Dear Parents and Students,

Notes from the Principal:

January 29 marked the beginning of Catholic Schools Week. We had a full slate of activities scheduled to help us promote and celebrate our catholic school. For example, we planned a number of interdisciplinary activities to take place within our classes whereby students were engage in writing letters of appreciation for local public service officials as well as servicemen and servicewomen serving their country overseas. This week long celebration also included a Parents School Mass which was held on Thursday, February 1 celebrating and honoring our parents and grandparents. We appreciated the efforts of our celebrant, Father Roger (Bill) Bilodeau who filled in for Father Aggie. Thanks to all the parents who baked for the reception following the Mass. The treats were fantastic! And, thanks to all the teachers, staff members, volunteers and students who repeatedly plan out our celebration and set up our "church" for the Mass. This give us a sense of community like no other moment at Nashua Catholic. Moreover, an impressive poster was created by Art Instructor Renee Rucci and is on display in the main lobby; this poster expresses graphically our philosophy and goals as we reach out to our community not only during Catholic Schools Week, but, indeed, throughout the school year. And finally, Project Love is in full swing and will actually continue beyond Catholic Schools week (see announcement below for full details).

The NC Wildcat Theatre is up and running as auditions were held recently for our upcoming play, "Godspell Junior". Rehearsals have begun. Show dates will be announced in the near future.

We are pleased to announce that two members of our professional staff - Mrs. Sharyn Sevigny and Mr. Tom Cloutier - were recently inducted into National Honor Roll's Outstanding American Teachers. NHR's Outstanding American Teachers was established to provide positive recognition to educators who have been identified by their students as having had the greatest influence on their lives, either as a student or as an individual. Congratulations to Mrs. Sevigny and Mr. Cloutier!

Admissions Corner:

Step-Up Day was a tremendous success. Our 6th grade guests had a wonderful time exploring Nashua Catholic. The response from them and their parents was so positive that our NC pride was overflowing. In particular, we would like to mention the outstanding efforts of our student council guides. These students gave up their day off to represent Nashua Catholic and did so with enthusiasm. We wish to thank the students and the teachers and staff for working together to make Step-Up Day 2007 a great day at Nashua Catholic!

Enrollment for 2007-2008 is still open at Nashua Catholic. As Financial Aid and Diocesan Support have February and March deadlines, it is very advantageous to encourage friends and family to call for tours and interviews as soon as possible.

NEW NASHUA CATHOLIC BROCHURES - WOW!

Thanks to the efforts of many, especially, Mrs. Deb Endyke, Nashua Catholic has a professional, tri-fold brochure. The first few have gone out for display. If you have or know of a business, office (real estate, doctors, etc.), or church that would display a few brochures for us please contact Mrs. Kirkwood. These brochures need to be spread throughout our community. Your help is appreciated.

Greetings from Café!

A big thank you to Mrs. Folger for the huge assortment of games, puzzles and activities that she donated for use before and after school! Another big thank you goes to an anonymous school family who gave us a fabulous 10-in-1 game table! Both of these donations are greatly appreciated by both the children and staff!

Parents, when you are picking up your child from Café/Extended Day/GOALS, please drive up along the black fence in front of the Cafeteria windows. Please let your child know approximately when you’ll be picking him/her up, and we’ll be on the lookout for you!

If the lights are off in the Cafeteria, we are up in the gym (or outside in warmer weather).

Thank you,

Ms. Matson

News from the English Department:

We would like to congratulate the following students who scored highest on their classroom written spelling test, given before or shortly after Christmas vacation, and are, therefore, their class's school- wide spelling bee representatives:
Lauren Bingham, Mary Commisso, Preston Danielson, Joe DeMember, Caitlin Donohue, Katrina Fisher, Christine Fontaine, Jeff Gratiano, Caleb Mitchell, Erik Nikander, Sean Olbert, Steve Passarelli, and Michael Yu. These students were presented with a copy of the 2007 Spell It! booklet and will be participating during study hall, on February 8, 2007, in the Nashua Catholic spelling bee. The most successful participant from this school-wide bee will represent Nashua Catholic at the Area Spelling Bee at the Elks Lodge in Nashua, New Hampshire, which will take place on Sunday, March 11, at 1:00 P.M.

