2025.1.24 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

January 24, 2025

Dear Saxe MS Family,

I hope your 4-day week went well and you are staying strong with your goals for 2025! This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at Visual & Performing Arts, a Daytime Open House reminder, Staff Spotlight – Mr. Whitlock, Sustainability Club, an employee milestone (30 years!), community events, a “Phone Free Schools” reminder, 8Red ”Goals”, grade 8 to 9 transition lessons, some weekend action at Saxe, a staff “pick me up”, library lessons, some snowy scenes around Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

1/30 – Saxe Band Concert – 7:00 pm

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“There is NO elevator to SUCCESS. You have to take the STAIRS.”– Unknown

“If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.”– Unknown

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.” – Albert Einstein.

“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”– Martin Luther King Jr.

Saxe Jokes:

Each day, we like to include a small dose of humor with our morning announcements to put a smile on the faces of our school community members (students and staff alike)! We hope you enjoy a few of them, too…

What kind of room doesn’t have windows or a door? A mushroom.

What is the most valuable type of fish? A gold fish!

Why did the donut go to the dentist? To get a filling

Why was the nose running? So it wouldn’t catch a cold!

Visual & Performing Arts

It has been an exciting start to the winter season in the Visual and Performing Arts Department! We continue with our winter concert performances at schools. This week we had an amazing orchestra concert that included musical numbers from all the string ensembles at Saxe Intermediate and Middle Schools. Our string students work with Ms. Dorfmann and Ms. Harris to refine their technique on a string instrument. It was an outstanding performance with a packed house!

Concert performance is a critical part of our music curriculum as it demonstrates just some of the skills that students are working on during their skills and ensemble classes. Participating in a group offers numerous benefits:

Collaboration: Students learn to listen, blend sounds, and work towards a common goal, fostering teamwork.
Communication Skills: Ensemble playing enhances both verbal and non-verbal communication as musicians express ideas and emotions together.
Discipline: Regular rehearsals teach responsibility and time management.
Confidence: Performing with others helps students overcome anxiety and build self-assurance.
Cultural Appreciation: Exposure to diverse musical styles enriches their understanding of music and its cultural roots.

Encouraging ensemble participation not only enhances musical skills but also develops well-rounded individuals.

Please join us next week for our band concerts – Grades 5 and 6 will perform on 1/29 and Grades 7 and 8 on 1/30- both starting at 7:00 pm.

Visual Arts

The 2025 Connecticut Regional Scholastic Art Exhibition was a huge success for New Canaan Public School students and their teachers. Saxe Middle School had one award winner, Emily Meng, for her two submitted drawings! One of Emily’s drawings was recognized for a Gold Key AND claimed the CAEA Best in Drawing award! The Regional Exhibition runs from January 13 through January 31, 2025 at University of Hartford’s Art School in West Hartford, CT. Fourteen NCHS students plus one Saxe Middle School student have their work exhibited in the Silpe Gallery, with the awards the students won described in the subsequent images of their work.

Saxe MS Winter Daytime Open House Reminder

Please note, the below dates/times reflect the most up-to-date schedule. There was, unfortunately, a miscommunication with some of the previously shared dates/times that did not reflect the Daytime Open House occurring between 2/3 – 2/7 (7Blue, 8Purple were the only changes). We apologize for any inconvenience, appreciate your understanding, and look forward to seeing many of you the week after next!

Monday, 2/3	Tuesday, 2/4	Thursday, 2/6	Friday, 2/7
8:55 a.m. G7: Red Team *Room #: 102*	8:55 a.m. G7: Green Team *Room #: 144*	8:55 a.m. G7: Blue Team *Room #: 111*	8:55 a.m. G7:Purple Team *Room #: 105*
11:20 a.m. G8: Red Team *Room #: 200*	11:20 a.m. G8: Green Team *Room #: 163*	11:20 a.m. G8: Purple Team *Room #: 221*	11:20 a.m. G8: Blue Team *Room #: 209*

Note: for those unable to attend, session slides will be shared that will include content that was covered. You are always welcome to reach out to your child’s school counselor, teachers, or administration at any point should you have any questions.

