Frequently Asked Questions

What is the plan for the 2020-2021 school year under COVID-19 Pandemic?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are offering a program that uses a combination of virtual and in-person meetings.  In this hybrid program, the youth will have the opportunity to meet with their household in-person AND have a large group experience roughly once a month. The remaining meetings that month are virtual. The monthly in-person gathering will be staggered - only 3-4 households will come on a given Sunday night.  The other households will come on different weeks.  This is to ensure that the maximum teens/adult do not exceed 50 people.  The in-person nights will begin with Household time (30 min) where the teens are welcome to bring their own food. Next, the households will be released one at a time to go to our Large Group gathering (either in Sanctuary or Parish Hall) all while maintaing our safety protocol.  After the the talk and prayer in large group, the households will go back to their meeting rooms for conversation about that night's topic.  This hybrid model limits your teens exposure to just the 10-12 teens in their household. All adults and teens will follow social distance protocols recommended by the CDC (masks, 6 ft social distancing, hand sanitizing).   Accommodations can be made for youth who cannot meet in-person or cannot meet virtually.  Please indicate this need on your registration form. For more detailed information, please visit our COVID-19 Protocols page.

WHAT will VIRTUAL youth nights look like?

We feel that the last thing HS teens want to do after being in VIRTUAL Classrooms all day is to join another one. So, we are getting very creative! Please sign-up for the HS Newsletter to stay up to date with our crazy ideas!  We will make every attempt at INCLUDING EVERYONE - those which desire in-person events as will as those who desire virtual only.

What SAFETY PRECAUTIONS ARE YOU TAKING for the IN-PERSON large group experience?

Our households will be given specific enterances to use and their own meeting space in order to limit exposure.  Each teen and CORE adult will have their own chair, 6' apart from each other, and will be required to wear a mask.  No supplies will be shared and no games that require personal contact be played. Dismissal for the large group time in the sanctuary will be one at a time.  All groups will be seated in sanctuary using similar protocols to our Masses (6' apart with masks). Dismissal to go back to households will be staggered as well.

WHAT ARE HOUSEHOLDS?

Households are a MAJOR part of our High School Ministry.  These are our small groups (our families).  We give our households a name, a patron saint, and they develop their own culture and personality.  We based this structure off the Franciscan University of Steubenville Household system.  They have had these in place for 40 years!  We plan to do the same! Under COVID-19, we will be using this small group model more and more.  Small group ministry lowers the amount of people any one person is exposed to and builds that community bond stronger and stronger.

This page is always a work in progress.  As parents/teens ask questions, we will update this page.