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Behind the Scenes of Make a Joyful Noise 2025

National Catholic Schools Week is Jan. 26-Feb. 1. To raise awareness and promote Catholic Education, many of our Catholic Schools have created amazing videos with dancing and singing to their favorite songs for the annual “Make a Joyful Noise” campaign, which kicks off Sunday, Jan. 26 and runs through Sunday, Feb 23.

Amy Impellizzeri, Director of Development at the Diocese of Allentown, tells us more about this campaign.

Q: Is this campaign new?

A: Make A Joyful Noise turns three this year! Last year, 23 diocesan schools collectively raised over $220,000 from nearly 900 donors. With 27 schools participating this year, there’s much hope that the competition will exceed even those numbers.

Q: What is different this year?

In addition to more schools participating, the competition is being held earlier in the year, kicking off on Jan. 26 at the start of Catholic Schools Week. We gave our schools a challenge: to film and edit their videos before Christmas break so we could use them to kick off Catholic Schools Week in a grand way this year – and our schools rose to the challenge!

At the suggestion and initiative of Valerie Versmee in the Office of Education, we also partnered with the TV/Film department at DeSales University, Center Valley. A few students assisted some of our diocesan schools to produce their videos. This helped increase participation in this year’s competition. The film students study with Chuck Gloman, Program Director of TV/Film at DeSales University. Chuck was very supportive of this initiative and welcomed Valerie’s idea of using one’s skills for a noble cause: promoting Catholic Education through fun, energy bursting videos.

Q: So, what’s in for the schools?

On the competition’s website, www.weloveourcatholicschools.com, each school has a fundraising page where anyone can watch a video, cast a vote for their favorite video, and donate to the school from Jan. 26 to Feb. 23.

Each donation counts as 1 vote. At the end of the campaign, we will have counts for funds raised and number of votes for each school to determine which schools receives awards.

The “Maestro” award recognizes the school that raises the most money during the competition. This award has gone to Nativity BVM High School, Pottsville for two consecutive years. Last year, Nativity raised almost $133,000 with a video featuring a mash-up of 16 songs.

The “Crescendo” award recognizes schools showing top per capita donor participation based on enrollment. Last year, this award was given to three schools: Good Shepherd Catholic School, Northampton; Mercy School for Special Learning, Allentown; and St. Joseph Center for Special Learning, Schuylkill Haven. They all had over 100% participation.

The exciting news is that this year, additional awards will be added to honor the creativity and innovation of some of the videos. After watching the incredible work that went into this year’s Make A Joyful Noise videos, we want to recognize even more schools. In past years, there were some smaller schools that spent a lot of energy and time on their videos, but maybe didn’t have the same resources to promote as some of our bigger schools. We want to make sure to recognize some of these videos, too.

 

Q: How will schools receive their awards?

A: For the first time, award winners will be recognized in a ceremony after the competition closes. Everyone who donates or participates in the ‘Make a Joyful Noise’ competition will be notified via email with the award ceremony details and a link to the filmed ceremony.

“Make a Joyful Noise” is a friendly online musical competition to celebrate school spirit and raise funds for schools throughout Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, and Schuylkill counties.

The competition’s name, “Make a Joyful Noise,” is derived from Psalm 100:1, “Shout joyfully to the Lord,” though some translations say, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.”

We will shout joyfully to our participating schools during the award ceremony. (But in the meantime, please do yourself a favor, and watch the videos for yourselves at www.weloveourcatholicschools.com! We promise you won’t be able to keep from smiling and singing along!)