Saxe MS Staff Spotlight: Zac Whitlock

Zac has been working in New Canaan for seven years, managing the auditoriums at Saxe and NCHS. He works on all of the theatrical performances and concerts across the district, making sure everything (from lights, to sound, to recording, and everything in between) runs smoothly. More recently he oversaw the renovation of the Dome at NCHS and now helps coordinate programming with teachers across the district. Zac also gives back to the community by helping interested students from Saxe and NCHS learn the skills and tricks of the trade to operate the auditorium equipment during concerts and shows (it’s always great to see a group of “apprentices” operating the sophisticated equipment with confidence and know-how!). Prior to working in New Canaan, Zac managed performing arts venues and worked as a freelance audio engineer. You may or may not be familiar with Zac, but you have undoubtedly benefited from his work as he is one of the true unsung “behind the scenes” heroes in NCPS. Thanks for all that you do, for all of us, Zac!

Here is just a glimpse at some of the equipment that Zac is a master at managing/operating:

Sustainability Club

This week, students from the NCHS DECA club visited our Saxe MS Sustainability Club to discuss our upcoming plant sale. This was a great opportunity to learn marketing and entrepreneurship skills from older students, ask questions, and hear feedback on how to increase our sales/profit. We appreciate the collaboration and it’s great to see some of our former Saxe, and current NCHS, students back in the building – thank you!

Congratulations to Ms. Benware!

Wow, what an accomplishment! As of January 25th, Ms. Benware has been working at Saxe for 30 years… We are so lucky to have her experience, patience, and kindness. Congratulations and thank you for all you do for all of us within the Saxe MS community!

Ms. Jarosik (32.5 years) & Ms. Benware (30 years!)

Community Event

For any ice skating fans – save the date! Next Saturday, 2/1, the rink at Waveny has been designated as “Middle School Skate Night”.

Saxe Clubs

While we will be beginning our spring semester clubs & extracurriculars for Saxe MS in the coming weeks (stay tuned), the Confidence Club is putting a call out for interested parties. All contact info is included below – enjoy!

Phone Free Schools Reminder

Just a reminder that as part of our focus on “digital wellness”, our students are still expected to secure their personal electronic devices in their Yondr pouches, for the entirety of the day, each morning. We recognize that plans change throughout the day and you may want to communicate with your child. Fortunately, there are several options to do so:

Call the main or middle school office (203.594.4500), and a message will be delivered
Email Ms. Benware (lin.benware@ncps-k12.org), before 1:00 p.m.
Text your child, knowing they will get the message upon unlocking their device at dismissal

Your child is also welcome to stop by our main or middle school office to use the landline phone (sometimes referred to as the “home phone”, which always makes us smile). Thank you for helping us reinforce how important it is to have a healthy relationship with our personal electronic devices by following these simple rules. We appreciate the partnership!

8Red Goals

Thanks to 8Red for keeping their bulletin board fresh with new goals, motivation, or inspiration each month! This month kicks off 2025 with things they want to work toward and things they want to minimize in their lives. Whether it’s good grades, better sleep, or minimizing procrastination, there are some great goals and reminders on display!

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

Our Saxe Orchestra sounded great as they tuned up for their Winter Concert this week!

And, as expected, they performed beautifully! Congrats to all involved…

Thanks to our Saxe MS School Counselors, Ms. Beltran, Mr. Lepisto, & Ms. Nettleton for meeting with our 8th-graders to discuss the HS transition process. Whether it’s resources available, what to look forward to, or answering questions, our students are sure to be prepared!

While we want to make their last semester with us the best one yet, we also want them to feel fully prepared – nice work, team!

If you are looking for any information regarding the middle to high school transition, please visit our website “Saxe 8/9 Transition” page!

Our staff always impress me with how much they care about our students, in school & out… Thanks to Social Worker, Ms. Perretti, for catching these great shots of our boys playing New Milford last weekend, at home!

Ms. Perretti also caught these great shots (Click to watch a “beautiful bucket”) of our girls playing my hometown of Bethel last weekend! Neat to see our Saxe MS gymnasium in use for youth sports, too!

Sometimes “wellness” does not mean strictly a good diet or healthy food choices… Sometimes a good cookie & warm cup of coffee are just what is needed to keep spirits high during some of the coldest days of winter so far around Saxe MS. Thank you to all involved!

The Saxe Library is always so welcoming & encouraging when it comes to finding a good book of choice for our Saxe MS students (including one of my all-time favs – “What it takes to be #1”)… We appreciate our tremendous Library staff, and volunteers!

Throughout the week, Saxe MS 7th-graders have been getting updates on the library & accessing their favorite selections from Ms. Stilwell… Lots of great conversation on which books they will be choosing!

Snowy Scenes Around Saxe

It’s been chilly this week around Saxe MS, but the fresh coat of snow has made for some nice “winter scenery” around our campus!

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)