East Catholic High School's Newsletter

A Message from the President

Dear East Catholic Family,

The snow is almost all gone, and warmer temperatures are on the way as we transition from winter to spring here on The Hill. Like always, there is a lot going on! Here are some recaps and looks ahead.

We welcomed in the Lenten season with our all-school Ash Wednesday Mass earlier this week. Our students are always so respectful during Masses, and Father Matt Collins continues to do an excellent job as our school Chaplain. We are truly blessed to have him in that post.

On Thursday, we welcomed 110 of our students’ grandparents or special relatives. It was a great turnout, and after a quick welcome from me, the grandparents and their students heard from Mrs. Joan Penders. Mrs. Penders taught here back in the 1970s and 1980s, her husband Jim worked at East for 44 years, their three children graduated in the 90s, and three of their grandchildren attended East with the last graduating this year. Grandparents were invited to attend the dress rehearsal for Shrek, the Musical, and by all counts it was a very successful day!

Shrek, the Musical opens TONIGHT Friday, March 7th at 7:00pm. There are also two shows on Saturday, March 8th at 1:00pm and 7:00pm. Please come out and support Stage East!

The Parents’ Association has their next meeting on Monday, March 10th at 6:00pm in the conference room. We always love to see new faces there, so please come out and join us. If you cannot attend in person, a Zoom link will be sent out on the morning of the meeting.

As I mentioned in the last News From the Hill, I want to thank all students, parents, faculty, staff, and School Board members who completed our Administrative Feedback Survey. The survey had 21 statements that focused on school culture, my role as President, and the roles of the two Deans (Academics and Student Life). All 21 statements solicited a response of “Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree.” When crunching the numbers, we considered “Strongly Agree and Agree” to contribute to a “Favorability Rating.” When we averaged all of the responses, the Administration came out with an approval rating of 87.9%! While a bit below the Student Feedback on Teachers (95%), we feel pretty good about the results. We will continue to respectfully seek input from our various constituents as we greatly value your input.

That’s it for now. Please be in touch with questions, comments, concerns, or celebrations!

Peace,

Sean P. Brennan ‘85

Chief Administrator

East Catholic is a busy place! There are new things happening daily with students, staff, and programs. Be sure to follow us on your favorite social media apps for the latest updates!

Facebook: East Catholic High School

Instagram: @eastcatholichighschool

Twitter: @EastCatholicHS

Grandparents' Day 2025

Wow- what a turnout we had this year! This was the first time holding this event since 2022 and we were thrilled with how many special older relatives chose to join us. 110 grandparents showed up for 70 students!

The day began with pastries and coffee in the cafeteria, followed by welcomes from Mr. Brennan and Ms. Scalora, our Director of Advancement. Our guest speaker, Mrs. Joan Penders, also spoke to those in attendance about being a part of the wonderful community that is East Catholic High School.

Following the gathering in the cafeteria, students took their grandparents on a tour of the building to show off their classrooms, teachers, and other special places. The tours concluded in the auditorium where many stayed to watch the dress rehearsal performance of Shrek, the Musical!

We are so grateful to those who were able to attend. If you could not make this year's event, we hope to host you at a future Grandparents' Day celebration! In the meantime, please know you are always welcome on campus at many of our other events- from athletic competitions to concerts and art shows- or off campus at our Spring Auction and Golf Tournament! We love having you in our family!

Fine Arts

Shrek the Musical

Join us Friday and Saturday as we celebrate the hard work of our talented actors and actresses, as well as our band and stage crew! This production is one you won't want to miss!

General Admission is $10

ECHS Students are $5

Athletics

CCC All-Conference

Congratulations to all athletes named to All-Conference Honors!

Girls Basketball- Gia Fisher, Morgan Bridgeforth, Urielle Abrokwa, Liz McGuirl

Boys Basketball- Sincere Folk and Brayden Jones

Girls Hockey- Leah Martineau and Alivia Roy

Indoor Track- Austin Shapard

*All-Conference for Boys Swim and Boys Hockey have not yet been released.

Winter States Updates!

