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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 we welcome you to share your feedback and suggestions by emailing
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A MESSAGE FROM KEVIN GREANEY
Chairman, Foundation Board of Trustees
Dear Epiphany Families and Friends,
Merry Christmas! I hope you can join us for Epiphany's annual Christmas party on Thursday, December 15th from 7pm - 10pm. We have made some exciting updates to the party this year. Read full details in this issue of
Connections. Have you purchased your Car Raffle ticket yet? Click
HERE to buy yours today. Only 1,000 tickets will be sold and the drawing will take place during the party on the 15th. The Foundation is currently looking for volunteers to help set up the Christmas party. Email
development@epiphanyschoolfoundation.org if you are interested in helping set up the event that morning.
We had another successful Hall of Fame Alumni Induction this year. Over 200 guests attended the reception at The Yale Club to honor Bob Benya '73, Jane R. Crotty, Rose and Joe Falzon and Fritz Favorule. As Rose and Joe's daughter, Jessica Woodall, concluded the program, the room was filled with tears of joy. Congratulations to all of our honorees and thank you for your dedication to our school, and to Regan Murphy '99 for chairing this wonderful event. I also want to thank Alycia Foti '03, our Alumna Speaker, for sharing such heartfelt words with us that evening.
On October 27th, over 30 alumni and friends came together at McFadden's Saloon to reconnect and celebrate their time at Epiphany. We now have an
Alumni Association and I know you will all enjoy reading our Alumni Stories. Click
HERE to read about Alumnus Keith Powers '97.
Thank you for your support and I look forward to celebrating the holidays with you on the 15th in Parish Hall!
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
During this beautiful season of Advent, the students have been busy preparing for Christmas, always mindful of the true meaning of this holiday. The students love sharing gifts with others through Epiphany's Adopt-A-Family Program. Each grade has been practicing for our very special Lower School Christmas Show that will be held on Thursday, December 22nd, 2016 in the Parish Hall.
The Kindergarteners are enjoying studying holidays around the world and learning how different countries celebrate Christmas and other winter holidays. The students even designed little passports to get ready to "travel" to different countries. The Kindergarten mathematicians have been busy studying two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes and are now working on measurement by measuring different objects in their classrooms.
The First Graders continue to work on crafting their writing skills while learning the conventions of punctuation and capitalization. Under the guidance of Ms. Hernandez, students have been learning about weather and even created their own clouds! The First Graders cannot wait to share their traditional Nativity performance.
The Second Graders have been filling out reindeer applications to apply for jobs working for Santa Claus. The students all have many talents and skills to share with Santa and his elves, and they have loved working on their persuasive applications. They have been learning the Act of Contrition in preparation for the sacrament of Reconciliation.
In Science, the Third Graders have learned about simple machines. Each student created an amazing machine and shared it with the class. In Social Studies, students have started studying about Ancient Egypt.
They are so excited to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art to see all of the historical artifacts from Egypt!
NYC Kids Project, a social justice arts organization, visited all of our classes for an in-school field trip. Through their use of theatrical puppets and storytelling, these talented performers addressed character development and anti-bullying issues. After the performances, Epiphany students examined attitudes about disabilities and committed to practicing tolerance.
The students all participated in their first
WITS Lab during which our chefs taught how tomatoes are grown and how nutritious and delicious they are. The children chopped tomatoes, minced garlic and created delicious tomato sauce. They cannot wait for Lab #2 with Chef Evie!
Mary Jane Higgins '80
22nd Street Vice Principal
The Epiphany School
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MERCEDES-BENZ RAFFLE
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Dear Epiphany Families,
We hope you can join us for The Epiphany School Foundation's Celtic Christmas Party this year on
Thursday, December 15th from
7:00pm - 10:00pm in Parish Hall. All current families and staff are invited to attend! Please dress in festive cocktail attire!
This year,
Tara O'Grady and The Black Velvet Band will be performing jazzy Christmas carols and jazz standards.
The Wall Street Journal has called O'Grady "imposing" and
IrishCentral says she's, "An Irish-American Jazz Powerhouse!"
We'll be serving signature holiday cocktails throughout the night, and best of all, Epiphany parent Mary O'Halloran Gannon has created a lovely, traditional Irish Christmas menu for us. If you like real Irish food and music, check out her pub (
Mary O's /
www.maryossession.com).
New York Magazine says, "While the design is sleek and cool, the staff is all warmth and friendliness."
Of course, the highlight of the night will be our Mercedes-Benz Car Raffle. We can't wait to see who will be the lucky winner of the drawing, which will take place shortly after
8:00pm. Although you do not have to be present to win the car, you do have to be present to enjoy this jolly evening among fellow parents and friends!
