Dear Families,
I ran track as a freshman in college… well, at least I tried. I was successful at running track in high school and was confident that my talent would transfer to the collegiate level – and to a certain degree, it did. I trained with the college team, and the coach put me in a small indoor meet to compete in a two-mile race. I was excited and invited some of my friends to come and watch my track debut.
I learned two very important things on the day of the race: 1) two miles on an indoor track is a lot of laps (32), and 2) my high school talent was not a match against my college counterparts. At the midpoint of the race, I began to be lapped by faster runners and soon found myself falling behind. I crossed the finish line in the last place, exhausted and very disappointed. My friends came over to offer a mixture of support and sympathy.
Then, something happened that changed everything. My coach told me my finish time for the race: I had beat my previous two-mile record by twenty seconds! Suddenly, I was incredibly proud of myself and beamed with gratitude that my friends were present for such a significant event. My friends realized the level of my accomplishment and soon joined me in celebrating my achievement. To this day, that race was one of my most memorable college races!
We define gratitude as the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful. In a world where challenging situations occur and life does not always seem to be fair, gratitude is not always an easy trait to demonstrate. Just like I experienced in my track race, it helps to keep the bigger picture in mind so that we don’t miss an opportunity to express gratitude. My race time is a perfect example of how to reframe perspective to see things in a new light. It wasn’t until I was able to get over my initial disappointment in the circumstances (or get over myself), that I was able to express gratitude.
It is also important to note that gratefulness transforms not only us, but the people around us! We don’t always have a new personal record or a huge accomplishment to help us remember to be grateful, but we do have the simple moments in our life to be grateful for even when times are tough. Personally, I am grateful for the wonderful students and families who have supported our efforts at Malden Catholic and who help make this such a special place. Each day, our students surprise us with their energy and talent. They make us proud to be educators. And, we have our Lord and all the daily graces He bestows upon us every day. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Please take a moment to read the "Mission Moment" section below which has a beautiful reflection written by Brother Tom in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Enjoy the long weekend!
With gratefulness,
John K. Thornburg
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Monday, January 17
Martin Luther King Jr. Day - No School
Tuesday, January 18
Day 7
Mandatory In-Person COVID-19 Testing
Wednesday, January 19
Day 1
Activity Schedule
Leadership - Grades 9-11
Dismissal at 1:15 PM - Grade 12 - students to pursue Christian Service requirements
Thursday, January 20
Day 2
Friday, January 21
Day 3
Praying of the Rosary - 7:30 AM
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Faculty Spotlight: Mr. Jack Hunter - Computer Science Teacher |
Dear Malden Catholic Community,
I am originally from Washington D.C. and I've spent the last twenty-two years in New York City. I am now delighted to be in Massachusetts teaching Computer Literacy and Computer Science for my first year at Malden Catholic!
I enjoy traveling with my family and visiting our relatives in the western part of the United States. This includes visiting the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park, which has become a tradition since my family and I love the outdoors. Additionally, my family and I spend a month or two each year in Nepal, my wife's home country, with our two sons, ages eleven and four. In the future, we hope to venture out on the challenging hikes in Nepal, such as the Annapurna Base Camp.
As a child, my parents emphasized three things: travel, language and education... and I've done quite a bit of all three. In addition to studying philosophy, classical music and computer science, I am also a clarinetist. Music has played a substantial role in my life and I have performed regularly in various settings in the Northeast.
As the Computer Science teacher at MC, I hope to encourage students to pursue thriving careers in technology and engineering. I would like to see our students learn more about Python, my programming language of choice, as well as other programming languages. The MC Robotics team is a great way for students to become computer-literate while exploring robotic and engineering applications.
The opportunity to teach Computer Science at Malden Catholic is an honor. I am looking forward to working with our students and continuing to meet the families of MC.
