Messages From the President
News from the Hill – October 28, 2022
To the East Catholic Family,
I hope you all are healthy and well with autumn upon us. There is certainly a lot going on at East these days!
Fall sports regular seasons are winding down as some teams prepare for the postseason. Our boys and girls cross country teams compete in the Class S State Championships this Saturday, and our girls soccer team will receive their Class S State match-up soon after an impressive season. Come support your Eagles in some of their last games of the year – and dress warm!
Our fall drama production of Clue had a dress rehearsal on Thursday and will have performances on Friday and Saturday, October 28 and 29, at 7:00 p.m. on both days, with a Saturday matinee at 2:00 p.m. as well. Please come out and support our talented Stage East cast and crew!
On Monday, October 31, students will have the opportunity to dress up in costume for Halloween. We do not allow masks that cover the face. Please understand that appropriate and non-offensive costumes must be in line with the dress code in the student handbook. There is no cost to dress up on Monday, so we hope you all have fun embracing the spirit of Halloween!
On Friday, November 11, we will have a half-day of school to honor and learn more about the veteran community for Veterans Day. Though this has typically been a day off for students & faculty in the past, we are taking the time this year to teach our students about the importance of this day. Please see below for more information, but we are looking forward to our program for the day and are grateful to all of those in our East community that have served in our armed forces.
As many of you have likely noticed, our Annex building is still standing. There were some delays due to permitting, but we are formally approved and will begin to bring down the building starting the week of November 7. As mentioned in a previous newsletter, we will reach out to our community for anyone interested in the preservation project to turn the bricks from the building into a grotto by our Mary statue.
The end of the first quarter is next week and will wrap up on Wednesday, November 3. Make sure to stay on top of your work and talk to your teachers about any missing assignments. We want all of our students to start off this year well with a strong first-quarter grade!
As always, please email me if you have any questions or concerns.
Peace,
Sean P. Brennan ’85 - President
News from the Hill – October 14, 2022
To the East Catholic Family,
Let me begin by thanking the entire East Catholic family for your active and generous participation in the 2022 Walkathon. We set a goal of $40,000 and actually raised over $45,000! Because we crushed our goal, the students earned a day off from school on Monday, November 28. Thank you to our advancement team, Walkathon committee, and parent volunteers who helped make this day such a success!
It was also great to see our auditorium filled with prospective students and families for our fall open house last Thursday. It was a wonderful night with over 125 students and over 450 people in attendance. Thanks to the admissions office, faculty, staff, student ambassadors, and parent volunteers for making it such a memorable and positive evening for our guests. We look forward to welcoming students for our first entrance exam on Saturday, October 22.
Spirit week is such a festive time here at East, and this week was no exception! It was fun to see all of the students dress in theme every day this week. Congrats to our class of 2023 for being named spirit week champions. Make sure to come out and support our football team tonight at the homecoming game as they take the field at 6:30 p.m. against Lewis Mills! And for those who purchased tickets, we will see you tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. here at East for our homecoming dance!
A few housekeeping items:
The winter uniform begins on Tuesday, October 18. Get your sweaters ready! Please refer to the handbook with any questions on proper attire.
A new cell phone policy in the school will begin on Monday, October 17. The use of cell phones and air buds will be allowed on the ground floor. This includes the gym, hallway on the ground floor, and cafeteria. Air buds may be used during long period study in the classrooms. The first week will be a "grace period" as students adjust to the new set of rules. The policy will formally take effect on Monday, October 24.
ID’s must be worn on a lanyard during school hours.
The end of quarter one is fast approaching, and will wrap up on Wednesday, November 3. Make sure to stay on top of your work and talk to your teachers about any missing assignments. We want all of our students to start off this year well with a strong first quarter grade!
As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns, brennans@echs.com
Peace,
Sean P. Brennan ’85 - President
News from the Hill – September 30, 2022
To the East Catholic Family,
And just like that, September has slipped away! This month has been an incredible beginning to our school year, and we could not be more excited to start off on such a strong note. October is always a time for many East Catholic traditions, such as Homecoming and our Walkathon, and we can't wait to see our community continue to flourish.
On Saturday, September 25, we hosted our Annual Scholarship Reception. Each year, we are blessed by the generosity of many amazing donors who give out scholarship aid to our students. Each student awarded was acknowledged, and some were even able to connect with their donor.
This upcoming Thursday, October 6, we will be hosting our Annual Open House for prospective students. This is always our biggest Admission event of the year - last year brought over 400 people into our school! We can't wait to meet all of the families that are interested in being part of the East Catholic experience. Please help us in spreading the word about our open house to any prospective student you may know!
