Messages from the President
News from the Hill - Friday, October 4, 2024
Dear East Catholic Family,
We have hit the midpoint of the first quarter, and the time seems to fly by! Students, this is a good time to check your class grade books to see if any work is missing. Parents, remind them to do this! The end of the quarter will be here before you know it.
We should be able to be in the gym as early as next week. They are finishing the bleachers soon, and the volleyball team will host practices and games next week! It is a beautiful renovation and improvement.
We were blessed to have four members of our East Catholic family recognized for outstanding volunteer work for East Catholic at the HOPES (Help Our Parish Educators & Students) dinner, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Hartford. Charlie Crocini, Joe Reilly, Keri Watkins, and Sarah Kimball all received the St. John Neumann award. We cannot thank them all enough for their love of East Catholic and their dedication to the work they do for East.
On October 17, we will have our fall open house beginning at 6:30 p.m. Please spread the word to friends and families who might be interested. It is always a great night!
Good luck to all of our sports teams as they continue their seasons. Come out and support them when you can. In the next News From The Hill, we will feature our Stage East production of Alice in Wonderland.
Please be in touch with any thoughts, concerns, or positive celebrations!
Peace,
Sean P. Brennan ‘85
Chief Administrator
East Catholic Newsletter - October 4, 2024
News from the Hill - Friday, September 20, 2024
Dear East Catholic Family,
It seems like the students are in the routine of school again after three weeks. They are getting used to the rotating academic schedule and can all find their classrooms at this point. After school, kids are off to sports and play practice. Even drop-off and pick-up seem a bit better!
The freshmen had their retreat last week, and it was a great success. I stopped by for lunch with them, and they were having a great time. Many thanks to the campus ministry office and the peer ministers for their work organizing and running the retreat. Freshman elections will be in the middle of October. I hope to see a competitive slate of candidates!
Two physical plant projects are nearing completion. In the front of the school, there is a statue of the Virgin Mary that we took off of the original convent building from 1960. The building was taken down in 2021, and, in addition to the statue, we also salvaged some bricks from the building. Thanks to generous donors and skilled craftsmen, there is now a grotto in front of Mary made from those bricks. The grotto is there in honor of the sisters from Notre Dame de Namur who worked at East Catholic over the years – 71 in all! Thanks to Charlie Hathaway '93 and Aaron Ansaldi '88 for their generous dedication to the project.
The second project is the gym renovation project. Back in the summer, a number of employees along with other volunteers took the old bleachers apart, painted the walls, and sanded the floor to prep it for a new paint job. We put the final coat of sealant on the floor on Wednesday, and the bleachers arrive next Monday. See the picture in the linked newsletter below for a sneak peek!
There will be a scholarship reception, on Sunday, September 22 at 2:00 p.m. for all students who receive named awards towards tuition. Many of the families who have contributed to these grants will be there in person to present the awards. If you receive a named award, please be there!
Lastly, there is a lot happening here at East. Please get involved. Many of you are already part of a team, a group, or an activity. If you are not, please come out and support our teams and others.
Please be in touch with any thoughts, concerns, or positive celebrations!
Peace,
Sean P. Brennan ‘85
Chief Administrator
News From The Hill - Friday, September 6, 2024
Dear East Catholic Family,
We had a great couple of weeks to kick off the 2024–2025 school year! We began with four days of orientation by respective class. The Class of 2025 started on campus on Monday and then quickly boarded buses to Winding Trails in Farmington. They had a lot of fun on the high and low rope elements and enjoyed a lunch from Highland Park Market before heading back to school. I expect big things from our seniors. The underclassmen had successful orientation days on campus, culminating with a Freshmen Social on Thursday.
After a nice long weekend, we began classes on Tuesday and had three fairly normal days. Many thanks to all the parents and guardians who came out for Back to School Night on Thursday. It was great to see new and familiar faces in the building. One parent I talked to said that she had been to eleven years of Back to School Nights in a row with four different children. Quite a streak!
The highlight of the week, however, came on Friday with our Convocation program. We began with Advisory before assembling in the auditorium for our first all-school Mass of the year. Following a beautiful Mass with our new Chaplain, Father Matthew Collins, we settled in to hear from Javier Zamora, the author of our One Book, One Community summer read, Solito.
Mr. Zamora did not disappoint. The format was “in-conversation” with a current senior, Maria Jose Aedo-Marcucio, and a recent graduate, Valentina Garcia Solis '23, asking questions and Javier responding. His down-to-earth delivery and thoughtfulness were immediately evident, and the students were enrapt by what he had to say. After a 30-minute slot for small group discussion, the whole school returned to ask additional questions of Mr. Zamora. Once again, his sincere, honest, and poignant responses met with great applause. Following the program, the hallways had a line of 100+ students waiting to get their books signed. Please ask your children about what they thought of the day.
I often talk about what a special place East Catholic is, and it is days like Friday that reinforce that notion. We are blessed to have faculty, staff, and students who care about each other. What a great way to start the year!
Please be in touch with any thoughts, concerns, or positive celebrations!
Peace,
Sean P. Brennan ‘85
Chief Administrator