A very happy Father's Day to all the wonderful fathers in the ND community, especially our own, Fr. Bill Sangiovanni and Fr. Peter Cipriani.

June 13, 2014

Dates to Remember

Monday, June 16 &
Tuesday, June 17
Exam Make Up Days

Tuesday, June 17
Six Flags Trip
(Rescheduled from Friday)
Join the Athletic Association  
Join the Athletic Association! All new members will receive a Lancer car magnet. Please contact Mr. Jim Olayos, Director of Athletic Advancement, for information or to enroll in the Notre Dame Athletic Association.
Go Lancers!




Stop and Shop and Big Y School-Wide Fundraiser
 
Purchase a gift card to Stop and Shop and Big Y through ND and the stores in turn donate 5% of the money collected back to the school. Place your order by Friday of each week and receive your cards the following Wednesday or Thursday. To order, simply click here to complete the order form and send it and your payment (checks payable to Notre Dame) in to Theresa Marzik. Happy shopping!  
Parent Volunteers  
Before volunteering at school, parents are required to go through Virtus training.  To register for a Virtus training session, please click here. Contact Kevin Philipp at kevin@notredame.org for questions.
 
Have a Target Red Card?

If you have a Target Red Card, you can designate Notre Dame to be the recipient of Target's donation of 1% of your annual purchases. All you need to do is link your card to Notre Dame, shop and use your Red Card at Target. It's that easy. In the summer, we received a check for $231.75 thanks to those who designated Notre Dame last school year. Click here to sign up for this program.

facebook

Have you "liked" ND on Facebook yet? To visit the ND page on Facebook and become a fan, click here.


To visit our Twitter feed, click here. To follow Mr. Cipriano's Twitter account, click here.


Click here to follow us on Pinterest! Check it out - it is full of great photos, both old and new!


ND is on Instagram @NDFFLD
Help Us Share Your Child's Good News ...
If you have information to share about any out-of-school achievements of your son or daughter, please e-mail that information to
cipriano@notredame.org. We look forward to the opportunity to share your good news with the entire Notre Dame community.
Commemorative Bricks  
ND is selling commemorative bricks which pave the entrance way of our school.
Commemorative bricks are a way to honor ND families, graduates, parents, faculty members and friends. Each brick is $65, of which 100% of the proceeds are allocated to helping Notre Dame maintain its high level of academic excellence. Click  here for an order form.
 
ND Mugs For Sale   

The Home School Association is selling ND mugs for $10 each. Contact Theresa Marzik at marzik@notredame.org to get yours today.
Quick Links...
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Congratulations to...
...On Tuesday, Notre Dame received the Challenge to Educational Citizenship Award from the Connecticut State Department of Education and the State Student Advisory Council on Education for our 26 Acts of Kindness Campaign. Student activities which represented good citizenship, a commitment to others, civic awareness, leadership, responsibility, teamwork and that provide opportunities for students to help others were eligible for this award. ND was one of twelve schools from across the state selected to be recognized (and one of only four high schools represented). Nearly 60 schools submitted programs for consideration. Mr. Cipriano, Fr. Cipriani, Sean Cronan '14, Mike DeGennaro '14, and Emmett Whelan '14 attended the ceremony at the Capitol and received the award from State Education Commissioner Stefon Pryor.

... Kyla LoPresti '17 has just released her third book, titled Awakened.  This is a spin-off to her other two books Flashback & Reality. Awakened takes place in the 1800's and is about a young man who is shown a new world of darkness by someone he thought he could trust. It is written soley in the main character, Erik's, perspective. Erik is also a main character in the other two books. Featured on the cover, as Erik, is Max Cano '17.  To learn more about Kyla and her books visit www.flashbackseries.com.

... Nick Beecher '15 who recently received the rank of Eagle Scout.
This Week at ND...
Friends Bid Farewell to Fr. Cip
On Wednesday evening, the Notre Dame community bid a farewell to Fr. Cipriani who is leaving at the end of the month to become the pastor of Assumption Church in Fairfield. 150 friends, former and current students and parents and faculty and staff gathered to thank Fr. Cip for his tremendous commitment to Notre Dame  over the past decade. He has served our community phenomenally and will be sorely missed. We certainly wish him well as he begins his next journey (after his return from Appalachia).

Dance Class
The final project for the students in Mrs. Hong's Introduction to Dance class was to choreograph, star in and create a dance video. Click here to check out their awesome work. 

Art Classes
The final art projects from the Art and Nature classes were rock paintings. The students had to choose a rock and then create an animal that represented their rock and paint the image on the rock.

