Mid-September...and we are on a roll!

We are mid-way through September, and it is so difficult to believe that it wasn't that long ago that we were counting down to the start of Power Week!

Our students have arrived...classes have begun...the halls are literally buzzing with activity and a special, wonderful energy that can only be found in an environment that represents a community in its best form.  

You already know that the Academy of the Holy Family serves young women from the United States and around the world, and has students who reside with us and also live nearby and are considered "day students." As the days progress and we observe our students interacting in classrooms, in the leisure areas (commonly, outside of our work area...they LOVE that hallway), and Hanlon Hall, we have a firsthand glimpse into how their comfort level increases.  We can also see how our motto "Where friends become family" becomes a reality.  During a recent Faculty Meeting, one of our teachers stated that she really couldn't tell the difference between the Boarders and the Days (always a plus).  In my own class, Concert Choir, I've observed students helping one another as they've started on the journey to become musically-literate.  Native English speakers calmly assisted their sisters who are English Language Learners during rehearsals in the most natural and loving way possible.  As an educator, I have to say that it is observations such as these that tell me that we are on the right track.  We are doing things well, and giving our young women what they need.  

Our website is up and running, with each of our Academic areas getting their pages set up.  Our Full Calendar is available online and you can find our Outings Calendar can be found there, too.  Edline is in full bloom (don't forget to check your daughter's page), and we are settling into the comfortable rhythm that is the hallmark of a school that is blessed with a staff that knows their job and does it well.

Co-curricular activities are absolutely BOOMING around the campus!  Our standard offerings continue, but new ones have emerged.  Saturday outings are in full swing, and will soon be available to our Days, as well as Boarders.  

Life is good at AHF.  There is no simple way to describe what that means...far too complex a balance of spirituality, academics, social growth and more.  If you are in the neighborhood, stop in for a visit!

Have a blessed day!
Mrs. T

p.s.  We will be having a very busy week coming up, with Bishop Cote celebrating our Opening Mass on Monday, 16 September, and our two day observation of World Peace Day on the 20 and 21 September.  Look for an extra posting this week!

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

Who will you make peace with?

If you were to look at my bucket-list, you would find the #1 "to do" to be "meet St. Francis of Assisi."  Since I will have to wait until my time here on Earth is done before I have any chance to do that, I'll settle for doing my best to follow in Francis' footsteps.  Sure, I am open about my love (some call it an obsession, but I don't know why) for animals, and I try my best to be a good steward of our environment, but the aspect of Francis' life that I love the most is likely that of being a peacemaker.
That's not to say that I don't get angry when I'm stuck in traffic, etc., but, that's a story for another blogpost.

This year, the Academy of the Holy Family is participating in World Peace Day, but doing it over two days.  Yes, I guess we might be considered overachievers.  However, the two days are going to really be special in their own ways.  I think that the most exciting part of this is that we are literally going to be joining people from around the world while we do it.  Not small change, I'd say!

On Friday, 20 September, the Academy will be hosting students from the other five Catholic high schools in our Diocese for Peace One Day - High School Invitational  Visit our link to see a Facebook Event Page for more information.  Let me just say that the speakers list is already starting to look so ex- citing, that it is really difficult to contain our excitement!

On Saturday, 21 September, the Academy is inviting families and friends from the Diocese and local communities to campus for World Peace Day - Families and Friends Invitational.  As excited as I am to have students from the other schools coming to "our house" on that Friday, the thought of having families join us for a full day peace-making activities is way over the top with excitement!

Those Event pages are going to include schedules as they develop, so please revisit them.

The theme of World Peace Day 2013 is "Who will you make peace with?"  www.peaceoneday.com reminds us that Peace is not just the absence of war.  It is the absence of domestic violence, racism, hunger, community violence, and more.

Please pray for the success of both days.  Much work to be done...

Our poster for the High School Invitational...

     For the Families and Friends Invitational                          

In case you hadn't seen them, just two photos of Joy during our summer vacation.  She has her sea-legs, as evidenced by these shots of her on a whale watch.  Nope.  I'm not obsessed.  *shrug*  Have a blessed day!

Digging Our Iggy at AHF...the best way to spend July!

We keep our Facebook page as fresh as possible and, while it may look time consuming, it is really great fun to find items of interest that are spiritual, educational and, even, humorous in nature.  

During the month of July, we have been Digging our Inner Iggy with the help of our brothers, the Jesuits (also known as the Society of Jesus).  Now, this affiliation might seem a bit odd since the Jesuits are a male Religious order...there are no female Jesuits...but, since the Academy of the Holy Family is so strongly based on our Catholic Identity, and is an educational institution, we can gain a great deal from the Jesuits.  They are, after all, commonly known as the most Intellectual Catholics.  Besides being spiritually strong, they tend to have quite a sense of humor!

The Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order, is celebrated on July 31st.  Ignatian Spirituality is a really rich website that offers so much to us all, regardless of whether we live a vowed or ordained religious life, are members of the laity, are young or old.  There is something on that website for everyone!  

Now...Digging our Inner Iggy is a day by day journey through some interesting spiritual exercises.  Some of them are easy, others are difficult.  Some are extremely serious, and others are laugh out loud hysterical.  There is something there for everyone, and that's the point of Digging for YOUR Inner Iggy.  

Since July 1, I've been posting the exercise for the day on our Facebook page, and have been getting some interesting responses. 

I guess I look at this daily posting from the perspective of a teacher (big surprise, I know).  I hope that the graphic that I attach to the link will attract the attention of our loyal Friends.  Then, I hope that they'll read the exercise and, hopefully, internalize what they're reading.  What does it mean for them...what does it relate to in their lives?  Literally, where can they find Ignatius' (aka Iggy) philosophy in their everyday lives?

This week, things are really going to heat up because they will lead up to Ignatius' Feast Day.  If you haven't visited the past Digging posts, it's not too late!  Check them out and see if you can find Iggy in your life!

May your day be blessed!

peace,

Mrs. T

Peace One Day 2013...celebrating One World @ AHF

On Friday, 20 September, the members of the Academy of the Holy Family community will be celebrating Peace One Day 2013.  We will be observing this special event with schools and communities around the globe, and will be enjoying the chance to study ways in which we can truly become people of peace.  Stay tuned...it is going to be a life-changing day!

Peace One Day 2013