August 18 , 2022 | Issue 37

A Message from the Head of School Today is one week since the start of school! It was a glorious first day of school with PS and PK students beginning the day with a warm and comfortable welcome in their classrooms, and grades K-12 in the chapel in opening day ceremonies. It was a joyful beginning to the school year and my message to our students was to begin the year full of faith, hope and love, with love being our guiding principle, grounded in our Christian identity and our community life as a school. This was the first time we had started school in the church since 2019 and the church was full of students for our opening ceremonies as we have also grown from 317 in 2019 to 387 students today. We feel privileged to offer so many students an education emphasizing academic excellence, spiritual growth and moral integrity, in small class sizes with teachers who really know and care about each student.   Next week we will send you SmugMug links with photos of the first day and all of the three opening ceremonies in the chapel. We are grateful to Mr. Larry Johnson for generously giving his time and energy to Mead Hall as our Honorary Photographer. The SmugMug galleries are provided to our families to enjoy and photos may be purchased in support of the school.   Today our upper school students are on the second day of their three day trip to North Carolina. Each year we begin the year with an optional high school trip to strengthen the student community while they enjoy a college visit and activities such as white water rafting. We will look forward to hearing about their trip next week and in another week we will have lots of photos to share as well. Back at school this week we had chapels for our PS-8th students with inspiring messages about how God’s fire is good as it motivates and challenges us, from our Assistant Chaplain the Reverend Mr. Patrick Taylor.   God’s blessings,   Frank Sawyer

Dedication of the St. Thaddeus Campus Courtyard On Tuesday morning our St. Thaddeus Campus students gathered for opening exercises at the flagpole around our beautiful new courtyard in front of the red brick Mead Hall School Building. It was an opportunity for our school community to celebrate the dedication of the new courtyard and thank St. Thaddeus Church for renovating this space for the parish and the school.     Mrs. Morton shared a wonderful introduction to the new courtyard and thanked parish cemetery and grounds committee members Mr. Roger Pizio and Mr. Danny Wozniak for their dedication and effort in making the installation of the new courtyard possible. Father Joseph Whitehurst said the prayer of dedication so that the courtyard would be blessed by God for our good use. After the dedication, the students gave the Pledge of Allegiance around the flag, heard the announcements of the day, and prayed the Mead Hall Prayer together. It was a beautiful start to the morning and we look forward to gathering in the courtyard again for See You at the Pole in September.

The courtyard is the centerpiece of the renovation of the whole garden in front of the Mead Hall School Building, which also included the planting of new trees and shrubs. The school also provided four picnic tables that will provide a place to sit during school and parish events in the future. Mead Hall is grateful to St. Thaddeus Church for providing the opportunity to sell bricks to our community to raise funds for the renovation of the large playground. The first 100 bricks were installed this summer raising almost $10,000 towards the new play area. We have about 10 of the next 100 sold and we look forward to reaching this goal this fall so that we can install the next set of bricks and raise more for the playground which we hope to have completed for the 2023-2024 school year. We appreciate everyone who has bought a brick for the courtyard.   See below for information on how to buy a brick and support the renovation of the St. Thaddeus Campus Large Playground!

Mead Hall Courtyard Campaign Brick Fundraiser Support the renovation of the playing field on the St. Thaddeus Campus by purchasing bricks to honor or remember current or former students, faculty, staff, or parishioners, to mark a graduation, or to commemorate special occasions or people. Click Here to Purchase a Brick

Weekly School Communications   In the Loop will be sent to you each Thursday afternoon by Terrie Lehi. In the Loop marks and celebrates school life and provides information and updates for the whole school.   Division News will be sent to you each Friday afternoon by Terrie Lehi . These communications will provide important information and dates of upcoming events for Lower School (PS-4th), Middle School (5th-8th) and Upper School (9th-12th)   In the Hoop, our athletic newsletter, will be sent by Coach Antonio Grant each Friday morning to highlight recent games and competitions as well as detail the athletic schedule for the coming week. All of these newsletters will be available for your reference on the website here: Newsletters

Sixth Grade Measures in Science  The sixth grade science students practiced their measuring skills as they conquered a metric measurement scavenger hunt. In addition to measuring the circumference of tree trunks and the length and width of Magnolia leaves, they were challenged to find something living that is more than 3 meters tall and to read temperature in Celsius.

School Store Hours  Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 am., afternoons appointment only by emailing: MHStore@meadhallschool.org PTO Board Members for the 2022 - 2023 School Year: President - Courtney Bruckner Vice President - Katie Kucharski  Secretary - Shannon Statkus Treasurer - Dianne Goodson Volunteer Coordinator - Savannah McEntarffer STC Parent Liaison - Diana LaLuz APC Parent Liaison - Alli Simon Members At Large - Kelly Reynolds, Brittany Kisner For more information email: PTO@meadhallschool.org

EUCHARIST SERVICES Rite I Eucharist no music 7:45 AM Rite II Eucharist Combined Service   10:00 AM   Please join us for Sunday services. You may also attend virtually at the VIMEO link above. For those watching at home, the bulletin can be found at the SERVICE BULLETIN link above, and on the  St. Thaddeus website. First Saturday Event Join us for Football First Saturday on September 3. We will gather in the Stevenson McClelland building at 5:30. Come watch football, participate in puzzle contests, and enjoy pizza. Food and drinks will be provided. Cost is $5.00/person or $20.00/family.  Sign up using the link below by Wednesday, August 31. Make your reservations early. To ensure there is enough food, NO LATE RESERVATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED.   SIGN UP

FOR CURRENT INFORMATION CONCERNING COVID VISIT OUR WEBSITE

Mead Hall Episcopal School  St. Thaddeus Campus 129 Pendleton St SW Aiken Prep Campus 619 Barnwell Ave NW, Aiken, SC 29801

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