News

In response to the tragic humanitarian crisis in Ukraine,  the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Perth Amboy, NJ  of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia recently purchased an ambulance to help save the lives of Ukrainians.  With the assistance of Bishop Hryhoriy Komar, Auxiliary Bishop of Sambir-Drohobych Eparchy in Ukraine, an ambulance has been purchased in Italy with the donation from the  Medical Career Institute, NY and proceeds from the New Year’s Dance (Zabava) fundraiser that took place in the parish on December 31, 2022. An ambulance for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s invasion was purchased for 13,000 euros ($14,500) and was delivered to the city of  Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine for the A7015  Tank Brigade.  God Bless America and God Protect Ukraine!  

Love and kindness is spreading throughout the hallways of ACS! Our morning started with Father Ivan and Mrs. Shumny dropping off a Valentine Surprise to each teacher.  We are so grateful for all the love they have for their students and our school. Each class will share lots of treats and cards in the afternoon but not before an extra prayer for our seniors!  The entire student body wrote beautiful cards and friendly letters to the residents of St. Joseph Senior Center and our Ukrainian Assumption Seniors. Students decorated and wished all seniors a blessed and Happy Valentine’s Day! Our seniors are always loved and in our hearts

I am so grateful that all our guests had a wonderful time today and that we are able to celebrate our uniqueness as a Ukrainian Catholic School!

Today our ACS teachers and students wore their favorite sports Jersey or tshirt and we had so many sports represented. Student Council hosted their Read-a-Thon for grades Pre K to 2nd grade and who doesn’t love a good book!

And here’s what happened in our classrooms:
Pre-Kindergarten: We had another exciting day, after having Spanish, we went downstairs to enjoy a Read A Thon! We had fun stories read to us by the student council and some of the 7th and 8th graders, boy they were some great stories. Next, we took turns taping Mrs. Shumny and Father Ivan to the wall, it was so much fun. As if that was not enough, it was time for a pizza lunch with our Special Person. After eating, we came back to class and created tons of shapes with Play-doh and watched a movie. It was so exciting doing all of this in our favorite sport jersey or shirt!

Kindergarten: Today we started our day by having the student council read some of their favorite stories to us. We practiced our addition with marshmallows today and made equations using the 2 different color marshmallows. 

1st Grade: What an exciting second day of Catholic Schools Week. We switched up our morning meeting, turned it into a math lesson by voting for a new name for our school mascot, and learned how to tally! We enjoyed one of Miss Suarez’s favorite activities from our student council, the Read A Thon! First Grade enjoyed taping Mrs. Shumny and Father Ivan to the wall! The best part of our day was spending quality time with our special person at today’s lunch. After our special person’s lunch we visited Mrs. Kukuzara’s class and had a movie afternoon surprise with popcorn.

2nd Grade:  It was a busy and wonderful Tuesday in 2nd Grade. We started our day with 3rd grade and Father Ivan, as he shared a Day in his Life with us.  Did you know that Father Ivan studied Greek, likes Sumo wrestling and was an excellent soccer player?  We LOVED taping Father and Mrs. Shumny to the wall!  We also really enjoyed being read to by our middle schoolers at the Read-A-Thon.  And to top off our day, we sang “Here I Am Lord” for all of our Special People at today’s lunch.

3rd Gr: We started our day by picking a name for our school mascot followed by joining 2nd grade and Father Ivan in a Q&A session where we gained some interesting insight on the day of the life of a priest. After coloring a gift for our special people, we got a chance to tape Father Ivan and Mrs. Shumny to the wall! To conclude our Tuesday, we ended with enjoying a wonderful lunch with our special people! Everyone enjoyed spending time with their grandmas and grandpas, parents, and aunts and uncles! Even Miss. Roque’s sister Lily came to say hi!

4th Grade: Today 4th graders got to play games and work together. We played Heads Up, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader, Target Monopoly, Connect Four, & Jenga Tetris. These games tested our smarts and we sure were smart enough. The 8th graders visited us and taught us about Static Electricity as well. Our Special People joined us for lunch after we were lucky enough to see the Principal and Father Ivan being duct taped to the wall. What a fun-filled day!

5th Grade: Fifth grade learned the importance of working together by completing a class puzzle project. We learned the hard tasks are more fun and easier to complete when we have our friends to lean on and open communication!

6th grade enjoyed a movie afternoon, watching The Chronicles of Narnia.  We all had a wonderful time watching our summer reading book come to life. 

7th and 8th grade had their parents come in to partner with their child in math class. The Perth Amboy Police detectives also came in to speak with the 7th and 8th graders about safety in our community and as they are getting ready for High School to be aware of making good choices. The police officers did a wonderful job and all students were engaged with current topics, including social media, vaping and how education is power! !
Thank You to the Perth Amboy Police Department!

