Athletics
Our Athletic Association, staffed by parent volunteers, organizes and supports interscholastic, intramural, recreational and educational athletic and related programs. These include volleyball, basketball, softball, track and field, and t-ball. Each parent of children participating in these programs receives an Athletic Association Handbook, which outlines the role and responsibilities of students, parents, and coaches.

Forensics
Forensics is an extra-curricular program which enables students to strengthen their public speaking skills by competing in in-house and/or extra curricular forensic meets. St. Mary Visitation offers an inhouse forensic program for elementary students in grades 3–5 and junior high students in grades 6–8.

Junior high students have the additional opportunity to join the SMV Forensic Team, which competes in Middle Level Forensic Association (MLFA) of Wisconsin sanctioned meets at Milwaukee area schools in January, February, and March. Points are awarded based on performance. Students who accumulate enough points will qualify to participate in the State Forensic Meet in mid-March.

This year, the John M. Hochhaus Memorial In-house Forensic Meet will be held:


Students can choose from a variety of categories in which to compete, including: Prose, News Reporting, Moments in History, Group Acting, Group Interpretation, Demonstration, Storytelling, and more. Materials and detailed category rules are available in the forensic library, located in the school library or at www.mlfawisconsin.org.

Students have the opportunity to attend three coaching sessions prior to the meet, where volunteer parents and alumni of the forensics program will assist them with their selections. During the in-house meets, students will present their selections to judges in two or three rounds. Judges are experienced public speakers, and many are high school, college and young adult alumni of the SMV Forensic Program.

St. Mary Visitation was one of the first elementary schools to offer forensics as an extracurricular to its students more than 20 years ago. Sponsored by Home and School Association, the forensics program is fun and beneficial, providing students with invaluable public speaking experience. SMV graduates routinely point to their SMV forensics experiences as instrumental to their success after graduation.

Join as a group or individual…even if you’ve never done it before!

The Junior High Categories and Registration Form are available online.

Scouts
Daisies start at the K5 level for girls, Tiger Cubs starts in 1st grade for boys, followed by Brownies and Cub Scouts respectively. For grades 5 and up, Girl and Boy Scout opportunities are offered.  For pictures and information on troop events, please click on the following links for Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts.  

Math Olympiad
The Math Olympiad Team consists of 5th and 6th graders. Weekly, the students work together to solve challenging math problems, with an emphasis on being able to explain their reasoning. Once a month, the individual team members compete with other schools by taking a five question math “test”, in which the results are compiled into a team score.

Academic Quiz Team
The SMV Academic Quiz Team is a group of students who competes in quiz bowl, scholastic bowl, and other knowledge competitions. All students in junior high are welcome to join; all that is required is an interest in "trivia" and knowledge. Students play a team game in which they are asked questions about all academic areas, are able to buzz in and score points, and are allowed to work together on bonus questions.  The team plays practice games once a week and travels to tournaments 3-4 times per year.

Chess Team
The SMV Chess Team is a group of students who range from novice to various levels of state ranking. All students in from K5 to 8th grade are welcome to join. We have Certified Chess Instructors for part of the season; these are for beginning instruction and for continued strategic instruction. Students compete in the 2-3 tournaments and festivals each year. The team has lessons and practice from January through March but attend tournament throughout the year. Click here to see our flyer.

For questions about the SMV Chess Team, please contact Brigid Harmeyer at brigidharmeyer@mac.com

Music
Private piano, guitar and band lessons are available during the school day for an extra fee.

Altar Servers
Beginning in 6th grade, students are able to participate in the Church liturgies as altar servers. Training and scheduling are provided by the parish’s Liturgy and Music Dept.