Warwick, RI, [January 28, 2010]:  Open House, 50^th Anniversary Celebration, a Book Fair, Spirit Day, Science Projects, Global Awareness workshop and Kiddie Olympics will highlight this year’s Catholic Schools Week calendar for St. Peter School in Warwick, RI.  The events are part of a nationwide celebration of Catholic education. This year’s theme “Catholic Schools: Dividends for Life” underscores the commitment of St. Peters Schools to offer a foundation in faith, knowledge, morals and discipline that prepares students for successful lives.

St Peter School will hold an Open House on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 from 5pm – 8pm for families with prospective students wishing to enter preschool through grade 8. Students Ambassadors will be on hand to offer guided tours, give a Robotics demonstration, talk about the athletics, music, computer, Student Council and Faith Formation programs. Faculty and staff will be available to discuss the academic program and answer enrollment questions.

At the end of the week, St. Peters will also be celebrating their 50^th Anniversary with a community-wide celebration at the Aldrich Mansion on Saturday, February 6^th at 6:30pm. Tickets are still available by contacting the school at 401-781-9242 or by emailing info@stpeterschoolri.com. An Alumni Open House will be held on Sunday, February 7^th. Guests will be able to reconnect with old friends and remember their days at St. Peters. Don’t miss it when beloved former principal, Sr. Mary Angelus, opens the door to her school store where pencils still sell for a dime.

YOUNG TALENT: Emma Joy Galvin, 13, has been writing her own music since age 11 and is an active member of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, the Rhode Island Songwriters Association and is the youngest member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame based in New York.

Emma Joy Galvin’s name may not be uttered in the same breath as Keith Urban and Taylor Swift, but the young talent hailing from Warwick is only 13 years old and has plenty of time to change that.

Galvin has already performed off-Broadway, in television and in film, but her real passion is writing and performing music and she hasn’t wasted any time. She’s already an active member of the Nashville Songwriters Association International and the Rhode Island Songwriters Association, and is currently the youngest member to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame based in New York, where the next oldest member is at least 17. The accolades don’t stop there; Galvin was the winner of the Mix 104.1 National Anthem contest and performed at Boston Garden for the Harlem Globetrotters when she was 9 as well as sang the National Anthem at McCoy Stadium for the Paw Sox the past three summers.

“I did a lot of acting when I was younger, but I’ve always loved being on stage and singing,” Galvin said.

Galvin said she started off performing in community theater as a hobby when she was 7, beginning with a stint with the Trinity Reperatory Company as a young Belle with a small solo part in “A Christmas Carol.” It wasn’t long before she started attending auditions in New York City for roles in film and theater.

“I did off-Broadway acting until I was 11 and then I moved away from theater and got more into songwriting,” she said. “Between acting in film and theater and singing, I found I was the most interested in singing so I’ve continued to pursue that.”

Galvin said she was 11 when she began writing her own songs and since then has penned roughly 50 songs, 15 of which she considers full-fledged quality songs.

“This one’s called ‘Speechless,’” Galvin said as she strapped on her acoustic guitar and played her latest creation, written about a month ago. The song is an up-tempo, energetic piece full of colorful melodies and catchy hooks, with an breakaway slowdown introducing the explosive chorus, “Why can’t I find/A way to have you here/ What’s been burning in my mind/ I want you mine/I can’t find any words to go along with this/ I’m speechless.”

Not only can Galvin play, but she can sing. She describes her music as country with poppy chords and melodies mixed in.

“I like to write about relationships because I find that to be a universal topic,” she said.

Choosing to write radio friendly songs, Galvin said she learned from her influences such as Keith Urban and Taylor Swift. Her songwriting ability and dedication coupled with her energy and enthusiasm for creating music should give her a bright future.

“I can’t put my guitar down,” she said with a big smile. “Even if I’m just at home, I’m always playing, learning and writing.”

Galvin said before she got into writing music, her acting schedule was so busy that she had to be home-schooled while she was in fifth grade in order to allow her to further explore the acting realm.

“It was a tight schedule, but it’s not as much of a challenge now because for the most part I set my own schedule and I can work around school,” she said.

Even though her schedule continues to keep her busy with a trip to Nashville for a songwriters workshop and live performances opening for the Plain White T’s, Collective Soul and The Temptations, Galvin is back in the classroom at St. Peter’s School.

In a time of budget constraints and cutting programs in hopes of saving money, Galvin is proud to say the music program at St. Peter’s is still intact.

“We kept music in our school and it’s a great program,” she said. “I’m learning about [music] theory, which helps a lot with guitar.”

