St. Christopher School

September 28, 2011

Dear Parents and Friends of St. Christopher School,

I would like to begin by thanking all of our families for choosing to send their students to St. Christopher School.  I see daily examples of our teachers and staff that are going above and beyond.  I see families showing their support both financially and with their time and talents to support our school.  The students seem happy and their respect and concern for each other is amazing.  I thank each of you, as we all are part of what makes our school different from the rest.  Each of us is more than just a name; we are all part of one big family!

This past week marked the beginning of the autumn season which technically means that the sun crosses the celestial equator moving southward, and is known as the Autumnal Equinox.  There is always something magical and peaceful about the crops being harvested.  The harvest moon is so beautiful in the skyline and the trees are beginning to show us their many fall colors. 
We are fortunate to live in New England and witness the beauty of God’s creation surrounding us each day.

On Friday September 9^th we celebrated the beginning of the school year with Mass.  Appropriately, the Mass was followed by a remembrance of the tragedy on September 11, 2001.  Miss Wefers’ and Mrs. Emond’s sixth grade classes presented a wonderful program which included a poem written by Miss Wefer’s sister Faith Johnson who teaches in the Salem, NH school district. The poem is called “The Survivor Tree” and can be found in the new book, “The Mystery of the Magical Cucumber Tree” by Richie Cabo.  Although the event of 9/11 shocked our nation, I believe that these experiences show all of us that it is possible for hopefulness to come out of such an unthinkable tragedy.  I am very proud of all of our students!

Other highlights of the past month:

• The Back to School/Back to Church Mass and Activity Fair, held on Sunday, September 11^th, reflected a Parish Community at its best.  We honored God and prayed for His blessings on our students, staff, parents and parish.  Then, we met in the church hall for a fabulous Activity Fair, refreshments and good conversation.
• Our Nashua Catholic Schools fundraiser is winding down.  We have just about hit the 50% mark towards meeting our goal.  So, we need your help.  If you haven’t purchased your calendars yet but wish to join in the October raffle excitement, fill out those raffle tickets tonight and send them in tomorrow!!  Thank you so much for your support!
• The Scholastic Book Fair was a big success and we made over $1600 to use for our library!  Thanks to everyone who supported this effort!
• The Lobby Project is almost complete!!  Jack Richmond has been literally putting the “finishing” touches on the desk area with stain and polyurethane. It truly looks magnificent!  Our donated flat screen has been keeping us all updated on what’s happening in our school.  A big “thank you” to Mark Roy for making this happen for us and for helping us learn how to maintain and update the flow of information.  Again, thank you to everyone involved in the project for making this dream a reality: Jason Ramalho, Mark Roy, Chris & Marta Nissen, Mark Sheehy, Carol LaPlante, Bob Hebert, Sean Carney, Dana Keegan, Paula MacClellan and Jack Richmond.  God Bless you all!!
• I am pleased to recognize the following students who led the school community in Morning Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance this month:  Michael Meads, Regan Sedler, Samantha Crotty, and Valerie Erausquin.
• Please see the attached letter regarding our School Logo.

Highlights in October are:

• Calendar Raffle drawings begin – October 1
• Progress Reports – October 7
• School Mass – 5M - October 7 at 9:15 a.m.
• Columbus Day – Monday, October 10^th – is a Holiday.  Therefore, students will have no school.
• Family Fun Night – Saturday, October 15^th 6:00 to 8:30 at Nashua Catholic Gym. Sponsored by the Nashua Diocesan Catholic Schools. Come join the fun!  Door Prizes and Tuition Raffle!!
• Pre-K Take Your Parent to Lunch Day – Friday, October 21 at noon
• Kindergarten Take Your Parent to Lunch Day – Friday, October 28 at noon

What a fantastic start to the year!  Thank you one and all for your never ending support!

Mrs. Cynthia Vita Clarke

IMPORTANT LOGO INFORMATION

St. Christopher School Family:

In June of the 2010-2011 school year, we introduced a new school logo to the St. Christopher School Community.  The decision to change the logo was done through many discussions and an extensive review of many successful Catholic schools.  The process to determine if a logo change was a good idea, and which logo design to choose, occurred over many months.

In recent years we’ve worked hard on modernizing our building, updating our website and creating published materials that are attractive and informative. We felt that the logo was yet another way to show that we have improved.  Working in conjunction with a marketing firm, a new logo was developed.

After the introduction of the new logo, we heard many comments that expressed concern for the change.  A lot of you felt that the school was successful with the original logo and that it had become a recognized symbol within the community.  Others identified with St. Chris through the logo, and felt that if it were changed then they would lose that identity.

We have listened carefully to all of the comments and have reviewed our decision in light of these concerns.  With that said, we have decided to go back to our original logo.

Any uniforms with the new logo will be accepted indefinitely.  The uniform company has been made aware of the changes and will be printing everything with our original logo.

We hope this explanation will help you understand the process we went through to make this decision and that our core values, uniforms, strong Catholic ethic, and structure still remain our focus.

Thank you and God Bless!