Girls basketball played Joel Barlow tonight in the quarterfinals at home and won with a score of 69 - 59! They now head to the semifinals on Tuesday! (Girls Basketball MM Bracket)

Boys basketball won their quarterfinal game against Northwest Catholic on Thursday night. They will now take on St. Bernard's in the semifinals at Hillhouse. (Boys Basketball Division I Bracket)

Boys hockey begins the state run vs. Glastonbury on Tuesday at Trinity College. (Boys Hockey Division II Bracket)

Congratulations to Matt Sarkar and Greyson Bordeau who qualified for states on the Boys Swim Team!

Campus Ministry

Shelter Meals

On Tuesday, February 25th, students LaTe'jah Gardner ('26), Nikita Prepeh ('26), Sierra Jarvis ('26), Aaliyah Austin-Christopher ('26), and Brent Cattanach ('27) prepared and served dinner for the men at ImmaCare Shelter in Hartford.

Then, on Wednesday, March 5th, which was also Ash Wednesday, students Julia Paolino ('26), Sam Paolino ('26), Sabrina Rothi ('25), Olivia Riley ('25), Caleb Munoz ('27), and Charlotte Polking ('26) came together to prepare a meal for the South Park Inn, also in Hartford.

The next shelter meal will be on March 25, 2025.

Advancement Office

The Tom Malin Eagle Invitational

The 34th Annual Eagle Invitational is back at Blackledge on Friday, June 13th! The website is now live for registration! Please join us as we gather for a day of golf and fundraising for athletics and recognize the numerous contributions of this year's honoree, Chris Malone '78!

Visit the event site here: 2025 ECHS Tom Malin Eagle Golf Invitational

Spring Auction: Country Charm

East Catholic's Annual Spring Auction is back! Join us on Friday, April 4th at Maneeley's in South Windsor for a night of friends, food, and fundraising.

The website is open to purchase event tickets, drawing tickets, sponsorships and ad space and can be accessed here: https://auctria.events/ECHSCountryCharmSpringEvent

To make this night a success, we need your help! Please see the image below for ways you can be a part of the school's largest fundraiser.

If you have any questions, please contact Julie Scalora, Director of Advancement, at scaloraj@echs.com.

Annual Appeal

East Catholic is thriving as a school community. We continue to send our well-prepared graduates off to excellent colleges and universities, our athletic and arts programs continue to shine, and our community finds strength in each and every member. Our $7,000,000 budget for the coming year includes a $1,000,000 Annual Appeal goal, a threshold we were able to surpass last year. I hope you will join your fellow Eagles in making a gift to our wonderful school!

Donate here: 2024-2025 EAST CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL APPEAL

School Counseling

Important Upcoming Dates:

March 12th - Juniors will be taking SATs here at East Catholic. Students are automatically registered through East. Students will arrive at 8:15am and finish the day at 11:30am.

March 19th - NACAC National College Fair will be in Hartford. We encourage students in any grade to attend the fair with over 300 colleges present!

Seniors

Seniors should be continuing to work on scholarships! Look on Naviance for a regularly updated list of scholarships. As you hear back from colleges it is very important you continue to update your Naviance account. Under your "Colleges I Am Applying To" tab, you need to update each college decision and once you have decided where to attend, you must set your attending school. Please also keep track of scholarships, merit awards and grants received. We will be asking for this information this spring.

Admission Office

If you know of a student interested in attending East Catholic High School, please be sure they have experienced our "Eagle for a Day" program and shadowed a current student!

All prospective families and students who have completed the application packet, submitted transcripts from their current school, and taken the Entrance Exam should be hearing from the Admission Department soon!

Please contact Chad Malone '08 (malonc@echs.com) or Abby Diemar '00 (diemara@echs.com) with any questions.

Parents' Association

Monthly Meetings!

Our next Parents' Association Meeting is on Monday, March 10th at 6:00pm in the first-floor conference room. Remember, ALL are invited! Come to hear updates on the school, learn about upcoming events, and meet some fellow parents and guardians!

Be a part of the success of the 2024-2025 school year!

For more information on upcoming events and volunteering opportunities, visit

East Catholic High School - Parents Association (echs.com)

Any questions? Email echsPA@echs.com.