2024.3.22 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

March 22, 2024

Dear Saxe Family,

Happy Spring! The weather may not have felt like spring this week (we even had a touch of snow & ice), but we still had lots to celebrate around Saxe! This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at School Counseling, Grade 7 Workshop, Grade 8 Transition, Mandarin, welcoming a new staff member, Saxe “Spotlights”, our cafeteria staff, Saxe in the News, Odyssey of the Mind, a parent coffee & tour, lead up to Kindness Week(s), Middle Level Education Month, Bye-Bye Birdie, 3D printing, a Sustainability project, the Color Drop, sights around Saxe, Pets of Saxe (staff), Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

3/22 – 7/8 Musical – Bye Bye Birdie

3/23 – 7/8 Musical – Bye Bye Birdie

3/29 – Good Friday (no school)

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“The only thing standing between you and outrageous success is continuous progress.”—Dan Waldschmidt

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” — Wayne Gretzky

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” —Albert Einstein

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” —Stephen R. Covey

“Often I feel that projects overwhelm us when we look at how many hours are involved until completion. But just getting started is usually not that difficult.” — Emily Giffin

Jokes that brought a smile to our faces this week:

“Why couldn’t the pony sing a lullaby? She was a little horse!”

“Why is six scared of seven? Because seven, eight (ate), nine.”

“Why did the kid eat his homework? Because his teacher said it was a piece of cake!”

“What did the paper say to the pencil? Write on!”

“What do birds say on the phone before they hang up? “Bye Bye Birdie!”

School Counseling

This week our upper division school counselors visited both 7th and 8th grade classrooms as part of their ongoing student support program. They truly are some of our unsung heroes of the school!

Grade 7 Workshop

Mrs. Reed’s Q3 students wrote some wonderful poems during class. They explored different structures of poetry (haiku, limerick, and free verse), analyzed some examples, and then students chose which kind of poem they wanted to write. Use the link below to view their work!

Poems by Grade 7 Workshop Students

8th Grade Transition

On Monday our school counselors visited language arts classrooms for our third and final transition lesson. This lesson focused on registering for classes and the counselors were accompanied by high school students. Saxe 8th graders were able to ask questions and get first hand feedback from students at the high school. It was a great lesson and really valuable for our 8th graders.

Mandarin

Grade 8 Mandarin students concluded their unit study of “My Hobbies” with a “Battle of the Beasts” Hip-Hop performance. The 2 drawings in the videos were done by Lei Ai-Li and Lei Ke-Lin, siblings in G7 and G6 Mandarin. Please see the link to the videos below!

Welcome to New Staff

Please welcome MB Pickering to our staff for the remainder of the year!

Position: Long Term Sub Special Education 5/6

College(s) attended: Fairfield University, MA and University of Connecticut, BS

Hometown: New Canaan, CT

Hobbies: working out and playing various sports

Other States you’ve lived in: Maryland and Indiana

Favorite Sports Team: New York Rangers

Favorite Genre of Music: Country

Interesting fact about yourself: I am in the New Canaan High School Hall of Fame and the Connecticut Coaches and Players Hall of Fame

Saxe Spotlight

Over the next few weeks, we will highlight some “behind the scene” staff members that we could not function without…

This week, our Spotlight is on our Food Service Staff. Their amazing commitment to meeting the needs of 1300 students (as well as staff) on a daily basis is a herculean effort and they handle it with grace. We recognize their efforts and thank them for all of their hard work!

Saxe in the News

Adrienne Ruszkowski just got back from DC where she went to Capitol Hill as part of a FARE (food allergy research and education) event she does every year since second grade and she spoke with our legislators’ staff about multiple acts that are really important to us as a food allergy family.

The ADINA act – to label top 9 food allergens in prescription and over the counter medication
Dillon’s law – to provide training on recognition and treatment of anaphylaxis
An act to cap the cost of EpiPens at $60

Thank you for advocating for so many who will benefit from your efforts, Adrienne!

PS – a special shout out to Adrienne on her BIRTHDAY today (3/22), too!