Mr. Jack Hunter
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School-wide COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test on Tuesday, January 18
On Tuesday, January 18, 2022, all faculty, staff and students are required to participate in COVID-19 testing with the use of rapid antigen tests. If a student is absent for this testing for any reason, the student will not be allowed to attend school. The absent student will need to provide a negative PCR test result from a medical facility to the MC Nurses’ Office before returning to school. Any member of our school community who cannot make this mandatory event should contact either Nurse Paquette, Nurse Olive, or Mrs. Redman.
Testing Schedule Based on Grades and Homerooms
- 7:55 AM - Grade 9 - Gymnasium
- 7:55 AM - Grade 10 - Homerooms
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8:30 AM - Grade 11 - Gymnasium
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8:30 AM - Grade 12 - Homerooms
Testing will be conducted in the gymnasium, and we will utilize our normal entry procedures. Boys Division will enter through door #11 and the Girls Division will enter through door #1.
All 9th and 10th grade students who need to test must arrive before 7:55 AM. We will use the time that students are in homeroom as a quiet study hall. All 11th and 12th grade students must arrive before 8:30 AM. Please note that ALL students will be tested this week. Based on the attached schedule, we will utilize a delayed opening schedule that will begin with a warning bell at 9:15 AM.
Please Comply With the Following Prior to Arriving at School
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Take your temperature in the morning. If it is 99.9 or above - STAY HOME
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If you have had close contact with anyone diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past 14 days - STAY HOME
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If you or anyone in your home has been ill within the past 14 days with the following symptoms: - Sudden loss of taste or smell, fever, cough, shortness of breath, severe headache or gastrointestinal distress, and/or if you or anyone you have been in contact with has these symptoms - STAY HOME
Vaccine Records
Several cities and towns in Massachusetts, including Boston, have moved to require digital proof of COVID-19 vaccination for certain indoor venues, such as restaurants, fitness centers, museums and event settings.
Steps to download a copy of your COVID-19 vaccination onto your phone:
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Visit MyVaxRecords.Mass.Gov and then click “find my vaccine record.”
- Enter your first name, last name, confirmation method (cell phone or email), cell phone number, birth date and gender; then, create a four-digit PIN number. The administration official recommended using the cell phone option if possible since not all vaccine records from health care providers contain email addresses.
- Check your phone (or email), for the confirmation link, but allow 24 hours for a response.
- If your vaccination information is in the state’s immunization system, you’ll be able to follow the link and enter your PIN. All immunization information will appear, including flu shots and COVID vaccines. Select the COVID-19 Smart Health Card button icon at the top of the screen — you’ll then see your QR code.
- Add the QR code to your Apple Health Wallet — or into your photo library.
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No Cost COVID-19 Testing at MC
The COVID-19 Curative Testing Kiosk located in Malden Catholic's back parking lot is open from 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM on Monday through Saturday. Please note, the Curative kiosk will be opening from 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM, on Monday, January 17 for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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A Virtual Junior College Kick-Off event will be held on January 19 at 6:00 PM. This event will provide the framework of the admissions landscape, an overview of the entire college application process, as well as other information that will make applying to college easier. Please use this GoToWebinar link. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2473914776966874639
MC School and College Counseling would also like to remind Grade 12 students to update Naviance with all their college acceptances. Please reach out to Ms. DelGenio with any questions at [email protected].
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MC Book Club Meeting - 1.18 |
Our MC Parent Book Club Meeting will meet on Tuesday, January 18, at 6:30 PM at the Russo family home. The January MC Book Club will be discussing The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim, a heartfelt story of Mina, a Korean immigrant and her American born daughter, Margot. Mina's untimely death leads Margot to try uncover her mother's life as a Korean War orphan and an undocumented immigrant, only to realize how little she truly knew about her her.
