East Catholic High School's Newsletter

A Message from the President

Dear East Catholic Family,

On Sunday, March 3rd, we had a very successful Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. 300 people showed up to celebrate the 11 individuals, one family, and one team recognized. All of those honored were incredibly humbled, and they credited East Catholic for providing the foundation for their success. Please see the newest Hall of Fame Inductees and Honorees below!

Hats off to the members of Stage East for their great performances of High Spirits! The cast, crew, and musicians were all phenomenal. They put so much work into the musical, and it certainly paid off. With a number of performers graduating this year, it would be a great opportunity for some new blood to get involved!

As we transition from winter to spring seasons, I would like to congratulate all of our winter teams on solid seasons, and I wish our Spring teams good luck as they get ready to compete.

The Parents' Association meeting originally scheduled for March 11th was postponed to Monday, March 18th at 6:00pm in the Conference Room. Hope to see some new faces there.

Looking ahead to the next few weeks, there will be four regular school days next week with Friday, March 22nd as a day off for students, but the faculty will attend a professional development/faith formation day at the Cathedral of St. Joseph. There is a 1:00 dismissal on Monday, March 25th, two full days on the 26th and 27th, a half-day on 3/28, and off on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We return to full days of classes on Tuesday, April 1st. We will have full days from 4/2 to 4/5, and then we have spring break from the 8th to the 12th.

Lastly, a number of Staff members attended the FACS (Foundation for the Advancement of Catholic Schools) St. Patrick’s Day breakfast on Friday, March 15th. It is always a great event, but even better when our own Marissa Pinkham '24 read her essay about how the FACS tuition assistance allowed her to go to East Catholic, and she will take her thanks with her as she moves on to the University of New Haven to study Forensics and play lacrosse. Way to go Marissa!

As always, be sure to reach out if you have any questions, concerns, or celebrations!

Peace and blessings,

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

2024 Hall of Fame

On Sunday, March 3rd, East Catholic inducted its newest class into the Hall of Fame.

Bruce L. Belfiore '72, Alumnus

Christine M. Gagnon '83, Alumnus

Col. David R. Lamy '86, Alumnus

James "Skip" Thomas '65, Alumnus

Ken Brasa '79, Athlete

Mike Byam '83, Athlete

Shamika Jackson '04, Athlete

Kara Kochanek '08, Athlete

Adrienne Andrews, Faculty

Rev. Charles E. Shaw, Faculty (posthumously)

Charles J. Crocini, Friend

The Andreo Family, Legacy Family

We are thankful to the inductees for their contributions to the legacy of East Catholic and their continued support of this school community.

Also honored during this year's ceremony was the 1987 Championship Football Team. Players from that team, as well as others from the 80s, came out to celebrate! It was a privilege to host Coach Kelly and Coach Tigno, as well!

Congratulations to our 2024 Summa Scholars!

Congratulations to Adam Eskin, Matthew Shattuck, Petr Melnikov, Marion Patsalides, Anjolie Truong, and Grace Kiser! You should be so proud of all your hard work!

FACS St. Patrick's Day Breakfast

On Friday, March 15th, members of East Catholic attended a breakfast in support of the Foundation for the Advancement of Catholic Schools. This organization is committed to helping as many students as they can through a strong endowment that supports the schools of the Archdiocese of Hartford. Through their good work, many of our students receive the financial support needed to attend East Catholic. At this year's event, Marissa Pinkham '24 was selected to read an essay she wrote detailing how assistance from FACS helped her attend ECHS. She did an incredible job sharing her story with an audience of about 300 people!

Have you checked out The Nest yet?

The Nest is our student-led, student-created, and student-inspired monthly news broadcast! Each month they feature special events, teams, and clubs to highlight different aspects of life on The Hill.

We have begun outfitting the studio with state-of-the-art equipment for the broadcast through money raised by the Fall Walk-a-thon. In addition to the lights and cameras, our news crew now has a stunning broadcast desk made by Chris Malone '78 and his staff at Opportunity Works Connecticut. We can't thank them enough!

Be sure to check out our latest episode: The Nest - February 2024 (youtube.com)

Fine Arts

High Spirits!

Last weekend, the cast, crew, and musicians did an incredible job bringing the show, High Spirits, to life!

Congratulations to our Stage East Seniors who closed out their final production at ECHS! We will miss you all next year.

