News

The Knights of Columbus are a charitable, Catholic fraternal organization, deserving of their own accolades and recognition for their service to community, but on Saturday, March 22, they were the ones doing the honoring.
 
At their Annual Shield Awards and Dinner, the San Salvador Council 299 honored members of the local Perth Amboy Police and Fire Departments, as well as Catholic school teachers and community volunteers.
 
Assumption Catholic School had quite a fine representation at the dinner.  Alumni Brian Lopazanski and parent of current students Katie and Nathaniel Perez, Michael Perez were honored for their work in the Fire Department. Our school, represented by Father Ivan Turyk and principal Michael Szpyhulsky, was honored for our volunteer work.  Students who participated in and won the basketball free throw contest sponsored by the Knights were on hand to receive trophies and certificates.  Awards were handed out by Ed Troche, parent of alumni Christopher Troche, who, it is worth mentioning, will soon be graduating from the US Naval Academy.
 
The shining star of our school for the evening, was the recipient of the Teacher of the Year award, Melanie Lawrence.  Mrs. Lawrence has been teaching at Assumption Catholic School for over 30 years.  For six of those years, she even served as principal.  As she drew inspiration from some of her own teachers – she can trace back her love of poodles to stories her third grade teacher told about her own pets (does that scenario sound familiar to anyone?), and it was a seventh grade teacher that encouraged her to refine her writing skills (did you know she usually writes her junior drama plays herself?) – so too does she inspire generation after generation of students at ACS.  Her love for education and dedication to the Assumption Catholic community shows and inspires in almost everything she does, from her teaching, to her many after school groups, and her volunteering at church.
 
No matter what you may do with your life, whether you are a fire fighter, a teacher, or something else entirely, it is always the hope that you pursue your dreams not for the recognition, but because it helps you live a fulfilling, and happy life.  But sometimes, the recognition is nice.  Congratulations to all the 2014 honorees!

Today, the kindergarten class  at ACS have a great deal of fun while learning  about St. Patrick and  the Holy Trinity. Legend says that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the "Holy Trinity" to the Irish people during his teachings. The Holy Trinity is the concept of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: three separate entities forming one God. Kindergarten students  learned  what a shamrock is, and that St. Patrick used them in his teachings. They  made some great ornament crafts this year for the holiday.

It's always nice to hear that our graduates are doing well in their high schools. The Middlesex County Vocational Technical High School, Perth Amboy campus has always welcomed our students. Click on the link below and see how well our recent graduates Anthony Ciko and Jacob Cordova are doing at the MCVT High School. In the third picture down, under the title "ET Wins" see if you can recognize the two proud ACS grads who took first place in an electronics expo! http://www.mcvts.net/Domain/15

If you were near ACS on a recent Friday afternoon, you would have seen middle school students sitting on the edge of their seats. They were waiting for the finals round of Team Jeopardy to finish. After two previous rounds of competition, it was time to find this year’s champions.

To start the competition, teams of three were made up consisting of a students from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. They were assigned to a classroom for the first round of the competition. Teachers had the same set of statements used for each round. The top two teams in each class went on to the second round. Finally, at the end of the second round, there was one team from each class that played well enough to make it to the final round. Congratulations to the top three teams: Elena Z and her team Daliana B, and Tyler G; Katherine P and teammate Jonathan B, and finally, to Eliza A, Jillian P, and Vincent D.

In the end there could only be one championship team. So, after three competitive rounds, this year’s Jeopardy winners were Team Katherine and Jonathan! Congratulations! It must be noted that all teams did a great job throughout the competition.

ACS middle school students have been busy working on various research projects from studying skeletal systems in the sixth grade, to learning the process of mitosis and meiosis in grade seven, and finally studying the history of the periodic table. You might ask why this is so special, because that is normal science curriculum material. It is special because the science classes have been doing independent studies using recently purchased Apple I Pads.

Students were given their real world question to explore and find answers to make a quick report on their findings. Some created posters to share their information.  Others completed study guides for test prep. The students enjoyed the learning process and are looking forward to continued work using our new technology.

Each year the Diocese of Metuchen sponsors a contest emphasizing respect for life. This year students created posters with the theme of “Love is Our Mission: Family Fully Alive!” Students showed how they show love within their family and how their family spreads love to others.

Through the years ACS students have produced winners at the diocesan level. Hopefully this year will also produce some winners. Congratulations to our winners from each grade level: Gr. 2- Brian D., Gr. 3- Alani J., Gr. 4 – Joshua B., Gr. 5 – Dylanise C. Gr. 6 – Alisha R., Gr. 7 – Justin O., Gr. 8 – Carlos C.

