Dear St. Rose School Families:
Greetings and Happy Spring. We have been quite busy at St. Rose School since our last newsletter two weeks ago.
Last Friday our Faculty came together for a Retreat day titled "Spark the Joy." We began the day with a beautiful mass and spent our hours together discovering ways to spark joy in each other and our students. Learning is such a precious journey and we are all dedicated to making your children's days at St. Rose School meaningful in every way.
Four of our young inventors are on their way to the Connecticut Invention Convention at UCONN May 4th. Please join me in congratulating Fourth Graders Joseph Belisari for his invention,
Salt Spreader, Evan Rivera,
Anti-icee and Fifth Graders Evan Kliczewski,
Lead Me Home and Mia Almeida,
Buzz off Bracelet. It is an honor to be selected for this next step and we are proud of their innovative ideas and hard work. We wish them good luck and will follow their progress at UCONN.
Our Model UN team recently went to New York City to participate in the
Global Classrooms International Middle School Model UN Conference in New York City. The delegates represented the country of Latvia and came up with plans to tackle global issues such as cyber crime, cholera, preparedness for chemical weapons attacks, use of nuclear technology to support developing countries, rights of migrant workers, illegal antiquities trading, and adjusting agricultural techniques with climate change. 1,700 middle school students from approximately 30 states and countries participated in the conference. The conference closing ceremony was held at the United Nations General Assembly Hall, and the students got to sit in the same seats as the real UN diplomats from around the world. This is a wonderful enrichment opportunity for our students and I am grateful to Mrs. Katelyn Doane for running the program as well as to parent Mrs. Connie Carey for chaperoning and helping at the conference.
If anyone was walking by the Science Lab after school last week and smelled something fishy going on it was a shark dissection! This wonderful opportunity was provided by Mrs. Petrillo as part of the Fun Faculty Raffle during Catholic Schools Week and the lucky student was Pablo Necco from Fifth grade. According to Mrs. Petrillo, Pablo did a fantastic job with the project. This is a terrific example of how a student's quest for learning is fulfilled by a dedicated teacher's commitment to opening new doors of opportunity.
The spirit of learning, service and kindness is quite evident in our halls and classrooms. We have had many families touring the school and several students shadowing. They all leave with compliments about the warm welcome they receive and the good feeling they get from being at St. Rose School. Students, teachers, parents and administrators all play a vital role in representing St. Rose School so thank you for your part in making this such a wonderful place. We are 60 years and growing strong.
I am excited to announce that our first school mass in the new church will be Friday April 12th followed by the Honor Roll ceremony for grades 6-8. Everyone is invited to join us and I hope you will. This is first of many special school celebrations that will take place at the church in the weeks ahead including Grandparents/Special Persons Day on May 3rd, First Holy Communion on May 4th, Confirmation on May 25th and 8th Grade Graduation on June 8th. We are blessed to be such a vibrant community.
Next week is International Week. Our teachers have been working hard to make this an interactive, fun and meaningful experience for our students and families. There are many events during the week that you can attend. A schedule can be found below -- I look forward to seeing you.
I am delighted to welcome Owen Tokarski, baby brother of Gregory in Mrs. Karen Wojtowicz's class, to the St. Rose School family. I would also like to share some news that I learned this week from our Fifth Grade teacher Mrs. Damalas. She will be leaving St. Rose School as of April 30th due to personal reasons. I am grateful to Mrs. Damalas for her commitment and service to St. Rose School and her students and wish her God's blessings as she goes forward.
Tomorrow night is the Father-Daughter Masquerade Ball which promises to be a delightful evening. The HSA also hosted a fun Mother Son Night at the Museum last week that everyone enjoyed. The HSA and it's terrific committees are doing a fantastic job providing opportunities for our school families to bond. Many thanks.
I hope everyone has had the chance to buy a Tuition Raffle ticket. This is such a wonderful opportunity and the odds are great. For $100 you have the chance to win $15,000 that can be applied toward tuition in ANY K-12 school, college, university or student loan organization in the United States. Sales will be capped at 350 tickets so your chances are better than playing the lottery. It is our sincere hope that every school family will buy at least one ticket, this is an important fundraiser. Thank you.
St. Rose Church officially re-opens for all masses this weekend and the Knights of Columbus will be hosting receptions after each mass. Representatives from our school will be selling Scrip cards and Tuition Raffle tickets. Please join the festivities and support our school.
Now it is time to sign off with wishes for a wonderful weekend.
God Bless,
Mr. Bardhyl Gjoka
Principal