The literature classes at NC studied nonfiction literature first quarter and short stories, myths, legends, and folktales second quarter. The 8th grade honors literature class also had the opportunity to study Shakespeare's play The Tempest and to view a performance of this play by Bishop Guertin students thanks to the generosity of Mr.Tom Murphy. As part of their study, the honors students wrote beautiful Shakespearean sonnets which are on display in room 406 should anyone wish to read them. Publication in the local newspaper is also being considered. Third quarter will involve plays and poetry. In addition, the 8th graders are reading a re-telling of the famous Greek epic poem The Odyssey by Homer. Our English classes are continuing their study of grammar, vocabulary, and writing, and the 8th graders have begun working on their formal research papers.

Writers Club still meets from 3:00 until 3:45 every Thursday and its members explore all sorts of creative writing, from stories to plays to manga. New members are always welcome.

News from Mrs. Barker:

The NCRJHS Debate Club is still going strong (with some very strong opinions, I might add). Topics for our forthcoming gatherings are as follows, in chronological order:

1. Whether or not the drinking age should be lowered.
2. Whether or not stem cell research should be legalized.
3. Whether or not parents should be allowed to choose the gender of their child.
4. Whether or not the U.S. should negotiate with terrorists.

If any of these topics interest you, please feel free to join us on Mondays at 2:45 in room 407.

Report Cards/Re-Registration/Honor Roll:

Report cards were recently distributed for the second quarter. For your information: The Telegraph publishes the honor roll in the special section, "Making the Grade". The approximate date for this quarter's honor roll is March 13. The insert is usually in on a Tuesday. Mrs. Coker waits until the students with incompletes from illness (2 weeks) have a chance to make up their work before she sends all information to the Telegraph.

Included in the envelope with the seventh graders’ report cards is the paperwork for your child to re- register at NCRJHS for the 2007-2008 school year. Please be aware of the deadlines stated in the letter.

Project Love Reminder

As stated aboved, we began Project Love, our school wide service project, on Monday, January 29, 2007 at the beginning of Catholic Schools Week. For each week we have suggested different food items to be donated but, of course, ANY donations will be accepted at ANY time. Much is needed at the local the food pantries. Please no glass jars, if possible. The personal care items and cleaning supplies are very by the money from the government agencies that help to subsidize the food pantries but are all necessary items when your family needs help. Besides collecting food, we have encouraged each homeroom to raise $60 This money is used to purchase clothing for needy children in the Nashua area.

Following is our suggested schedule of giving:

January 29 – February 2: Pasta, macaroni products, sauce
February 5 – 9: Tuna, rice, healthy snacks
February 12 – 16: Coffee, tea, cocoa, juice
February 20 - 23: Cereal, peanut butter, jelly
March 5 – 9: Canned soup, vegetables, beans
March 12 – 16: Personal Care Items: Bandages, toothpaste,
toothbrushes, shampoo, bar soap, toilet paper
Cleaning Supplies: Dish detergent, laundry
detergent, any other general cleaning products


Development update:

Father Daughter Dance

Thank you to the 78 ‘couples’ who attended our annual Father Daughter Dance. A great time was had by all. Moms you would be proud of our dads (please let them watch the Super Bowl this week-end). Thanks to our set up committee, chaperones and the photographers who helped capture this evening. If you didn’t receive a photograph that night, one should’ve been in with your report card. Let’s not forget to ‘thank’ our bartenders also, Tyler, John and Austin, did a fine job serving cold beverages.

Congratulations to Erin Lehto, she successfully matched a baby picture to a classmate, 30 for 30! I think she has a career in the investigation area.

Catholic Schools Week

Thank you to our spokespersons and support staff for a great job this past week-end. The three Diocesan Schools in Nashua collaborated in spreading the Good News of Catholic Schools. We spoke in five parishes at twenty-five masses, talking about how great our schools are!

Fashion Show update

Parents be sure to mark your calendars, Friday, March 16th for the Fifth Annual Fashion Show, A Cruise on the SS Wildcat. The committees have been meeting, finalizing ideas, securing clothing stores, stage set-up, not to mention the food! Mr. Gratiano is ‘cooking’ up some fine cuisine for the ‘cruise’.

