Dear Parents and Students,

We here at NC hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and hope you all enjoy the loving presence of Jesus in your lives throughout the New Year. We hope that 2007 brings you many wonderful blessings. Many thanks are extended to parents and students alike for the beautiful cards you sent to us this Christmas season.

Parents are kindly requested to please adhere to the traffic flow patterns we have established for arrival times and dismissal time. Parents who drive their child to school in the A.M. are asked to enter the school parking lot via the Columbia Ave entrance only. We are seeing more and more children being dropped off on Bartlett Ave where the buses arrive in the A.M.; we want to avoid any potentially unsafe situations for the children. In the P.M., no cars should be driving up Bartlett Ave (from Concord Street) and stopping opposite the school to pick up their child. This creates a serious safety situation when children dart across the street and pass in front of cars moving to pick up their child as they move "down" Bartlett Ave. Please follow our traffic flow patterns. We want to keep our children as safe as possible.

If your child does not have a cell phone, please provide him/her with change (50 cents) in case they have to use the pay phone to communicate with you. Unless it is for extenuating circumstances, we cannot tie up our office phone line to accommodate student personal calls. We have to reserve the office phone for teacher use, business use and/or emergency purposes only.

NC Admission Corner - Step-Up Day!

January is a fantastic month for the Admissions Department at Nashua Catholic! On Friday, January 26 we will host the Annual NC Step-Up Day for 6th Graders. This is traditionally a no school day for our 7th and 8th grade students unless they have been invited to host. Step-Up Day is one of the best ways any 6th grade student has to check out Nashua Catholic. Students will follow a mini- schedule, meet many of our teachers, enjoy a free hot lunch and get an overview of our athletics and extra-curricular activities. It is a full day from 8:00a.m. to 2:30p.m. Registration is required, preferably by January 19, 2007, so encourage all your friends that may be looking for a dynamic Christian academic environment to call NC today!

Athletic Department News:

The winter sport teams are in full swing. The girl’s basketball team is currently 4-2 in Tri County play. The boy’s basketball team is 3-3. The wrestling team has over 20 members this winter, our largest squad over the past four years. They have several wrestlers who show good promise for the upcoming Tri County and State Youth Wrestling Championships. The Cheerleading team is gearing up for the Tri County Championships in February. You can see their routine at the home basketball games. Please check the schedule dates on the school web site, www.ncrjhs.org. Intramural Basketball finishes up their season with play-offs on January 16 & 19, both days 3- 4pm.

Development Department News:

Reminder to our Dads, Father/Daughter Dance, Saturday, January 20, 2007, 7-10pm in the Nashua Catholic Gymnasium. Tickets are on sale with Mrs. Kirkwood or send money with homeroom envelope. Cost is $15 per couple in advance, $17 at the door. Grandfathers, uncles, step-dads are all certainly welcomed. Many ‘couples’ in the past have made this a special evening with dinner before the dance. We had a great time last year with over fifty couples attending. Moms, we want you to also get involved, we are going to have a Name the Baby Contest. We need pictures of the girls as babies. (place the picture in a sealed envelope with their names on the back of the picture please, attention: Mrs. Parolin). The girls will match a name with a picture, the winner will get a free ticket to the dance. We ask that you send the pictures in next week, January 8th, so we may get the book case prepared in plenty of time.

Fashion Show 2007, ‘A Cruise on the SS Wildcat’, Friday, March 16th

The 2007 Fashion Show is well under way. The committees are currently meeting firming up new ideas and making past ideas even better. The ad committee is looking for businesses wishing to take an ad in the program book. Full page ad is $125, ½ page - $75, ¼ page - $50 We also have a line listing for $25 If you own a business or know of someone who does, please pass along our request. You may contact Mr. B for more information. (882.7011, school or ad.ncjh@comcast.net) The Silent Auction Committee is looking for items for the silent and live auction portion of the evening. Dinner gift certificate, Manchester or Lowell theatre tix, professional sporting events, Red Sox tix are always a big hit! Green fees or golf get-away packages. Theme baskets are also good ideas. Please contact Mrs. Parolin at school if you need more information or would like to offer an item/gift.

