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       "The Messenger"


          February 4, 2019
  Vol. VI, No. 24
St. Michael's Academy
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What a wonderful Catholic Schools Week! 

The spirit is alive and well here at St. Michael's Academy. We had a lot of balls up in the air this week, what with all the different events and activities. It was fantastic to see our whole school community working together to ensure a successful week. 

Thank you to everyone, parents, faculty, staff, and students who helped to make this year's Catholic Schools Week a very special one.  We have included quite a few photos this week.  I hope you enjoy them.

Hope to see everyone tomorrow at the Pasta Dinner!

Peace and God's blessings,

Ms. Ann E. Dougal 

  Important Dates
 
Please Make A Note Of These Important Dates 


Banking every 
Wednesday
Violin every Thursday


Saturday, February 2, 2019 FROM 5-7 p.m.
PASTA SUPPER !!!

Saturday, February 9, 2019
Snow Date for Pasta Supper


Please remember to attend Church as a family

 Advancement

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Thank you for your generous support for the NCEA Day of Giving held on Jan. 29th -30th. Thanks to you, we raised $4,335 dollars in a 24 hour period. We met our goal of $3,000 and our generous benefactors who pledged a matching amount kindly turned in a check for $3,000! That means our total amount collected was $7,335!

A huge thank you to our Challenge Donors who provided this incentive to motivate others to give. We are deeply grateful for their generous gift!





From The Classroom of Mrs. Logan - Grade 1

1st Grade is Hopping! 

January has been a very exciting month for the first grade. The Forest Park Zoo on the Go came to our classroom for an in- house field trip. The students learned interesting facts about each type of animal and were able to pet each one. The zoo brought 2 ferrets, a Chinese Water dragon, a Flemish Giant rabbit, a snake, and an adorable hedgehog!


At the end of the month the students really got into the Catholic Schools Week spirit! The students wrote exciting snowmen stories for our Curriculum Fair. On Sunday the first graders showed off th
eir awesome stories and were engaged in our game rooms. They were a
ble to play fun math and reading games with their families and were able to take a math game home to play. On Monday the students made beautiful bookmarks for the priests in our diocese and they also designed super snowmen placemats for our Warm Winter Wishes breakfast for our volunteers.


Their favorite part of the whole month had to be Student Appreciation Day! The students dressed in red, white, and blue for our Twin Day Dress Down, and when they heard the music over the intercom everyone got up and danced. Later, the children watched a movie and made valentines with their 4th grade reading buddies for the soldiers and veterans in our area.

 
What a great way to end the month of January!


 Catholic Schools Week

What A Fun Week!

It has been a fantastic Catholic Schools Week at St. Michael's Academy and it's not over yet!  We will wrap up the week with our Pasta Supper tomorrow night. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door!

Here are some photos from the week!

Open House and Curriculum Fair
Sunday
A panel of students, parents and teachers joined us at our Open House for perspective students.  There were great questions from the audience!

All of the classrooms showcased work from all of our currrent students. If you visited them all, you were able to vote in our "People's Choice Award" for the 8th grade SchoolsNEXT projects!


Raffle Baskets
All Week
Tickets are still on sale for the raffle baskets.  Winners will be drawn at the Pasta Supper tomorrow night!


The students all had the opportunity to put a few raffle tickets in for their favorites.  Good luck everyone!


Warm Winter Wishes
Tuesday
Our second grade students shared a wonderful event with their grandparents this week.  They entertained everyone with their songs and dance. A special thank you to Grace and Jadeline who were the emcees and to Mrs. Luppi, who spoke about the importance of having a school like St. Michael's Academy!





School Mass with Fr. Mark Mengel
Wednesday

Thank you Fr. Mark for celebrating Mass with us!



10 Year Service Pins Awarded
Wednesday
SMA is 
10 years old this year!  Congratulations to all the faculty and staff who were awarded their 10 year service pin!






Teacher Appreciation Luncheon
Thursday



Dress Down Day
Friday
Some had a pj day, others had a twin day.  But the one thing everyone had in common?  A FUN day!


Beware of Spiderman!

Quadruplets!
(Don't pay any attention to the Packer paraphernalia in the background!)




We even had minions!


Get Up and Move!
When you hear the music...get up and move!


Electric Slide

How low can you go?
You do the Ho-key-pokie!


It's time for the Chicken Dance...



 SchoolsNEXT

And The Winners Are....

As you may know, Schools NEXT is an annual project the 8th grade students participate in where they are tasked with designing or redesigning a learning space to meet the needs of the modern student. This year's class was tasked with redesigning portions of the current St. Michael's Academy campus. In keeping with our recent modernization efforts including the lobby, new windows, and gym updates students made "suggestions" for future upgrades to our learning space.

