Open House!

We just had our first dance and it was terrific.  About 80% of the school attended and it looked like most of the kids had a very good time.  Plans for the Christmas dance in under way already. 

We are in the throws of planning our open house --- November 18th!  Please pass the word on to anyone who might have a teenager in the family.  Let's let the world know about the great experience you can have at STJ.  It all starts in the community center at 7:00 PM.

We just finished our Student Council elections.  Mike Salvato is our new president, Will Bemiss our new vice-president.  They are very excited about getting to work.  It looks to be a very good Student Council year.

Alumi, you know that you are welcome anytime.  Be on the lookout for our annual appeal.  You may recognize some of the people on the front!

New Sign!

Our new sign is up outside the building!  St. Joseph has a beautiful garden thanks to the Duffleys!  Our art classes have been very busy!  Where can you see all of this!  Yes, you can drive by or stop by (and you are more than welcome anytime) but you can see them on our website (http://www.stjoesjrhs.org/).  Mr. Powell has added some wonderful new pictures to our home page.  Please check them out --- it'll make Mr. Powell feel good!

The First Month In Our New Home

It's hard to believe we have only been here a month!   The St. Anthony teachers have been great, the lunch ladies are awesome and Mr. Bergeron has been wonderful.  The students, of course, have just fallen into a new school as we would expect students to do.  The most common sentence --- "It even looks like St. Joe's!" 

We are all pretty settled in.  Our sports teams are off and running, in fact we have more students playing soccer this year than last year.  It must be the beautiful ORANGE jerseys that are inspiring them.

Classes are going very well and we are now gearing up for our first fundraiser --- PIES.   They will be coming in in early November, just in time for the holidays.  This is perfect for those of us who believe that if someone does it better (like Betty Crocker) why do it yourself?

We are all looking forward to a beautiful fall.  The cooler weather is a blessing!

We're in!!

We're in!  Last week was all about moving.  Now that all the furniture is in and the lockers are in, we are feeling like a junior high.  The teachers are busy opening boxes and decorating their new rooms.  It looks great and we can't believe that we are only one week away from open house --- WOW.

As we get ready for a new year, we like to remember some of the students who will be making a splash in high school.  Of course, we are very proud of the STJ graduates who were valedictiorians --- John and James Strampfer (Trinity) and Ariana Vailas (Central).  What an accomplishment.  Best of luck and best wishes to them and all the class of 2006 as they head to college.

We also wish the best to Cam Boucher (student council president -- Central) and Ryan and Abby Mitchell ( student council president and vice president --- Trinity).   We're sure they will do a great job as all three did a great job at St. Joe's. 

One week to go --- rest up, we have a great year ahead!

The way things look

Here are some photos of what's happening at our new home. In a lot of places, St. Anthony's is looking pretty messy. Rooms have been cleared of desks and tables and the gym is like a mountain range of stacked furniture! All the same, you can definitely see the work that is being done to get the school in great shape for when students arrive later this month. Take a look at what's happening in these pictures. 

Some rooms are getting a total rehab, like these classrooms in the lower level by the gym. 

That's a lot of stuff! Desks and other classroom necessities will be heading back into classrooms once they're ready to go. Don't worry! They're taking care not to damage the gym floor. 

A classroom after a fresh wax and paint job. 

Some places are looking pretty spiffy already!

We're getting some great help! Thanks to everyone for helping make the building look awesome!

Back from vacation and on the move!

Slowly but surely the faculty and staff are coming back from a couple of weeks of vacation.  Most of the building is packed and it looks like we will be moving sooner than expected!  We will be moving the first week of August, so everyone is finishing up.

It will be great to be in earlier so we can have more time to make all our classrooms pretty.  The rooms have all be painted and they look great.  The office is sage green and I am thrilled.  Everyone will have to come to the open house in August to see!  (More about this to come.)

Mr. Bergeron and I have been hammering out the nuts and bolts items:  schedule, drop off, pick up, sports, lunch program, etc.  Everyone will be getting a letter soon with all these details.

Homeroom letters will be going out in the next couple of weeks.  It will be fun for the students to try and figure out who their homeroom teacher will be since they have no idea who is in what room!  What a mystery..........

Back to work.  Have to finish packing the office so I can go clogging.  Have a good week!

The First Balloon Has Fallen!

The first of 13 balloons has finallly come down from the ceiling of the auditorium.  It was nice to revisit the wonderful dinner dance we had that night --- seems like months ago.  350 people enjoying chicken tenders, french fries and pizza and a million other dishes brought by parents.  It was a great night and the start of a new tradition.

Speaking of new traditions, Mr. Powell has finished removing all the name plates from the hundreds of trophies we have here.  We hope to get them organized and put them in a memory box like the beautiful gift the class of 2010 presented to the faculty.  It will be a great puzzle for the class of 2011. 

The class of 2011 will always be very special because they will be the class who will be making all kinds of new traditions.  What a great opportunity for these 8th graders...and the 7th graders will be setting the 2 year bar for all who follow.  What a gift these two classes could pass on to posterity!

We are almost all packed.  Everyone is now going on vacation, but when we get back, the work at St. Anthony and the movers won't be able to move fast enough for us.  When this faculty gets moving, get out of our way ---- we may be mature, but we can still motor with the best of them.

Have a great vacation --- be back soon!