A great week at St. Mary School
Kelly Meyer, teacher, St. Mary School, Bordentown City
Did you ever wonder why you are where you are in your life and perhaps why you have had to endure some trials without too much damage? I have and I know I’m in the right place when it comes to my job as a teacher as well as parent at St. Mary School in Bordentown.
This past week, our school had a phenomenal celebration of our faith, academics, and service throughout the year showcasing what our students live every day at school.
On Jan. 28, the entire parish community came together to celebrate the opening of Catholic Schools Week at our 5 p.m. Mass where our faculty, administration, and most importantly our students came together to show their support of Catholic education. An open house for our parents was held after Mass to showcase the academics found at St. Mary.
On Jan. 30, we began our school week as we always do with morning prayers followed with an afternoon of the Family Feud game show where our students worked together as teams of all grade levels to answer some tough questions. As expected, they were all up for the challenge.
Tuesday was the 10th annual teachers vs. 8th grade volleyball game where you were able to witness such camaraderie between the students as well as the teachers. This is something our 8th graders along with our teachers look forward to every year. They practice hard and come out to win. The sportsmanship that is evident is truly overwhelming to see coming from teenagers in today’s society.
Wednesday the entire school community came together and made 570+ peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. To see an entire school come together to perform a selfless act of service for those less fortunate, shows what our school is about. We live the faith, academics, and service daily. It is just commonplace with us. We don’t want any special recognition; we just want to make a positive difference in the world.
Thursday brings about another amazing feat of our small school…student appreciation. Parents transformed our school cafeteria into the Catholic Schools Week theme of the year. Each class showcased a month throughout the school year in faith, academics, and service. The tables were amazing. The parents had only 2 hours in order to get this completed and the camaraderie that has always been evident with our students is, of course, evident with our parents as well. The tables were turned into buses bringing our 8th grade to school on the first day to Kindergartens April raindrops and 4th grades January snowflakes. It is truly amazing.
Last and certainly not least, we spent Friday encouraging classmates who had made it to the annual spelling bee finals and our 8th graders who became the teachers while the teachers became the students.
It’s truly an experience to be a part of and I am very happy to say that I am in the right place in order to experience this every year. You don’t know and understand Catholic Schools Week until you experience it the St. Mary way.