As a reminder: last year, we sold 908 car raffle tickets toward our goal of 1,000 tickets.
We're hoping to sell out this year. So, keep your eyes open for members of our Foundation Trustees and buy a ticket or two. They'll be at the raffle table before school this week and next as well as after
Sunday
Masses.
This Raffle is winner's choice - keep the car or take the cash. Find out if Santa has a new Mercedes in store for you this year by clicking on the button below:
Finally, if you want to get into the Christmas spirit and help us deck the halls for the party, come help us set up, starting at
9:00am. We'll supply the coffee and bagels, you supply the elbow grease! Email
development@epiphanyschoolfoundation.org for more info.
Merry Christmas!
Allison B. Hemming
Development Chair
Foundation Board of Trustees
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WELLNESS IN OUR SCHOOL
December Community Letter
Dear Epiphany Parents:
2016 is closing with a bang!
We would like to take this time to share some accomplishments and alert you to upcoming events in your school.
I, Irbania Tavares (AKA chef Evie), would also like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as your new WITS chef for the lower school. I am thrilled about this work and honored to be part of a great cause - feeding children real food and educating them about the importance of it.
Highlights:
The Fall Tomatoes WITS Labs were a great success. We focused on eating the colors of the rainbow. Fruits and vegetables that are red typically are a good source of Vitamins A & C along with antioxidants. The children were excited
to learn about the value of 100% whole grains vs. refined grains
.
They ate whole wheat pasta, which is served alongside brown rice and whole wheat bread on the cafeteria lunch line. Most importantly, the WITS Labs continue to be a fantastic way for us to get to know your children and to make the connection between the healthier food in the cafeteria and the classroom. We continue to enjoy getting to know your children.
WITS Bits have begun with 4th graders. We visited the classroom to learn about the importance of eating locally. Students were assigned a fruit or vegetable found on the cafeteria lunch line. They had to do 1 jumping jack for every 100 miles their assigned produce had to travel. Did you know our salad bar grape tomatoes only had to travel 220 miles from Maryland?
We did a seasonal fall tasting promoting the addition of spring mix to the salad bar. We focused on fall items like local NY State pears and dark leafy mesclun salad.
2016 in the cafeterias is closing strong. The new alternate menu is now the norm. The kitchens provide a fresh salad bar & homemade dressings daily. Fresh whole fruits and vegetables are also offered. Only whole grain pasta/bread/rice are served.
Upcoming Events:
We will be visiting more classrooms this month, to share tastings and teach WITS Bits with the children. Ask your child to tell you about "Sugar Overload."
Things to look forward to:
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Curious about our WITS Labs? Get a taste of the experience with our WITS Parent Lab. We will host a special Bean Lab cooking class for parents so they have a better understanding of what their children are learning. Dates to be announced.
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We are opening one tasting per month to parents who are interested in volunteering with WITS in the cafeteria. Dates to be announced.
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WITS in partnership with the wellness committee will be hosting a Cafe Day. It will be a special day promoting nutrition and seasonality. The theme will be eat the rainbow. Dates to be announced.
Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to continued progress at Epiphany.
Best,
Gisselle Madariaga and Evie Tavares
Epiphany WITS
Chefs
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NEWS FROM 28TH STREET
Kiernan LaGuardia, 28th Street English Language Arts
The season of Advent is upon us and the upper school is busy preparing for the coming of Christ in more ways than one!
By praying special prayers and performing good deeds, the fourth grade students are focusing on the true reason for the season and becoming closer with God.
In a very similar way, the sixth graders are exploring some important themes of Advent through literature as they read O. Henry's short story,
The Gift of the Magi
. Talk of love, generosity and selflessness abound in class discussions.
Of course, preparations at the 28th Street campus do not end with preparations for Advent! In fact, the seventh and eighth graders are preparing to meet the needs of the future by studying the past in their monthly visits from The New York Historical Society. Under the guidance of their NYHS educator and through the use of various artifacts from the museum's extensive collection, students sharpen their skills of observation and analysis.
Epiphany's fifth graders are developing their skills too! They are hard at work incorporating technology into their math lessons and thus preparing to take charge of the digital age! With a new app, "QR and Barcode Scanners" on their ipads, fifth graders can scan QR/barcodes found in their textbooks, which link them to videos they can watch to enhance daily lessons.
And finally, the upper school joins the rest of the school in its participation in the Adopt-A-Family program. Along with our myriad preparations, we always remember to think of others, especially those who may not be as fortunate as we are. Social action is a big part of who we are at the upper school and The Epiphany School as a whole.
Kiernan LaGuardia
28th Street English Language Arts
The Epiphany School
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NEWS FROM 29TH STREET
Eileen McLoughlin, Early Childhood Administrator
The Christmas spirit is shining bright in our early childhood center!
