East Catholic High School's Newsletter

A Message from the President

Dear East Catholic Family,

It is hard to believe that we are approaching the end of October, but everyone is certainly keeping busy! Last Thursday, all Sophomores and Juniors took the PSAT, Seniors had the day off to work on college applications and the like, and Freshmen had their own program – training in the ITC, a service project, and use of MobileServe to track their service hours each year. The day was incredibly successful. Freshmen were very engaged, and the PSAT went off without a hitch, even finishing a bit early. Thanks to the Counseling office for their leadership!

With that extra time at the end of the day, Sophomores and Juniors were given a blank sheet of paper and asked to write a quick note to a prospective student as our Fall Open House was that evening. The thoughtful, sincere, and touching notes that our students wrote blew us all away. We are very fortunate to have such a caring and invested community!

The Open House was a tremendous success. We had 150+ families register and over 450 people on campus for the evening. Many thanks to all who were involved – student ambassadors, faculty, staff, parents, etc. Special thanks to Chad Malone and Abby Diemar from our admissions office. The 2023-24 admissions cycle is off to a great start!

Candidates for Freshman Class President gave speeches last week, and the class voted on Monday during advisory. Congratulations to Charlie Hathaway ’27 for winning a tight race. We are now taking applications for the Freshman Class Executive Board.

Many thanks to family and friends who have contributed to our annual WalkEast Walk-a-thon fundraiser. We are well on our way to our goal of $50,000. We will wrap up the walk-a-thon on Friday, November 3^rd with a pep rally at the end of the day. Proceeds from the walk-a-thon will go to our Broadcast Studio in the ITC. Please contribute if you have not already. If we reach our goal, we will get the Monday after Thanksgiving off.

Yesterday at our monthly, all-school assembly we were treated to a preview of The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. Stage East is in the final stretch of rehearsals, and, as you can see below, they will have three performances next weekend. Please try to catch one of the shows!

Congratulations to our Aetos Dios robotics team for an excellent showing at a recent competition. See the story below.

Lastly, as the first quarter comes to a close in one week, we encourage everyone to finish strong. Remember to ask your teacher questions if you need to clarify directions or the particulars of an assignment. We are here to help!

Peace,

Sean P. Brennan '85

Chief Administrator

Aetos Dios

On Saturday, October 14, East Catholic's Robotics Team, Aetos Dios, was part of the winning alliance at their off-season event, Bash at the Beach, in Old Lyme. Out of 7 finalist alliances, our three-team alliance went undefeated in all 5 elimination matches to win! The finals drive team from ECHS consisted of Kyle Costa, Marion Patsalides, Zoya Goyal, and Brendan Raykoff.

Student Spotlight

We would like to congratulate Adam Eskin for being named a National Merit Commended student. "Those being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success," commented a spokesperson for NMSC.

Photographed here are Mr. Brennan '85, Chief Administrator, Adam Eskin, and Mrs. Fiori, School Counselor.

Class of 2027 Gives Back

During the PSAT for Sophomores and Juniors, Freshman worked on a service project to create blankets and scarves to donate to local homeless shelters. Over 60 blankets and over 30 scarves were created during the different sessions. The hand-made items will be distributed to those in need as the weather becomes colder.

Fine Arts

Stage East

Stage East proudly presents Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest on stage in the East Catholic High School auditorium.

There are 3 opportunities to see this fantastic display of theater:

Friday, October 27th at 7:00 pm
Saturday, October 28th at 2:00 pm
Saturday, October 28th at 7:00 pm

Tickets are $10 and will be available for purchase at the door.

School Counseling Office

Congratulations to Juniors and Sophomores who took the PSATs last week! You all did an amazing job navigating the new digital format. Scores are set to be out November 6th. If you listed a cell phone number, you will get a text message when your scores are available, otherwise they will be available on your College Board account on release day.

Our college application season is in full swing! Seniors are doing a great job working on their personal essays and Common App. November 1st is Free Application Day for our state schools and UConn. Students should have their application fully complete before November 1st. On that day, an option will pop up under the specific college question section offering a Free Application Day fee waiver. Students should choose this option and then hit submit right away. This option will disappear at the end of the day on November 1st.

Our freshman continue to be a wonderful addition to our East family. They have settled in and are wrapping up their first quarter of high school!

Campus Ministry

Service Hours

On Thursday, October 12th, Campus Ministry led sessions with our Freshman to introduce the MobileServe App. Over the next 4 years, students will use the platform to track and complete their 10 hours of community service for each school year.

Athletics

Signing Day

Our Fall Signing Day is Thursday, November 9th for Seniors who have already to committed to continuing their athletic career at the collegiate level.

Contact Jon Dahlquist, Dean of Wellness and Athletics, for additional information at [email protected].

Fall Sports

Keep an eye on the weekly sports schedule! We invite everyone to come out and support our East Catholic Eagles, especially our Seniors, as the fall sports season begins to wind down. Continue to be models of this year's theme of "integrity," both as athletes and fans.

Winter Sports

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.

Admission Office

Eagle for a Day

If you know an 8th grader who would like to experience East throughout the day while following the schedule of a freshman or sophomore, encourage them to check out our “Eagle for a Day" program! Our students are very eager to welcome visitors, show off their special talents, and have a friendly chat while enjoying lunch in the cafeteria. Interested students can complete the registration by using this link. Once completed, the Admission Office will reach out to you and set up a date to shadow.

Please contact Abby Wehr Diemar '00 at (860) 649-5336, ext. 6456 with any questions regarding the Eagle for a Day program.

Entrance Exams

Entrance Exams will take place on October 21, November 4, and November 18. The exam begins at 8:30am. Registration can be found at this link.

Thank you!

Thank you to all who made our Open House on October 12th such a success! We had a great turn out and received wonderful feedback from prospective families.

Advancement Office

WalkEast Walk-a-thon

The WalkEast Walk-a-thon to benefit East Catholic High School is 2 weeks away! On Friday, November 3rd, students and staff will participate in our largest spirit event and fundraiser of the year. Proceeds from this year's event will go towards the new Broadcast Center at the school. For more information and to support our fundraising efforts, click here.

Students who have turned in $125 or more may dress down all next week, Monday, October 23 - Friday, October 27. However, students who have not collected $125 but would like to participate in the Dress Down Day on Friday, October 28th ONLY may bring in $10 on Wednesday, October 25th.

Memorial Mass

Our Memorial Mass to celebrate the lives of our dearly departed alumni, faculty, and staff will take place on Sunday, November 5th at 2:00 PM in the ECHS auditorium. This Mass will also be livestreamed on our East Catholic YouTube Channel.

Kindly let us know by Friday, October 27th if you will be able to join us in-person, or if you have any questions regarding the Mass, by contacting the Director of Advancement, Julie Scalora at (860) 649-5336 ext. 6234 or email [email protected].

Light refreshments will be served directly following the Mass. It is our hope that you and your family will join us, either in-person or remotely, for this liturgy in remembrance of your loved one. We look forward to joining with you and your family in fellowship as we remember those who have meant so much to us.