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We hope you enjoy our latest issue of Connections, a quarterly newsletter brought to you by the Epiphany School Foundation.
We thank you for reading and welcome your feedback and suggestions by emailing
connections@epiphanyschoolfoundation.org
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A MESSAGE FROM KEVIN GREANEY
Chairman, Foundation Board of Trustees
Dear Families and Friends:
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at Guastavino's on March 21st for our Spring Auction. This event is Epiphany's greatest fundraiser of the year, and we attribute our success to the generosity of our many families, alumni and friends. We have already received over 180 donated items and 60 families have stepped up to sponsor. Our parent volunteers have been hard at work on our class art projects - I hope you had the chance to preview the Upper School projects during the Science Fair yesterday.
Remember, the grade whose project raises the most money in the Auction will receive a Dress Down Day and Ice Cream Party.
Please stop by the library at 22nd Street on Friday after drop-off to view Lower School projects. The talents of our Early Childhood students are on display this week at our 29th Street campus until Friday. If you missed our special video from Epiphany parent and Sportscaster, Eamon McAnaney, click
HERE
to view it now.
We're currently up to 49% participation from current families in our Annual Fund, Epiphany's greatest need, but we still hope to reach 100% by June 30th of this year. Donations to the Annual Fund are fully tax-deductible. Please remember to check with your employers to see if they have a matching gift program and double (or triple) the value of your donation! Click
HERE
to make a gift.
I hope you will also save the date for Epiphany's 24th Annual Golf Outing: May 14, 2018! We're excited to host the event at Scarsdale Golf Club this year. Our chairs, Neal Cain, Mike Parniawski and Agnes Teng have great plans in store for us and I look forward to seeing you on the course.
Thank you for your support!
Warm regards,
Kevin G. Greaney, KM
Chairman, Foundation Board of Trustees
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NEWS FROM 22ND STREET
Mary Jane Higgins '80, Vice Principal
Dear Epiphany Families,
On Ash Wednesday, students and teachers received blessings and ashes during Epiphany's Lenten Prayer Service. During this season of reflection, the students continue to join in daily prayer and song to strengthen their relationship with God.
Our amazing Kindergarteners celebrated their 100th day of school! The students made posters to represent the number 100 and were so proud to share their homemade creations. They also started practicing addition and subtraction in math. To strengthen their computation skills, they worked at stations with "Gus the Plus" and "Linus the Minus."
The First Graders studied different modes of transportation and presented their research to their parents and classmates. In February, the children studied short biographies of famous African Americans as part of their Black History Unit. The students are becoming grammar wizards as they learn to identify many parts of speech in their ELA instruction.
Our Second Graders made their First Reconciliation on March 10th. They practiced their Act of Contrition and learned about the important responsibilities they have as members of the Church; this is an exciting milestone on their road to First Holy Communion in May. In Science, students are continuing their Nutrition Unit. Second Graders enthusiastically applied their grammar skills to write paragraphs about what they would do if they were trapped inside a wintry snow globe.
The Third Graders have been working so hard! In Social Studies, each student worked independently to research and write a report about one of the presidents or first ladies. The students love practicing cursive handwriting. As part of their STEM unit on simple machines, students are working with Mr. Klotzbach on experimenting with motion and forces.
The teachers and staff look forward to seeing you at our Spring Auction on March 21st at beautiful Guastavino's! Thank you so much for your continued support.
Best,
Mary Jane Higgins '80
22nd Street Vice Principal
The Epiphany School
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WITS March 2018 Newsletter
Chef Gisselle Madariaga, Coach Sarah Merck & Coach Lucy Sexton
Potato Labs, Cafe Day, Recess Olympics, & Family Fitness Fun Night
Cooking Up A Storm....