In addition to opening for some big names, Galvin also has some solo gigs under her belt, including a writer’s night showcase at the hotel hosting the songwriters workshop in Nashville, an appearance on the Buddy Cianci radio show, multiple performances at the Newport Yachting Center and a two-hour set at T.F. Green Airport.

When asked what performances, if any, really jump out at her or are memorable for her, Galvin stopped to think for a minute before saying, “The first time I performed at the Yachting Center when I opened for the Plain White T’s two summers ago was special because that was the first time I performed live, but every time I perform jumps out at me.”

“It would be great to play with people that inspire me, but my dream is to do what I’m doing now and continue it. I’m doing exactly what I want to do,” she said. “Whether I’m performing in front of two people or 2 million people, it’s the same for me; I just really enjoy it.”

Galvin said while she enjoys performing, her real love is writing the songs.

“I get so excited about it. It has to come naturally to me first. I always have ideas for a song, but I have to be in the mood and let it come naturally, whether it’s melodies or lyrics,” she said. “If I play it a few times and it’s in my head the next day, then I know I have something.”

Galvin said one of the songs she finished last summer was one of the first songs she began working on, but in order to complete it, she had to set it aside for a while. She said the songwriters workshop she attended in Nashville has been a big help.

“The workshop lasted three days and it was awesome because I got to talk to amazing songwriters. It was great to talk to them and I learned a lot from the lectures too,” she said.

Galvin said she plans to record a demo either this winter or this spring, which she’ll send out to Nashville and New York. In the meantime, she has a couple more performances lined up, including another appearance at T.F. Green in February (date to be determined).

“It’s been so much fun,” she said of her experiences. “I’m doing exactly what I want to do.”

For more information on Emma Galvin or to join her e-mail list, visit her Web site at www.emmajoy.com. To hear “Speechless” and more of Galvin’s music, visit her myspace page at www.myspace.com/emmajoygalvin.

The Warwick teams are two of 50 FIRST LEGO League teams, each comprised of 10 students ages 9-14, hailing from elementary and middle schools around the state. The students have been working together, applying concepts in math and science, to build robots that will compete in action packed two-and-a-half minute game matches on a competition board built out of LEGO elements. Each team will also be required to present a research project to a panel of volunteer experts that highlights what they have learned about transportation issues.

The teams will vie for awards in categories such as Robot Design, Robot Performance, Research Quality and Teamwork. The team who earns the highest cumulative score across all categories will be deemed the FIRST LEGO League Champion’s Award.

Sponsors of the FIRST LEGO League in Rhode Island include: Roger Williams University, McCabe Software, Vector Software, IEEE-Providence Section, Purvis Systems Incorporated, Working Planet, Rhode Island School of the Future, Raytheon, Solidworks, Simulia, Shaw’s and Stop & Shop.

The competition will be held at the Campus Recreation Center, Roger Williams University in Bristol. The opening ceremony begins at 11:15 a.m. and the games will begin at 11:45. Admission and parking for the event is free.

Festivities for all ages involves the entire school community

Warwick, RI, [December 21, 2009]:  The Christmas season began for the children of St. Peter School when Santa arrived for a surprise visit during the Macy*s Believe Campaign Letter Writing Challenge and Santa Bus Tour. St. Peter School was the only school selected in Rhode Island for the visit. Over 170 students wrote a letter to Santa on specially decorated paper and deposited them in Santa’s red mailbox at Macy*s during a ceremony recognizing the school.  Macy*s pledged to give $1.00 to the Make-a-Wish Foundation for every letter written.  

Photo 1: Students wait along the school yard fence for a visit from the Macy*s Believe Campaign Santa

The following weekend, over 100 families gathered in the St. Peter Church Hall for Breakfast with Santa and special reading of A Polar Express by ABC 6 anchor, Allison Alexander.

	Photo 2: Students in their pajamas sing carols along with the piano during Breakfast with Santa
	Photo 3: Preschoolers from St. Peter School listen as ABC6 personality, Allison Alexander reads A Polar Express at the school’s Breakfast with Santa

The next day, the school community gathered for the Annual Christmas Concert. Children in all grades performed during the concert. As a finale, the teachers performed a special holiday dance to resounding applause. Over 500 members of the community attended to enjoy this very special performance.

With voices ready, students in grades 1 through 4 gathered the very next day to serenade Warwick’s Gaspee and Pawtuxet Village neighborhoods with Christmas Carols. Thankfully, the weather was brisk but dry and over 27 parent volunteers walked with the students and helped prepare and serve hot chocolate and baked goods when they all returned to campus.

