A Message From Mrs. Melino
May 1, 2012
The month of May begins on a very special feast day, St. Joseph, the Worker. I feel especially blessed to celebrate my birthday on this day because I consider St. Joseph to be a very special person who possessed great faith. I am grateful to the Sisters of St. Joseph who instilled this gift of faith in me during my years of being educated in Catholic schools. I consider it a privilege to be able to impart my faith on the people I touch each day at Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy.
We are looking forward to celebrating the birthday of Blessed John Paul II later in the month on May 18th. We pray each day for his canonization into sainthood. We also pray a decade of the rosary during our morning assembly for world peace as a tribute to our Blessed Mother.
There are many wonderful activities happening during the month. A group of our drama club students will be going to Xaverian High School to watch the Blessed Sacrament students perform the play, “Annie.” We have established a partnership with this suburban school to kindle the spirit of Catholic education. Our students are busy practicing for our own production of “Once on This Island.” We have invited the Blessed Sacrament students to be part of our audience.
Another exciting happening is our annual walk-a-thon. We have accepted Mayor Menino’s Million Mile Challenge! We are currently accepting pledges to help raise funds for our classroom supplies. Would you consider sponsoring one of our students?
Our Grades 5 – 8 chorus students, under the direction of Mr. Kevin Black, will be performing with the Boston Classical Orchestra at the Strand Theater on Friday, May 4th. They will be singing, “Elijah Rock.” They performed this song for Ernie Boch, Jr, last month and he was thoroughly impressed. Our students are so talented!
We are looking forward to all our students performing in our campus’s spring concert on the evening of the 21st at 6:30. It is such a treat to hear their wonderful voices when I visit the classrooms as they practice for this event. Try not to miss it.
This year the students from our campus will be performing in the play, “Once on This Island.” We are going to celebrate the island cultures of our families by inviting everyone to contribute their families’ favorite foods and enjoy these island specialties before the performance. Mrs. Demosthene, our Parent Corps secretary has sent out an email to all parents with requests. Please consider participating in this wonderful evening.
We are looking forward to our benchmark testing of the KII students in their readiness for Grade 1. Students in Grades 3–8 will be taking the second round of the math diagnostic tests later in the month. These tests provide valuable data which will be used in assessing the effectiveness of our curriculum and methods of teaching. We anxiously await the results of the SAT 10 Achievement tests. We anticipate significant growth as we did last year.
At the end of the month our 8th graders will be leading us in the celebration of their farewell liturgy. They will be wearing their caps and gowns which will be blessed by Father Joy. At the end of the celebration they will release balloons into the air which symbolize their final days at PJP II and the beginning of a new journey in their education.
Please refer to the May calendar for the dates of the above activities. We would love for you to be part of these experiences with us. Please call the office for further information about how you can become a member of the PJP II family.
Sincerely,
Lou Ann Melino
