Principal's Weekly Newsletter

Dear St. Mary’s,

It is with great gratitude that I write this final brief message to the St.Mary’s family. I can’t thank you all enough for this past year. It has been such a remarkable time where I have learned so much. I will always be in debt to this family for its loving and welcoming spirit.

I learned so much from every teacher, administrator, custodial worker, parent, and most importantly every student. Each person at the school has taught me something which I hope to bring to the next school I go to.

Also, I have learned so much from our principal Dr. Nadjarian and our Pastor Fr. Jonathan. I am deeply grateful to them for their patience and encouragement as I went through this year.

I would also like to thank our 5th and 8th-grade students who I had the privilege of teaching. Lastly, I extend my gratitude to our admissions team: Maureen, Renalyn, Dan, Maria E, Miss Annie, and Miss Gloria. Thank you so much for showing me the ropes and for walking with me this past year.

As I finish my time here, I must leave with one last reminder and encouragement.

At times it is easy to see how things could be better; however, I am convinced that today, at this very moment, there is something remarkably beautiful that is happening before us. We must only open our eyes and change our disposition to see the little moments that make life so special and nowhere else have I seen this more clearly than in our students.

So often throughout the year they always reminded me to look around and recognize all the little gifts which the Lord has placed in my life.

And so I encourage us (including myself) to remember that every once in a while let our students become the teachers and let them show us how to see things with eyes of wonder and gratitude.

Please know that you will always be in my prayers and I thank you for this wonderful year at St. Mary of the Assumption.

As we wrap up the 2022-2023 school year, please keep the following in mind:

1. Next week will be a dress-down week since we have our uniform swap on Wednesday.

2. Pizza Friday will be moved to Thursday

4. The last day of EDP is Thursday

5. Our last day of school is Friday, June 16th (dismissal at 11 a.m)

Congratulations to this week's featured graduates below!

June 13th

• Parent Volunteer Council Meeting at 8 a.m.

June 14th:

• Uniform Swap 2:15-3:15

June 16th

• Last Day of School

September 4th

• No School - Labor Day

September 5th

• No School- Student/Teacher Meet and Greet

September 6th

• First Day of School (Grades 1-8) & Early Dismissal: 11:30 a.m. Bring a snack from home

September 7th

• First Full Day of School (Grades 1-8) Bring lunch from home
• Orientation (PreK-K2), 9-10:30 a.m.

September 8th

• First Day of School with only PreK-K2 & Early Dismissal for PreK-K2 at 11:30 a.m. Bring a snack from home
• Second Full Day of School (Grades 1-8) Bring lunch from home

I am once again happy to report 0 Covid-19 cases.

End-of-year medication pick-up: Students' Epi-pens, inhalers and medications will be available for pick up on the last day of school. MDPH requires that I hand these medications off to an adult. I will be in the cafeteria so please stop by to pick up any medication. Medications left after the last day of school will be discarded.

Enjoy your weekend

On Wednesday we celebrated the graduation of our 8th grade students! We held a beautiful Convocation Mass celebrated by Father Jonathan followed by a commencement ceremony. Dr. Nadjarian opened the ceremony with a speech that reminded the Grade 8 students of the important values they have learned during their time at St. Mary’s, and how she hopes they carry these values with them as they move on in their academic careers. She also reminded the students that they will also have a home at St. Mary’s, and encouraged them to visit often as alumni. Will Southmayd represented the class as the graduation speaker. Will reflected upon his growth throughout his time at St. Mary’s and shared fond memories shared with his classmates. Jenny Anyosah, Head of Student Council, spoke about the impact that St. Mary’s has had on her, and how she has grown as a leader with the help of the St. Mary’s community. Each of our Middle School teachers, Ms. Stroia, Mr. Febesh, Ms. Suriawinata, and Mr. Nguyen shared beautiful and inspiring words. Following the speeches, students were presented with their diplomas. We were also honored to be joined by the Superintendent of Boston Catholic Schools, Mr. Thomas Caroll. We are so proud of our graduates, and wish them all the best in their next chapter!

