May 31, 2024
Dear Saxe Family,
Wow, it does not seem possible that today marks the last day of May… The final weeks of a school year are filled with learning, activities, events, celebrations, and more that students will remember for many years to come. Soon, we will be honoring our 8th-graders as they transition to the “next level”. We will also be preparing our 7th-graders to be the “leaders of the school” that our younger students will look up to, as they lead by (positive) example. Our current 5th and 6th graders will also have transitions of their own to look forward to! Until then, we strive to make the closing days of the 2023-24 school year the best yet!
This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at some outdoor learning, Trout Club (“The Great Release!”), Walk/Ride to School Day update, celebrating a bunch of extra-curricular activities, the Law Enforcement Special Olympics Torch Run, tons of Music, Art, an “Oh Deer!” moment, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Be Well,
Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School
Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:
6/3 Incoming 9th Grade Meet the Coaches Night (6:30 pm)
6/4 Saxe 7/8 Choir Concert – No Homework (7:00 pm)
6/5 Saxe 5/6 Choir Concert – No Homework (7:00 pm)
6/6 Grade 8 Field Trip to Brownstone
6/6 Grade 7 Field Trip to Camp Kiwi
6/7 8th Grade Bagel Breakfast/Yearbook Distribution
6/7 Grade 5/6 Fun Day
*Quotes that resonated with us this week:
“Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” — Nelson Mandela
“The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.” – Audrey Hepburn
“A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions–as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.”― Friedrich Nietzsche
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”— C.S. Lewis
“A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions–as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.”― Friedrich Nietzsche
Saxe Jokes:
What do you call a laughing motorcycle? A Yamahahaha!!
What does an egg do for fun? Kar-e-yoke-e!
Who wears shoes while sleeping? A horse!
What happens when a grape gets run over crossing the street? A traffic jam!
Saxe Outdoors
Mr. Gillan mixed up the outdoor learning location with his students on this fine spring day at Saxe!
Mr. Devine’s classes have been working on creating podcasts… This is a wonderful way to spread out around Saxe & produce some quality episodes!
Saxe Art classes have been taking advantage of utilizing the Saxe outdoor spaces for their recent creations. Very inspiring!
Trout Club – The Great Release
It is exciting to announce that this is the fourteenth year for Saxe students to raise trout in the classroom! Hundreds of eggs were delivered by Trout Unlimited in January this year. Over several months, the trout eggs slowly developed into fry. From October to May, the Saxe Fish Club met on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to help monitor and maintain the four fish tanks. This year, we successfully raised about 150 trout until they were big enough to survive on their own.
On Wednesday, the trout were full of energy and ready for release into the Five Mile River at Kiwanis Park. Ms. Veach, Mrs. Poidomani, and the students were assisted by two members from Trout Unlimited in releasing the trout into the river. The students and staff at Saxe are very grateful to Ms. Meyer, Ms. Jarosik, Mr. Gusitsch, and our fabulous PTC for their support and funding for this exciting project. We look forward to raising more fish in the future, adding to the 5,000 fish already released!
South/Saxe Walk to School Day
Get your walking shoes, scooters, or bikes ready! We are pleased to announce that we will hold Walk to School Day on Tuesday, June 11th (weather permitting). A big thank you to Tiger Mann, Director of the Department of Public Works, his crew, and the volunteers from the New Canaan Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) for their willingness to help us out with crossing families safely at the many intersections along the walking routes to school on this day.
Odyssey of the Mind
Congratulations to the three Saxe Middle School Odyssey of the Mind teams that competed in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals at Iowa State University last week!
6th grade team coached by Katherine Humphries and Erika Kelly
L-R: Emilia Humphries, Ilda Cenaj, Maddy Kelly, Sienna Smith, Niamh O’Regan, Lila Fishman
7th grade team coached by Udita Chek and Linda Sidani
L-R: Warren Chek, Skandar Sidani, Declan Flaherty-Lovy, Max Leffers, Michael Chek (4th gr. West)
8th grade team coached by Heather Boulanger and Krista Colthup
L-R: Emmeline DeMuth, Ethan Ready, Dean Kelly (8th gr. St. Luke’s), Devin Boulanger, Corinna Gustafson, Tatum Colthup
NCHS SLOBS
SLOBS Registration for 2024-2025 Opens June 1!
