• 2012 Middle School Science Fair
The science fair on January 26th was a wonderful experience for the students in grades 6-8 to discuss their projects with the judges. It was also a great experience for the lower grades and parents to view all the interesting topics. Congratulations to all our participants for all their hard work. Students will now present their science fair projects to the class for the next two weeks.
• Mustangs Robotics Team Competition
On Saturday, January 14, 2012, our Mustang Robotics Team was one of 20 area teams in the First Lego League Competition. The event took place at the Universities at Shady Grove campus. Please click here to watch a video of our Robotics Team in Action!
• St. Mary's Helps Break Guinness World Record
On October 12, 2011 St. Mary's participated in a National Geographic Kids event to break a Guinness World Record. The record for this event was for the Most People Doing Jumping Jacks in a 24 Hour Period. This record was achieved with 300, 265 other people from schools across the entire world. Click here here to view our Certificate of Participation.
• Winter Band and Chorus Concert
This year our Winter Concert started off early. On November 30, our Beginning and Advanced Band performed a selection of Christmas pieces that students practiced during the months of October and November. Students in Grade 4 are allowed to participate in Beginning Band until they are invited to be part of the Advanced Band.
The school Chorus also performed under the direction of Mrs. Martinelli, Music and Drama teacher. St. Mary's Chorus students are from Grades 5-8. This year they also participated in the traditional National Christmas Tree Festival at the White House.
• St. Mary's Celebrates Blue Ribbon Award
On November 16 we celebrated our National Blue Ribbon Award. It was a wonderful day that started with a special Mass of Thanksgiving. We were privileged to have our Pastor, Monsignor Amey, our Assistant Pastor, Fr. Charles, as well as Fr. Val and retired Reverend, Fr. Downs. Our guest of honor was Sister Carol Rigali, OSF, former principal of the school and now Provincial of the United States Province of the School Sisters of St. Francis. After Mass, the entire community gathered in the school’s auditorium for a special award presentation from a Department of Education representative. The event also included special remarks from Monsignor Amey, Sister Carol, student representatives from every class, and 6th Grade teacher Mr. DiGiovanni. Our eighth graders performed a special song dedicated to our Blue Ribbon accomplishment.
Ms. Debby Kennedy, Principal, proudly addressed the school with these words: “we have made history for Catholic Education! There are 135,000 schools in the United States and only 315 of them were recognized this year as Blue Ribbon Schools. Of the 10 schools in Maryland, 4 of them were Archdiocese of Washington Catholic Schools. That puts St. Mary’s School in the 97th percentile nationwide. That is amazing!”
• St. Mary's Outreach to Africa - Faith in Action
For the past weeks we have been collecting used sneakers, sandals, socks and any footwear items to send to children in Sierra Leone. The project is led by Mr. Luseni, our 7th grade homeroom teacher, who is from Freetown, Sierra Leone. All students were encouraged to participate in this service project in support of the theme "children helping other children." We are very touched to see the generous response from our students. In addition to students, the school is also donating a series of used textbooks to be used by a local school in Mr. Luseni’s hometown. We hope to ship these items by the end of November so they may arrive in time for Christmas. We’ll keep you posted on the success of this important project.
• St. Mary's Recognized as Blue Ribbon School of Excellence
We are very proud to announce that St. Mary's has been recognized as a U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. This is such an honor because although there are 33,000 private schools in the nation, only 49 private schools are recognized.
St. Mary's has reached this accomplishment through their dedicated faculty and staff, their hard-working students and their ever-supportive parent community. Together, we bring academic excellence in a loving, faith-filled community to our children everyday.
The entire St. Mary's community looks forward to celebrating this accomplishment in November 2011 after the official U.S. Department of Education ceremony.
• National Anthem Celebration - September 15, 2011.
On September 15, 2011, St. Mary's celebrated National Anthem Day during a special school assembly. Mrs. Barr's 4th Grade presented the story of the Star Spangled Banner to the student body and faculty. Members of the United States Armed Forces from our school community and parents were our special guests of honor. As in every year, we were also fortunate to have the Knights of Columbus perform a Flag Folding Ceremony. The school was led by Mrs. Martinelli, Music and Drama Teacher, in singing the National Anthem.
The celebration ended with awards presented to the winners of the Americanism Essay Contest. This year students in grades 3-8 participated in an essay contest under the theme "How Can I Encourage My Friends to Show Pride in Being an American?" Stay tuned for more information about next year’s contest.
• St. Mary's Starts Year with New Principal, Teacher, and Aide
Ms. Debra Kennedy is now our school Principal. Our community gratefully welcomes her and wishes her a successful year.
We'd also like to welcome Ms. Lindsay Lethbridge as 5th Grade homeroom, 4th and 5th Language Arts, and 5th and 6th Grade Religion Teacher.
We are also happy to have Mrs. Genevieve Soisson return as our "new" Kindergarten aide.
|