Odyssey of the Mind Win

Our Odyssey of the Mind team had an exciting win at last Saturday’s CT State Odyssey of the Mind Competition. The team won the Jill Riggles award for best Spontaneous score in the tournament and took first place in their Problem 3 Division II. They will be going to the OM Worlds in Ames, IA.The team members were Michael Chek (4), Warren Chek (7), Declan Flaherty-Lovy (7), Max Leffers (7) and Skandar Sidani (7). Congrats to all who participated and good luck as you work toward Worlds!

Here is a more casual, fun photo too!

Congrats to Tenley Jones who belted out the National Anthem in front of thousands of fans prior to the CIAC Hockey Division 1 Championship Game!

Congratulations to Grayson Petraska who was recently crowned the Regional Champion in Halfpipe and is now tied for first nationally. He is also Regional Champion in giant slalom. He will be traveling to Copper Creek (CO) to train with an Olympic coach and compete in the national championship. Good luck, Grayson!

Speaking of national rankings, congratulations to Assistant Principal, Mr. Bedard’s, daughter Aubrey for dropping a 1:07.12 in the 100 yard breaststroke at the CT SC Age Group Championships this past weekend. Her time was enough to rank her #1 in CT, New England, and at the time, the nation!

Parent Coffee and Tour

Today, Saxe Middle School opened its doors to parents for refreshments and a building tour. Mr. Gusitsch imparted a great deal of school-based history, as well as highlighted various parts of the building. Thank you to all who came out to join!

Twitter/X

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

There are tons of positive messages around Saxe… Today, this one outside Ms. Wasserman’s office stood out as we prepare to kickoff a 2 week Kindness Celebration on Monday… Stay tuned for lots of excitement between March 25th & April 5th! #BeKind

As we celebrate Middle Level Education Month, our team has been preparing for our Saxe student’s voices to be heard as to what it’s like being a middle schooler today! Thanks to all involved & looking forward to hearing about our student’s experiences!

The Middle School Student Sound Off Contest is live! Submissions are due April 5 so don’t delay. We want to hear from 10-15 year olds around the world, what’s it like being a middle schooler today?

Learn more https://okt.to/bUAxhu

Spring is here at Saxe! And, it snowed last night… At least we have some nice reminders of spring in the office, right from our very own courtyards! They smell amazing too…

Dress rehearsal was amazing & the show is sure to be a hit this weekend! Good luck to the cast & crew – have fun!

The lobby has been transformed and is ready for opening night!

Passing through the #SaxeDesignLab after hours this week & the 3D printers were still hard at work… Love seeing the Saxe student projects “come to life”!

Had one of my favorite Saxe alum come back to visit from NCHS today! Great to see you again, Andrew – always a pleasure!

Today also happens to be the International Day of Happiness… Saxe wishes you the best for a “Happy Day”!

One of our dedicated Saxe students presented a proposal on his passion, Sustainability, to our Superintendent (Dr. Luizzi), Director of Food Services (Ms. Santelli), & members of the BOE today. Thanks to all involved & great job, Samuel!

Highlight of Friday afternoons in 5th grade is pulling Happy Hawks out of the lottery for next week!

Ms. Rende’s class waiting patiently after checking the latest angles of our now famous Saxe Shadow Man!

Great turnout for an amazing community event – The NC Color Drop was another huge success! Congrats to all involved! Check out the video, too!

Thank you to our Saxe Library staff for always making the area outside the library so visually pleasant & inspiring to read!

Thank you to our Saxe flower extraordinaire, Ms. Jordan, for “bringing spring back to Saxe” by replanting our flower pots!

“Almost full moon” over Saxe…

Pets of Saxe (staff)

A few weeks ago, we began featuring the pets who reside at the homes of some of our staff members. Thanks to Mr. Gillan who coordinated this effort to provide this opportunity to get to know each other a little better and further unite our school community! Thanks to all who have contributed as well… If you are a staff member and would still like to participate, you are welcome to access the slideshow and enter your pets. Enjoy!

Dogs of Saxe

We’ve had a bunch of happy dogs brave the chilly temps this week to brings smiles to our faces at Saxe!

Some happy 4-legged friends visited to start the week at Saxe! Jerry was on the “DL” for while, so happy to see him back! #DogsOfSaxe

Have a great week, see you next Friday!

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

Saxe Resources (live links)