Thank you to Nurse Catherine for hosting an amazing American Girl Doll & ice cream party for Mary Margaret and her PreK friends as part of our development fundraiser! Our students had such a great time!

The first-ever 2-4th drama club ensemble had their final performance share on Thursday! These 17 superstars have been working SO hard on script study, a theatre standard that usually doesn't get covered until much later in drama education! Students entertained us with comedies, existential deep-thinking pieces, original scenes, advertisements, and of course- the longest handshake in the world!

Students from grades K2-8 performed pieces they had been working hard all year! Here were some of the pieces that were performed:

K2 Ukelele- “The Wheels on the Bus”, and “Old McDonald”.

Grades 1+ 2 beginner violinists-“Walking Song” and “Morning Dance”

Grade 2 experienced violinists- “Song for Christine”

Grade 3 and 4 violinists- “Frère Jacques”

Grades 5-8 Band- “Mishuanga Boogie” and “Let’s Go, Band!”

Honors Band-“Seven Nation Army”

A special thank you to Livia Ho, who performed “Harlequinade”

All of the students who performed did an amazing job! We are so proud of the musical growth they have demonstrated this year.

On Tuesday, our French students performed a skit that they have been working hard on. The students have been learning how to order food in a restaurant setting. Not only did this skit demonstrate how much they have excelled in their language skills, but it also incorporated a message that shows one of the important St. Mary’s values. In this skit, a family invites a less fortunate family to join them at a restaurant. This served as a reminder to all our students of the importance of acts of service and helping those who are less fortunate.

Following the French performances, one of our third-grade students, Lola, performed a famous Chinese folk song on the violin. She did a great job with this piece, and it was clear that she put a lot of time into practicing!

Field Day was a blast! Rain or shine our students showed up with great sportsmanship to help make it a great day! Thank you to all our staff and parent volunteers who helped out with the event!

To celebrate these last 10 days, PreK is doing a 10 countdown! Each day, they e will do a different fun activity.

Here are some of the activities from this week:

1. Field Day

2. Camp Day

3. Teddy Bear Picnic Day

4. Color Day

5.Pajama Day

K2 students are continuing their alphabet countdown. They celebrated “T Day” with a Treasure Hunt! They went all around the school searching for each letter of the alphabet until it finally led them to the treasure box in the main office. In order to unlock the treasure box, the had to sing the alphabet to Ms. Gloria who had captured their treasure.

Grade 1 students reflected on their year by creating their own memory books of their first-grade year! Students shared their favorite moments, field trips, and projects throughout the year. They also got to sign each other's memory books so they can always remember their friends!

Grade 2 is wrapping up their unit on poetry writing by creating their very own poetry books! Students learned about alliterations, similes, metaphors, and rhyme then used these literary elements to compose their own poems.

3rd Graders participated in a STEM challenge where they used recycled materials to build a boat that could carry a doll over a body of water without tipping over. Students had to think carefully about which materials would float while providing a sturdy enough structure to make it across the water. Once students tested their boats, they had to think critically about what improvements could have been made if they were to do more trials of this project.

Ms. Cafferky's students also wished their Swedish penpals a Happy Summer!

Grade 4 students hosted a State Fair and invited parents, faculty, staff, and St. Mary's students to attend and learn all about different states. Before the fair, students hand-made personal invitations and distributed them all around the school. They were tasked with choosing a state, researching, writing a report, as well as creating a visual representation of the state.

5th grade completed their research projects on topics of their choice. They had to come up with subtopics to present on their main topics and provide three main points about each subtopic.

The 5th-grade students shared their biography presentations on a famous figure that they did research on. They put their research together into a beautiful presentation. They also included a self-portrait of themselves presenting their work. Students did a great job engaging their classmates in their presentations, leaving time at the end for other students to ask them questions.

The 6th-grade students are working on presenting their culture project. They presented the cultures of the countries they researched. The presentations included teaching a traditional Swedish dance, serving traditional food from China and Ireland, and demonstrating Senegalese wrestling.

8th Graders presented their final portfolios where they reflected on their favorite memories at St. Mary's and how much they have grown as students and as people. They did a great job presenting their creativity while reflecting on their experiences together as a class before graduation!

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