The Toddler Twos are having so much fun! In November they learned many Thanksgiving songs and dances. They also created arts and crafts projects, including Native American jackets, Pilgrim hats, and scarecrows. Students used their hands and feet to make great looking turkeys. All are now looking forward to the Christmas season! Our Elf on the Shelf is giving Santa great news about our toddlers! They are very well behaved children! We look forward to their rousing rendition of Jingle Bells on December 23rd when they will sing for all our parents at the Early Childhood Center Show. We look forward to seeing everyone there!
Our Nursery students are learning a lot and are very busy preparing for Christmas! They made beautiful Advent wreaths to share with their families and learned that the candles represent hope, peace, joy and love. On December 19th all students are invited to attend a big Christmas/Pajama Party! Students and teachers alike look forward to coming to school dressed in their favorite PJs! In language arts, students have learned about the letters f, l, g, b, h, t, p, and d. Students enjoy sharing their "letter-of-the-week" themed show-and-tell items, and love singing and dancing along to their letter of the week songs. Finally, our Nursery class looks forward to performing in the annual Christmas Show on the 23rd!
Our Pre-K classes had a wonderful November, especially on Thanksgiving! In language arts they continued learning new letters and sounds, and read many books about fall, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. In social studies they learned about the first Thanksgiving and compared and contrasted homes around the world. In December they will learn all about how Christmas is celebrated around the world. Also, the New York Historical Society continues to visit to help students explore old New York City through the use of artifacts. In science students learned about their sense of taste and even graphed the results! Pre-K is also very excited about Polar Express Day/Pajama Day and look forward to performing for everyone at the annual Christmas Show!
Finally, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Eileen McLoughlin
Early Childhood Administrator
The Epiphany School
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Q & A With Father Austin Titus
Connections Spotlight
By Courtney Huang, Communications Chair, Board of Trustees
With the Christmas season
here, we're blessed to have this newsletter's spotlight on Father Austin Titus who joined the Epiphany parish
as pastor in 2015 from the Holy Family parish in Staten Island. In this feature, we get to know Father Titus more as he shares his pastoral mission in relation to his observations of the Epiphany community. As we reflect on 2016 and look ahead to 2017, he also gives us guidance on how we can better focus on what's most meaningful for ourselves and how each of us can participate in strengthening the Epiphany community.
Q:
YOU JOINED US FROM A PARISH WITHOUT A SCHOOL. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES OR OPPORTUNITIES GIVEN THAT TRANSITION TO EPIPHANY WITH BOTH PARISH AND SCHOOL?
A:
Challenge? It is more of a blessing than a challenge. Epiphany gives me so many more opportunities to reach out to the children and their families. It makes my mission as an evangelist so much easier. I am not very comfortable (nor effective) standing on a soapbox on a street corner. The challenge at every parish, with or without a school, is to encourage people to fall in love with God. We all have a limited attention span, so we need to purposely turn away from those things that are making less room for God in our lives. I need to do that in my own life first, and then invite others to do it also. I often dream of seeing all our Catholic children and their families here at Mass every Sunday. I am working on that--one family at a time.
Q:
WITH THE CHRISTMAS SEASON HERE, WHAT'S MOST MEANINGFUL TO YOU ABOUT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR?
A:
I love living in this part of the country, partly because of the beauty of the four seasons. The Church also has its seasons, and we are currently in Advent. Everything liturgical is so different: the scriptures, the music, the decorations, the colors, the prayers, etc. All of these help me to focus on the first things: my purpose in life, where I am going to, and to w
hom
I am going. If I do not get those things right, getting everything else right does not matter. But if I do
get those first things right, and even if I get everything else wrong, I win the Grand Prize. Advent helps me do this, and I need all the help I can get.
Q:
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2017, WHAT'S ONE AREA IN WHICH THE EPIPHANY SCHOOL COMMUNITY CAN HELP YOU?
A:
This school community is unlike any others I have encountered. There is a spirit here that is supernatural. Joy is one of the things that struck me immediately. I know it does not come naturally; you have to work for it. It tells me we have a lot of dedicated hard workers. We also have a great spirit of cooperation in all areas of the school. The administration, the staff, the parents, the children, the Foundation, and our non-school affiliated parishioners. We all come together so nicely.
Unfortunately, everything we do requires money. When I first arrived, I found the church had a history of operating losses (collections less expenses). We needed to make a lot of changes in order to balance the budget. In my first year here, we were able to reduce our expenses by 33%. But that is only half the equation; we need to increase our collections. My goal is to increase our collections by 33% in order to provide a solid financial foundation for the Parish. I hope everyone will commit to making the sacrifice needed to do that. Epiphany is worth it!