Meeting ID: 930 703 9967
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What's Happening Around MC? |
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We would like to thank all of the parents who joined us for the Malden Catholic Parent Club meeting. Dr. Baccari opened up the group with a prayer, Principal Redman discussed upcoming events for the school year and Mrs. Kathleen McGourthy provided information regarding the Women's Day of Recollection which will be held on March 8, International Women's Day. We would also like to thank Nurse Paquette for providing additional information regarding MC's COVID-19 policies and protocols. The next MC Parent Club meeting will be held on February 8 at 6 PM.
Official Parent Facebook Group
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Students in Malden Catholic's highly successful Mock Trial team have been hard at work preparing for this year’s Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA) State Mock Trial Tournament based on a criminal case published by the MBA. The team has dedicated countless hours analyzing case materials and case law, learning the Rules of Evidence, taking on roles of lawyers and witnesses for both plaintiff and defense sides of the case, and arguing their sides before judges. This year in a virtual format, the students have been doing an amazing job and we wish them the best of luck in the trials ahead!
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Diversity & Inclusion Club |
This week, MC's Diversity & Inclusion Club discussed the plan for celebrating Black History Month at Malden Catholic. The Diversity and Inclusion Club focuses the issues of inclusion and equity for people of color and how we can make others in our community feel safe and welcome. |
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Martin Luther King Jr. Day
I dated myself again in class today, asking, “Anyone here know the Springsteen song ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’”? Its theme touched on something we were talking about in Theology class, and I loved the connection. Blank stares. Finally, one girl shyly raised her hand and meekly said, “I think I’ve heard of him.” I despaired! With the man himself unrecognizable, there was no hope, of course, that anyone would ever have identified the song! My fault! What made me think these 15-year-olds would know – or care – about an aging 72-year-old rock superstar and his work! So, as we settle into this 3-day weekend that celebrates the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, a black civil rights champion from an even more distant generation, might we wonder whether the day is nothing more than a school holiday to our kids? I’ll try to prevent that perception, and I encourage you to try to do the same, too. It’s important.
I might ask my students when we gather again, “Did you know that in 1963 a children’s peaceful march, comprised of more than a thousand high-school and some elementary-school students in Birmingham, AL, kick-started desegregation efforts in that State?” “Kick” is an appropriate word to use here, for what became known as the “Children’s Crusade,” where students were kicked, clubbed, hosed, set upon by dogs, and imprisoned under the direction of Birmingham’s openly racist Commissioner of Public Safety “Bull” Connor. This May 2nd student protest happened a month after Reverend King, Ralph Abernathy, and other ministers in King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference were imprisoned on an early April Good Friday for peaceful assembly and boycott – protest in the form of civil disobedience. The brutality unleashed on the students caught national and world attention, becoming a catalyst for further protest and positive change.
Some of our Malden Catholic theology-and-English classes this week will probably take a look at King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” written while he was in his solitary confinement that spring. Since 1963 it has become part of the canon of American literature, reminding that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” He chided fellow clergymen, southern white clergymen, who were not willing to act in ways congruent with professed Christian beliefs that all people are children of God. He wondered why the promise of our Declaration of Independence, the “self-evident truth” that all are created equal, could not find fulfillment for a whole class of people.
Decades later, we operate today in a world where few truths any longer seem self-evident. What a tough moral world it must be for our students, your sons, and daughters, to navigate. Here we are, 58 years after King wrote that letter, 53 years after he visited Memphis to help black garbage men get better wages, safer equipment, and some dignity. There he was assassinated in 1968.
Students who know nothing of Bruce Springsteen, probably know little more about Reverend Martin Luther King, the doors he opened for voting rights, for brother-and-sisterhood, for economic justice, for dignity for all people. Our task, therefore, is that we must be models of hope for our children, as King was for his people, that we speak the truth and act justly for a common good, that we are personally aware of Coretta Scott King’s reflection that “freedom is never really won; each generation must earn it.” We are the teachers.
