HIGHLIGHTS & HAPPENINGS
Villa teachers, staff, and
administration participated
in a video that messaged
encouragment and cheer.
Amid the logistical and pedagogical challenges of distance learning was the pressing
need to stay connected with students and help care for their emotional needs during a
time of historic social upheaval. As a resource to families, St. Ursula Villa Counselor
Susan Friedman offered to help parents with questions or concerns as well as provide
one-on-one or small group counseling with students via Zoom videoconferences. Villa
teachers kept students engaged with their classmates through regular check-ins
and group Zoom sessions where they participated in group discussions, lessons, and
activities together. Teachers maintained their strong student/teacher bond through
many creative ways such as Gym Teacher Beth Hake relocating the “Free Throw
Challenge” to students at home in their driveways, Spanish Teacher Drew Williams
musically accompanying a 6th grader’s “porch performance” from the canceled Talent
Show, teachers delivering “Certificates of Completion” to preschoolers’ homes and
waving to them from the street, Junior High teachers dropping off “Class of 2020
Quarantine” shirts and yard signs, and all Villa faculty sending messages of love and
support in a video titled “We Villa Get Through This!”
We celebrate our
extraordinary
St. Ursula Villa
community of
students, parents,
administrators,
faculty, and
staff who
demonstrated
support, faith,
flexibility, and
patience and
truly lived out
St. Angela’s
words in our
Ursuline school
theme,
“If we stand
united in heart,
we will be strong
in adversity!”
Health and safety guidelines to reduce the spread of COVID-19 forced the cancellation
of many special school highlights including the Talent Show, Stations of the Cross, Gino
DiMario Fine Arts Festival, 8th Grade Class Trip, and May Party; First Communion
is tentatively rescheduled for this fall. Several Villa 8th grade traditions - May
Crowning and Graduation - were creatively reinvented to honor the participants while
accommodating social distancing protocols. May Crowning was observed on a beautiful
May afternoon when Maria Halaby, Addison Roney, and Kate Sullivan, all selected by
their peers for exemplifying Mary’s characteristics, gathered separately on the Manor
House lawn and Maria placed a floral crown on the statue of Mary. Students shared
readings and reflections and each member of the 8th-grade class joined the “ceremony”
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