Did you know that there are more than 100 types of potatoes in the world? Potatoes are healthy vegetables. Their skin contains vitamins and fiber, which are good for your stomach and help with digestion. The way we cook potatoes is important - frying them turns them into French fries. To keep them healthy, Chef Gisselle from Wellness in the Schools (WITS) boiled potatoes
for students to cut into bite-size pieces. They took turns measuring out olive oil, mustard, apple cider vinegar, parsley, scallions and salt to make a healthy and tasty potato salad. Students tried fresh parsley and added it as a garnish to the potatoes.
We held our first Cafe Day of 2018 this February. The theme was "Zero Waste" and we had tastings to match. Chef Gisselle, along with special guest chef, Clare Langan, prepared three tastings, all utilizing parts of fruit and vegetables that are typically thrown away. Carrot peels became carrot cake granola, apples and pear cores became apple/ pear compote, and over-ripened bananas became banana ice cream. See recipes listed below. The fun did not end here! Students got to walk the "Balanced Plate Red Carpet" with their healthy lunches. We also sorted trash to better recycle and compost, learning how to reduce waste.
In the Recess Yard...
At Epiphany Lower School, students participated in various activities during the month of February. Kindergarten through Third Grade participated in the Recess Olympics and absolutely loved it. Games such as hockey, relay races, long jump, and Doctor Doctor were played all throughout the Recess Olympics. Students demonstrated great sportsmanship throughout the week! Following the Recess Olympics, Coach Sarah assigned the first EVER Junior Coaches at Epiphany!! Junior Coaches receive special responsibilities such as setting up games, cleaning up after recess, and helping Coach Sarah with various other tasks to keep the recess yard a fun and safe environment. A new Junior Coach is assigned each week so everyone will get a chance!
At Epiphany Upper School, students remain incredibly active during their recess time! Football, soccer, dodgeball and basketball continue to be very popular. Coach Lucy has begun to introduce zones for each activity so there are more options for students and they can be more productive while they play. Furthermore, we are now utilizing the inside gym space as an additional zone for the Fourth and Fifth Grade boys. This has been incredibly successful in creating more space for play and eliminating unnecessary injury. During the Recess Olympics, students participated in a dodgeball competition. All bets were off as students vied for the Gold! During the awards, Fifth Grader, Liam, was honored for his consistent good sportsmanship and leadership, as he always takes care of his classmates and is especially helpful during clean up. The Olympics were especially a hit amongst the 4th and 5th grade girls so Coach Lucy continued the competition for two additional days, playing "Steal the bacon." Coach Lucy also recently introduced Spider Dodgeball, Foursquare, and a jump rope competition. Fifth Grader, Sarah L., set a record of 218 jumps for the girls and Fourth Grader, Tripp, set a record of 109 consecutive jumps for the boys.
Family Fitness Night!
Thank you to all of the Epiphany families and staff for making Family Fitness night such a success. A special shout out to the Wellness Committee and all their hard work. We would also like to thank Mike, Frank, and Billy from Soft Lacrosse and Milky, the Zumba instructor, for coming out to Epiphany's fitness night. Thank you to everyone who made this night a success!!!!
Interested in health and wellness? Contact Chef Gisselle, Coach Sarah or Coach Lucy or
the Wellness Committee. We look forward to a productive, collaborative year, and please do not hesitate to reach out to us with comments or questions about WITS.
All the best,
Coach Sarah, Coach Lucy and Chef Gisselle
Kids' Quotes
"Avocado is nature's butter." - 8th grader
WHAT'S NEXT?
- Greens Lab, Tastings, and Cafe Day will continue to happen in the cafeteria.
-
Play Day with Epiphany's new fitness partner Soft Lacrosse!
Want to keep up to date? Follow the Epiphany School on
Instagram!
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NEWS FROM 28TH STREET
Kiernan LaGuardia, Dean of Students
The winter months at The Epiphany School have been filled with a great deal of investigation, inspiration and invention!