If you visit the Martin Luther King Memorial adjacent to the National Mall in D.C., now in its 10th-anniversary year, you’ll notice that the towering granite figure of King gazes across the Tidal Basin toward another monument, that of the author of our “Declaration of Independence," Thomas Jefferson. King could well still be thinking, “I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.” (“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”). We are all fellow travelers to that land. May we invite our children to celebrate that thought as we remember Dr. King. Come to think of it, I WILL play “Land of Hope and Dreams” for my students next week. That’s the land Reverend King had in mind.
Brother Thomas Puccio, CFX, Ed.D.
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Malden Catholic Girls Hockey Program Highlighted in the Boston Herald's Hockey Notebook
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The Malden Catholic's Girls Hockey Program is "learning fast," according to the article that was written in the Boston Herald last week. MC's Girls Hockey is in the second year of the program and the team has made tremendous progress this season! Go, Lancers!
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Malden Catholic Varsity Girls Basketball vs. Cardinal Spellman at TD Garden on January 30th |
The Malden Catholic Varsity Girls Basketball team will be taking on Cardinal Spellman at the TD Garden on Sunday, January 30 at 8:30 AM. This event is part of the Andrew James Lawson Foundation Invitational raising funds for inclusion and equality. Tickets are available in the MC Athletics office for $20. |
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Spectator Policy Reminder for All Home Athletic Events (Effective Immediately)
Due to the increase in positivity rates, we will be limiting spectator attendance at home athletic contests during January. Spectators will be limited to two individuals per athlete. Details for specific teams will be provided by their respective coaches. Masks are required by all spectators at athletic events.
Streaming Services will continue to be offered for the following sports:
Doherty Gymnasium (Basketball, Wrestling)
NFHS Network - NFHSNetwork.com
Valley Forum Ice Rink (Hockey)
My Hockey Live - MyHockeyLive.com
Mystic Valley Pool (Swimming)
MC Athletics Twitter - @MCAthletics1
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Varsity Letterman Jacket Store Is Now Open!
The Champions Choice store is now open to purchase an official MC Letterman Jacket. The jackets are unisex sizes and orders can be placed until January 24.
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Monday, January 17
No events scheduled
Tuesday, January 18
3:15 PM Boys Varsity Swimming Home vs East Boston HS
3:30 PM Boys Freshman Basketball Home vs Catholic Memorial School
5:00 PM Boys JV Basketball Home vs Catholic Memorial School
6:30 PM Boys Varsity Basketball Home vs Catholic Memorial School
5:00 PM Girls JV Basketball @ Ursuline Academy
6:30 PM Girls Varsity Basketball @ Ursuline Academy
Wednesday, January 19
3:50 PM Boys Freshman Ice Hockey Home vs St. John's Prep School
4:00 PM Girls Freshman Basketball @ Marblehead HS
6:00 PM Boys Varsity Wrestling Home vs Catholic Memorial School (5 PM Weigh-In)
7:00 PM Boys Varsity Ice Hockey @ Catholic Memorial School
Thursday, January 20
3:15 PM Boys Varsity Swimming Home vs St. John's HS
4:45 PM Girls Junior Varsity Ice Hockey @ Brookline HS
Friday, January 21
3:30 PM Boys Freshman Basketball @ Xaverian Brothers HS
4:00 PM Girls Freshman Basketball @ Boston Latin Academy
4:00 PM Boys Varsity Indoor Track Division 3 State Relays
5:00 PM Boys JV Basketball @ Xaverian Brothers HS
6:30 PM Boys Varsity Basketball @ Xaverian Brothers HS
Saturday, January 22
9:20 AM Boys Junior Varsity Ice Hockey Home vs St. John's Prep School
10:30 AM Boys Freshman Ice Hockey Home vs Boston College HS
10:00 AM Boys Varsity Wrestling @ Watertown Quad (9 AM Weigh-In)
2:00 PM Boys Varsity Ice Hockey Home vs Xaverian Brothers HS
12:00 PM Girls Varsity Ice Hockey @ Bishop Stang HS
Sunday, January 23
3:10 PM Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Home vs Bishop Feehan HS
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