2025.5.30 – Saxe Weekly (#287)

May 30, 2025

Dear Saxe MS Family,

It may have been a “short week” following the holiday weekend, but we still managed to pack quite a bit in! This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at the first ever “Saxe Weekly Podcast”, Band, some “active learning”, a Saxe/NCHS Debate Club collaboration, Saxe MS representing at Odyssey of the Mind Worlds, AAPI Heritage Month, Peer Buddies, Library, an 8th-grade field trip reminder, Lost & Found, a Saxe SRO “rescue”, some live music, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

6/5 Saxe MS Spring Choir Concert: 7:00 pm (no homework)

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” —Jim Rohn

“Some people dream of success, while other people get up every morning and make it happen.”—Wayne Huizenga

“It’s your outlook on life that counts. If you take yourself lightly and don’t take yourself too seriously, pretty soon you can find the humor in our everyday.”-Betty White

“Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.” -Medium

Saxe Jokes:

Why does a tiger have stripes? So he will not be spotted.

What do zombie pirates eat? Arrrrms!

Who’s the superhero in computer class? The Screen Saver!

If a farmer has 199 sheep, how many will he have when he rounds them up? 200.

Saxe Weekly: The Podcast

This week, we explored the capabilities of “Notebook LM” by uploading the most recent Saxe Weekly to turn it into a podcast. The result was an episode that lasted a little over 12 minutes and it nicely captured all that went on at Saxe MS last week! It is an AI-generated podcast that presents as two people having a conversation about all that happens in our building, and the positive school culture that these experiences create. This technology is truly amazing and provides yet another medium to share some of the wonderful learning and experiences that take place within our walls each week. If you would like to “give it a listen”, you are welcome to click here. If you would like to compare it to the newsletter format, click here. If you like it, please let us know, and we will continue to share “the latest pod” each week!

Note: A special “Thanks” goes out to fellow MS Principal, Bryan Rickert, over at Hillcrest MS in Trumbull, for sharing ideas to explore on how to use this useful AI tool.

Band

Congratulations to ⁦the talented Saxe MS 7th & 8th grade bands, and their amazing teachers, for a wonderful spring concert!

The Saxe MS halls were filled with some amazing music as the Saxe Band prepared for their Spring Concert this week. Congrats to all involved on a terrific performance!

Active Learning

During the Grade 8 Challenge unit on Competing Systems, students studied the structures, behaviors, and resilience of competing economic and political systems during the Cold War. Their studies culminated with a competition of their own. Students were divided into “nations” of their own design and were required to propose, budget, and develop their own space programs. Each program submitted a proposal for various space race “milestones” along with blueprints and materials purchase orders for a “lunar lander.” The students then built their blueprinted designs within their set budgets. On Friday, they tested the quality of their designs in an egg drop challenge. It was amazing to see how many successful “drops” there were as students pulled their eggs, still fully intact, out of their vessels after they fell a good 20+ feet!

Note: there are more pictures and video links, below…

Saxe Debate Club: In-House Competition

This year, the NCHS Debate Team launched the new Saxe Middle School Debate Club with Mr. Fusci. Up to 40 students met weekly to learn the structures of formal debate and techniques of successful debaters. The club closed out the spring session with an in-house debate competition. At issue were the merits of space tourism. With HS debate team members as judges, the competitors laid out their contentions, raised points of inquiry, and offered their rebuttals for a spirited and successful conclusion to the first year of Saxe Debate Club. Special thanks to High Schoolers: Ayush, Emma, Lylah, Kashvi, Sophia, Gus, Catherine, Gabby, Maggie, & Celina for their contributions toward building this club throughout the year.

Odyssey of the Mind

Our Saxe Middle School Odyssey of the Mind team had an unforgettable time at the World Finals, where creativity and teamwork took center stage! While showcasing their innovative problem-solving skills, the team also got to meet the beloved OMER—the iconic Odyssey raccoon mascot. Spirits were high, and so were the ideas! Way to go, team!

AAPI Heritage Month

This month, we honor the contributions of fellow Americans with Asian and Pacific Islander heritage. This week, we celebrate the lives and work of George Takei, Jerry Yang, Eric Liu, and Alex Chester– our lives, and society in general, would not be the same without their contributions!

Peer Buddies

Our Peer Buddies visited Pinstripes! We extend our heartfelt thanks to the students who have dedicated four years to our Peer Buddies program. Your consistent commitment, empathy, and willingness to learn more about your peers have made a meaningful difference in building a more inclusive school community. Through your time and presence, you’ve helped foster friendships, understanding, and belonging. We are truly grateful for the kindness and leadership you’ve shown.

Library

In the Saxe Library, we are reflecting on the year and celebrating the fact that students and teachers checked out over 19,000 books during the course of the year! What an incredible community of readers.

We are also striving to get all of the library books back by the end of the year! With over 1,700 still out we have a way to go and appreciate any help in encouraging our students to return their books. We do know that some books are still in use by our students for Language Arts units; those books of course, can be kept until they are finished. If you have a question about your child’s books, you can contact Mrs. Saba, our library T.A. at: Cheryl.Saba@ncps-k12.org.

8th Grade Field Trip Reminder

Our 8th graders will be returning to Brownstone Adventure Sports Park in Portland, CT on June 11th! In order to attend the trip, Brownstone requires a waiver to be filled out for every student. The waiver and payment link are below and must be completed by Friday, June 6th. Students should arrive at school at the regular time and report to their designated room. Buses will return to Saxe at approximately 3:15 pm. Students will be returning after the regular school day. Please coordinate transportation home accordingly. The cost of the trip is $99.

**If your child(ren) cannot attend the field trip, please contact Ms. Benware at Lin.Benware@ncps-k12.org for attendance purposes.

Brownstone Payment
Permission Form *Brownstone permission form must be filled out in order to enter the park. Or you can scan for the permission slip here:

Lost & Found

Thank you to our Saxe Custodians for keeping the Saxe MS Lost & Found so neat & orderly! Now, we just need owners to claim their belongings (gentle reminder to swing through & take a look 🙂 )…

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

Happy Memorial Day to all within our Saxe MS community, & beyond. Thank you to all who have served our great country!

Our Saxe SRO takes “protect & serve” to the next level. In addition to keeping our Saxe MS campus safe, he responds to what some may consider “out of the ordinary” requests, like removing a live mouse from a vehicle at pick-up (mouse was safely relocated). Nice work, Officer Blank!

What’s better than learning about the Cold War? Collaborating with groups to create “lunar landers” from representative nations by developing their own “space programs”. This included proposals, budget, & design thinking, culminating with an egg drop challenge to test design quality!

Note: want to check out some of the videos? Click, here…

We all could use a little more live music in our lives… Thanks to Mr. McHugh for strumming the cords while several students impressed the crowd with their vocal skills in the Saxe Library this week!

Dogs of Saxe

Nala, Clara, & Jack were just a few of the Dogs of Saxe who brought smiles to our Saxe MS community this week!

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)