The asbestos removal is almost complete on our Annex building, and beginning next week, the process will begin to bring the building down. The Annex building is a rich part of our history here at East Catholic, and efforts are being made to preserve its memory. Sr. Peggy Evans, who spent years living in the building when it was the original convent for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, will be salvaging bricks from the building to create a grotto around the statue of Mary on the front of our school for our community to appreciate. More information on this project will be forthcoming, but please let us know if you would like to be involved.
Our Walkathon fundraiser is in full swing, and we are so grateful for the support and participation from our entire school community! As of this morning, we have already raised over $22,000 as a school. This puts us on track toward our goal, and we're almost double where we were last year at this time. It never ceases to amaze me how wonderful our community is at rallying around this spirit fundraiser to increase the great things we are able to do for our students here at East. We have officially two more weeks until the walk here at school, and if we keep up this momentum, I know we will crush our goal!
On Monday, we will kick off Hispanic Heritage Month with an all-school assembly for our students. Thank you to our Hispanic Heritage Club and our Students of Color Union for their joint efforts in providing programming and resources to our students throughout this month!
On Monday, Jade Colon '23 will also be speaking with our students to introduce ALS Awareness Month and share the impact that ALS has had on her family. Jade was brave enough to share her story last year, and it was wonderful to see our community unite with her in her fundraising efforts. This Saturday, Jade will participate in "The Walk to Defeat ALS" in Hartford to kick off her fundraising efforts for this year. The volleyball team, which Jade is an active member of, will be dedicating their home game on Monday to the ALS community. Come at 5:45 p.m. wearing red to show your support for this important cause!
Congratulations to all of our fall sports teams as we approach the midway point of the season! Our girls soccer team is on an amazing run, winning their last five games. Come watch them play today on our lower fields as they take on Bristol Central High School at 3:45 p.m.! Our girls field hockey team showcased an outstanding display of sportsmanship in their game against Avon High School that represented our East Catholic mission in action. We could not be more proud of our students for exhibiting the selflessness and inclusion that we teach here at East.
As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Peace,
Sean P. Brennan ’85 - President
News from the Hill – September 16, 2022
To the East Catholic Family,
It feels as if we are hitting a good stride as we begin to enter the fall season. Classes are in full swing, sports teams are practicing and playing, Stage East is rehearsing, and the Eagle spirit can be felt in the air.
It was great to have parents on campus for Back to School Night on Thursday, September 8! We always look forward to connecting with the parents and guardians of our students. We hope you all had a great time meeting your students' advisors and teachers. We all look forward to bringing out the best in your students this school year.
On Friday, September 9, we had a wonderful Convocation program. The word means “calling together” and is a common way for schools, colleges, and universities to begin the school year. It has become a tradition at East Catholic that we enjoy sharing with our students to start the school year off strong. We began the day with an All-School Mass, with our chaplain, Father Jaime Maldonado-Avilés, as celebrant. Following Mass, we re-instilled our theme of the year: grit. We heard from Mr. Urbanski and Jade Colon '23, who both shared their personal experiences with overcoming challenges and how they were able to persevere through dedication and a positive mindset. Students then broke into groups with their advisors to discuss our summer read, This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women. We then ended the day with the whole school together in the auditorium to recap the day's events. The day went extremely well, and I am continuously proud of our community's ability to support one another.
On Tuesday, September 13, our freshman class gathered together at St. Bartholomew Church in Manchester to celebrate their Freshmen Retreat. Each year, our classes have the opportunity to gather together as one grade to get to know each other better and grow together in their faith. We always enjoy having the Freshmen Retreat early in the school year, as this is a great opportunity for them to get to know their new classmates outside of the classroom. Our phenomenal team of Peer Ministers led the day, which included both discussion and reflection. It was Mrs. Seaver's first retreat as the new Director of Campus Ministry, and she certainly shined in her new role!
We have officially kicked off our annual Walk-A-Thon here at East. This is our largest student-led fundraiser throughout the year. Last year, we raised over $60,000, which went towards our Integrated Technology Center and tuition assistance. The Walk-A-Thon event will be held on campus on Friday, October 14, as part of our Homecoming Week celebration. Each student is encouraged to participate and help us reach our goal! Students were sent home with their Walk-A-Thon packet on Thursday. We will be discussing the event more in-depth during Advisory on Monday, and students and families will receive an email from our Advancement team on Monday recapping all of the information, so keep an eye out!
Fall sports are underway, and it is always great to see our teams don the blue and white. We have had great attendance at all of our games, and it is wonderful to see familiar faces in the crowd. We have our home opener for football tonight at the Cheney Tech field, so come out and show your support at 6:30 p.m.! It will be a "Caroline Blue Out" for our fan section.
