2022.6.17 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

June 17, 2022

Dear Saxe Family,

Welcome to the final Saxe Weekly for the 2021-22 School year. For those who check these out or scan through on a regular basis, thank you! Our goal is to share as many snapshots as possible of the amazing learning, and experiences, that take place each and every day within our building. These are just small slices but they are a fun way to showcase what makes our learning community special!

As we transition into summer, I would like to thank our entire Saxe staff for another successful year of providing the best for our students! We are truly blessed to be in a community like New Canaan where our schools are supported to the highest degree to ensure our most important stakeholders, our students, are able to receive the best experience(s) possible. Much of this support comes from the partnership with our tremendous PTC. Thank you to every parent who joins, donates, volunteers, or serves on a committee or board. You all are the reason we are able to dream big, as you help bring those dreams to fruition. A special thank you to our PTC Co-Presidents, Jenny Volanakis and Elizabeth DeMuth, for their commitment and leadership.

This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at “1-Second Everyday” from the entire 2021-22 school year, celebrating our Saxe Class of 2022 (Promotion, field trip, Bash, picnic), celebrating our retirees, Science, EI in Action, our new Saxe SRO, some rowing success, the Saxe-NCHS coaching connection, Brownstone Park trip, NCHS 2022 Grad Walk, some a.m. hoopsters, STEM, cooperative learning, the final morning dropoff of 2021-22, the “final farewell” bus wave, Dogs of Saxe, and much more.

A quick “shout-out” to all of the Dads out there – Happy Father’s Day on Sunday! To everyone else, enjoy the latest Weekly, thank you for a fabulous school year, and have a wonderful SUMMER!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

6/17 – Happy Summer – enjoy!

6/19 – Happy Father’s Day to all of the Dads out there!

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“Your first ritual that you do during the day is the highest leveraged ritual, by far, because it has the effect of setting your mind, and setting the context, for the rest of your day.” – Eben Pagan

“The sun is a daily reminder that we too can rise again from the darkness, that we too can shine our own light.” – S. Ajna

“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.” – Beverly Sills

“Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.” – Albert Einstein

“Sunsets are proof that endings can be beautiful.” ― Beau Taplin

One Second Everyday

Back, one more time – the latest Saxe Middle School 1-Second Everyday! “Life is made of seconds.” Showcasing so much of what makes Saxe Middle School great! This will be a recurring, bi-weekly feature. This final, full version includes every single day of the 2021-22 school year. Enjoy! (pro tip: to enjoy the video at a slower pace, change your viewing option to .75 speed).

Celebrating our 8th-Graders

For anyone wanting to view the Grade 8 Promotion, please feel free to do so using the following link:

Congrats to all and enjoy!

Here is the special video that was shared to close out the ceremony. Enjoy!

Celebrating our Retirees

Saxe Middle School would like to recognize our retirees and congratulate them on their service to Saxe, and the New Canaan Public Schools. We wish you the best on your “next chapter” and are grateful for all that you did for the generations of students during your tenure here!

Ms. Biondi (Library)
Ms. Fraccaroli (French)
Ms. Margiotta (Special Education)
Ms. Reddington (Science)
Mr. Vigliotti (Math)

Grade 6 Science

Grade 6 Red & Blue Teams have been studying how the forest floor changes over time from April 18 until June 10. They used probes, digital images, and careful observations to see how biotic and abiotic factors are interacting and dynamic with the change of seasons from spring to summer.

8th Grade Science

Students on 8 Red worked together to “escape” science class. They needed to apply their science knowledge and skills in order to solve a series of riddles/clues within the class period.

Emotional Intelligence in Action!

Thanks to all of our wonderful teachers for the EI work they have done throughout this year, teaching our students the skills of Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing and Regulating their emotions! We all need to be regulated in order to learn. A special shout-out to the Spanish teachers for their work on the Charter and the Mood Meter pictured below! And thanks to all of our amazing EI TEAMS– and a special thanks to Caitlin Portanova for her work in the 5th grade. We will miss you!

Welcome to our new Saxe SRO

This week, we welcomed our new School Resource Officer (SRO), Matt Blank, to the Saxe Family. After working with the New Canaan Police Department, Officer Blank was chosen as the top candidate to serve as our new SRO. We are excited to have him on board to help protect our school and serve in this important role within our learning community. Also, our sincerest thanks go out to Officer Deak for his dedicated service to Saxe and we wish him well as he transitions to serve as the new NCHS SRO. Best of luck across the street, Officer Deak!

Saxe in the News

This past weekend, the “USRowing and Benderson Park Conservancy hosted the 27th USRowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Fla. This year’s event was the largest ever, featuring nearly 3,500 high school and junior athletes from 210 programs competing for national titles in 33 boat classes. In total, 777 boats were scheduled to race.” Two of the Women’s teams, rowing out of Maritime Rowing Club, featured Saxe 8th grade students and placed 1st and 2nd in the finals on Sunday. The Women’s U16 earned second place nationally, and the Women’s U15 won their final race to win first place in the country. Saxe congratulates the accomplishments of these fine athletes.

Reagan Thom (next to the Coach) – 2nd place at Nationals in Sarasota, FL.