News From the English Department

The English Department has been very busy during the month of December. All of our English students have been participating in the Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge, which has been both entertaining and educational. Each of our students participated in this competition by taking a pen and paper preliminary 25 question written exam. The five highest-scoring students in each class then participated in a classroom challenge where the questions were presented via an overhead projector. Through a double-elimination process, each classroom found its champion. The seventh grade classroom champions were Phillip Curtis, Bryan Herring, Isaac Morrier, Erik Nikander, Zachary Paulson, and David Wilder. The 8th grade classroom champions were Ian Finver, Bill Hallahan, Michael Mahoney, Nick Marquis, Brandon Pierotti, Joe Platko, and Tyler Whitacre. On December 19th, during study hall, these 13 students competed for 8th grade and 7th grade Grade-Level Champion status. After a great job done by all, Joe Platko became Nashua Catholic's 8th grade Grade-Level Champion, and Erik Nikander became Nashua Catholic's 7th grade Grade- Level Champion. These two young men will receive a certificate and the opportunity to take the online Qualifying Test. The top 100 Grade-Level Champions from grades 6-8 in each state and territory are invited to compete in their State Championship. The state winners go on to compete nationally for first, second, and third prizes of $25,000, $15,000, and $10,000, respectively. The English Department wishes to congratulate all the winners at every level of this competition! We are proud of the positive attitude and participation of all our students.

In addition to our participation in the Reader's Digest Word Power Challenge, we have also been administering a challenging spelling test to all our English students. The student in each class who spells most of these words correctly will receive a spelling booklet and will be invited to compete in the Nashua Catholic spelling bee which is usually held in early February. These classroom representatives will compete for the right to represent Nashua Catholic at the Area Spelling Bee to be held at the Nashua Elks Lodge, at 1:00 P.M., on March 11, 2007. The top two spellers from the Area Bee will go on to the Finals. The Champion of the Finals will represent The Union Leader and The New Hampshire Sunday News at the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., at the end of May 2007.

Also in December, all our 8th grade literature students have been studying A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and, due to the organizational efforts of Mrs. Brittan, were able to attend a wonderful performance of this classic at the Palace Theater in Manchester on Friday, December 15th.

Finally, the debate club, which meets most Mondays and is lead by Mrs. Barker and Mrs. Williams and the writers club, which meets most Thursdays from 3:00- 3:45 and is sponsored by Mrs. Pinsonneault, are both active and well-attended.

News from the Math Department:

The results are in for the second MathFax test taken by all students in December. Below are the winners for each test. Congratulations!!

Math 7 Test (Math 7, Adv. Math 7 Classes)
FIRST PLACE: Courtney Mansfield
SECOND PLACE: Ethan Plumley and James Sasson
THIRD PLACE: John Paul Chenette, Erik Nikander, and Michael Yu
Pre-Algebra Test (Adv. Intro. to Algebra , Intro. to Algebra, Honors Pre-Alg. classes)
FIRST PLACE: Isaac Morrier and Andrew Yourell
SECOND PLACE: Jay Krzyston and Christopher Marden
THIRD PLACE: Halley Lizotte
Algebra I Test (Honors Algebra I class)
FIRST PLACE: Conor Husovsky
SECOND PLACE: Susan Zhang
THIRD PLACE: Dan Folger and Patrick Wolber

News From the Foreign Language Department

Spanish classes’ field trip to Margarita’s:
Tuesday, March 6, the Spanish students will have the opportunity to travel to Margarita’s restaurant for a presentation on Mexican culture culminating in a lunch of Mexican food. Unfortunately, the program is only able to accommodate forty students, and due to the popularity of the program, each school may only attend once. In an effort to be equitable, names of students will be drawn to determine those forty students who will attend. In order to be eligible for the drawing, students must have both effort and conduct grades no lower than “M” as of the second quarter report card. Further details will be provided as the field trip nears. We are excited to explore this unique opportunity with the students. -Ms. Brennan and Ms. Gibson

Library News

The Nashua Catholic 2006 Scholastic Book Fair was a HUGE success, with sales 104% over last year's Fair! By taking our profits in BOOKS, we are allowed 50% or our total sales, whereas if we had taken cash, we would receive only 25% of total sales. In addition, we have earned over $300 in bonuses for participating in various incentives offered by Scholastic Books, such as The Faculty & Staff Wish List, Student Volunteers, One for Books, Parent Night, etc. We appreciate those parents who were able to come to the Book Fair on Dec. 12 in conjunction with our Arts Festival. This event was well worth the effort, and took in $400 just that evening!

