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IHM Spelling Bee Champions – 2012

One round of the elementary school bee -- the chairs start emptying!

Our annual Spelling Bee includes grades three through twelve – with the elementary school competing separately from the high school. This year’s contest was very big (lots of students, lots of good spellers), but the pressure of an audience and competition brought the contest to a speedy conclusion in just under two hours.

In the elementary school, our last two contestants were siblings: a fifth grader and a sixth grader! The IHM Elementary School Spelling Bee Champion is Anne Doucette, grade six; second place went to Peter Doucette, grade four. Peter stumbled on cadence — which Anne spelled correctly. She went on to win with irresistible. The top third grader is Mary-Kate Vasilak (and third place over-all); Continue Reading »

Posted 09 May 2012 † Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. § English § School Life § Society ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Third Quarter Honor Roll

Honor Roll
Maria Bosonetto (8)
Anne Doucette (6)
Oliver Fougere (1)
Mary Grace Grinstead (2)
Maria Pilar LaPlume (1)
Joseph McCann (1) Continue Reading »

Posted 09 May 2012 † Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. § School Life § Society ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Kickboxing at IHM

Brother Louis Marie and Professor Grinstead graciously gave Sister Maria Philomena an interview about their activities with the junior and senior high school boys.  Our readers might also enjoy reading an article “Violent Arts & Gentle Souls” that Sister accidentally found — it ties in quite nicely.

The 2012 IHM Kickboxing Champions

You have been training the boys in touch football, soccer, and volleyball. What made you decide to add kickboxing?

Brother Louis Marie: The third quarter has always been a problem; Professor and I felt we were tempting God by playing soccer on icy ground and uneven terrain. It made me pretty nervous. So, we were looking for an indoor sport that would still prove to be physically exhausting.

Professor Grinstead: As Brother stated, we needed to find an indoor activity where the boys could exhaust themselves.

Professor gives the combatants some last minute directions.

Brother, as a young boy, studied kickboxing, so he had a great appreciation for the mental and physical exhaustion that kickboxing provides. Thanks to the generosity of Steve DeMasco, Continue Reading »

Posted 21 April 2012 † Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. § School Life § Sports ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Happy Easter

Please visit this link to see an Easter card for all of our friends, relatives, and benefactors!

Posted 08 April 2012 † Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. § Fathers § Mothers § Religion § School Life § Sisters § Society ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , ,

March Newsletter

To view the March e-newsletter, please click here. If you would like to receive our monthly e-newsletter, please sign up to get it regularly.

Posted 31 March 2012 † Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. § Educational Philosophy § General Pedagogy § School Life ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Profession of Final Vows – Two Sisters

The two Sisters wearing their bridal wreaths and rings

This past Sunday (March 25), our two Junior Sisters, Sister Maria Rosaria and Sister Marie Gabrielle took their final vows as Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the following words: “In the presence of almighty God, in honor of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, of Saint Joseph, of Saint Louis Marie, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Saint Teresa of Jesus, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica, for the service of the holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, and in the hands of my superior, Sister Marie Therese, I, Sister [name], known formerly in the world as [name], vow to God perpetual Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience as a Slave of the Immaculate Heart of Mary according to the Rule of Saint Augustine and the Constitutions of our Congregation, and I promise to make the first interest of my life the doctrinal Crusade of Saint Benedict Center.”

Please join us in thanksgiving to Our Lady for two such beautiful vocations and praying for an increase of them! To see pictures of the ceremony (with quotes from the ritual) and reception, please click here. Continue Reading »

Posted 31 March 2012 † Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. § Educational Philosophy § General Pedagogy § Religion § School Life § Sisters § Society ‡ Comments (4) ° Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mud Baths in Richmond

A week after the snow, the students are making sand castles in the sun!

Mud baths and mud facials are still the rage, but in Richmond you can visit IHM School at Saint Benedict Center and get a mud bath for your vehicle at no cost! Yes, after a snow day on March 1, on March 9 we had to have a mud day (the mud on the hill was too bad, too risky for drivers)!

While this isn't one of our pictures, it sure fits!

Although the town has added gravel in places, and re-leveled a few times, we are having to run shuttles to and from school in the four-wheel-drive vehicles. Just picture a dirt road turning to mud soup/slush a foot or more deep, and then imagine mud-bogging in two-way traffic on a one-and-three-quarter car road with ditches on each side (on a steep hill with several turns)! Perhaps we could figure out a way to market it? One Richmond resident said that she hasn’t seen the road get this bad (and we usually have at least one mud day each year) in about twenty-five years. As someone wrote to me, you have to love the changing seasons! Continue Reading »

Posted 14 March 2012 † Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. § School Life § Society ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Our Winter Weather

The Sisters in the snow (yes, there are seven of us, but one is behind the camera!)

Although we had very little snow this winter, the season did begin and end (?) with good storms. We had that big storm the end of October, and now March came in like a lion! Here are some pictures of the Sisters taking a Rosary walk in the snow on March 1. Of course, this storm meant a day off of school! (I guess Our Lady knew we needed it; otherwise she would have given it to us the week before — when we were on February vacation.) Continue Reading »

Posted 13 March 2012 † Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. § Educational Philosophy ‡ Comments (0) °

Students Raise Funds for Field Trip

Get your tickets here!

The life lesson of working for something you want (and not having it just handed to you) was recently tackled successfully by grades K-4, 7-8. They made plans to go to the Southwick Zoo in the spring, but even such a modest field trip is expensive; there is no leeway in our penny-pinching budget for “extras”.

So, the classes planned a fundraising evening. By putting on a delightful series of music, short dramas, jokes, and the grand finale: a “puppet” show, the classes were able to provide a delightful evening’s entertainment for a bargain rate: $5 per person or $10 per family. Meanwhile, the seventh and eighth grade students sold refreshments: popcorn, hot chocolate, and baked goods. After lots of hard work, they raised an amazing $500! Congratulations!

Click here to see a few pictures from the event. Continue Reading »

Posted 13 March 2012 † Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. § Drama § School Life § Science § Society ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Second Quarter Honor Roll

Honor Roll
Maria Bosonetto (8)
Anne Doucette (6)
Oliver Fougere (1)
Joseph McCann (1) Continue Reading »

Posted 29 February 2012 † Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. § School Life § Society ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , , , ,