Good evening,
I rarely watch professional basketball or college basketball. But when it comes to March Madness, I'm all in with checking my bracket regularly. While my predicted winner is already out of contention, I’m currently in the lead! I’ve screenshotted my “1st place” a few times for posterity, as I know one of my in-laws will pass by me soon. At RJ Grey, we are celebrating the almost end of March Madness with College Jersey day tomorrow. If your child has a favorite college to support, send them in with their gear. My Stonehill College sweatshirt is in the wash as I write this.
During morning announcements this week, I was happy to learn that our school raised over $1400 for the Sunflower of Peace organization, with the goal of helping the people of Ukraine. I’m always proud of our community and our students - but I certainly want to thank our families for the funds that I’m sure many of you gave for this effort. With an intentional focus on community this year at RJ Grey, this is an example of how our little community has the potential to impact communities in other parts of the world. We hope our small token of funding makes a difference for Ukraine.
Each year, RJ Grey is asked to nominate two students to represent our two towns as Ambassadors for Project 351: a non-profit organization dedicated to youth service and leadership. The 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts all have an 8th grade representative and together, the students work on service projects in their own towns. Our reps, Lilah Nakimuli and Julia Zhou are behind an upcoming RJ Grey Clothing Drive. If you have gently used or new clothing, sized Infant to Youth Large, please consider donating. We’ll have donation bins in the main lobby of RJ Grey all next week. Feel free to come by during the week, or send in a bag with your child. We’ll happily accept your donations for this good cause.
We are wrapping up our ELA MCAS tomorrow with the final day for most 7th graders. If your child missed one or more days of MCAS this week, we’ll be in touch with them next week to do make-ups. By all accounts, the testing has gone smoothly! Thanks for reminding your kids to charge their Chromebooks - we had very few tech issues this week, which just makes the whole process more relaxed for everyone involved.
Finally, we are excited to bring back the Junior High Musical! Like most things, it’s been a few years since we’ve put on a musical. This year, our Stage Works crew is presenting Guys and Dolls, Jr! I encourage you to buy tickets to come see our students sing and dance! Our students and staff have been working hard on this performance. Performances are on April 7th-9th at 7pm and April 10th at 2pm at the Dragonfly Theater (the RJG Auditorium). Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and are on sale now at the Main Office, or at the door. ABSAF pass holders are entitled to two free tickets for the JH musical and are encouraged to pick them up, in advance, from the Main Office between 8:30am and 3:00pm. I’m very excited to be in the audience and I hope to see many of you there!
Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:
-Friday, April 1: 7th grade ELA MCAS
-Monday, April 4: Early Release (1 pm)
-Thursday, April 7 - Sunday April 10: Guys and Dolls, Jr Musical at RJ Grey
-Monday, April 11 - School Council Meeting, 7 pm on Zoon
-Friday, April 15 - No School for Good Friday
-Monday, April 18 - Friday, April 22 - Vacation Week
Take care,
Jim Marcotte