2023.5.26 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

May 26, 2023

Dear Saxe Family,

As we head into this long holiday weekend, I would like to thank all of our military family members, and show appreciation for the sacrifices of all who bravely served. Thank you! As challenging as life can often be, we have much to be grateful for, and to be proud of. It is my hope that you are able to enjoy the upcoming weekend by spending time doing something you enjoy, with those you care most about.

This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at the latest episode of Saxe News, 1-second everyday, World Language Week, National Latin Exam, Kid Governor in Hartford, Saxe interns, Trout Club, NC Blazers, Rowing Club, fundraiser, a trip to West, eSports, a rocket launch, scenes around Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful Memorial Day holiday weekend!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

5/29 Memorial Day – NO SCHOOL – No weekend homework

5/31 7:00 pm Grade 5/6 Band Concert – No Homework

6/1 7:00 pm Saxe 7/8 Band Concert – No Homework

6/2 5:00 pm Mentor Night for Incoming 5th Graders

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” -Willie Nelson

“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.” –Coco Chanel

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James

“Rest when you’re weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.” -Ralph Marston

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” – Nelson Mandela

Happy Memorial Day

Thank you to our service men & women, and their military families!

Saxe News

Check out the latest Saxe News as our roving reporters interview students on their extracurricular activities. It is great to see how involved and well-rounded our students are – enjoy!

One Second Everyday

Back again for this week – 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. At the end of the year, we will have a full version that includes every single day of the 2022-23 school year. Enjoy! (pro tip: to enjoy the video at a slower pace, change your viewing option to .75 speed).

World Language Week

This week, the WL department hosted its first-ever World Language Week. French, Latin, Mandarin, and Spanish teachers from each of the language departments delivered a mini-lesson and video experience during the students’ regular 20 minutes of Spanish to promote different languages and provide information to Gr. 5 students prior to making their choice for world language in 6th grade.

Hai-Ming Wu-Mandarin

Ema Whittaker-French

Amy McGurk-Spanish

Catherine Kiall-Latin

National Latin Exam

The following Gr. 7 students in Ms. Mykytenko’s Latin class: Tatum Colthup, Nicholas Lee, and Jayke Aedo, all scored perfect scores on the National Latin Exam (NLE). The NLE is a test given annually to Latin students across the United States and around the world. The NLE is not meant to be a competition but rather an opportunity for students to receive reinforcement and recognition for their accomplishments in the classroom. As a result of their perfect scores, Tatum, Nicholas, and Jayke will be formally recognized with a certificate in the main office, and a letter to their families. We are very proud of our students! Congratulationes vobis agimus, Tatum, Nicholas, and Jayke!

Social Studies

Look what was seen in Hartford last night! Our Saxe Connecticut Kid Governor nominee’s platform poster is hanging at the historic Old State House!

Saxe Interns

Saxe Interns Katherine Squilante and Lindsey Mulle hard at work with students!

Trout Club

The Trout Club, composed of 5th & 6th graders, met once a week from October to June. In January, 600 eggs were delivered to Saxe from the organization Trouts Unlimited. There were three large tanks of cold water supporting the life of little trout that the Trout Club carefully monitored and maintained each week in rooms 134, 28, and 24. The trout were raised in the classrooms to help sixth-grade students better understand our local ecosystem. Current populations of trout are stressed due to warmer temperatures, less oxygenated water, drought, and availability of food due to pesticides & other types of pollution. Even the slightest issue in the trout tanks can bring on devastating results. As they tracked their growth and development, students gained a better understanding of their role in the success of the trout populations in the wild and how humans can have a positive impact on the environment. On May 23rd, they released over 150 trout to the 5-mile river at Kiwanis.

Saxe Rowing

The Saxe Rowing club teaches 7 and 8 grade students the fundamentals of rowing using the concept 2 ergometer. Rowers work on fitness, flexibility and cardiovascular endurance. At the end of the session, rowers get to row at our boathouse on the Nowalk river as they get ready to row for our National championship at the High School.

In addition, the New Canaan/Maritime took 13 medals in the Northeast Regional championships in Massachusetts. They were champions in all the men’s and women’s quadruple sculls events qualifying for youth national championships in Sarasota June 8-11.

NC Blazers

The Saxe students (below) will be running in the Connecticut Middle School State Championship this Saturday, May 27. They all are part of the New Canaan Blazers, a middle school running team coached by NCHS Track Coach Bill Martin. They each had to qualify for their individual events by beating the state performance standard in one of this season’s matches. Good luck to everyone!

BOYS

100 Meters

Eli Nikas (6th)

200 Meters

Eli Nikas (6th)

Roman D’Andrea (7th)

Ethan Kremer

400 Meters

Roman D’Andrea (7th)

Sean Deasy (7th)

800 Meters

Mateo Hershey2:44.63PR

Boyd Cousley (8th)

GIRLS

400 Meters

Lauren Casey (7th)

800 Meters

Lauren Casey (7th)

Sienna deKanter (8th)

Margaux Devillers 2:52.16PR

1600 Meters

Maggie Greiner (8th)

Bridget deKanter (7th)

Long Jump

Milana Hutchins (8th)

55m Hurdles

Milana Hutchins (8th)

Charlotte Doak (8th)

4×800 Relay

Bridget DeKanter (7th)

Sienna DeKanter (8th)

Gabrielle Savelli (7th)

Maggie Grenier (8th)

Tweet Street

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

The Saxe Trout are finally ready for their release! From eggs to river, this was a great experience for our Saxe students! Thanks to Ms. Veach & Ms. Poidomani for leading this club & providing this opportunity!

Thank you to all who donated to the Grade 5 Leadership fundraiser to support Kids in Crisis!

Another great day meeting our incoming 5th graders at West!

SaxeESports were back in action this week with the Saxe “in-house” tourney – good luck to all involved.

Nice surprise to receive the 2nd place trophy from the recent #SaxeEsports tournament championship! Thanks to Mr. Petrakopoulos & congrats to all involved!