We are especially pleased with the success of this Book Fair, because it gives us a big first step in fulfilling a major recommendation of the Accreditation Team, which was to update and improve our Library. We have already increased our Library inventory by 131 books from Book Fair profit, filled 35 Faculty Book Wishes, and we still have $1050 in vouchers which can be used for additional books and/or items from Scholastic's Instructional Resource Catalog.

Kudos to a terrific Parent Volunteer Team, which made the job easy and pleasant:

Robin Crespo
June Folger
Peggy Gaughan
Kelly Gilligan
Eileen Herring
Nancy Lehto
Jane Mitchell
Eveline Morrier
Deb Matson (NC staff)
Thanks for the opportunity to help put books in the hands of your children.
God Bless,

Deb Stoll
Book Fair Chair

News From the History Department:

The History Department is pleased to announce that the winner of this year's Geography Bee is Preston Danielson, a 7th grader at our school. Runner-up was Mark Hosang, also a 7th grader. Congratulations to both boys on an outstanding job, and also to all of those others who participated not only in the Bee, but also in the final rounds of the competition.
Upon returning to school in January, Preston will be given a written test, which will then be sent to national headquarters for grading. After this is accomplished, Nashua Catholic will be notified if he is a state finalist. If so, Preston will go to Keene State for the state bee.

Notice from the Principal:

On January 24, Mr. Kelleher will be hosting a workshop for interested parents on the topic "Substance Abuse: Not my child!". Officer Mike Soucy, the Nashua Police School Community Resource Officer, will be the guest speaker. The workshop will run from 7:00- 8:00 PM with time allotted for questions and answers. All parents are welcome.

Catholic Schools Week (Jan. 28 - Feb. 3):

NC will be participating in the Nation-wide celebration of our Catholic Schools. This year's theme is "Catholic Schools: The Good News In Education". NC will be sponsoring a number of activities consonant with the above-mentioned theme. For example, we have a Parent's Mass slated for Thursday, Feb 4 at 9AM. An invitation and reservation form can be obtained on the NC website under Announcements at www.ncrjhs.org We will initiate Project Love to benefit local charity and care giving agencies (See additional information below.) In addition, our English, Social Studies and Art Classes will be involved in interdisciplinary programs which will result in letters of appreciation being sent to local public service agencies as well as to our sevicemen and servicewomen who are currently engaged in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Project Love

We will begin Project Love on Monday, January 29, 2007 at the beginning of Catholic Schools Week and continue for 6 weeks. This is an annual tradition here at NC. In recent years we have collected food and supplies and money to be donated to area disbursement centers including Corpus Christi Food Pantry, the Nashua Soup Kitchen, Marguerite’s Place, and local schools and child centers. This year we are teaming with St. John Neumann’s Fast for Social Action (see the letter below). We encourage each homeroom to raise $60 This money is used to purchase clothing for children in the Nashua area. (One year we gave $500 of the money to one of our bus drivers who lost her home and all her family’s belongings.) This school wide service project generates so much good will for our own students and the greater community. Each week we focus on a different need, but of course ANY donations will be accepted at ANY time. Please no glass jars, if possible.

Following is our suggested schedule of giving:
January 29 – February 2 Pasta, macaroni products, Hamburger Helper, 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

Letter requesting NC's help in Project Fast for Social Action:

Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006

Hello Mr. Kelliher,
I am writing to request the help of Nashua Catholic in the food drive for St. John Neumann's 11th Annual Fast for Social Action. As in prior years, the SJN Fast for Social Action involves a canned food drive to go along with the fasting aspect of the weekend. We certainly appreciated all the help provided by the Nashua Catholic staff and students last year and in years past, and we're hoping to have the school's assistance again this year.

The 11th Annual Fast will be held at St. John Neumann Catholic Community in Merrimack on March 9th and 10th, 2007. The participants will fast from solid food from Friday evening until our "break-fast" dinner after the 5:30 p.m. Mass on Saturday. During the approximately 30 hours of the Fast, the youth will learn about the various non-profit organizations that they are supporting with their pledges, as well as take part in a food collection drive. Oh, yes, and they'll be getting to know each other through ice- breakers and games, too! In years past, and anticipated again this year, we've had the pleasure of having a number of Nashua Catholic students and alumni take part in the Fast. Each year, the youth who participate in the Fast raise on the order of $20,000 and well over 2 tons of food is collected.