Our Stage East has also been hard at work preparing for their upcoming production of "Clue." This will be such a fun play for both our actors and our fans to watch. Make sure to save the date for October 28 and 29 to come check it out!
We are excited to see applications already rolling in for prospective students for the 2023–2024 school year! On Thursday, October 6, we will be hosting our annual Fall Open House. Help us in spreading the word and making this a great event. Also, make sure to listen on your radio and keep an eye out on your TVs for our new East Catholic commercial that begins airing today!
As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Peace,
Sean P. Brennan ’85 - President
News from the Hill – September 2, 2022
To the East Catholic Family,
The 2022–2023 school year is off and running! It has been great to have our students back on campus. We enjoyed our week of welcoming students through our Orientation programs and had a wonderful New Families Picnic on Saturday!
Our theme of the year is "Grit." We spoke with our students this week to introduce this theme, which entails perseverance in the face of adversity. We will be doing programming throughout the year in relation to this theme. Over the summer, all students were required to read "This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women" as our One Book, One Community. Each English class will begin the year covering this book. Next Friday, we will have our Convocation program during which we will come together as an entire student body to discuss the book and relate to our own personal stories of how we've exercised grit and experienced the ability to use our failures as a growth lesson.
This year, we are also welcoming exciting new faces to our faculty! As our Director of Campus Ministry, we welcome Mrs. Maggie Seaver. In our English Department, we welcome Mr. Thomas Burke. In our Language Department, we welcome Mr. Robert Caldwell (Latin), Mr. Joshua Gladstone (French), and Mr. Timothy Shaffer (Spanish). In our Science Department, we welcome Mrs. Romina Italia, who will join us part-time teaching Biology. In our Social Studies Department, we welcome Ms. Tiana Lamontagne, who will join us part-time, teaching World Civilization. In our Technology Department, we welcome Mr. Domenic Burby. In our Athletics Department, we welcome Mr. Jordan Jeroszko as our part-time assistant AD. Please join us in welcoming them to our school community! You will have the opportunity to meet many of them at Back to School Night next Thursday, September 8, at 6:00 p.m.
We are continuing this year with our Advisory Program. Advisors are faculty and staff members throughout the building who have a group of 10-12 advisees each. Each student during Orientation met with their advisor and will continue to meet with them throughout the year. The Advisory program promotes meaningful relationships between teachers, staff, students, and parents while providing support to families. Through weekly meetings with their advisor, students experience a more personalized environment set to observe and encourage academic and social progress throughout high school. Advisors will serve as the first touch point for parents that are concerned about their student within school. At Back to School Night, each family will get to meet with their student's advisor for an introduction. We are looking forward to growing on the success that the Advisory program brings to East.
A few calendar notes:
- Monday, September 5 - Labor Day (No School)
- Tuesday, September 6 - First Official Day of School
- Thursday, September 8 - Back to School Night at 6:00 p.m.
- Friday, September 9 - Convocation/One Book, One Community (11:30 a.m. dismissal)
A few thoughts about drop-off and pick-up:
School begins at 7:32 a.m., and there is often traffic entering in the morning, so please plan accordingly. When dropping off in the morning, please be aware of a few options and suggestions.
- If your son or daughter has athletic equipment to drop off, feel free to drive around the back of the building and drop off by the gym.
- If you are dropping off in the main circle, please drive around the circle as far as possible to allow traffic to continue moving.
- Please be careful at pick-up in the main circle as it gets pretty crowded!
Exciting Projects:
Thank you to our generous donors throughout the 2021–2022 school year! Because of your contributions, we were able to break ground this summer on the construction of our new Integrated Technology Center. In a world of ever-changing technology, our new center will allow students to develop new skills that will carry them into the future to become responsible, independent, and creative users of information and technology. Included in the ITC will be 3D printers, a Computer-Aided Design Lab, a TV and Media Broadcast Studio, and it will serve as the new home for our Robotics Team to design and engineer their robots for competition. The ITC will be open for all students in the coming months.
In addition to the creation of our Integrated Technology Center, many of you will notice when driving onto campus that the Annex building has been fenced off. This summer, many hours were spent cleaning out the building. We will be beginning demolition on the building soon. The Annex building is a rich piece of our history here at East Catholic, as it served as the original convent for our Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. The Sisters, whose order founded East Catholic High School in 1961, lived in the Annex building for many years. It later served as classrooms for our students and offices for our staff. When the math and science wing was added to East Catholic, all classrooms and offices moved out of the Annex. Once it comes down, it will be turned into additional green space to welcome all of you onto campus.
There is no shortage of excitement in the building as we've gotten underway with the school year this week! Throughout this newsletter, you will find important information and updates from various departments throughout the school.
As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Peace,
Sean P. Brennan ’85 - President