Live...from Baltic...it's...AHFBALTIC.ORG!

Our website is officially updated and live!  We thank God for the gift of creativity and how it has been used to develop social media.  Hopefully, you'll stop and visit the new site and let us know how it looks and works.  It is a work in progress, and it is our hope that it gets as much information about what makes AHF so unique out to the rest of the world.  Literally, the rest of the world!  

Features to look for:

• Downloadable forms for Admissions...
• Overviews for each of our Academic Departments...
• A Directory of our Faculty and Staff emails...
• A listing of our co-curricular activities...
• Pages for our Home-School and Alumnae Associations...
• The capability to translate our site's content into any language (look for that button!)...
• And, more.

There is so much to say about AHF that it is difficult to get it all in during regular conversations.  While it takes a certain amount of time and energy to maintain a website (or blog), I have always found activities such as these to be relaxing (to a point) and, honestly, just plain fun to do.  The thought that we can post news here in southeastern CT and have it immediately available around the globe is difficult to describe...in a good way, of course.  

We'll keep the website as fresh as possible.  Along with our Facebook page and our Twitter account, we truly hope to be able to reach as many people as possible.  That includes those of our families that live in another hemisphere.  

With more to be done to get ready for the next week and beyond, have a blessed week.  Please continue to pray for peace!

                                                                                                 ~Mrs. T

Twelve days from Homecoming...

Seriously, there must be a way to visually represent the excitement that is building as we get closer and closer to the arrival of our young women at the Academy!  As of today, we're at 12 days from our Boarders arrival.  Some of them will be coming to AHF for their first year, while others will be returning home.  One more day, and our Day students will join them.  All will be "home."

Home.  This is what the term "homecoming" really means.  I'm just about 39 years away from the day that I graduated from my own high school, and I can honestly say that it is still an incredibly special feeling to go back to visit.  It feels like I have returned home after being away for a while.  There is comfort. There is familiarity.  There are memories that I share with a very select group of other women. Last year, Mother Marie Julie, our Superior General, asked one of our international students "Where do you live?"  The young woman answered, "Here."  Mother asked her again, "Where is home?"  The young woman clarified, "This is my home.  My family lives in _______, but this is my home."  Home.  

Although I only had to "travel" around the corner to get to my high school, I understand what this young woman was explaining.  To think of someplace where we are able to establish relationships with those who start out as strangers and can actually become our sisters...what a blessing!  This is a cycle that will return to the Academy on the 25th of August.  Our young women will arrive on our doorstep and the tradition of becoming family which began over 130 years ago will renew itself. 

Please pray for our young women as they prepare to return to their home in Baltic.  Some will be traveling from halfway around the world, while others will simply walk up West Main Street.  Regardless of where they are coming from, they will be coming Home.  I'm excited for them, and I hope that you are, too.  

The Final Countdown (feel free to listen to the music in your head)!

These days, life is all about COUNTDOWNS.  They are really helping us keep track of where we are with our preparations for the start of the 2013-2014 school year.  This counting down of what is left of the summer is definitely bittersweet. Before we know it, vacation will be done, but getting down to those single digits means that our halls will be lit up again and filled with that very special kind of energy that has made the Academy of the Holy Family so special for over 130 years!

So, back to our COUNTDOWN!  Every day, our young women find a post in their email inboxes from me.  Scary thought, eh?  An email from your Principal...during the summer...every day!  Not really scary, honestly.  There is a creative number graphic, followed by a "friendly reminder" ranging from "How's that summer reading coming along?" to just about anything else that relates to the start of the school year and how our young women can get the most out of this year, as well as their preparation for it.  This is important for all of our students, whether they are coming from right in Baltic, or from around the globe.

In previous years, the week leading up to first day of classes has been referred to as "Transition Week."  Much takes place during this week, including the administration of placement exams for our incoming freshwomen and transfer students; Class meetings, Club gatherings and start-up meetings, and so much more.  Speaking from my personal perspective, what I find especially exciting is the chance to get our young women fired up about being part of a fantastic community of learners and teachers...about being part of a family, regardless of where they are from.                                                      

This year, we wanted to think of something that would really get everyone in the Academy fired up.  The concept of a lightbulb kept coming up, especially the image of one of the new energy-saving bulbs.  You might actually use them in your own home.

This is actually known as a CFL bulb, standing for Compact Flourescent Light.  Well, those initials have taken on a new meaning for us at the Academy of the Holy Family. "Transition Week" is now known as "Power Week," and our young women are going to be welcomed with a tremendous amount of energy...our own unique, Academy of the Holy Family energy!

And, this is what we have come up with:                       

The schedule for Power Week 2013 will be finalized this week, and will be sent out to our young women and their families.  Yes, we are excited!

And now, for that music that you can hear in your head:

Until next week, have a blessed day...please pray for peace!                             

~ Mrs. T