And…. We had a wonderful turnout for our Special Person Lunch! Each student was allowed to bring in someone special to them and our auditorium was full of grandparents, aunts and uncles and so many friends! Second grade sang and we all had a sing a long with our wonderful music teacher and 8th grade ukelele player! Thank you FSA for providing a wonderful lunch and treats.
Duct Tape the ACS Administration to the wall! Well who would have thought this  $2 a foot student Council fundraiser was going to create such a ruckus and such a profit! Oh how students had fun taping them to the wall!

Want to support us? Come to Restaurant Night Bubba 33, Sayreville and say you are with ACS!

School Spirit Day is the only way to start Catholic Schools Week!  A beautiful sight of blue and yellow at ACS gathered for morning prayers.

Monday was ACS’ Community Appreciation Day. Each class was assigned a special group to create cards for because those who support our community are so important to us.  As a whole school we welcomed the Perth Amboy Police Department, EMTS and Fire Department.  They took a tour of our building and stopped by Mrs. Shumny’s office to have lunch and some coffee! Thank you to our amazing FSA for lunch.

Pre-Kindergarten: This morning started off with them having breakfast with their  middle school friends. Then, the police and fire departments visited their classrooms.  The most exciting part was seeing a firetruck and presenting the police department with thank you cards decorated with pictures and their names. We had lunch with our lower grade friends and were treated to happy meals from McDonald’s by the FSA. After lunch they began coloring the Catholic ABC booklet that they will be working on all week. In the afternoon they did a show and tell about their favorite stuffed animals that they brought from home.

Grade K: Today they made a special book full of Thank You coloring pages to give to their First Responders. They also made a special snow globe that says Jesus Warms My Heart.  They had a lot of fun at our first pep rally cheering on our whole school!

Grade 1: This morning first grade kicked off Catholic Schools Week by making thank you cards for their firefighters from the Perth Amboy Fire Department. They made a beautiful We Love our Catholic School coloring page. After their delicious Mcdonalds Lunch, they ended the day decorating their very own sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles. First Grade students were also surprised with a movie in the afternoon. They had a lot of fun at our pep rally cheering on their 8th grader friends and teachers in a game of Hungry Hungry Hippo.

Grade 2: Second grade started off Catholic Schools Week by learning a little about the Knights of Columbus and making beautiful cards, recognizing and thanking them for all they do. Then, throughout the morning, 2rd graders donned their aprons and took turns “Kooking in the Klassroom with Mrs. Kukuruza”. They measured, mixed and made scrumptious bite size brownies in a cupcake maker!  While waiting for their brownies to be ready, they practiced our writing in our Catholic Schools Week booklets. To top off our day, they had a blast at the ACS pep rally, and cheered for the 8th graders (and teachers) as they competed in a life-size version of Hungry Hungry Hippo! We can’t wait for tomorrow!

Grade 3: Today, our 3rd graders kicked off Catholic Schools Week by writing Thank you cards for our local first responders, 21CCC coordinators and our awesome security guard, Pablo! We followed that with our wonderful dessert waffles topped with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and sprinkles made by Miss. Roque in the classroom! Once our bellies were full, we had 8th graders, Corey, Victoria and Daniel teach us about magnets and work on some experiments with us! We concluded our day watching the Pep Rally and cheering on our fellow classmates and watching Miss. Roque participated in the 8th Grade vs Teachers Challenge! What a way to kick off the week! 

Grade 4th: Today we discussed and drew the reasons why we love our Catholic School. We made thank you cards for the Perth Amboy Senior Community, our 21CCC Coordinators and our security guard, Pablo. We have been working so hard on knowing multiplication and division facts, so we enjoyed some division practice which we will finish tomorrow since we enjoyed fun activities with our fellow ACS Students at a fun ACS Pep Rally!

Grades 5 through 8 had an ACS Diner Drive-in & Dives Morning, sponsored by teachers and was a hit with the middle school!  The teachers made eggs, bacon, tator tots and so much more. The kids spend a morning talking and finishing their appreciation cards and the teachers were their servers.  In the afternoon Miss Shumny ran an EPIC Pep Rally! Music, recogntions, relay races and most memorable our first Hungry Hungry 8th Graders!!! What a great time.

What will tomorrow bring?

Catholic Schools Week 2023 at ACS kicked off with 9 families coming to our open house. What a blessing!

Thank you to our FSA for the snacks, our student helpers for the excellent tours and to all me teachers who were available to speak to parents.

Stay tuned for a special week to celebrate who we are and what we teach… To know, To Love, To Serve God

After the Vesperal Liturgy, we celebrated the Great Blessing of the Waters, and parishioners were sprinkled with, and partook of the newly-blessed Holy Water.  The next next day, the morning Divine Liturgy for the Feast was celebrated with the students of Assumption Catholic Church. After the blessing of the water ceremony, Fr. Ivan walked around the school with a small group of 8 grades students and blessed each room with holy water and offered a blessing to students and staff.

Many thanks to John Baginsky for these wonderful photos.