Letter to Salpointe Families - November 2023

November 2023

Dear Lancer Families,

Happy Thanksgiving! May God bless you and your family during this sacred season of gratitude. We wish you the joy of creating treasured memories with family and friends. 

On behalf of the Salpointe community, we thank you for doing your part -- as students, parents, past parents, alums and employees -- to make our school a welcoming, inclusive place where the Carmelite charism of prayer, service and community are more than a list of values. 

Lancer life is filled with vitality and joyfulness. Our new highly acclaimed block schedule has allowed us to provide opportunities for in-depth learning, wellness activities, personal growth, faculty professional development … and fun! Our students are focusing on the signature Salpointe experience, as they should be! 

We are a community of hope, courage and resilience. Salpointe Catholic is moving forward with the demolition of the destroyed 700 wing and the construction of eleven new dynamic learning spaces so that every Salpointe teacher will have his/her own classroom. We are dedicating space for our transformational wellness center, a program nurturing the six dimensions of wellness most needed in the development of 14 -18 years olds: spiritual, intellectual, emotional, social, physical and environmental. Thanks to the overwhelming community support of our vision, we raised $4.5M in donations and we (finally) settled with our insurance carrier Christian Brothers Services for $3.2M, so we are fully funded for this ambitious project. Check out our renderings here. Our gratitude to you knows no boundaries!

This fall semester has been marked with energy and engagement here on campus! Kairos continues to be our vibrant capstone spiritual retreat with #293 going out before the end of the year; we offer 22 Advanced Placement courses (and we are planning to increase our dual credit offerings to 22 next year); our Thespians exceeded all expectations with the ambitious production of The Book of Will, and our 50+ athletic teams continue to be highly competitive winners at all levels. 

We hosted Back to School Night, Lancer Men’s Mass and Breakfast, Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame Induction and Open House for Prospective Lancers, sharing our Carmelite hospitality with generations of Lancers. Then at Homecoming, Salpointe welcomed back the treasured classes of 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 2003 and 2013 as well as hundreds of current and alumni families during the weekend of September 29-30. The celebration commenced with a pep rally on Carmelite Plaza, a delicious BBQ dinner at the Lancer Tailgate Pregame Party, and the Lancer win over Desert Vista High School. On Saturday, Salpointe saluted alums who have celebrated 50 years since graduation with the annual Maroon and Gold Luncheon in Alumni Hall. Lancers joined together on Saturday afternoon for Mass and then Saturday night was jam-packed with class parties across Tucson. It was a magical weekend of Lancer pride! Click here for some fun photos!

Pope Francis recently published a follow-up encyclical to Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. The new apostolic exhortation is entitled Laudate Deum: To All People of Good Will on the Climate Crisis. As you may know, when he ascended to the papacy, Pope Francis adopted his name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi who lived in praise of God “for all his Creatures.” A focus of his tenure has been caring for all living things. Pope Francis  notes in Laudate Deum: “This is a global social issue and one intimately related to the dignity of human life. The Bishops of the United States have expressed very well this social meaning of our concern about climate change, which goes beyond a merely ecological approach, because ‘our care for one another and our care for the earth are intimately bound together.’” We commit to do our best to care for our common home here at Salpointe, as our Care for Creation team challenges us to follow Pope Francis’s exhortation and to practice the 4 Rs of sustainability: recycle, reduce, reuse and refuse.

We want to send special gratitude to the Salpointe Catholic Education Foundation Board of Directors for their long term commitment to supporting excellence in education here at Salpointe. Thanks to the continuing generosity of the Foundation, Salpointe is able to retain its position as the premier secondary school in Southern Arizona. If you are not yet a member of the Foundation, please consider joining! Contact Jen Harris at jharris@salpointe.org for more information.

Thanks to the Salpointe Parent Association (SPA) for their welcoming presence at so many events. This dedicated group of women and men offer genuine hospitality as they build a strong sense of community here at Salpointe. After producing the Lancer Men’s Mass and Breakfast featuring Tom Vozzo from Homeboys Industries and enthusiastically leading the volunteer effort at Homecoming, SPA is now planning Grandparents’ Day on November 17, the annual Christmas Tree Lighting on November 29, and the Lady Lancer Brunch and Blessing on Sunday, February 11, 2024 at Hacienda del Sol. Contact Theresa Marquart at tmarquart@salpointe.org for more information.

Kudos also go to our Alumni Council, a group of loyal Lancers across the generations who meet quarterly and work on projects to benefit our school and community. In addition to working at special events, the Alumni Council has taken responsibility for bi-annual roadway cleanliness along Ina Road. All alums are welcome; contact Joseph Luevano at jluevano@salpointe.org for more information.

Finally, we sincerely thank you for your confidence in Salpointe’s bright future. May God bless you and your family during this season of gratitude, hope and joy!

Kay Sullivan   Ardemis Martin

President       Principal