HNOM 8th graders were featured on the Catholic Faith Network as part of a special program, "CFN Celebrates Catholic Education, Part 1," which aired prior to the Baccalaureate Mass from St. Agnes Cathedral. The program and mass were meant to honor the Class of 2020 - both graduating 8th graders and 12th graders - in Catholic schools across Long Island. Airing at 7:00 PM on the night of the 8th grade's graduation, the televised event included group photographs of HNOM's 8th grade class and a videotaped speech from Valedictorian, Makayla, about her academic experience at HNOM.

At a socially-distanced graduation ceremony, the Class of 2020 came together outside HNOM church to receive their diplomas. While the smiles were masked, students joyfully celebrated their graduation through the traditional procession and tassel-turning from right to left. They listened to the valedictorian and salutatorian speeches, as well as uplifting words from Bishop Henning (whose home parish was HNOM). Congratulations, Class of 2020! We are so proud of you!

To ensure the 8th grade graduates' academic success and extracurricular participation were recognized, HNOM held a virtual awards ceremony on Zoom at 10:00 AM on the morning of students' graduation day. With a slideshow to guide the award presentations and silent clapping to honor the award recipients, the virtual ceremony combined the extracurricular and service awards with the academic honors for a safe ceremony that respected COVID-19 guidelines. To uphold the breakfast tradition during the morning awards ceremony, Mrs. Sanders sent home gift cards for families to purchase a breakfast treat of their choice!

Through a Google Meet, 8th graders celebrated the conclusion of their English class with Ms. Brown through a Pun Awards Ceremony. Although the award titles were a little zany, each student recipient was thoughtfully chosen and, therefore, was honored beyond the humorous pun. After each award was announced, Ms. Brown provided a brief explanation of why the specific award was chosen. Then came the cutest round of silent clapping from their classmates! Along with the award certificates, 8th graders also received pun graduation bookmarks! From punny awards that highlighted student personalities to ones that commended academic diligence, the E.L.A. ceremony recognized the diversity in student talents and strengths! See below for a small snapshot of the distributed awards!

Through a Google Meet, 8th graders celebrated the conclusion of their English class with Ms. Brown through a Pun Awards Ceremony. Although the award titles were a little zany, each student recipient was thoughtfully chosen and, therefore, was honored beyond the humorous pun. After each award was announced, Ms. Brown provided a brief explanation of why the specific award was chosen. Then came the cutest round of silent clapping from their classmates! Along with the award certificates, 8th graders also received pun graduation bookmarks! From punny awards that highlighted student personalities to ones that commended academic diligence, the E.L.A. ceremony recognized the diversity in student talents and strengths! See below for a small snapshot of the distributed awards!

To put themselves into Eddie's shoes, 8th graders twisted and tied pipe cleaners to form either a bunny or dog just like the protagonist did for Annie/Amy and Tala - respectively - in Mitch Albom's THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN. Then, students used their own imaginations and creativity to design an animal of their choice out of the pipe cleaners. From sharks and snails to bees and cats, the 8th graders rose to the challenge. Click the article's title to see the pipe cleaner animals!

To put themselves into Eddie's shoes, 8th graders twisted and tied pipe cleaners to form either a rabbit or dog just like the protagonist did for Annie/Amy and Tala - respectively - in Mitch Albom's THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN. After mimicking Eddie, students used their own imaginations and creativity to design an animal of their choice out of the pipe cleaners. From sharks and snails to bees and cats, the 8th graders rose to the challenge. Click the article's title to see the pipe cleaner animals!

After novel units in Ms. Brown's English class, a celebration occurs with snacks - all of which must be mentioned in the book - and a screening of the movie adaptation! The COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly swooped the 8th grade away from that tradition when school closed right at the end of THE OUTSIDERS. Therefore, when the 8th grade read Mitch Albom's  THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN during distance learning, Ms. Brown knew that another movie screening party could not be sacrificed. As a special surprise when they drove up to HNOM to collect their belongings, the 8th grade also picked up gift bags packed with Eddie's birthday cupcake, Marguerite's bag of taffy, Ruby Pier cotton candy, and Cracker Jacks from Eddie's childhood baseball enthusiasm!

After novel units in Ms. Brown's English class, a celebration occurs with snacks - all of which must be mentioned in the book - and a screening of the movie adaptation! The COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly swooped the 8th grade away from that tradition when school closed right at the end of THE OUTSIDERS. Therefore, when the 8th grade read Mitch Albom's THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN during distance learning, Ms. Brown knew that another movie screening party could not be sacrificed. As a special surprise when they drove up to HNOM to collect their belongings, the 8th grade also picked up gift bags packed with Eddie's birthday cupcake, Marguerite's bag of taffy, Ruby Pier cotton candy, and Cracker Jacks from Eddie's childhood baseball enthusiasm!