The Fourth Grade has been investigating The American Revolution and are working to present their learning in an informative PowerPoint presentation. Their knowledge of The American Revolution, in addition to the historical novel
A True Patriot,
serve as inspiration for the historical fiction writing they are creating! Each Fourth Grader is writing a narrative whose setting, characters and plot will all reflect the history of that time period.
Fifth Graders have been doing some investigating of their own! They were so inspired after reading
Who was Leonardo da Vinci?
and
The Boy Who Invented TV: Philo Farnsworth
, two books about notable inventors, that they decided to investigate other inventors. The students turned their research into essays that presented their findings about a variety of different inventors and inventions! Then, after having learned so much about inventors and inventions, the Fifth Graders decided to try their hand at inventions of their own in math class! Using what they know about decimals, the Fifth Graders are inventing original board games!
The Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Graders know all about investigation, inspiration and invention as well! From their participation in the Science Fair, to their preparation for the School Speech Contest, these Epiphany students have been working extremely diligently. The scientific method that the students use to prepare their science projects puts their investigative skills to the test and seeing the fruits of their labors on the day of the Science Fair is always inspiring! Speaking of inspiring, the topic for this year's speech contest is "Inventions that have improved the quality of life." The Upper School Students have been investigating countless inventions and discerning which one has most improved the quality of life. Once they have made their decisions, they will work to prepare a persuasive speech that they will present in class and maybe even at the School Speech Contest on March 23rd!
In addition to their science fair project and speeches, the Eighth Graders have taken their investigative skills to the next level by researching different stocks in conjunction with their study of The Great Depression. Working in groups, students researched a company and its growth since first being listed on The New York Stock Exchange.
Their presentations included performance data and thoughtful analysis. This project may have even inspired a few eighth graders to consider a career in finance!
As you can see, the students at the Upper School have a lot to be proud of! Just a brief investigation into all of their hard work and inventive thinking is truly inspiring!
Kiernan LaGuardia
Dean of Students
The Epiphany School
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Q & A WITH KIERNAN LAGUARDIA
Connections Spotlight
By Courtney Huang, Communications Chair,
Board of Trustees
For this Spotlight issue, we had the pleasure of connecting with a member of Epiphany's administration: Upper School Dean of Students, Kiernan LaGuardia. As you will see, Mrs. LaGuardia's aspirations and beliefs in education play a critical role in making Epiphany the outstanding school that it is today.
A member of the Epiphany faculty for nearly 20 years, Mrs. LaGuardia has taught in both Lower and Upper Schools. Aside from her role as Upper School Dean, she currently teaches Seventh and Eighth Grade English Language Arts.
Born and raised in New York City, Mrs. LaGuardia is truly a product of Catholic education as she attended St. Joseph's of Yorkville for elementary school, Dominican Academy for high school; and Providence College and Fordham University for undergraduate and graduate studies, respectively.
Outside of her responsibilities at Epiphany, Mrs. LaGuardia is impressively continuing her own education at St. John's University. She plans to graduate this summer with a Master of Science in Education, School Building Leadership.
Mrs. LaGuardia and her husband, Marc, have two children who attend Epiphany. Their daughter,
Mairead, is in Fourth Grade; and their son, Nolan, is in Kindergarten.
Q: What was your inspiration to choose a career in education/administration?
A: I have been extremely fortunate in my life to have had excellent teachers, particularly in my middle school years. I credit those teachers with making me into a lifelong learner, so there is no better place for me than a school! My students teach me things every day and I am always up for learning new and better ways to help my students achieve their goals.
Q: What is your favorite memory as an educator/administrator at the Epiphany School?
A: With almost twenty years under my belt, I have so many! There was the time when two of my Eighth Grade students tried to teach me how to do a layup; their tears of laughter really spoke to my athletic prowess! But on a more serious note, when I first started working at the Upper School, there was a program in place called
Community Outreach
, where the Eighth Graders, accompanied by a teacher, volunteered in the community. My group was assigned to
The Mary Manning Walsh Nursing Home
and the students would interact with the residents in various ways. Some would play cards or sing songs and others would just sit and have a chat, but they all exhibited tremendous warmth and compassion. It was truly amazing to see my students in this capacity.
