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Now available: St. Gregory Hawks Twitter! Follow the Hawks @StGregorySchool
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October 16, 2009
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Message from Head of School
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Jonathan E. Martin
Head of School jmartin@stgregoryschool.org www.stgregoryschool.org www.21k12blog.net Twitter:@JonathanEMartin 520-327-6395
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Volunteerism: It's a beautiful thing. Walking campus this (hot!) afternoon, I am struck by the work being performed, hundreds of person-hours, by the Rotary Club of Tucson as they stage here their third annual Car Show. I am also reminded, with new perspective, of the extraordinary volunteerism exhibited daily for St. Gregory by our supporters, especially our parents. Societies rise and fall with the quality of civic virtue, and volunteerism is one of the highest expressions of civic virtue; St. Gregory thrives on the support we receive. Naming individuals is always hard, because so many help so much and to name some is to overlook others, but I am going to take the risk and call out a few outstanding supporters this month. Elaine Sosnowski once again staged a tremendously successful and just plain fun Homecoming. Cathy Rosenberg worked beautifully with other Parent Ambassadors to ensure a fine Upper School Preview Night Wednesday. Sarah Wille, Christine Toretti, Nancy Galdi, Vance Falbaum and Scott Brittenham are making great strides with the absolutely vital board-level school fundraising this year. And, of course, our Rummage Sale volunteers amaze and inspire us all; again, to name some is sadly to leave out others, but surely Allison and Peter Megaw, Tina Roessler and Nancy Clark can be singled out for their above and beyond extraordinary hard work and leadership. Thank you all.
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Quarterly comments go paperless!
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Upper School Head
Susan Heintz
sheintz@stgregoryschool.org
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This year, parents will access comments at the end of each quarter and semester online shortly after the end of a marking period. Parents will receive an email telling them when they can view (and print) the comments. Look for more information next week. |
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Andrea Wilhelmi
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One additional AP scholar to add to last week's list: Andrea Wilhelmi has been recognized by the College Board as an AP Scholar with Honor. Andrea garnered this distinction by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP exams she has taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more AP exams. Congratulations, Andrea! |
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In the Upper School, advisor Mr. Conner reports that Upper School robotics will meet in the Physics Lab at Lunch on Mondays and Thursdays, and that twenty-five to thirty students have expressed interest, with about fifteen students already participating. As the two teams we will field gear up, they may need to add some extra after-school time as well. The robots themselves, the sumbots, have been delivered and can be viewed in the Physics Lab.
In the Middle School, Mr. Decker reports: "We have twenty-five students interested. We are carving out time on Monday and Friday lunches to meet and prepare for the First Lego League competition in December. Ms. Faircloth and I are team-coaching and will share responsibility for guiding and taking the time to open room 102 for the students to work on robots, research, etc. We will also try to open room 102 up for some after-school time as the competition gets closer and we hit the home stretch. We are off to a late start in terms of preparing for the competition but will put together a worthy effort by December. Our goals for this year are: to get the ball rolling for a thriving robotics club here at St. Gregory, get the students involved in some activities that promote different aspects of robotics, and have a lot of fun. At this point, it looks like we will bring two teams of ten to the December competition. Students are being put into two teams based on diversity. The twenty who go to the event will be chosen based on how much time and energy they put into the team effort." Mr. Decker also would like to remind students and parents that as enthusiastic as we all are about this new endeavor, this is very much a first-time round for us, with a steep learning curve, and that year one really must be about participation, fun, and learning-- effective competition is probably still a year or two away. |
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Making Connections and Creating a Kinder World
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Arii Sylvers, Noah Sanders, and Shanice Outah fix lunches at Casa Maria
