go onto the Mercy website and go to quicklinks and find the drop down for Appryse. Simply click and start your registration process. Please remember if you are a returning student you still have to re-register.

Any student athlete participating in a sport must turn in both the athlete and guardian contract. If the signed forms by both student and guardian are not turned in, the student will not be allowed to play in any event until they have turned in the paperwork. The forms are available on the Mercy website at https://www.mercyhsb.com/athletics/forms-athletic-qualifications. Click on the link and print the contract after you have read the Handbook.  Completed forms must be returned to the Athletic Director or to the main office.

All student athletes who are currently on a Winter sport roster should be purchasing their Crusaderwear gear designed specifically for their respective team. The site to purchase the gear can be found on the Mercy website under Athletics.

Any Parent who is available and/or willing to drive students to games must turn in all the paperwork to the main office in order to be cleared to drive. This would be for your own car or a school van. The form can be downloaded from the Mercy website on the Athletics page.

All results of each team can be found in the Mercy scoreboard-
https://www.mercyhsb.com/athletics/scoreboard-enews

*Click HERE for the schedule for team events for the upcoming week of Nov 17-Nov. 23

If you ever have any concerns/comments, please feel free to contact me at anytime. I can be reached at my office at Mercy at 650-762-1107. I am looking forward to a great 2016/17 with Mercy athletics.

Charlie Dougherty
Athletic Director

COUNSELING DEPARTMENT

*Wellness Week:  The counseling department will be sponsoring Wellness Week December 5th through the 9th!  Resources will be made available here the week following.

College Counseling

Naviance: Senior Students should be updating their college lists in Naviance to reflect where they are applying and by which deadlines they plan to submit.  This is the official list that will be used when submitted transcripts and other documents on your daughters behalf.  In addition, if students are adding or removing colleges from their list they need to review and update any teacher recommendations accordingly.  If your students need any help with this, please encourage them to see Ms. Mahalak! 

*FAFSA and CSS Profile: Forms for need-based financial aid are available online.  The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a federal form for need based aid.  The CSS Profile is a non-federal need based financial aid form used by some private colleges.  Please note that colleges and universities will have different deadlines for these forms so it's important for your student to be aware of and manage the deadlines for each.  The FAFSA can be accessed here: https://fafsa.ed.gov/ and the CSS Profile can be accessed here: https://student.collegeboard.org/css-financial-aid-profile

Register for the fall SAT at www.collegeboard.com.  Students may take any SAT up until the December date for Fall admission.  Be sure to register ASAP.  

Register for the ACT at www.actstudent.org.     

Helpful Links:

• The Common App:  www.commonapp.org
• CSU Application: www.csumentor.org
• University of California Application: www.universityofcalifornia.edu
• The Coalition Application: http://www.coalitionforcollegeaccess.org/
• Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA:) www.fafsa.ed.gov
• Collegeboard - Register and Send SAT scores: www.collegeboard.com
• ACT - Register and Send ACT scores: www.actstudent.org

service opportunities

*Click HERE for Service Opportunities as posted to students through x2VOL for 2016-17 School Year.

Looking ahead to Service Opportunities sponsored by Mercy High School. Click HERE 2016-17 for dates and times.

If you have any questions about service opportunities please contact Mr. Diaz at pdiaz@mercyhsb.com. 
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*Urban Plunge 2016 Students Ruby Mayne, Maddy Dei Rossi, Mo Deolarte Ruiz, Erin Haskins, Alister Borabo, Amelia Threatt and Maire Rock all participated in this year's fall Urban Plunge with Mr. Diaz, Myra Olives and Kelsey Connoley. Friday was spend working in the Kansas Street Association Community Garden, taking a walking tour of the Mission murals, Dolores Park and Valencia street. Saturday involved distributing PB&J sandwiches with City Team International on 6th street and meeting David Sandow, a resident artist at Mission Creek Community, a Mercy Housing facility. Students were treated to a demonstration of marble paper making and hearing David's story of homelessness.

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*VOLUNTEER AT MUSIC AT KOHL CONCERT - DEC 18

Music at Kohl Mansion will be celebrating the holidays with a Gala Holiday Concert on Sunday December 18 at 7 pm. Volunteers are needed to help with front of house duties (distributing programs, taking tickets, ushering) and reception preparation and clean up (preparing food trays and beverages, setting up, serving and cleaning up).

If you are available and interested in helping with the concert and reception from 6-10 pm, please contact Yvonne Wun, Program Administrator at admin@musicatkohl.org. There are still a few spots available.

miscellaneous

*Books 4 Hope book drive 

In support of the St Vincent de Paul's Books 4 Hope, the library is having a book drive.  If you have old books that need a new home, please consider bringing them in to Mercy during the week of Nov 28 - Dec 2, for delivery to the library.  They can be dropped at the office if there are too many of them, and we will collect them for delivery to St Vincent.

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*Visit the Mercy Center Bookstore for Unique Christmas Gifts

The Mercy Center Bookstore has many wonderful gifts for Christmas. Nativity sets, jewelry, CDs, books for all ages, children’s gifts and more. Enter the Mercy Center door and follow the signs to the bookstore. Store hours are Wednesday through Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

cafeteria specials

Lunch Order Form - to save time, students may fill out this form and drop off at the Cafeteria in the morning. Please Visit the cafeteria for our daily salad selections

Thursday: Open Face Soft Chicken Tacos  Two Corn Tortilla topped with Mexican Style Seasoned Shredded Chicken dressed with shredded Cabbage/ lettuce mixture, Salsa, Mexican cheese , served with our famous Spanish Style Rice. 

Friday:  Beef Pasticcio  Greek style seasoned ground beef in a home made tomato puree between 2 layers of Greek style white sauce drenched pasta tubes, served with a side of green salad.

*NEXT WEEK'S MENU:  please see schoology post

Please visit the cafeteria for our daily selection of specialty Salads.
Please pre-order.