Our Lady of the Visitation School
Our Lady of the Visitation School is a large private grade-school in Cincinnati, Ohio. The school won the 2007 Blue Ribbon Schools Competition. The school's name is often shortened to "Visi".
| Our Lady of the Visitation School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| |
| Coordinates | 39°08′44″N 84°40′08″W |
| Information | |
| Type | Private, Co-ed |
| Motto | "There are Different Gifts but the Same Spirit" |
| Established | 1949 |
| School district | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati |
| President | Holly Aug |
| Principal | Mary Ling Schwarz |
| Faculty | Holly Aug |
| Grades | 1–8 |
| Number of students | 869 |
| Color(s) | Orange and Blue |
| Athletics | Lacrosse, Baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, tennis, track, and volleyball |
| Athletics conference | Varies for each sport |
| Mascot | Viking |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic, NCEA |
| Website | www.olvisitation.org/school.html |
Academics
The school has grades 1-8 and there are four homerooms for each grade. Visitation has many extra classes as well. The school has one library, two gyms, two art rooms, two music rooms, and one large computer lab.
Blue-Ribbon Schools
Visitation won the 2007 Blue Ribbon Schools Competition. The Blue Ribbon award is considered to be the highest honor that an American school can achieve. Any school in the U.S. can enter.
Extracurricular
Athletics
Visitation's mascot is Viking and teams are normally nicknamed the "Visi Vikings". Visitation offers many sports for all grades. In-school activities include "Olympic Day" and a volleyball game. "Olympic Day" is a day-long event in which students from each grade compete in different activities. The volleyball game is another day-long event in which the 8th grade plays against the teachers (of any grade) in a volleyball game. Each homeroom (four homerooms) fields four teams and games take place throughout the day. Grades 1-7 watch the games (two grades for every four games) throughout the day as well. One of the many rivals of Visi include the Our Lady of Victory (Cincinnati) Vipers.
- Football
The Visitation Class of 2010 football team won five straight football titles, while not losing a game in the years on 6,7,8 grade.
- Golf
Brian Louis along with Tyler Day are the only golfers in Visitation history to record a hole-in-one.
Community Service
From first grade on many times of the year (for some grades almost everyday) there are opportunities for community service. Students raise money for charities, give gifts to those less fortunate, and many other things. The older the students get the more responsibility they have. Eighth graders have a group known as E.G.O.(Eighth Grade Organization) which controls a lot (but not all) of which community service activity the school does and when certain fundraisers are. E.G.O. however doesn't control certain activities because certain activities or fundraisers are annual (such as the Layette program or the Ronald McDonald House Collection) and are not changed. Also, E.G.O. does not head every project either. For example, the first grade heads a fundraiser to raise money for Guatemala schools. A.C.T.S.(Association of Catholic Teen Services) is a program that eighth graders can join (but do not have to) which travels around the community doing acts of community service by visiting nursing homes, tutoring under privileged kids, and many other things.
A Green School
Visitation always has worked to be energy efficient. Whether using fluorescent light bubbles or reusable materials in the cafeteria. Most recently, as part of a school project, a portion of the school's roof became a garden. Photos can be seen here.
Families
"Families" is an in-school program, started in 2005, that pairs members of each grade (so eight members per family usually) together for one year and then the families are reorganized. The eighth grader in each family acts as the leader. "Families" participate in activities throughout the year such as making valentines for the elderly, creating things to hang up around the school, and simply have fun. Most recently "Families" created a human American Flag and sent to the U.S. troops overseas along with letters from each "family". "Families" are there to cut down on school bullying and troubles and allow for kids who normally feel left out at school find a home away from home.
60th Anniversary
Visitation celebrated its parish's 60th Anniversary in 2006. The parish started in 1946 (the school didn't start until three years later) as a small church. The church, originally, was a converted army barracks. When the parish began growing rapidly a new church was planned. That church is still in use today but has since been expanded.
Extra
- Visitation also has a large cafeteria which serves hot lunch every day.
- Visitation has an auditorium which is complete with a large stage as big or bigger than some high-school stages.
- Visitation's "VisiFest" is one of the largest parish festivals on the westside of Cincinnati.