On Monday, February 9, 2015 ACS students in grades K-‐5 were amazed, astonished, and thoroughly entertained as they watched science come to life. Through the use of humor, songs, magic, and circus tricks Grand Falloon’s Professor Winklebottom and side-‐kick, Meatloaf, taughtstudents the importance of conserving and reusing earth’s precious resources.Students from the Terrific Third participated in the Diocese of Metuchen 2015 Respect Life Poster Contest. This year’s theme is “Love is Our Mission: Family Fully Alive”. Students were tasked with drawing a picture depicting how their family shows love to members within their family and/or how they spread love to others outside their family. Pictures are on display in the 3rd grade hallway.

On Monday, February 9, 2015 ACS students in grades K-‐5 were amazed, astonished, and thoroughly entertained as they watched science come to life. Through the use of humor, songs, magic, and circus tricks Grand Falloon’s Professor Winklebottom and side-‐kick, Meatloaf, taughtstudents the importance of conserving and reusing earth’s precious resources.

Professional musicians know the story all too well.  If it didn't happen to them, it probably happened to a colleague.  When the school budget goes up on the chopping block, the arts department is usually one of the first groups to feel the cuts.  Music, art and theater programs are always one of the first to go, deemed the least important of all the academic fields.
But not at Assumption Catholic School in Perth Amboy, NJ.

For 20 years now, the after school activities have been going strong at ACS, and the halls are alive with the sounds of budding thespians and musicians alike.  Since the first meeting of the glee club on Monday, February 6, 1995 to today, our after school programs have grown to include drama for both the 3rd – 5th and 6th – 8th grade levels, and the unique sounding chimetteers for the 6th – 8th graders as well.  With the popularity of singing ever growing, glee club, which was originally open to all students in 3rd grade or older, was split into two groups, with the middle grades taking over glee club while the show choir would be open for our older students.  Today, these clubs are populated by 44 percent of all eligible students.
 

To celebrate 20 years of after school programs, a show was put together that revisited the theme of the very first glee club show, songs from Annie and Oliver.  This year, over 50 students from our after school groups got in on the act and shared their talents in song and in skits.  Many of those students are actually in more than one performing group, but made their transitions from one scene to the next with ease.  Drama students, under the direction of Mrs. Pickering, performed skits written by themselves or by Mrs. Lawrence.  The chimetteers performed two songs arranged by Miss Lawrence – one from each Broadway musical, and the glee club and show choir staged some of the more memorable songs from the two shows, "It's a Hard Knock Life" and "You're Never Fully Dressed without a Smile" from Annie, "Food, Glorious Food" and "Who Will Buy?" from Oliver. 

Despite the cold and icy conditions the night of the show, the students performed to a full house.  Over 100 parents, grandparents, siblings and friends came to enjoy the show, which was also attended by our ever supportive Father Ivan, our Missionary Sisters, and our principal, Mr. Szpyhulsky.  Our students – not just our performers, but all of our students – are supported by not just our priest, principal, nuns and teachers, but by so many parents, friends, and parishioners as well, many of whom were not even in attendance. 

While admission to the show was free, the teachers who run the performing arts groups, Mrs. Lawrence, Mrs. Pickering and Miss Lawrence, were asking for donations for music and drama supplies for the students.  On the shopping list – 60 recorders for music class, props and accessories, and a new chimes set, which was the big ticket item at a whopping $840.  Money from the recent spirit wear sale also went towards this goal.  Between the donations collected at the show and also from parishioners of Assumption Church the same weekend, the money from the spirit wear sale, and a generous donation from the FSA, not only was our fundraising goal of $1,240 met, it was exceeded.  Thanks to the generosity of our friends, family and parishioners, we raised just over $1,500.  As Mrs. Lawrence said, "I'm just overwhelmed," and it's true.  In a time where the arts are often left out in the cold, the family of Assumption Catholic School and Church are welcoming the arts in with warm, open arms and saying, no, the arts are here to stay.

Immediately, recorders, recorder music, storage bins, and the new chimes are going to be ordered.  After that the teachers will then sit down and do some research to see how best to spend the rest of the money.

ACS and FSA recently sponsored a family night outing to the N.J. Devils home game against the Ottawa Senators. Included in the ticket was a free pass to a special food spot where nachos, hot dogs, popcorn, and pretzels were available for all ACS fans. The Devils made a happy crowd with a 2 – 1 victory over the Senators. After the game ACS fans were given the opportunity to go down on the ice. Future hockey players slid around on the ice picturing themselves making the big plays for their favorite team while they waited to have their group picture taken.  By the end of the evening the young and not so young were ready to go home, taking with them the dream of next time. Thank you to the FSA board for providing a great way for families to get together for an evening of great fun!<