For the eighth consecutive year, the Bride Mixer Marathon Group is sponsoring two education grants for Pacelli Catholic School teachers. This year’s recipients are Jean Rosenthal of Pacelli Catholic Elementary School-St. Bronislava and Joe Zawacki of Pacelli Catholic Middle School.

Rosenthal’s grant, entitled Fine Motor Skill Development, will enable her to purchase a variety of tools including manual dexterity vests and Cut N Cruise scissor magnets to help 3-year-old and 4-year-old preschoolers and child care students master fine motor skills like buttoning, zipping, and cutting with scissors. Developing these skills will better prepare them for kindergarten and beyond.

Zawacki’s funding will transform an unused courtyard into a usable green space that would function as an outdoor classroom available for use by any class, student, or teacher. The outdoor classroom could be used for things like encouraging fresh air, sparking creativity, providing a gardening opportunity to supplement the school lunch program, studying the outdoors, or providing a quiet place to read and reflect.

In addition to those grants, two anonymous donors from within the Bridge Mixer Marathon Group are providing funding to two additional teachers, Kathy Hansel and Lisa Springob, both of Pacelli Catholic Elementary School-St. Stephen.

Hansel will purchase hands-free Whisper Phones for her Learning Resources students, which will enable beginning or struggling readers to hear individual sounds in words, while Springob will get picture books as mentor texts for teaching reading and writing to her 4th grade students to help model different writing traits and reading skills.

Point/Plover Metro Wire: Catholic School Teachers Receive Grants 

Stevens Point City Times: Bridge Mixer Marathon Group, Anonymous Donors Award Grants to Catholic Schools

Community philanthropists Bob & Mary Berard recently made a major commitment to UW-Stevens Point to fund scholarships for first-generation college students.

Toddlers learn STEM at the Central Wisconsin Children’s Museum.

The Stevens Point Police Department has moved into a much nicer, larger home.

Wreaths Across America recently held a special ceremony at Plover’s Korean War Memorial.

SentryWorld Golf Course is set to host the 2019 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship.

UWSP Chancellor Bernie Patterson shares some updates on the upcoming merger between two-year and four-year UW schools.

Spot community updates or events? Share it with pacelli@pacellicatholicschools.com to include in the new Community Happenings section of our e-newsletter and website.

The following are news snippets from the November e-Newsletter highlighting the Pacelli Catholic School system, individual students, alumni, staff, and members of the PCS community who have recently been highlighted for their accomplishments.

PCHS staff and students put on a wonderful assembly honoring those who have served our country for Veteran’s Day. Check out the full video here.

Congratulations to PCMS October students of the month!

Thanks to all community members and students who participated in the blood drive collecting 56 pints of blood, surpassing the goal set by the Red Cross.

Alumni Elizabeth “Lizzy” Cisewski ’17 and her fellow UW-Eau Claire Women’s Cross Country Team finished in 2nd place at nationals.

Fr. Dan Hackel has assumed responsibilities as the new Dean of the Stevens Point Deanery and we’re looking forward to working with him more closely as a part of our school system.

Pacelli senior AJ Firminhac was featured in a spotlight article highlighting his role on the basketball team.

We’re lucky to have UWSP as a partner to help with many student learning experiences, like these students who taught math to kindergarteners at St. Steve’s.

The Portesi Fund for Catholic Education has again awarded grants to fund various learning enhancement projects at each of our schools.

Second grade students at St. Bron’s and St. Steve’s celebrated All Saints Day by dressing up as their favorite saint and sharing facts about them during their special masses.

Pacelli sophomore Ben Formella shadowed Dean Marty Loy, UWSP College of Professional Studies as part of Teen Leadership Portage County.

Don’t miss out on the upcoming performance of Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr presented by PCMS students Dec 7-9.

Congratulations to Mike Schmoll, Pacelli teacher who was recently presented with the Golden Apple Award from the Portage County Business Council.

See Pacelli in the news? Send it to pacelli@pacellicatholicschools.com for inclusion on our website, social media sites, or e-newsletters.

The Ignite Young Professionals invite you to celebrate the season at their Holiday Soiree on Thursday, Dec. 21 at Muse at Sentry.

Check out this aerial view of the new UWSP Science Building.

The YMCA now has a new passenger van to use for their programming thanks to donors Bob & Mary Berard and Mike Dudas ’85 of Len Dudas Motors.