To collect the belongings that they left in school that fateful day back in March, the 8th grade and their families pulled through the schoolyard in their cars for an assembly-line pick-up. Greeted by balloons and some of their teachers, the Class of 2020 received pun bags filled with their locker contents, lawn signs, and their cap/gowns!

As their final project, 8th graders designed character trading cards for any two of the five people Eddie met in Heaven. Requiring students to think of a symbolic sky color to represent the character's defining emotion and to determine the strongest line of dialogue to convey the life lesson that the character taught Eddie, 8th graders wrote about and interpreted character speech and character actions to demonstrate their understanding of the novel's use of symbolism, characterization, theme, and flashback! A mighty, cumulative task! However, the 8th grade designed thoughtful and insightful "trading card" depictions of Albom's unique character set! Phenomenal work, 8th grade! * SPOILER ALERT: Some of the "Character Trading Cards" may contain plot spoilers, so please read at your own discretion.

As their final project, 8th graders designed character trading cards for any two of the five people Eddie met in Heaven. Requiring students to think of a symbolic sky color to represent the character's defining emotion and to determine the strongest line of dialogue to convey the life lesson he/she taught Eddie, 8th graders wrote about and interpreted character speech and character actions to demonstrate their understanding of the novel's use of symbolism, characterization, theme, and flashback! A mighty, cumulative task! However, the 8th grade designed thoughtful and insightful "trading card" depictions of Albom's unique character set! Phenomenal work, 8th grade! * SPOILER ALERT: Some of the "Character Trading Cards" may contain plot spoilers, so please read at your own discretion. 

HNOM's physical education teacher, Mr. Digangi, organized an incredible two-day, at-home field day for students in grades K-8 on Monday, June 1st and Tuesday, June 2nd. To provide students with their annual field day - which typically features games and school spirit at Fireman's Field - in spite of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Mr. DiGangi offered students with a choice of fifteen activities each day to do from home. He even created his own demonstration videos to show students how to do each game! The activities catered to the at-home improvisation that would be necessary. The games encouraged the use of everyday household objects to creatively put together a menu of doable activities to encourage play, exercise, and fresh air! Click this article's title to see the 8th graders use cups, balled-up socks, shoes, and art supplies to make this unusual field day memorable and fun! Great work, 8th grade! The best team - even when apart!

On National School Nurse Day, the 8th grade wrote "thank you" notes to HNOM School's wonderful Mrs. Baxter. By applying their working knowledge of puns from English class to the medical field, the 8th grade came up with many themed puns - by referring to everything from pulses to aortas - to express their gratitude.

On National School Nurse Day, the 8th grade wrote "thank you" notes to HNOM School's wonderful Mrs. Baxter. By applying their working knowledge of puns from English class to the medical field, the 8th grade came up with many themed puns - by referring to everything from pulses to aortas - to express their gratitude.

To guide character visualization during their novel study for Mitch Albom's THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN, 8th graders considered what a "graying blueberry" shade of blue would look like and browsed online color palettes to select the best representation. The defining life event of Joseph Corvelzchik - a character known as the "Blue Man" - involved a skin-changing side effect that the novel describes as a "grotesque shade, a graying blueberry." The change in the character's physical appearance (the "looks" component of S.T.E.A.L. characterization) shaped his entire life - and death - so being able to visualize the character was essential to understanding and sympathizing with him as readers. With their prior knowledge of a blueberry and their imaginations, the 8th graders compiled eight (8) color choices - which were sent (in a Google Form) to their teachers for a vote! See the results by clicking on the article's title!

To guide character visualization during their novel study for Mitch Albom's THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN, 8th graders considered what a "graying blueberry" shade of blue would look like and browsed online color palettes to select the best representation. The defining life event of Joseph Corvelzchik - a character known as the "Blue Man" - involved a skin-changing side effect that the novel describes as a "grotesque shade, a graying blueberry." The change in the character's physical appearance (the "looks" component of S.T.E.A.L. characterization) shaped his entire life - and death - so being able to visualize the character was essential to understanding and sympathizing with him as readers. With their prior knowledge of a blueberry and their imaginations, the 8th graders compiled eight (8) color choices - which were sent (in a Google Form) to their teachers for a vote! See the results by clicking on the article's title!

Not only did two 8th grade students appeal to their English teacher through octopuses (her favorite animal) and puns, they made Ms. Brown tremendously proud as their self-initiated National Teachers Day emails and art showed that they applied the life lessons at work in her classroom, as well. The 8th grade sisters sent Ms. Brown - their English and homeroom teacher - unexpected emails on National Teachers Day. Their notes of gratitude recognized class events and assignments they found special and included photographs of their original artwork that wished their teacher a "Happy National Teachers Day."