Q: How does Epiphany's curriculum help to prepare students for high school?
A: One consistent comment that we hear from Epiphany alumni who come back to visit is that Epiphany prepared them well for high school. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that as a staff, we gradually encourage our students to become increasingly independent. With the proper support along the way, students graduate from Epiphany ready to tackle the challenges of high school.
A: As we start to round out the school year and look ahead to next year, can you share your key focus areas/goals you have for the Upper School?
Looking to next year, I would love to see more targeted work on the character development of our students in the Upper School. Epiphany is dedicated to the development of the whole child, and so in conjunction with our pursuit of academic achievement, I would like to see more of a focus on helping our students make good choices, take responsibility for their actions, be respectful, celebrate diversity and most importantly, care for others.
Q: How can we in the Epiphany community help support you?
A: Well, the English teacher in me wants to say. "Make sure your children are reading every night!" But something tells me that is not exactly what you had in mind. The Epiphany community is extremely supportive; it is one of my favorite things about Epiphany. To have so many members of one school community completely invested in its students suggests a true partnership. In any healthy partnership there must be collaboration, cooperation, and connection. Even at a glance, one can see that these traits are the fabric from which the Epiphany community is woven.
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2018 SPRING AUCTION
Wednesday March 21, 2018
The Spring Auction is just one week away! Today is the last day to sponsor the event and see your name included in our event signage.
Thank you to all of our sponsors for your support!
Special Appeal Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
The Doscher Family
The Vrabel Family
The Castle Family
The Dowd Family
Scott & Pam Felenstein
The Fulton Family
Anne and Jim Hayes
The Joye Family
The Kelly Family
The Leykam Family
Matthew Morningstar & Alan van Capelle
The Oliver Family
The Turetsky Family
Bronze Sponsors
The Banerjee Family
Matthew & Marissa Boss
Kathy & Joe Cecala
The Chen Family
The Consilvio Family
Franciscus Diaba & Family
Mr. and Mrs. John A. Flores
John and Linda Fox
The Fox Family
The Gorman Family
The Higgins Family
Lung & Courtney Huang
The Ivanac Family
Laura Kesic's Family
The Larucci Family
The Luick Family
The Magel Family
The Marcell Family
Michael & Brenda Maxworthy
Candice & Roy McInnis
The Mullen Family
The Pezeu Family
The Puchert Family
Vivian Young & Mark Rasimas
The Sclafani Family
The Tanoff Family
The Theodos Family
Thread /The Brangan Family
20 East Medical /The Ramani Family
The Vohs Family
Epiphany Sponsors
MBS Graphics
The Greaney Family
The McMahon Family
Megan Pieroni
In anticipation of next week's event, we're excited to share a special offer from one of our generous item donors, MakerState, for those of you who are interested in enrolling your child in STEM camp this summer. Please see the information below:
STEM Summer Camp - 4 locations in NYC
Our kids love hands-on coding and invention! MakerState STEM Summer Camp is Jul 2-Aug 31 (9 individually themed weeks), 9am-4pm, ages 6-12, in 4 locations: Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Lower East Side, Park Slope. Fun-first, hands-on projects in 3D Design, LEGO Robotics Battlebots, Rocket Science, and Minecraft Engineering, Coding, and more! Lots of outdoor play and Laser Tag in between our maker projects, including Water Balloon Olympics! Kids earn Challenge Badges in Creativity, Teamwork, Problem-Solving, Computational Thinking, Engineering Design, and ChangeMaking. Before/After Camp Care available. See you at STEM Camp! Epiphany parents use the code EPIPHANYSTEMCAMP for $75 OFF Register at
www.maker-state.com.
Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at Guastavino's next Wednesday at 6:30pm!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dowd & Jennifer Turetsky
2018 Spring Auction Chairs
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NEWS FROM 29TH STREET
Eileen McLoughlin, Early Childhood Administrator
Early Childhood Center News
By Alannah Keane, Karlygash Ni Longaigh, Ava Jane Cawley,
Angelina Platoni, Brendan Chen, Daniel Liotti & Kamilla Salvesen
(Epiphany Times Staff Members)
Winter is passing by and our Early Childhood students are ready to play outside once again. Spring is here!
Let's see what the toddlers have been doing! Our two year-olds celebrated Dr. Seuss Week through music, books and arts and crafts. They are also getting ready for St. Patrick's Day....don't forget to check out the lucky Leprechaun outside the classroom! Another exciting week will take place when they learn all about their five senses. Finally, students will explore the meaning of friendship during Friendship Week! The Toddler Two's class wishes everyone a happy Easter!
Nursery is also very busy learning and exploring new things this spring! For Dr. Seuss Week they made "
One Fish, Two Fish
" fish bowls. They are also learning about weather. Will March blow in like a lion and out like a lamb? Even though we had a big snowstorm to kick off March, our Nursery students are still ready for more learning this spring!
Don't forget about our Pre-K! Our little explorers are traveling through the rainforest this spring. Their classrooms look like real jungles and the students are learning about the animals and plants in this ecosystem. They also celebrated Chinese New Year by making dragon lanterns with Mrs. Murphy during art class. Pre-K also studied Dr. Seuss by bringing in their favorite books by this beloved author. Of course, it wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without our students being on the lookout for that pesky leprechaun, Lucky. Finally, they are learning about Lent and Easter, which is a truly special time. We wish we were in Pre-K!
From all of us at The Epiphany Times, enjoy your Easter and have a wonderful spring! Let the flowers bloom!
Eileen McLoughlin
Early Childhood Administrator
The Epiphany School
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NEWS FROM THE EFA
Updates from our Family Association
Dear Epiphany Community
First of all, we would like to thank you for all your support with our past events. Our first ever Radio Bingo Night was a huge success! It was a fun-filled family friendly night with lots of bingo, music, dancing, games, and prizes.
Congratulations to our grand prize winner Stefano Bozzo who won an Ipod Touch.
Our Seventh and Eighth Graders enjoyed their Winter Wonderland-themed dance. It was a night filled with music, dancing, a photo booth and party favors.
We are so excited to be entering the Spring Semester, as we have a lot of activities planned for our families. Please mark your calendars for the following events:
Epiphany Family Dance -
April 13th,
6:30-9:00pm
All grades are welcome from Toddler Two's thru Eighth Grade.
There will be activities for the young ones and refreshments for all at our Under the Sea-themed event. It will be a night filled with great music and dancing. A fun way to bond with your family and friends.
5th/6th Grade Party -
May 4th,
12pm onwards
Time for our Fifth and Sixth graders to put on their party shoes, let off some steam and have fun with their friends!
EFA Volunteer Breakfast -
May 18th,
8:45am-10:30am
Please join us to say thank you to all our wonderful volunteers. We appreciate your generosity, time, and support in helping to make all these events possible. After breakfast, come check out the Art Show that displays how talented our Epiphany kids are!
EFA Spring Carnival -
June 3
Come join us for a fun-filled day of food, drinks, rides, arts & crafts, and games! This is one of our largest and most popular events. So don't miss out on fun for the whole family!
Bharti Ramani and Cari Marino, Co-Chairs
2017-2019 Epiphany Family Association
Danielle Elder, Colleen Flores, Gina Kartholl, Mary Lane & Cynthia Rios
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The 24th Annual Golf & Tennis Outing
May 14, 2018
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THE EPIPHANY SCHOOL FOUNDATION | 234 EAST 22ND STREET | 212-473-6158
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