Spot community updates or events? Share it with pacelli@pacellicatholicschools.com to include in the new Community Happenings section of our e-newsletter and website.

On Friday, November 10, Pacelli Catholic Schools students in grades 5-12 gathered to honor those who have served this country. This special annual ceremony included a memorable slideshow with photos of family members and friends in some way connected to PCS. In addition, the Pacelli Band led the playing of the armed service songs from each military branch, inviting those who served and those representing a loved one who has served to stand and salute when their branch’s song was played. This  year’s service also included some special interviews, both on video and in person, of a few veterans very near and dear to our hearts. To all of the veterans out there, thank you for your service!

If you weren’t able to be at the ceremony or know a veteran who wasn’t able to attend, please check out the full ceremony video below. Click here to checkout the slideshow with photos of veterans connected to PCS.

The Portesi Fund for Catholic Education has awarded grants for four projects across all levels of students enrolled with Pacelli Catholic Schools to enhance their learning in various areas.

Pacelli Catholic Elementary Schools-St. Bronislava & St. Stephen

The elementary schoolsl are receiving funding to purchase sets of guided reading books at a variety of levels, allowing for more individualized reading instruction and making instruction more consistent and less expensive.

Pacelli Catholic Middle School

Fifth grade students will be purchasing up-to-date and user-friendly atlases to learn the skills of identifying places on maps. They will improve their understanding of regions, countries, and cultures through current atlas study. In a second funded project, fifth grade students will also be receiving weekly issues of Current Events-Scholastic News Magazine. As a class, they will read through the articles and make connections to the world while also strengthening their reading comprehension and fluency.

Pacelli Catholic High School

Funding for additional copies of YOUCAT Catechisms will be available for the freshman class. Adding more copies will allow for students to complete reading assignments at home or in their study halls, allowing more class time for instruction and discussion of assigned readings.

Established in 1999, the Portesi Fund for Catholic Education is a designated fund administered by the Community Fund of Central Wisconsin. The fund serves as a resource for Pacelli Catholic Schools’ teachers to fund special projects or equipment specifically aimed at enriching the classroom experience.

The following are news snippets from the October e-Newsletter highlighting the Pacelli Catholic School system, individual students, alumni, staff, and members of the PCS community who have recently been highlighted for their accomplishments.

For 10 weeks this semester, UWSP phy ed teaching students are getting the most hands-on experience they can with St. Steve’s K-3 students coming to campus for class.

Teams of students grabbed their rakes and braved the cold for Make a Difference Day.

Our kids at the early childhood center seem to really be enjoying their new building as you can tell by all the smiles from the Fall Fun Night.

Alum Payton Hintz ’14 was named the Blue Angels Spotlight Player for her work on the volleyball court at Mount Mary University. Read more about Hintz and here volleyball achievements here.

A few PCHS band students traveled to the University of St. Thomas to participate in an honors band concert with about 100 other high school students from WI and MN.

Mark your calendars – you sure won’t want to miss out on the upcoming production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid performed by our very talented middle schoolers!

Each year, our senior students take part in Senior Service Day, giving back to the community in many different ways. There was a team that cleaned up Belke Lumber for alum Jim Belke ’59, groups that cleaned area parishes, and many students that spent their day at St. Bron’s reading and playing with our elementary students.

Kindergarteners at St. Steve’s got to dress up for the day as community helpers, learning what they can to do help others.

PCHS hosted the 2nd Annual Cardinal Career Fair learning from many area businesses and professionals about their career path. Special thanks to all that participated, especially our alumni.

Alum Sami Kay Shafranski ’15 and her Upper Iowa University D3 softball team earned the highest GPA among softball teams of all divisions in the country for the 16-17 school year. Of the team, Shafranski was individually awarded with a spot on the President’s Team for having the highest GPA.

See Pacelli in the news? Send it to pacelli@pacellicatholicschools.com for inclusion on our website, social media sites, or e-newsletters.

Community Happenings

Local business Skyward, Inc. recently celebrated earning their 2,000th customer! Congratulations to a great family-run business and we’re proud to partner with you for our school management and student information needs.

The Stevens Point Area Convention & Visitors Bureau wants to hear from you on what you look for when you travel for leisure. Regardless of where you work or live, you’re eligible to participate in the survey and make the Stevens Point community an even better place to live and visit.