We have been giving you updates on the students working on their projects but the day finally came on  Thursday, January 24, when students presented the culmination of this 5 month long project. They shared with local judges their computer aided drafting models, physical models made of recycled and reclaimed materials, an in-depth written report and commercial video. During the 20 minute presentations, students explained their reasoning for the adaptations and changes they recommended.

The esteemed panel of judges were then tasked with identifying the school winners for this year's competition. One of our judges, retired Superior Court Judge Brian MacDonald spoke at the St. Michael's Academy Catholic Schools Week Curriculum Fair stating that this was the best group yet. All of our children should be proud of their accomplishments and know that the winners were awarded based on the smallest of details. 

The Schools NEXT project is a mainstay here at St. Michael's Academy and a way for our children to show all they have learned and mastered through a real world application. We are all proud of their accomplishments.

Congratulations to this year's winners:

1st Place: "Trifecta"
Brenna, Sarah and Liam

2nd Place: "K.J.N.S.
Jillian, Siobhan, Nghi and Kayla (unavailable at photo time)


3rd Place: "Catolpolis"
Nicholas, Jonathan, Arianna and Jordan (unavailable at photo time)


Honorable Mention: "Take Four"
Ethan, Kaylie, Alberto and Toma (unavailable at photo time)



Food For Thought
    
"Listen with the ear of your heart."

                            - St. Benedict of Nursia


  Pope Francis Prep 
   


REMINDER!

Pope Francis Prep School's Placement Test will be administered TOMORROW,  Saturday, February 2, at 9 a.m. at 99 Wendover Road, Springfield.  You must be pre-registered to take the test Decisions of acceptance are made based on the student's overall middle school record (grades and conduct), standardized test scores, the results of the High School Placement Test (HSPT), and personal interview.

Please call Ann Rivers, Director of Admissions, at 883-999-7673 ext. 1132, or email at arivers@popefrancisprep.org if you have any questions.

 
Parish News
   
St. Michael's - East Longmeadow



St. Michael Parish in East Longmeadow invites you to join Fr. Gary Caster for an "Evening with St. Joseph." The event will be held on Wednesday, February 27th at 7 p.m. in the Church.




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St. Elizabeth's - Ludlow
 
Healing Hearts with Hope Support Group

Help and Hope for birth parents and others affected by adoption. The first meeting of Healing Wounded Hearts Support Group will be held on February 5, 2019 at St. Elizabeth's Church, 201 Hubbard Street in Ludlow. The group will meet in the Jordan Room at the parish center at  7 p.m. This group has formed with the intent of being of support to anyone affected by adoption, whether they are birth parents, adoptees, adoptive parents or siblings and family of adoptees. Please join us and help us help each other! 




The Eucharist: A Sacrament of Healing & Hope

Join us as we explore the nature of addiction, the dynamics of recovery, and the power of the Eucharist to transform lives shattered by addiction on February 6, 2019 @ 6:30pm in the St. John the Baptist Pastoral Center. located on 201 Hubbard Street Ludlow. 

Rev. Mark S. Stelzer, S.Th.D. College Chaplain, Associate Professor of Humanities College at Our Lady of the Elms will be our guest speaker.  


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Holy Cross 

The Holy Cross Knights of Columbus are hosting their 5th annual Sweetheart Dance on Saturday, Feb. 16th in the St. Michael's Academy gym, 153 Eddywood St. Springfield, MA. Tickets are $30 a person; singles welcome! 

Arrive at 6 p.m. sharp for a Cheese & Cracker Social. Gourmet catered dinner is at 7 p.m. with a DJ and dancing until 11:00 p.m. BYOB if you'd like a beverage with dinner. 

Tickets may be purchased securely through Yapsody  (click here) using debit/credit/or PayPal by visiting holycrosskoc.yapsody.com. Tickets are limited and will only be on sale until February 10th. Please call Bob Bys at 413-563-1147 for more info.


Also at Holy Cross

25th Anniversary Celebration




On Saturday, June 8, 2019 at 5 p.m. there will be a celebration for the 25th anniversary of Father David Darcy's ordination to the priesthood. More details will follow!






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Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Holy Cross



On Superbowl weekend, Mt. Carmel and Holy Cross will be among at least eight parishes asking worshippers to put $1 per person out of their Big Game snack costs, into big soup pots on their way out of church.  This will go to the annual national SOUPERBOWL collection for hungry people in our own area.



Prayer Corner
 
 
St. Michael the Archangel, pray for us! 

We pray for all St. Michael's Academy students, families, faculty, and staff, and their special intentions.

And we pray in a special way for our recently departed.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. 



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St. Michael's Academy 
153 Eddywood Street - Springfield, MA 01118
www.smaspringfield.org
413.782.5246 office 
413.782.8137 fax