GSA Hosts 'Warm' Ice Cream Social

What better way to start the school year than with warm get-together. Throw in some ice cream for sharing and you’ll surely have some fun conversations to go around.

That was the atmosphere at the Good Shepherd Academy in Nutley last Wednesday night when its Home School Association hosted a family orientation/ice cream social for students, parents and faculty.

The school principal, Sr. Jane Feltz, welcomed everyone, making sure the new families get acquainted with the community family of GSA. She introduced the faculty members, the HSA Executive Board members and the Girls’ Varsity Basketball Team who recently brought home the summer championship title.

Karol Ann Aguila (8th grade) and David Andrew (7th grade) then led the opening prayers.

After the prayers, Sr. Jane proceeded to provide an informal tour of the academy’s summer projects, improvements and upkeep. She also recognized and thanked the Summer Fun faculty for overseeing a successful summer activity and handed out gift baskets to the maintenance personnel as a way of thanking them for their service.

Incoming kindergarten, grades 1, 2 and 6 students, together with their parents, were also given a tour of their new classrooms.

After the tour, everyone headed back to the school gym for some ice cream treat.

“This is the second year we’re having this get-together,” said Sr. Jane.

“It’s just to help the parents and students get used to coming back to school. It also gives them the opportunity to see the new things we’ve done here.”

A number of Belleville residents also send their children to Good Shepherd Academy. One of them, Nelson Barrera, shared that his four daughters all went to the school and now his grandchildren go there as well.

“I know it’s hard right now (economically) but we try our best to keep them here because we believe that the education, the teachers and the values that they learn are different,” stressed Barrera.

“My children who moved to the public high school still keep their friends from Good Shepherd Academy because it’s different: their values, their morals, their families.”

Ten-year faculty member Cathy Sario said she lasted here that long because she loves the students and the parents. She also mentioned that some faculty members have been here for as long as fifteen years.

“We’re not a transitional faculty,” said Sario, “which is a really good thing for the students.”

“It’s parents and teachers working together to get the kids where we want them to be,” added Barrera.

Both Sario and Barrera summed up in a simple sentence why they like it in GSA: “It’s a family here.”