In a journal entry in 1938, John Steinbeck wrote, “In every bit of honest writing in the world, there is a base theme. Try to understand men; if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love…” The seventh grade completed Of Mice and Men the first quarter and then created projects to demonstrate understanding of Steinbeck’s social concerns: everyone needs a home and a friend. To give you an idea of the depth of their understanding, here is a partial list of the projects they created:
- Interviewing refugee young adults and Marge Pelegrino, the founder of The Owl and Panther, a poetry project for refugee young people
- Interviewing Brian Flagg at Casa Maria, the Catholic Worker House and making lunches for the homeless (see attached photos)
- Creating a campaign for the sale of a new hand sanitizer and using the profits to buy the sanitizer for homeless gentlemen at the Primavera Men’s Shelter
- Interviewing the Director and Volunteer Coordinator at the Humane Society and including footage of the animals presently residing in the kennels
- Interviewing a job coach at Café 54, a downtown café that is staffed entirely by those suffering from mental illness
- Getting TRAK training and taking rabbits and sheep to an assisted living facility
- Interviewing elderly residents at Devon Gables about their friendships, experiences with prejudice, and the meaning of home
- Volunteering with Greyhound Rescue and teaching the class about the organization
- Teaching the class about fostering homeless dogs
- Teaching the class about schizophrenia
- Bringing a rescued Clydesdale to campus and teaching the class about how to care for the magnificent animal
- Volunteering at Ben’s Bells and teaching the class about this organization that promotes kindness
- Teaching the class about Woody Guthrie’s life and contributions to American life
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Hunter Green continues to shine, quarterbacking the A Team to an 8-2 record. He has provided leadership to the team that has now won seven straight games. The B Team has extended its streak to eleven wins as players continue to improve. Danny Benson has been outstanding at quarterback and Raymond Roesler and Jake Roberts defensive standouts. The regular season concludes with games Oct 20 at Tucson Country Day and Oct 22 at Udall against Desert Christian. The A Team will have a tournament running Oct 27, 29, and 30.
The A volleyball team has competed well against all teams, winning six of their twelve matches. Alexandra Brittenham leads the way with precision passing and hard hitting. The B Team has an amazing eighteen girls sharing time and improving skills. Nekkie Cirillo and Sabrina Hale are among the B Team leaders. The volleyball regular season concludes with a match at home against Desert Christian for A and B teams and A team tourney Oct 27, 29, and 30.
Look for winter sports, softball for girls and soccer for boys and girls, to begin Nov 9 following conference week.
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St. Gregory Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
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Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009
7 am - Registration
8 am - Walk Begins
Location: Rillito Downs - 4502 N. 1st Ave.
If you’d like to join our team there is still time. Come out and join us for this wonderful cause. To join, simply access the American Cancer Society website.
The team name is: St. Gregory College Preparatory School
So far our team of three has raised $475.00 dollars! Help us show our team spirit by joining us in the walk against breast cancer.
Contact Shannon Smith for more information. |
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Reminders & Upcoming Events
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Picture Retake Day is October 28th
If you did not have your picture taken on picture day, pick up an order form in the Upper School or Middle School office. If you are dissatisfied with your picture and would like a new one taken, bring your old packet to exchange for a new photo. There will be no extra charge.
Middle School Halloween Dance
On October 30 there will be a middle school Halloween dance, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Cost will be $5.00, or $4.00 with 3 cans of food for the food drive.
St. Gregory juniors and parents,
Please join Kate Schmidt on Wednesday, October 21st at 6:30 p.m. in the theatre for the first junior college counseling presentation of this school year. Topics that will be covered in this session include: an overview of the college counseling program, an introduction to the college admission process, and a demonstration of Naviance, a web-based college counseling software. If you have any questions, please contact Kate Schmidt.
College Visits October 19-29
- October 22
12:00 Arizona State University
1:15 University of Notre Dame
2:15 Tufts University
- October 26
11:30 Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- October 27
11:30 Southern Methodist University
2:00 Hobart & William Smith College
- October 29
12:00 University of Chicago
- October 23 - Rummage Sale Preview / 6-8:00pm
- October 24 - Rummage Sale
- October 28 - Picture Retakes
For additional information about any of the events listed above or St. Gregory athletics, click here. For a printout of the 2009-10 Parent Calendar, click here.
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