A new year is always time for a new start. Our 5th and 6th grade students made some math-related New Year's resolutions in their math classes this week with Mrs. Frye. It's been a chilly return to school. While some days this week required us to stay indoors, we do try to go outdoors for recess as often as possible. Many students are underdressed for the weather. Please be sure students bring hats and gloves to school and wear appropriate jackets. While HNPS basketball started prior to Christmas, the season is really just getting going with a busy weekend of games. Good luck tonight and tomorrow. Many clubs begin their next session next week. Meeting dates for each club are listed on the Holy Name calendar.

We are grateful to the alumni, parents, grandparents, friends, faculty, and students who supported Holy Name on Giving Tuesday. Thank you for helping us "knock it out of the park." Last evening, we held our Advent Prayer Service and Tree Lighting. Thank you to our Student Council for leading our Prayer Service and to our youth choir for leading us in song. It was a great evening to begin Advent. Hopefully, many of you made some progress on your shopping lists at the Holiday Marketplace sponsored by Home and School; it has become such a fun, festive night. It is always good to get a visit from Santa and you're never too old to share your Christmas list with him.

The 6th grade spent today working at Rose's Bounty packing food and helping load bundles for the drive thru food pantry. When I visited, I was impressed to see how much they had accomplished and to see students working diligently and with smiles on their faces. Their work helped feed 258 families. Thank you to Mrs. Beatrice, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Reilly, and our parent volunteers for both chaperoning and working alongside the students. Thank to everyone who has supported our Food Drive. Donations can be made through next week. These donations will be brought to Rose's Bounty in support of their Backpack Program.

As we end this week, we have some sad news to share. Ed Petersen, affectionately known as "Mr. Ed," passed away after a long illness. Ed joined the Holy Name staff in 2006 and assisted with drop-off at the Early Childhood Center initially. For the following 16 years, Ed also assisted with recess supervision and helped with projects around the school increasing his daily time at the school until his retirement in 2022. Holy Name and the students brought him great joy. He was often in the stands at Little League games to see HNPS students play. Ed's family will hold a private funeral service and a memorial mass will be held at a later date. We will share information about the mass once it is available. We are grateful for the time Ed shared with our school community and offer his family our deepest condolences.

Coach Mazzulla always finds time for the Rosary. That time might be when he first arrives at TD Garden or before he goes to bed. He keeps his Rosary beads in his pocket at all times, however, in case he needs to divide his prayer up - saying one decade before practice begins and another on his way to pick up his kids and so on until he completes it. It was an honor to have Coach Mazzulla join us on Tuesday as we prayed the Rosary as a school community. He discussed his affinity for saying the Rosary and his experience praying it as a child. At the end, he stayed with us for a Q&A with students and answered questions about his own career, coaching experience, and his faith. It was inspirational for the students to hear a public figure discuss his faith. Despite their pleading, he would not name his favorite Celtics player, however. Thank you to Mrs. Buckley for inviting Coach Mazzulla and coordinating his virtual visit.

Yesterday, Reagan and Terrence, two fourth graders, excitedly stopped me in the hallway to share their poetry. Inspired by William Carlos Williams' "Red Wheelbarrow," they and the other fourth graders wrote poems about the importance and value of ordinary objects like clocks and paper using Williams' rhyming pattern and structure. I was impressed with their creativity and use of language. The poems are one of Holy Name's many signs of fall; another one of those signs is outside Mr. Gordon's room. The 6th graders' Pumpkin Poetry is on display. After choosing a famous figure, 6th graders decorated a pumpkin like that person and wrote a poem about his/her life and importance. Upstairs we have many famous and iconic people including a pumpkin Jackie Robinson, Winnie-the-Pooh, and our very own - Mr. Gordon.

This afternoon second graders capped off their week with a Teaching Mass in the chapel. Over the last two weeks, students in first through sixth grades celebrated Teaching Masses with either Fr. Evans or Fr. Joseph to learn more about the parts of the Mass, its prayers and rituals, and how the congregation can actively participate. These Teaching Masses will help students participate at our next All School Mass which is scheduled for November 1st.

The Boston Fire Department's Aerial Drill team treated students to an amazing show this morning. They demonstrated various techniques, equipment and teamwork to show some of situations firefighters encounter. In addition, BFD members shared helpful tips as part of Fire Prevention Week. Don't be surprised if your kids are checking on your smoke detectors when they come home today. We are thankful for this opportunity to have the drill team visit. We appreciate everything BFD does for our community and we are thankful for the many ways they support our school including our upcoming Touch-a-Truck.

On Monday, HNPS had a special guest visit us for a tour and to observe some of our classes. Mr. Liam Beatty is the principal of St. Thomas School in Camp Hill, Australia. He enjoyed seeing our classrooms, especially hearing our kindergarten students rattle off as many "m" words at they could in a minute. Liam is here on a two-week visit to BC's Roche Center and is touring a few schools in the Archdiocese. We were happy to be among those schools and to welcome him to HNPS. As a thank you, he donated a book written by an Australian author to our library. In the future, we hope to find a way for our two schools to connect.

In the first few weeks of school, students focused on kindness in both words and actions. Teachers and administrators shared books and led activities to start our year with kindness. It is one of ten traits emphasized through Character Strong, the character education program we use with all students. As we begin October, our focus will shift to Respect. Through Character Strong activities and morning announcements, students will learn the definition and concrete ways to exhibit respect in the school community. In addition, we will be reintroducing our Eagle Award program next week. This program recognizes students for demonstrating kindness and respect as well as creativity, cooperation, courage, empathy, gratitude, honesty, perseverance, and responsibility (traits introduced through Character Strong later in the year). More information about Eagle Awards is included below.

We have a beautiful 3D mural in the school's lobby thanks to Ms. Buckley's art classes. After reading "Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood," students worked in small groups to paint a mural on a wooden block. The blocks have been stacked together in the shape of the school to showcase our school community and its collective creativity.

Fr. Evans celebrated our opening School Mass on Tuesday which included the inauguration of this year's Student Council. We look forward to their work this year. The Student Council has already held its first meeting and has many good ideas for the year. Our next School Mass will be in November when our nursery and K1 students will join us. During the month of October, Fr. Evans and Fr. Joseph will celebrate Teaching Masses with grades one through six.

All students gathered this morning in Parish Hall for a special performance. It was the first time we gathered as a full community for this school year. A musician from Mobile Ed Productions played the guitar and sang songs about community, kindness, and being a good friend to fit with our theme for the week. Students danced, clapped, and learned a little bit of sign language while singing along. Our performer asked for assistance from students from time to time. It was a great sight to see students of all ages and several students brand new to our school helping out. This capped off a week of community building activities.