Faculty member Mrs. Julie Parolin and parent volunteer Mrs. Sharon Hall will co-chair this year's Silent Auction. They are now soliciting gifts for this special event which is part of our Fashion Show. Any and all gifts are welcomed. If you are friendly with a local merchant, would you please speak to them on our behalf asking them for a donation. Mrs. Parolin or Mr. Boissonneault could provide you with a letter of intent.

Also the Set-up committee is looking for help video taping this event both for the archives and for a live production. If you know someone or you yourself can help us, please give us a call. We would like to discuss the possibilities.

Program Book Committee is also seeking solicitations for the program book. If you own your own business or know someone starting one and they are looking for a great place to advertise we’re your venue. Full page ads go for $125, ½ page ads for $75 and ¼ page ads for $50 Please let us know if you need more information. We will be going to print the first of March. Don’t let this opportunity pass you bye.

Athletic Department:

Basketball teams

The basketball teams finished up their regular season play recently. The boys finished with a 5-7 record, one game out of the Tri County play-offs. The girls place third with a 7-5 record. They will play, Wednesday, February 7th at Milford Middle School against the second place finisher, Litchfield. Game time is set for 4:30pm. Please come and lend your support.

The Catholic Schools Tournament gets underway Saturday, February 10th here at Nashua Catholic. The girls and boys are set to play on Sunday, February 11th, girls at 6:15pm and the boys at 7:30pm. Check out www.nhcyo.org for updates and changes.

Wrestling Team
Wow!!!!!!!! Our wrestling took second at the Tri County Championships in Pelham last week-end. Great efforts from everyone! Thomas Reilly and Jim Kelly took firsts in their weight classes. Steven Negron, Mitch Focas and Matt Uberti took seconds. Chris Figueroa, Preston Danielson and Harry Wolcott place third and Angelica Levesque and Neal Bonenberger place fourth. The team went up against wrestlers from Hollis Brookline, Milford, Pelham and Peterborough Middle Schools. Pelham took first, just 10 points ahead of us. The team now prepares for the New Hampshire Middle School Wrestling Regionals to be held this week-end, February 4th at Bow High School and then the Meet of Champions on the following weekend in Manchester at Central High School. We are also invited to compete in the First Annual Nashua City Championships, against the three Nashua Middle Schools on Sunday, February 18th at Nashua South HS.

Cheerleading Team

The Cheerleading team continues to prepare for their up-coming competitions. The first one will be the Tri County Championship on Saturday, February 17th at West Running Brook Middle School. The NH Winter Spirit Invitational at Bishop Guertin HS and The State CYO Championships at Saint Anselm College will be in the coming months. We'll keep you posted.

Coach(es) needed

The Athletic Dept. is seeking qualified coaches for our Girls’ Lacrosse team. The spring season is basically April and May. We practice twice a week including games. Please contact Mr. Boissonneault if you or if you know someone who might be interested.

Winter Calendar:

Monday, January 29 - Project LOVE Food Drive Starts
Saturday, February 3 - NH Youth Wrestling Championships - Rundlett Middle School Concord - All day
February 7-10 - Tri-county Basketball Championships
Friday, February 9 - Valentine's Dance 6:00 Cafeteria
Saturday, February 10 - Meet of Champions - Wrestling
February 10-15 - CYO Catholic Schools Basketball Championships - Nashua Catholic
Sunday, February 11 - NH State Youth Wrestling Meet of Champions - Central HS Manchester - All day
Friday, February 16 - Nashua Catholic Registration Forms and requests for financial aid are due to office
Saturday, February 17 - Tri-county Spirit Championships - West Running Brook Middle School Derry - All day
Sunday, February 18 - City Wrestling Championships - South Nashua HS - All day
Monday, February 19 - No School
Wednesday, February 21 - Ash Wednesday Mass 9:00
February 26 - March 2 -- No School - Winter Break
Wednesday, March 7 - Q3 Progress Reports - Parents please sign and return PROMPTLY or send a note to the NC office
Sunday, March 11 - Area Spelling Bee
Thursday, March 15 - Diocesan Support Plan Forms MUST be returned to NC with pastor's signature.
March 16 - NC Fashion Show - 7:00-10:00 Doors open at 6:00 for the Silent Auction

God Bless,

Thomas Kelleher
Principal