UW System President Ray Cross announced a restructuring of UW Colleges and UW-Extension to make improve student access and success and meet the changing workforce needs of Wisconsin. This will bring some changes to UWSP, UW-Marshfield, and UW-Marathon County.

Next Wednesday, Nov. 9, the Stevens Point area will host the finale event for HATCH, a startup business competition run by Newaukee and Brightstar Foundation in which the winner will receive $10,000! Register to attend the event at the Noel Hangar and watch three Stevens Point residents compete and others from North Central Wisconsin compete for the grand prize.

The sculpture park became home to four new-large scale pieces as part of the “Out of the Woods: A Grand Entrance” residency with help from UWSP students, staff, and artists from across the globe.

Take a sneak peek, behind-the-scenes tour of the new UWSP Chemistry Biology Building, scheduled to open in less than a year.

Spot community updates or events? Share it with pacelli@pacellicatholicschools.com to include in the new Community Happenings section of our e-newsletter and website.

Pacelli is having a blood drive for the American Red Cross on Tuesday, October 31. We need your help to make this event a success! Appointments begin at 9:00 am and continue at 15 minutes intervals through 2:00 pm. Sign up online at http://www.redcrossblood.org/give or by emailing mschmitz@pacellicatholicschools.com.

As a direct result of this event, Pacelli students will receive scholarship money! The amount of the scholarship increases with each donation. If you do a double red cell donation, we will get double credit for your donation. Last year Pacelli gave out $500. We would like your help to continue generating scholarships for our students. Thank you for in advance for making this event a success.

Contact Maria Schmitz at mschmitz@pacellicatholicschools.com or call 715-342-2008 with any questions.

Community Happenings

Check out the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of India at the 30th annual Festival of India taking place on Saturday, Oct. 7 at SPASH.

UWSP was recently ranked in the Top 10 public Midwestern universities.

Sentry is home to a new restaurant, Muse, taking over the former home of @1800. SentryWorld is also hosting their Close the Course Run/Walk on Nov. 4 to mark the end of this year’s golf season.

In partnership with Create Portage County, Whitefeather Organics farm in Custer is hosting FIRE WORKS, a fun community art event where they’ll also have farm-to-table brick oven pizzas and fresh-pressed cider available for purchase.

The Portage County Business Council’s Wines of the World event will take place on Friday, Oct. 20 at the Holiday Inn featuring not only wines from around the world but local wines from Sunset Point Winery, local craft spirits from Great Northern Distilling, and local food from Rockman’s and Ski’s Meat Market.

UWSP is working in partnership with aquaponics facilities like Nelson and Pade Inc. to help lure Wisconsin’s youth into farming in a whole new way.

Spot community updates or events? Share it with pacelli@pacellicatholicschools.com to include in the new Community Happenings section of our e-newsletter and website.

Pacelli’s Athletic Hall of Fame inducted five new members this past September. This year’s inductees were Dan Herzog ’08, Scott Herzog ’06, Tyrell West  ’99, coach Ann Molski, and special contributor Scott Krueger. 

Hall of Fame induction activities included the Pacelli homecoming parade, tailgate party, and halftime introduction at the football game. A formal induction ceremony and brunch were held Saturday, September 28 at the Holiday Inn & Convention Center. In front of a room full of family and friends each inductee reflected on their memories and lessons learned during their athletic career at Pacelli. They were each presented with a plaque produced in Pacelli Catholic High School’s IDEA Lab to commemorate this achievement.

Notable accomplishments of each inductee appear below.

Tyrell West | Class of 1999 | Football, Basketball, & Track
Ty was a 4-year football letter winner, all-conference running back, and an all-conference and all-state defensive back. He was a member of the 1995 WISSA State Championship team and 1998 WISSA State Runner-Up.

He was 3-year letter winner in basketball and a 4-year letter winner in track & field. Ty was a 1997 state champion in the 400m relay, 1999 state runner-up in the 1600m relay, and 100m dash state qualifier his senior year.

He continued his football career as defensive back at Ripon College (1999-2002). The Red Hawks were MWC champions in 2001 and Ty was an all-conference defensive back in 2002.