It's Jazz Season!

It's Jazz Season! The Jazz Band, Stage Band, and Combo will be participating in the University of New Hampshire Jazz Festival on Saturday, March 15th and the UMass Jazz Festival on Saturday, April 6th.

The Jazz Band will be participating in the Greenwich High School/Essentially Ellington Jazz Festival (in association with Jazz at Lincoln Center) on Saturday, March 23rd.

All of the Jazz Groups at East will be performing at our "Night of Jazz" concert on Wednesday, April 3rd at 7:00 in the auditorium. The concert is open to the public. We hope you'll join us!

Catholic Schools Night at the Wolf Pack!

A big thank you to Mr. Link for leading a combined choir from the Catholic High Schools at the Hartford Wolf Pack game on Friday, March 8th! Members of East Catholic's choir, along with singers from St. Paul and Northwest, opened the game with the National Anthem. (Fun Fact: Mr. Link was also named Educator of the Game!) Thanks to the musicians who participated in the choir and represented East so well!

Athletics

CCC All-Conference

Congratulations to the following student-athletes who were named All-Conference award winners in their sports this season:

Girls Basketball: Liz McGuirl and Urielle Afoakwa-Abrokwa!

Boys Basketball: Yayo Rodriguez, Samson Reilly, and Brayden Jones

Girls Hockey: Mallory Pierz*, Karolina Prytko*, Leah Martineau*, and Sarah Gionfriddo

*Mallory, Karolina, and Leah were also named All-State award winners.

Adidas Track National

Congratulations to Austin Shapard and Alex Barfield who are competing down in Virgina Beach at the Adidas Indoor Track Nationals this weekend! Alex qualified to run the 60m and Austin qualified to run the 200m! Good luck, boys!

(Pictured here: Alex Barfield '24)

HOME (adidastfnationals.com)

Spring Sports Registration

We are now offering the convenience of online registration through FamilyID. FamilyID is a secure registration platform that provides you with an easy, user-friendly way to register for our programs, and helps us to be more administratively efficient and environmentally responsible.

To register, a parent or guardian will use this embedded link.

For those that have used FamilyID before, use this embedded link to register an EXISTING user.

If you need additional assistance with registration, contact FamilyID at [email protected] or 800-311-4060 x3. Support is available Monday-Friday.

School Counseling Office

SAT Day March 26th!

We are excited to announce that we will be offering an SAT School Day Test on March 26, 2024 for all juniors. We had a very successful Digital PSAT administration in October 2023 and believe the new Digital SAT School Day will go just as well. More information will be coming about this next step for our Juniors.

Senior Updates

Seniors should be applying for scholarships! Please continue to check Naviance as scholarships continue to be added, and, while you are there, update your colleges with the decisions you received from them.

Campus Ministry

Service Hours

Remember that all students are required to complete 10 hours of community service by the Spring. The holidays are a great time to get in your hours, as many organizations could use extra hands to assist in their undertakings for the community.

Although it is the student's own responsibility to search out places to volunteer, Campus Ministry does have some opportunities that are offered right here through our school, as well as a few volunteer activities with local organizations that are happening on a weekly basis. If you are in need of assistance finding an organization to partner with for your hours, please stop by Campus Ministry and they can help get you signed up!

Admission Office

Incoming Students

The second round of acceptance letters have been mailed out! If you had your application packet completed and submitted by February 1st, you should be receiving a letter in the mail any day now! We can't wait to have you on campus next year!

The third round of acceptances will be sent within the next week.

To submit your application materials, use this link.

Entrance Exams for the remainder of the year are by appointment. Contact the Admissions Department to set up a date and time for your exam.

If you have any questions or need assistance throughout the process, do not hesitate to reach out to Chad Malone, Director of Admissions, at 860-649-5336 x6238. We're here to help!

We are excited for those who have enrolled so far! We can't wait to see you in the halls next year!

Advancement Office

Spring Fling Fundraiser

The committee for East Catholic's Spring Fling Fundraiser has been hard at work. The event will be held at The Hartford Club on Saturday, April 20th from 6:00pm-10:00pm. This year's theme is "Breakfast at Tiffany's." We're looking forward to having you join us! For tickets and sponsorship opportunities, visit the Spring Fling site: 2024 Spring Fling "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (auctria.com)