The final project from the 3-D Art Class was to work with wire. Students had to create a sculpture using colored wires.


New Chaplain Announced
Bishop Frank Caggiano has appointed Fr. Ciprian Bejan as the new Chaplain at Notre Dame, effective June 30. Fr. Ciprian is currently at St. Michael Parish in Greenwich and will reside at St. Ann's in Bridgeport while he serves at Notre Dame. The ND community looks forward to welcoming Fr. Ciprian in the coming weeks and months.

Thank You Mrs. Visnyei
Mrs. Ellen Visnyei, a part time English teacher, will be leaving Notre Dame at the end of this school year. Working at ND for the past few years, Mrs. Visnyei will be leaving the classroom to spend additional time with her family. The ND family thanks Mrs. Visnyei for all of her efforts at ND on behalf of both the school and all of her students!

Off to Appalachia
A group of 25 students and 14 chaperones will make Notre Dame's 23rd annual service trip to Appalachia in the near future. Departing on Saturday, June 21, the group will return to Neon, Kentucky to help the people of Letcher County. Pictures and details of the trip will be included in the July newsletter. To get updates on the trip, follow Mr. Cipriano on Twitter (@ndfprincipal) or visit his blog (ndfairfield.wordpress.com) starting on the 21st. Please keep the group in your thought and prayers.
Senior Experience Program...
Prior to graduation, a group of ten seniors finished up their Senior Experience internships. These students who designed their own projects and submitted proposals for faculty review, completed 120 hours at their job sites. Now in its third year, the goal of the Senior Experience program is to serve as a "capstone" course, give students the opportunity to put into action the skills and knowledge gained during their time at Notre Dame and to test out a potential career or college major. Participants (and their internship sites) included: Kevin Bradley (WSHU Public Radio), Karissa Cook (Skane School), Lizette Dos Santos (American Red Cross), Charlie Fallon (Hannes Precision Industry), Jake Hawthorne (Central Connecticut State University Science Department), Youngji Kang (Weatherproof Fashion) Christian LaCroix (SLR Hockey Development), Amelia Li (Jennifer Butler Clothing), and Myles Marinez (Innovated Design Engineering Associates) and Gwen Vital (Mark Halstead Architecture).
Student Opportunities...
CEA (Computer Education Academy)
CEA is a fun-filled active computing learning community for twenty high school students. The Academy will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for 24 Saturdays during the 2014-15 academic school year. Bus transportation and lunch will be available to all students at no cost.

CEA is open to any Bridgeport resident that attends ND who will be in 10th, 11th or 12th grade during the 2014-15 academic year. No previous computing background is required but an interest in learning computing is essential.

The applications are to be handed in to Mr. Cipriano by June 19th. Click here for more information.
Advancement Office News...
Thank You
Thank you to all our parent volunteers who helped to make another school year so successful. If you were a volunteer at the golf tournament, freshman social, grandparents' Mass and breakfast, the walk-a-thon, wine tasting, Lancer Legacy Gala, the spring musical, the post prom or if you stuffed envelopes, made phone calls, etc...THANK YOU! We truly appreciate your time and talents. A very special thank you to our Home School and Athletic Association leader, Kathy Stefanatos who goes above and beyond each year to support our school and especially our students. 
Wishing all our school families a very safe and happy summer!  

Lancer Open in Memory of Bob Shea Golf Tournament
There will be a golf tournament committee meeting on Wednesday, June 18 at 6:30 pm in the ND library. Anyone who would like to work on this year's tournament is encouraged to attend this important meeting. 

  

The tournament will take place on Monday, September 22, 2014 at the Redding Country Club. For more information about playing in the tournament or sponsoring this event, please contact Theresa Marzik at 203-372-6521 or marzik@notredame.org. Click here for more information. For sponsorship information, click here.  
 

Father Bill's BBQ Sauce 

Father Bill's Best Barbecue Sauce which had its debut at the Garlicfest, is once again available. The unique combination of sweet maple syrup and tangy garlic in a specially blended barbecue sauce is the brain child of Father Bill and Judy Waldeyer and is specially prepared by her. Each 12 ounce bottle retails for $5.00. Contact the Advancement Office to make your purchase.

 

Summer Mass Schedule

Father Bill will celebrate mass in the ND Chapel daily at 12:10 pm during the summer.  If you have a mass intention, please contact Theresa Marzik at 203-372-6521 or marzik@notredame.org.

Summer Reading...