Miraclyn John, Bella DeVito and Maddie Norton won first place at Nationals in Sarasota, FL

At the Youth Nationals they won a gold medal in U17 quad. Below are Logan Thom (holding trophy) and Fredrick Asker (next to coach in blue shirt) are both sophomores at NCHS. Champions!!!

Our Volunteers

We are so grateful throughout the year to all our parents who take the time to help out at Saxe! Here is great example – Janet Lee, Julie Passios and Jayne Benton help put together the promotion certificates for our Grade 8 students.

The Saxe-NCHS Connection

Boys Volleyball

(Coach – Amy Warren, Assistant Coach – Christina Hafkemeyer)

A fantastic season was capped off by being the #3 seed in the state tournament and making it to the finals. They lost to #1 Joel Barlow, but that was not before beating #14, #6, and #2 seeds and finishing as the Class M Runner-Up for the first time in program history!

Roster:

Finnigan, Connor

Ho, Connor

Homan, Matt

Larson, Will

Limone, Nic

McInerney, Tommy

Nelson, Hunter

O’Donnell, Connor

Roscoe, Jerome

Sturcke, Benjamin

Uwa-Omede, Osasu

Webster, Will

Yoo, Jon

And hat’s off to the Boy’s Volleyball Secretary and #1 Fan, Lin Benware.

Boys Tennis

(Coach – Ben Young)

While the team was the #12 seed in the Class L State Tournament, they went on to beat #5, #4, and #1 seeds on consecutive days before falling to #3 Darien in the State Championship. They have now been state champions or runner-up 5 of the last 7 seasons.

Roster:

Afshar, Milan

Brillo, Nick

Cotton, Avery

Elgarrahy, Hunter

Fox, Tommy

Funk, Sam

Kim, Matthew

Konidaris, John

McDonough, Jack

Mulry, George

Powers, Ale

Smock, Nate

Sweet, Will

Triay, Cristian

Zuo, Kevin

Tweet Street

Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe middle school Twitter page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!

Saxe only day at Brownstone!! What a beautiful day for our 8th graders!

Beautiful day at Brownstone to kick off our 8th grade week of celebrations!

Saxe Celebrates NCHS Seniors

What a special moment for our Saxe students as we got to celebrate the NCHS Class of 2022 during their Graduation Walk! (click to view). Thank you for visiting and allowing our students to catch a glimpse of their future!

Grade 8 Picnic

Another glorious day for our 8th grade picnic! (click to view). Thank you to our ⁦Saxe PTC⁩ for the wonderful lunch!

Grade 8 Celebration Bash

Some classic “wears” at the end of year party! Throwback cassette shirt and Pit Vipers!

8th-grade Bash is in full swing! Amazing lineup of activities for all to choose from and have FUN!

Making the Most of Each Day

This Saxe AM crew was one of the most consistent parts of each day. Every. Day. Rain or shine, cold or hot, they began their day in the best way possible!

One final hoops game to start the day at Saxe… This crew of 7th-graders “brought it” everyday!

Saxe STEM

These Saxe students found their passion and thanks to Vivian Birdsall for making it possible! Saxe STEM in action! It was a close call with Saxe SRO, Officer Deak, but good thing their registration was up to date… (Note: the plate reads, “2FAST”)

Some more Saxe STEM to share out of the 3D printer – nice work!

Sprucing up Saxe

Even in the rain, our flower pots look amazing! Thank you to our parent volunteer, Mrs. Jordan – we are truly grateful!

Celebrating Math teacher, Mr. Vigliotti, on his retirement… Best wishes and thanks for the decades of dedication to Saxe, Mr. V!

Some cooperative teamwork on 6 Green today. Learning life skills all the way up to the last day at Saxe!

Looking forward to celebrating our Saxe 8th-graders today! Congrats & best wishes to all!

This crew got to ride in style at drop off this morning! Perfect weather for it and a great way to kick off the last day of the school year!

We are so excited to celebrate our Saxe 8th-graders during our Promotion Ceremony at NCHS!

Good morning Saxe 8th Graders! Congrats to all and enjoy!

Some fun rides out this morning at the final drop off for 2021-22!

A few pics from our 8th-grade Promotion today… It was a wonderful celebration of the Saxe Class of 2022. Congrats and best wishes to All!

Thank you to our music department, and musicians, for helping make the ceremony special!

Love the “last day” photos during drop off at @SaxeMS this morning! (couldn’t resist at least one photo bomb…). 🙂

Some “happy shoes” were spotted today! ! It was a wonderful final day of the 2021-22 school year. Have a great summer, All!

The buses rolled out for the last time in the 2021-22 school year at @SaxeMS today – Have a great summer, All! Such a fun tradition at Saxe – the “final goodbye of the school year”! (click to view). It was a beautiful day to wish our students well as they begin their summer!

Dogs of Saxe

Dutch is looking like he wants to join us today!

A few more Dogs Of Saxe to round out the last drop off of the 2021-22 school year! Have a great summer and see you in August, 4-legged friends!

Have a great Summer and we will see you next year!!

Thank you to all of our Saxe Weekly contributors! Each weekly edition is an example of collaboration in action. A special thanks to Lauren Sherwood for the continuous stream of positive, optimistic quotes!

Saxe Resources (live links)