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2016-2017 Annual Fund
Thank you to our Giving Tuesday Supporters!
Dear Epiphany Families,
Our first Giving Tuesday was a great Success! Thanks to your generosity, we raised over
$59,000 for the Annual Fund through
213 gifts. If you haven't watched our
Giving Tuesday Video yet, I encourage you to take a look. We are very thankful to Epiphany Parent, Amy Scheibe, for using her talents to showcase our wonderful school and the work of The Foundation so beautifully in this short film.
I want to thank everyone who has supported the Annual Fund already this year! I am pleased to report that we now have 50% participation from current families. Help us reach 100% participation by
June 30th, 2017 by making your gift to the Annual Fund today.
Tuition only covers 83% of the cost of educating each Epiphany student. This year, that amounts to over $1,500 per child. By making a gift to the Annual Fund, you provide funding for programs and services not covered by tuition. Every gift helps every child and all gifts are meaningful. Click
HERE to make your donation today.
All gifts to the Annual Fund are fully tax-deductible and are eligible to be matched by corporations. Please inquire at your workplace about corporate matching. We can take you through the process, and answer any other concerns you may have in how your gift will have the most impact. Please contact the Development Office with any questions by calling
212-473-6158.
With thanks and gratitude,
Joanna Cawley
Annual Fund Chair
Foundation Board of Trustees
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NEWS FROM THE EFA
Updates from our Family Association
Dear Epiphany Community,
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for supporting the EFA Holiday Fundraiser which was a success because you! We hope you have all enjoyed our fall events like the Halloween parade, Crazy Hat & Hair Day and our Halloween Party and Haunted House. This year we had 110 families attend which is AMAZING! Don't worry though...we have more fun lined up for the winter months too starting with our Breakfast with Santa!!
Here are some of our winter activities and events:
EFA STAFF CHRISTMAS FUND COLLECTION
December 2016
Red envelopes were backpacked home on November 28th for the Epiphany staff Christmas fund. Patrticipation in this fund is optional but it helps to give Christmas gifts to all the Epiphany staff including administrators, teachers, assistants, custodians, food service, and playground monitors and ensures that no one is forgotten. If you choose to contribute, please back pack the green return envelope that is already labeled with your eldest child's name and class. Thank you!!
UPPER SCHOOL ICE SKATING GRADES 4-8
January 10, 2017 at Chelsea Piers
The annual upper school ice skating trip to Chelsea Piers is all set! Permission slips were backpacked home on December 1st. We have reserved the entire rink for Epiphany! Ice Skating and hot chocolate instead of Math & ELA...What could be better?
7TH & 8TH GRADE DANCE
January 20, 2017 in Parish Hall
The EFA will be throwing our yearly dance for the senior class members of Epiphany! We will have a rocking DJ so don't miss it!
EPIPHANY GAME SHOW
February 3, 2017 in Parish Hall
Have you ever wanted to be on Jeopardy? Now the kids have the chance! We have a professional game show host coming complete with buzzers, score consoles, podiums and a flat screen TV...it's the real deal!
Sincerely,
Linda Fox, Caroline Maher (Co-Chairs)
2016-2017 Epiphany Family Association
Cathy Caulfield, Lina Mati, Lauren Minardo, Aleona Nyamgavaa-Sencion, Julie Palumbo, Kerry Shimaitis, Gen Towzell
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SAVE THE DATE
Epiphany School Foundation Events
Dear Families,
Thank you for supporting our events this year! Our Walk and Fall Festival raised over $98,000 for The School and we could not have done it without your support. I also want to thank everyone who helped us achieve our first successful Giving Tuesday! Thank you to Amy Scheibe for capturing the spirit of Epiphany on film for this special day.
Auction planning has begun and it is never too late to get involved! We are hosting an
Open Auction Meeting
Friday, January 13, 2017
9:00am in The Foundation Office
PLEASE SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR UPCOMING EVENTS
CHRISTMAS PARTY & CAR RAFFLE
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Parish Hall
7:00pm - 10:00pm
DADS' NIGHT OUT
Thursday, January 19, 2017
The Bierhaus
6:00pm - 9:00pm
SPRING AUCTION
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Tribeca Rooftop
6:30pm - 10:30pm
THE 23rd ANNUAL GOLF OUTING
Monday, May 15, 2017
Wykagyl Country Club
11:00am - 7:00pm
Wishing you and your families a Merry Christmas! Thank you again for your support and I look forward to seeing you at the Christmas Party.
Warm regards,
Lindsay Carr
Director of Development
The Epiphany School Foundation
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THE EPIPHANY SCHOOL FOUNDATION | 234 EAST 22ND STREET | 212-473-6158
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