from Fontbonne Academy

Fontbonne Academy will celebrate Catholic Schools Week which runs January 30 – February 5 this year. The theme this year is Catholic Schools: A+ for America.

Fontbonne has a very busy week planned to commemorate the week. It will start one day early, on Saturday, January 29, with a trip to Northeastern University. Students will spend the day with Northeastern’s Engineers Without Borders student chapter. Organized by a recent Fontbonne alumna who is now at Northeastern, the chapter was the recipient of Fontbonne’s 2010 Lenten Giving Program. The donation went to the purchase of water pumps; key components for the two wells built in a small Ugandan town. While at Northeastern, the Fontbonne students will focus on water. They will perform a water test on a sample and learn how to interpret it. The fun will really begin when they experience what it is like to carry a 48-pound jerry can filled with water on a ¼ mile course. This will give the students a chance to appreciate what children, especially girls, are doing around the world for their families to have water. Fontbonne Academy has once again committed to the Engineers Without Borders cause for their Lenten Giving Program which will begin in March.

Sunday, January 30 is the International Festival at Fontbonne Academy. At 4 p.m. in the Auditorium there will be song, dance and costume representing cultures from around the globe, followed by an international buffet in the cafeteria. The suggested donation is $5 and it is open to the public.

Monday, January 31, the Fontbonne Academy Service Club will conclude their week-long clothing drive to benefit Kids Clothes Closet in Braintree. They will collect gently used clothing for children and teens all week and spend Monday preparing to deliver the items. Any appropriate items can be dropped off at Fontbonne’s Main Office.

Additionally, on Monday Fontbonne students will be partaking in an anti-bullying initiative called “Mix It Up at Lunch Day,” which is run by the Senior Peer Ministers. “Mix It Up at Lunch Day” was created in an effort to develop inclusive school communities by encouraging students to get to know other students. Students will be assigned to lunch tables to stretch them out of their comfort zone, getting to know peers with whom they might not otherwise socialize. There will be ice breakers and conversation themes. “Mix It Up at Lunch Day” will take place once per month at Fontbonne beginning with Catholic Schools Week.

Wrapping up the week, Fontbonne will host its annual Catholic Schools Week Liturgy on Friday, February 4. St. Michael’s College Liturgical Choir will provide the music during the service. St. Michael’s chaplain, Father Brian Cummings, SSE, will celebrate the 1 p.m. mass which is open to the public. The Fontbonne Academy junior class will be active participants in the service as February is also “Celebrate the Juniors” month at Fontbonne.

Fontbonne invites you to be a part of its Catholic Schools Week events by coming to either the International Festival or the Catholic Schools Week Liturgy, by supporting their clothing drive, or their Lenten Giving Program by sending a check made out to Engineers Without Borders-NEU. Checks can be sent c/o Fontbonne Academy, 930 Brook Road, Milton, MA 02186. Please contact The Office of Mission and Ministry at 617-615-3041 with any questions about upcoming Catholic School Week events.