News

Recently the seventh and eighth grade students of Assumption Catholic School, Perth Amboy, welcomed the seventh and eighth grade students of Saint Nicholas School, Passaic for a day of retreat presented by Father Paul Makar, the vocations director for the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia. This day was the result of conversations between Father Ivan Turyk , Assumption Catholic and Father Andriy Dudkevych, St. Nic…holas. Conversation led to plans, and plans led to reality. The retreat would not be possible without our wonderful 8th grade teacher Mrs. Mary Beth Pickering and 7th grade teacher Mrs. Donna Vattelana who worked tirelessly to make this a successful event.

Early in the morning, ACS principal Mr. Michael Szpyhulsky greeted Father Andriy, SNS principal Sister Eliane Ilnitski, S.S.M.I. teachers, and students. The day began with Divine Liturgy followed by the Stations of the Cross. Afterwards, students proceeded to ACS auditorium where they participated in a short activity to allow both schools to get to know each other. ACS students next took their new friends from SNS on a tour of their school, while SNS teachers were given a tour by ACS teachers. The next part of the morning was spent in discussion with Father Paul where he spoke to students about being the best they can be and having no fear to follow God’s calling.

Before lunch was served, Sister Yosaphata, MSMG, ACS vice principal, showed the new best friends how to create beautiful pictures using only picture frames, sharpies, and paint. During this creative hour teachers and administrators also had some time for their own conversations. Students could be overheard discussing their schedules, activities, and daily lives with each other. Following a lunch of pizza, salad, and of course cupcakes, everyone involved took a group picture to make a permanent memory of the day.
The day continued with one more talk by Father Paul to reinforce to the students not to be afraid to follow their dreams as long as they kept God in their hearts. Father Ivan thanked Father Paul for his time and then everyone returned to the school to continue working on their masterpieces.

As we know, all good things must come to an end. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, it was time for Saint Nicholas School family to get ready to leave for home. Final minutes were spent making promises to keep in touch. It was an awesome day with students from both schools expressing the hope of the beginning of a new tradition!

As part of the Pi Day celebration on March 14, our 6th and 7th grade accelerated math students, working in groups of 2 or 3, created terrific posters.  They found out about the history of this magical number and why it is called an irrational number.  They learned how important this number is when computing circumference, area, and volume of everyday objects.  They had fun adding exciting facts and colorful pictures of Pi.  One poster even includes an original Pi song.

On the second week of Lent, the faculty and principal spent a beautiful morning at St. Alfonso Retreat House in Long Branch. The teachers enjoyed two spiritually uplifting talks by Deacon Paul Makar of Assumption parish. Teaching is one of the most rewarding professions, but it can also be one of the most stressful. The hope of the retreat was to give this amazing group of teachers the opportunity to be with the Lord and rest awhile.

During Lent, the students, teachers and staff of ACS attend Stations of the Cross weekly. We pray and reflect on Jesus’ journey from being sentenced to death through His crucifixion and death. This year students were blessed with the opportunity to venerate the relic and an icon of Blessed Bishop-Martyr Mykola Charnetsky. In 1945, the Russian Communists’ secret police (the KGB) arrested Bishop Charnetsky and sentenced him to a six-year term of hard labor in Siberia. Transferred numerous times, he served his sentence in thirty different prisons and labor camps, and was subjected to six hundred hours of interrogations and torture. Blessed Bishop-Martyr Charnetsky, known as “the healer of souls” was beatified by St. John Paul II on June 27, 2001 in Lviv, Ukraine.

On March 2nd the first grade class celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday. We learned about who he was and had special guest readers (the 8th graders) read "Horton Hears a Who" to us. As a special project we got to pretend we were the Cat in the Hat BG creating masks. It was a fun filled day for us!

ACS Student Council recently sponsored a Crazy Hat contest for ACS students. Congratulations are extended to all participants. This year we had the largest amount of participation with kindergarten having the most! It made it very hard to pick out a winner from each class.
The following students were voted as having the craziest hat in their class:
PK – Michael                  K – Mia J.              Gr 1: Jada
Gr 3: Julian                   Gr 4 Isaiah N.       Gr 5: Calaeb C
Gr 6: Victoria G.             Gr 7: Ayden V       Gr 8: Alyssa M.

After reading a powerful article titled, "Why Are Your Clothes So Cheap?" in Religion class, the sixth graders discussed their responsibilities as Christians to society and the world.  They decided they needed to share their knowledge as well as gather information from their favorite companies.  

So the sixth grade writers are at it again! Each student wrote to their favorite businesses asking about the working conditions of their employees and letting them know that they are concerned consumers.

Their letters were impressive!

We wrapped up a week of fun activities during the Catholic Schools Week with a Teacher Appreciation Luncheon. These teachers work so hard! We are so impressed how far beyond "the call of duty" they extend themselves for their students. Thank you for going the extra mile. You’re our heroes.

On Friday morning, February 3rd, 2017 police officers, firefighters and EMS visited Assumption school for special breakfast as part of the school’s activities for national Catholic School Week. The good work they do is not often mentioned in the papers or on the evening news, but they are the unsung heroes of our communities. Thank you for your service and we ask God’s blessing and protection on each of you.

During Catholic Schools Week the Kindergarten, First and Second grade classes participated in a Science Day. They presented various projects they created from recycled products. The students from each class introduced themselves as well as their projects to their classmates and even had a mini question and answer session. They did a great job and were very creative!