Summer reading provides an opportunity to develop critical academic and life-long learning skills and has been proven to eliminate the learning loss that happens over the summer. Our reading lists reflect a variety of writing styles and subject matter. We encourage parents and guardians to be actively engaged throughout the process and help students select appropriate and interesting books. 

  • Students in College Prep English classes must read at least one book from the list. Students are required to keep a journal while reading their book.
  • Students in Honors English classes should read two titles. Students must keep a journal for one book and will be tested on the second book in the first weeks of school. 
  • Students in High Honors English classes should choose three books.  Students must keep a journal for one book and be ready to be tested on the other two in the first weeks of school.

Click here for the summer reading list and journal prompts.  

 

Summer math packets will be mailed home in the coming weeks.

End of Year Information...
Textbook Rental Returns 
Students are reminded to make sure rental books are returned by the rental deadline or credit cards will be charged for the full price of the text. Returns must now be made directly to the SHU Bookstore. All rented books must be returned no later than Friday, June 20.

End of Year Schedule For Underclassmen 
Exam Make-Up Dates - Monday, June 16 and Tuesday, June 17 
ND Supports Events in the Community

New DOB - Youth Website  

Check out the Diocese of Bridgeport new Teen Space website. The page is  

filled with music, events, Youth Group stuff, and high school news from around the Diocese. Click here to view it now.

  

Youth Coordinator  

The Church of the Assumption in Ansonia is looking to hire a part-time youth coordinator. In conjunction with the pastor, the youth coordinator would plan and execute the Youth Service Camp for the summer of 2014. This includes planning the activities and creating the promotional materials for the week-long camp, arranging for places to experience hands-on community service and any needed transportation, recruiting youth and other needed adults to participate in the program, planning the meals, and executing the week-long service camp. To read the full description for this position, click here. If you are interested in this position or would like further information, contact Pastor Fr. Jeff Gubbiotti at assumptionansonia@gmail.com or (203) 735-7857. 

 

Irish Festival

Come to Fairfield University on June 13, 14 & 15 for the annual Fairfield Country Irish Festival. The Festival hours are Friday - 6pm - 11pm, Saturday - 12 pm - 11pm and Sunday - 12 pm - 8pm. Click here for more information.   

 

The Journey Youth Music Event
The Journey is day of music, fun, witness talks, spirituality, and prayer. Participants will have the opportunity to meet people from across the Diocese of Bridgeport and experience new ways to pray with music. The Journey takes place on June 28 at Fairfield Prep. Click here for more information.   

 

Fan The Fire Youth Rally
Come to the Fan the Fire Youth Rally on August 16 from 9 am to 9 pm at St. Rose of Lima in Newtown. All Teens in grades 8-12 are welcome! Click here for for more information.

Alumni News...
Join The Alumni Association
The Notre Dame Alumni Association is open to all ND graduates, faculty/staff (past and present) and alumni parents.  Please join us for an end of the year wrap up meeting and planning meeting for the 2014-15 school year on Wednesday, June 18 at 7:30 pm in the ND library. 


Key Chains
The Alumni Association is selling custom Notre Dame key chains for $10.00. Please contact Theresa Marzik at marzik@notredame.org or call 203-372-6521 to purchase a key chain.  
 

Fall Athletes

All fall athletes must have a valid physical on file with the nurse and a 2014-15 parental consent form on file with Mr. Bleggi. A mailing has gone out to every student who has signed up for a fall sport with information concerning their physical and consent form.

 
Friday, August 15th - All students planning on trying-out for a Fall Sport (other than football) are asked to report to school from 9 am -12 pm to check status of Physical / Consent Form in Mr. Bleggi's office.

 

Wednesday, August 13th - Status of football players' physical/consent forms will be conducted before practice begins.

 

Fall Sports Start Dates/Times:

  • Football - Wednesday, August 13 - 9:00 a.m.
  • Boys' Soccer - Saturday, August 23 - 10:00 am
  • Girls' Soccer - Saturday, August 23 - 9:00 a.m.
  • Volleyball - Saturday, August 23 - 10:30 a.m.
  • Boys' and Girls' Cross Country - Saturday, August 23 - 10:00 a.m.

ITown Store  

Notre Dame and ITown have partnered for an exciting online store where you can purchase official Notre Dame Fairfield clothing and apparel. The store will be continually updated throughout the year. ITown Store is a virtual store focused on sales of apparel and promotional products with logo customization options. Visit www.itownstore.com and click on "Find your store" to see ND's merchandise.