Our brave IHM Brigade, very tired yet happy after another completed pilgrimage! (Yes, that is Sister Mary Joseph hiding behind Sister Maria Rosaria.) The pilgrimage this year was set-up a bit differently, but the graces involved are incalculable.

Oh - to be a clown!

At the End of the Year Performance (this year on June 12), every class puts on a little demonstration of what they learned during the past year. Hopefully you can see how much fun we had from the pictures!

My word is ????

Our annual Spelling Bee includes grades three through twelve – with the elementary school competing separately from the high school.

In the elementary school, our last two contestants were a third grader and an eighth grader – producing a David-and-Goliath contest that lasted a long time! The IHM Elementary School Spelling Bee Champion is Joseph Vasilak, grade eight, who spelled fifty-four words correctly. Second place (and the top third grade speller) went to Tristan McCann; he spelled forty-four words correctly. The top fourth grader is Peter Vasilak; the top fifth grader, Anne Doucette; Stephen Bryan for sixth grade; and Maria Bosonetto for seventh.

Our high school Spelling Champions are Cecilia Bryan (first place) and Samuel Bednar (second place). There was an exciting back-and-forth between them with words like kainite, nacreous, obbligato, and rallentando. The winning words were tertian and ubiquitous. For pictures,

Mary Grace & Brendan -- happy to have Our Lord in their hearts!

Two of our first graders and one guest from out-of-town made their First Holy Communions this past May 22. Here are some pictures.

Please sing with us!

Our May 22 school concert in Lexington, MA, went really well. The students performed for a little over an hour with music, singing, dancing, acting, and a few memory items. The audience was enchanted! We hope to have a DVD of the performance available soon. For now, enjoy the pictures.

From our 2007 concert

Immaculate Heart of Mary School students (officially: the Blueberry Jammers and the Future Famous Fiddlers) are putting on an hour’s entertainment at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, Massachusetts, on Sunday, May 22, at 3pm. With fiddling, dancing, singing, and acting, an audience of all ages is sure to have smiles on their faces. The performance will be in the Museum Auditorium. Just come in the front door (ignore the closed signs and look for Sisters in habits and children in uniforms!).

To figure out driving directions, please click here. The concert is free, but donations are welcome!

Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M.

Sister Maria Philomena, vice principal and high school teacher at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Richmond, NH, was recently selected as a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction by the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS). A role model to pupils, Sister Maria Philomena was nominated by student Rose Doucette (’10) for outstanding dedication and commitment to excellence in the classroom.

Student members of NSHSS have the opportunity to nominate the educator who made the most significant contribution to their academic career. The Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction award recognizes teacher role models who have made a lasting difference in their classroom by encouraging students to strive for excellence.

“Dedicated educators who exhibit a commitment to excellence deserve our highest praise and appreciation,” said NSHSS President James Lewis. “We’re excited to provide an ongoing means to do so, and we encourage our members to nominate teachers who have contributed to their academic success.”

Formed in 202, The National Society of High School Scholars recognizes academic excellence at the high school level and encourages members of the organization to apply their unique talents, vision, and potential for the betterment of themselves and the world. Currently, there are more that 650,000 Society members in 120 countries. NSHSS also provides scholarship opportunities for deserving young people. For more information about NSHSS visit www.nshss.org.

Grand Prize - Luke Bednar - Grade Seven

For students in grades seven through twelve, the first half of the school year carries the excitement (and anxiety!) of getting ready for the year’s Science Fair. Each science project includes a research paper, experiment, oral presentation, and presentation board upon which each student is graded (usually this is most of the second quarter science and research grades). At the public portion of the project, the Fair itself, the students are judged by Fair judges (pun intended). This year the junior-high students make an excellent showing. The winners are:

Grand Prize: Luke Bednar (grade seven) – Duct Tape

First Place: James Bednar (grade ten) – Electromagnets

Second Place: Maria Bosonetto (grade eight) – The Effects of Sugar

Third Place: Samuel Bednar (grade ten) – Left Brain/Right Brain

Congratulations! Other interesting projects covered hair color and IQ, the comparative merits of specific chainsaws, persuasion, kinesiology, pain tolerance in men vs women, the effect of video games on vital signs, and

Father Jarecki (in 2001)

Father Michael Jarecki, a retired priest of the diocese of Ogdensburg, NY, who said Mass for us for more than thirty years, said his last public Mass on October 31, 2010 — the Feast of Christ the King. On the following Sunday, November 7, we held a “Father Jarecki Appreciation Day”. Each classroom made a presentation, and then individuals from the community shared stories and anecdotes  and expressed their gratitude for all that Father has done for us.

IHM High School 2010-2011

Our high school, knowing that Father’s favorite poem was Joyce Kilmer’s Trees, wrote their own poem in appreciation. To read that poem and see pictures from Father’s last public Mass, please keep reading.

PRIESTS

by the IHM High School Class 2010-2011

To Father Michael Jarecki

upon his retirement at the age of ninety-three

I think that I shall never see

A priest as child-like as he.

He baptized, married, and confessed

For sixty-six years without a rest.

As promised to our father* then,

[*Father Leonard Feeney]

For thirty years our priest he’s been.

Those twenty-seven thousand Masses

Were said to God for our trespasses.

For thirty years he gave us hope

And kept us praying for the Pope.

Remembered long by many persons

Will be his short and Marian sermons.

His love for Mary, as a devoted son,

He shared until his job was done.

In spite of sundry aches and pains,

His perseverance made great gains.

He fed us daily with Our Lord;

He taught us Math has its reward.

Through all our laughter and our tears,

He’s been our father for many years.

Poems are made by fools, at least,

But only God can make a priest.