An integral part of the Fast for Social Action includes the youths' collection of non-perishable food for the SJN food pantry. Over the years, it's become almost a fun competition between the local schools to see how many pounds of food can be collected. Last year Nashua Catholic did a phenomenal job of collecting canned goods. We hope you agree to involve the Nashua Catholic students again this year. In previous years we have been able to coordinate the Nashua Catholic canned food drive the same week as the Fast; we would like to do that again this year, if you agree.

Please let me know if you think Nashua Catholic will be able to participate this year. If so, I'll contact you with more details. We welcome as many participants as possible in the actual Fast, too, so if any Nashua Catholic students would like to take part, we'd be glad to have them!

Mrs. Coker has been a big help in previous years in coordinating the canned food collection effort at the school and I'm sure she would be happy to discuss the Fast with you. Additionally, feel free to contact me to discuss the Fast. You can also talk to my daughter, Christine, who is in the 8th grade at Nashua Catholic. She has participated in the Fast since 6th grade and is a member of the Fast planning team. I'm sure Father Aggie would be happy to share his thoughts on the Fast with you as well.

Thanks so much for your consideration.

Sincerely,


Joan Fontaine

High School Recommendations/Transcripts (Notes from Mrs. Coker)

All 100 Bishop Guertin High School packages including recommendations along with each student’s transcripts (6th, 7th & 8th grade report cards and standardized testing) were picked up on December 18, 2006 by Ms. Jamie Gregoire, Director of Admissions at B.G. Thirty packets have already been mailed to other Catholic High Schools where our students have applied. Many of the 25 Prep School sets of forms have been sent but more are still arriving daily. Mr. Kelleher (so far) has completed his 155th recommendation with Mrs. Philion following with 115. If any more students are applying to Prep Schools, their paper work needs to be sent in A.S.A.P.

Attendance

Reminder: you must always call in for your child if they will be absent or tardy before 8:00 am. Please be sure to notify Mrs. Coker, our attendance person, if you know that your child will be absent from school (i.e. - planned trips, family functions or “shadowing” at a high school are examples of times that you may know about before the event occurs). A note sent in with your child, an email to scokernc@yahoo.com or a phone call to Mrs. Coker allows her to have it recorded in the computer and you do not need to call in that morning. Emails & notes to the teachers are helpful to keep them informed but the office must be included in the notification. If your child has a “shadow day” planned and Mrs. Coker is notified before that day, the day will not be counted as absent but “visiting another school”. Thanks for your help in this matter.


Winter Calendar

Monday. January 15 - No School

Friday, January 19 - Step-Up Day 2007 Registrations Due to NC office

Saturday, January 20 - Father/Daughter Dance 7-10 - NC Gym

Tuesday, January 23 - Q2 Grades Close

Wednesday, January 24 - Principal's Parent Meeting - Presenter, Officer Michael Soucy, Nashua P.D. will speak on Middle School Substance Abuse - 7:00- 8:00 Cafeteria NC
- 7th grade Quarter Classes and semester classes change

Friday, January 26 - No School
-Step-Up Day 2007 for 6th grade students interested in Nashua Catholic 8:00-2:30
-Principal's Coffee for all 6th grade parents, especially those who could not come to the Open House

January 28-February 2 - CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK

Monday, January 29 - Project LOVE Food Drive Starts

Tuesday, January 30 - REPORT CARDS Q2 - Parent Pick-up or note to NC office 7:00-4:00

Thursday, February 1 - School Mass Honoring Parents and Grandparents 9:00a.m. Please notify school if you plan to attend.

Friday, February 2 - NC Acceptances and Re- registrations sent out by this date

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

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

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

Tuesday, February 20 - NC Winter Sports Awards 7:00pm

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

March 16 - NC Fashion Show - 7:00-10:00 Doors open at 6:00 for the Silent Auction


Wildcat Theatre is back!!

NC's Wildcat Theatre will be sponsoring a musical production of the play "Godspell Junior" under the direction of parent volunteer Mr. Tom Anastasi. The production is scheduled for the early Spring. Students interested in participating in the musical are invited to an information night on wednesday, January 10, 6-7 P.M. in the school cafeteria. Any questions, email Mr. Tom Anastasi at anastasi@dwc.edu

God Bless,