Scott Herzog | Class of 2006 | Football, Basketball, & Baseball
Scott was a 4-year letter winner in football, basketball, and baseball during his years at Pacelli.  Scott is the 2nd all-time leading rusher in Pacelli football history with 4,111 yards and 3rd all-time with 57 career touchdowns. He was a 3-time first team all-conference running back, an all-conference and all-state defensive back his senior year, and helped lead the Cardinals to the WIAA Division 7 state championship in 2005.

In baseball Scott was a member of the 2003 state championship team and was 1st team all-conference during his junior and senior seasons. His 100 career RBIs are 2nd all-time.

Dan Herzog | Class of 2008 | Football, Basketball, & Baseball
Dan was also a 4-year letter winner in football, basketball, and baseball at Pacelli. Dan was a member of the the 2005 state championship football team and the 2006 & 2007 conference championship teams. He was an all-conference quarterback and the 2007 CWC Defensive Player of the Year and all-state defensive back. 

He was all-conference in basketball his junior and senior year.  

Dan was a 3-time all-conference selection in baseball and honorable mention all-state in 2008. During his career Pacelli won three conference championships and were 2007 state tournament qualifiers. Dan ranks in the top-10 all-time for career stats in pitching and hitting at Pacelli.

Ann Molski | Coach | Softball
Ann has been the head coach of the Pacelli Softball team since 2005. In that time Ann has led the Cardinals to 9 conference championships, 2 state titles in 2012 and 2015, along with runner-up finishes in 2011 and 2017, and state tournament appearances in 2013, 2018, and 2019. She is approaching 300 career wins and has winning percentage over .800.  

Ann is entering her 28th year as a teacher for Pacelli Catholic Schools. She currently teaches 2nd grade at Pacelli Catholic Elementary-St. Stephen.

Scott Krueger | Special Contributor
Scott has been the voice of the Pacelli Cardinals since 1977. Over the last 40+ years, Scott has been calling the action of Pacelli football, basketball, baseball, and softball, along with SPASH and UWSP sporting events.

With gratitude, Pacelli Catholic Schools revealed today the identity of the major donor responsible for the $500,000 gift to the Pride in Our Past…Faith in Our Future Capital Campaign. The gift, which was used as a matching gift challenge for maximum impact, was made by philanthropist and alumnus Tim Copps ’60.

“Tim’s gift is a great blessing to us,” said Gregg Hansel, director of education for Pacelli Catholic Schools. “It will help us in so many ways, not just now but well into the future.”

The gift will be used, in part, to fund renovations at the St. Stanislaus school building in preparation for that building to become the new home of the Pacelli Catholic Schools Tim Copps Early Childhood Center.

“Tim’s gift was instrumental in helping us raise an additional $1 million towards our capital campaign,” said Hansel. “Those additional funds are crucial to continuing a strong tradition of Catholic schools in this community.”

The remainder of Copps’ gift will be used to establish the Excellence in Education Fund for teacher salary enhancement created through the Pride in Our Past…Faith in Our Future Capital Campaign.

“That piece really stood out to me,” said Copps. “You need to provide people with a good salary.”

Copps’ identity was revealed after a recent meeting between PCS administrators and Copps, who spends his summers in Stevens Point and winters in Naples, FL.

Tim Copps is a 4th generation member of The Copps Corporation. While serving as president, Copps and his brothers and cousins decided to focus on developing Superstores, the first of which was opened in Oshkosh in 1984. From there they expanded to Manitowoc, Appleton, Green Bay, Stevens Point, and Fond du Lac, opening smaller stores in many other parts of Wisconsin. In 2001, The Copps Corporation sold 22 Copps stores to Milwaukee-based Roundy’s, which was later purchased by Kroger in 2016, allowing Tim Copps to focus more on philanthropy.

Major philanthropic efforts of Copps include supporting other local organizations like the Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, United Way, and UWSP, among others.

“I’m glad the fund drive was a success,” said Copps of the capital campaign. “I’m glad I was a part of it.”

 Right: Tim Copps (right) admires his senior class photo and those of his classmates while reminiscing about friends and memories made before his graduation in 1960 from Pacelli High School. Pictured with Copps is Gregg Hansel (left) of Pacelli Catholic Schools.

Stevens Point Journal: Tim Copps provides $500,000 gift to Pacelli Catholic Schools campaign

Stevens Point City Times: Pacelli Reveals Identity of $500K Donor