Membership registration for the NCHS Service League of Boys for the 2024-2025 school year will open June 1st! All boys who attend NCHS are eligible to join this incredible service organization, the largest student club at the high school. Both first time and returning members need to register for the new membership year, which runs from June 1st through May 31st. Each student and parent/guardian member is expected to contribute a minimum number of service hours to remain a member in good standing. Many local philanthropies need our help over the summer months, so get a jump start on your volunteer hours and sign up now! Annual dues are $35. Click HERE to register or renew as of June 1st.
Steve and Abby,
VP and AVP of SLOBS Membership
NC Blazers
Congrats to Saxe students and staff members who are members of the New Canaan Blazers track team. They had a great day at the CT Middle School State Meet last Saturday up in Manchester. The girl’s team finished 2nd Overall (by only 2 points) in the entire state and were the Top Club team. Congrats again to all on this amazing job!
Winners of the 4×400 – Lauren, Mara, Amelia, Gabby! (Gabby also won the 1600)…
Coach Jeff, Gabby, Charlotte, Amelia, and 7th-grade Math teacher, Mr. Hershey:
Champs
Congrats to the NCHS Tennis teams on their recent successful seasons! There are many familiar faces of former Saxe students (and, current senior interns; &, one of our PTC co-presidents!). And a special congrats to 7th-grade ELA teacher, Mr. Young for bringing home Coach of the Year honors with the boy’s team!
Twitter/X
Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe Middle School page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!
Very cool to see the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics go by Saxe today! Probably not a coincidence that our own Saxe SRO happened to be carrying the torch as they ran by… Our students did a great job cheering (Click to watch!) them all on!
Beautiful evening for a concert at Saxe! Good luck to our 5th/6th Band on a terrific performance!
Cool way to start the Saxe 6th-grade set… It’s like being at a Big 10 football game listening (Click the link to listen!) to “School Spirit March”!
This was a fun song to close out (Click the link!)the 5th-grade set – Popcorn! Congrats to Mr. Mercure & our Saxe students on a terrific performance!
5th-grade kicks off the spring Band concert at Saxe with a great rendition of the main theme (Click the link to watch!) of Star Wars!
It was great to see Mr. Coulter back in the building as he watched his students perform one more time before his retirement!
Thanks to our committed Saxe “tech crew” who always make sure the shows, concerts, & performances run smoothly & sound great!
Ready for the 7th/8th Grade Band Concert at Saxe! Good luck to all!
Our Saxe (Click the link to listen!)students never cease to amaze… The music that is performed (Click the link to watch!)is so far above what you may expect from a middle school band, & they have fun doing it!
Mr. Zeiser & the Hawks Band kick off their set with an enthusiastic (Click the link to listen!)sounding “Due North” – nice work by all!
Amazing how music can seemingly transport you through (CLICK THE LINK TO WATCH!)time… This Hawks Band rendition of “Raider’s March” brought me straight back to the 80s watching the Indiana Jones movies!
Straight back to 1986 with this one – Final Countdown! Congrats (Click the link to listen!)to all on another great concert at Saxe!
Saxe musicians, past & present, were here to support Ms. Rosen for her final concert & the World Premiere of “Ready to Swing”! What a great, talented bunch…
So many Saxe students have been taking the opportunity to thank Ms. Rosen & wish her well on her upcoming retirement. Our school community is grateful for Ms. Rosen & all that she has done for thousands of students!
A few pieces of terrific artwork on display around Saxe!
When working at a middle school, you often expect the unexpected. We can’t say we had this one on my bingo card – a deer (CLICK TO WATCH THE DEER!) that appears to try to gain access through the front door of Saxe, & then runs off to grab their swipe badge from the car!
Yesterday and today we celebrated Mrs. Redden as she finishes her last year teaching before retirement! Thank you for your years of service to Saxe!
A birthday shout-out!
Dogs of Saxe
Some Dogs of Saxe to start the week!
Rex was the Dogs of Saxe representative to start the day today!
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)
Website: https://www.ncps-k12.org/saxe
Saxe Middle School
Celebrating Our Learning Community Through Caring, Communication, & Commitment
