News

“Ukraine needs our help! What can we do?”  At a recent Student Council meeting this was the exact question that was being discussed among the student members. It was acknowledged that as young people it would be hard to show their support for the people of Ukraine. They still knew there had to be something they could do.

Silence! That was something that they could accomplish. So on Wednesday, March 19, 2014, the students of grades four through eight zipped their lips for the entire day. They offered their silence as a form of prayer for the people of Ukraine that have been suffering during this trying period of unrest.

Students wore a small tag indicating they were silent for Ukraine. They walked through the halls of school, worked in class, and sat together at lunch in silence. Hopefully, by offering their prayer of silence to the Lord, He will bring comfort to the people of Ukraine. Assumption Catholic School in Perth Amboy, NJ  families will continue to keep the people of Ukraine in their hearts.

The 2014 Foundation for Catholic Education Dinner was held on Tuesday, March 11, 2014. This year’s theme was “Serving God by Serving Others”. The spotlight of the evening was on the twenty-six religious orders who were Catholic schools’ first models of service to community – the women and men who have devoted their lives to teaching as Jesus did. Sister Yosaphata attended the reception and accepted a Certificate of Commendation on behalf of the Missionary Sisters of the Mother of God for over 50 years of service to Assumption Catholic School.

On a recent Friday evening Sister Yosaphata was honored by the Knights of Columbus San Salvador Council # 299 for her dedication to the children of A.C.S. Mr. Ed Troche, parent of Christopher, (Class of 2007) first recognized ACS for our support of activities sponsored by the Knights. Then, he called upon Mrs. Shumny to introduce Sister Yosaphata.

Mrs. Shumny shared how Sister’s life of service and devotion has led to a life of love and dedication which has given A.C.S. half a century of beautiful memories.  Finally, Mr. Troche then presented Sister Yosaphata with a beautiful plaque for Educator of the Year that is now on display in the school office.

To commemorate the bicentennial of the birth of Ukraine’s greatest poet, Taras Shevchenko, the ACS students took part in Taras Shevchenko Essay Contest. They had to write an essay on the theme “Why even today, Taras Shevchenko is still considered Ukraine's Greatest Hero”. This morning, at the Children’s Liturgy, Fr. Ivan Turyk announced winners : First prize and $200 went to Cassandra Rizkallah and the Second Prize – $100 was given to Steven Marcucci. The Third Prize and $50 went to Yuri Deyneka, parishioner of the Assumption Parish. Congratulations to Our Essay Contest Winners!

On Tuesday, February 17 the smell of chocolate filled the air of the school auditorium. Yes, Valentine’s Day had passed, but the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students were excited about their Chocolate Festival. Originally scheduled for Valentine’s Day, the big snow of February 13, 2014 got in
the way.

Students were first teamed across the grades. Next, they had to create a product that contained chocolate. Then, they had to market their product including a commercial, a presentation board, and a jingle to describe their product. They had to figure out how much it would cost to produce one packaged serving of their product. Finally, they presented their product to teachers from the other grades. Of course samples accompanied their presentations.

When presentations were finally all finished, all of the students had the opportunity to sample the delicious creations. Snow might have stopped Valentine’s Day at ACS but it didn’t stop the chocolate!

This year, Pope Francis’ message at World Youth Day commanded our young people to Open Your Hearts to Life. This message became the theme for the 2014 Respect Life Poster Contest. Assumption Catholic School (ACS) was one of sixteen elementary Catholic Schools and twenty Religious Education Programs that participated in this contest. One poster per grade from each school and program was submitted to the Diocese for judging. A total of 206 posters were received by the Diocese. We are extremely proud to announce that ACS has two winners! Katherine Perez is the 1st place winner for the grade 7 category. Ishaani Purang is the 2nd place winner for the grade 3 category. We will see our winners artwork displayed in the 2015 Respect Life Calendar. Congratulations to both our winners for a job well done

After being pushed a couple of days due to the snow, we finally reached the 100 day mark! First grade had a fun filled 100th day of school. We started by writing our anticipations of the day in our journals. We counted and skip counted to 100 and  marked it on our wall. During our math class we counted many shapes and  completed our 100th day worksheets.
Some of the first graders made their very own special posters with 100 items including marshmallows and cheerios. Finally, we ended our day with our class snack party and the students received achievemnt certificates. Great job first grade, you did it!

It started with an idea and culminated in an afternoon Pep-Rally Presentation during the 2014 Catholic Schools Week. The idea was to have 8th grade students from Assumption Catholic School build a gaming and learning computer from the bottom up. Once the computer was fully operational, the children would then donate it to Kier's Kidz, an organization whose mission is to provide assistance to children diagnosed with cancer and their families.

Mr. Gary Chardyczak, a member of the Board of Trustees of Kier’s Kidz and the computer teacher at Assumption Catholic School came up with the idea and presented it to the 8th grade class. The students at Assumption Catholic Schools enthusiastically took up the challenge and spent weeks in the lab learning how to build a computer system from the ground up. The students, with the assistance of Mr. Chardyczak, researched and purchased the necessary parts, installed each component and software.

On Friday, January 31, 2014, the students and Mr. Chardyczak presented the computer to Dr. Larry Perfetti and Mimi Hickman Perfetti from Kier’s Kidz Charity. The computer will be made available to young cancer patients for their enjoyment.

Kier’s Kidz is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Information about Kier’s Kidz can be found online at http://www.kierskidz.com. Assumption Catholic School is an Advanced Ed accredited elementary school featuring full-day Pre-Kindergarten (age 4) through 8th grade education on a single campus. Information about Assumption Catholic School can be found at http://www.assumptioncatholicschool.net.

On the left picture: Gary Charydczak, ACS and Board of Trustee Member for Kier’s Kids; Dr. Larry Perfetti and Mrs. Mimi Hickman Perfetti.