	Photo 4: A group of St. Peter School students gather at an elderly neighbor’s door to serenade her with Christmas Carols.
	Photo 5: (L-R) Ella Centracchio, Myles Walsh and Thomas Sullivan, First Graders at St. Peter School clown around while singing Christmas Carols in Warwick’s Gaspee and Pawtuxet Village neighborhoods.

Back at school, the elves (aka parent’s association) were busy preparing for Christmas Fun Day! On Friday, the students enjoyed holiday shopping, a penny social, a special lunch, crafts and games.

The Christmas festivities culminated with the Student Council’s Outreach Committees annual sale of Candy Cane Grams; candy canes with special notes delivered to friends, siblings and favorite teachers. Over 400 “Grams” were sent with the profits being used to buy gifts for a local needy family for Christmas.

St. Peter's School students performed their annual Christmas concert Sunday at Bishop Hendricken High School to an audience of more than 500 family and friends. Here, seventh and eighth grade students perform in the finale.

Children can come wearing their favorite pajamas as they listen to ABC6 personality, Allison Alexander read A Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. Reading of the story will take place at 9:45am & 10:30am. Also, take your child’s photo with Santa as they reveal what’s on their Christmas List! Continental Breakfast includes Starbucks coffee and hot chocolate and Le Favorite Bakery baked goods as well as Christmas music and a Penny Social. Plus, a special gift for every child…if they truly believe! Cost is $25 per family and includes all activities.

Please RSVP to St. Peter School by email info@stpeterschoolri.com or phone 401-781-9242 by Wednesday, December 9, 2009. Include family name, students grade(s), # of children, # of parents and # of grandparents. Limited spaces will be available at the door. 

A YEAR TO CELEBRATE: St. Peter’s School students many whose parents also attended the school hold a banner in commemoration of the school’s 50th anniversary. Students from left holding the banner are: Nicholas Aubin (Gr.8), Nicholas Sylvester (Gr. 6), Cameron Beausoleil (Gr. 5), Gianni Martira (Gr. 4), Scarlette Schultz (Gr.7), Erin Isherwood (Gr. 7), Stephanie Langevin (Gr. 5), Samantha McConnell (Gr. 2), Haeleigh DeFeo (Gr. 2), Sara Langevin (Gr. 2), and Emma Galvin (Gr.8). In back of them are Barbara Rossi and Principal Joan Sickinger. Sitting in front of the banner from left are: Sophia Detroia (Gr. 1), Samantha Galasso (Gr. 1), Isabella Martira (Gr. 1), Hannah DeFeo (Preschool), Annabelle Tracy (Preschool), Matthew Friel (Preschool), William Friel (K) and Alexander Mullin (K). The three in the back sitting from left are: Siena Algeo (K), Olivia Tracy (K), and Aidan Moreira (K).

by Marie Hopkins

St. Peter’s Tri-Parish School is celebrating their fiftieth anniversary this year. A grand reunion event is planned for this winter to bring together the many alumni who have graduated from St. Peter’s over the years.

The Parish of St. Peter was founded in 1933 in the Gaspee Plateau section of Warwick. Reverend Patrick W. McHugh served as the first pastor. McHugh had previously served as assistant at St. Paul’s Church in Edgewood. It took 25 years before St. Peter’s church was able to establish a parish school. Father DeVaney, Father Raymond Beaulieu, and Father William Gillooly broke ground in March of 1958. Within one year, an additional ground-breaking ceremony was held for St. Peter’s Convent. Prior to the convent’s opening, the four Sisters of Mercy hired to staff the school had to travel from St. Xavier Convent in Providence. They did this during the first year and a half of the school’s existence. The Convent at St. Peter was completed in 1960 to house the four Sisters. Amazingly, one of these original faculty members, Sister Mary Francis Ryan, RSM, still resides on the campus at St. Peter’s.

The school opened in September of 1959 with two first and two second grades. The first class, consisting of a grand total of 39 students, graduated from St. Peter’s in June, 1966. Additional grades were added as the need arose, including a kindergarten program that began in 1975. Today the school runs through grade eight, and includes two pre-school rooms; a program for 4-year-olds began in 1980 and one for 3-year-olds began in 2007. Photos commemorating each of the graduating classes proudly hang in the front hall of the school today. These graduation photos were the historic preservation work of former long-standing principal, Sister Mary Angelus.

Today, St. Peter’s School has grown to serve not just one, but three parishes. St. Benedict of Beach Avenue and St. Timothy of Warwick Avenue now share the responsibility of running the Fair Street School. Sister Mary Angelus had been sole-principal from 1971-1990, but at the time of the merger, she was joined by Sister Kathleen Farley, former principal of St. Timothy’s. The Sisters served as co-principals until 2000. Sister Mary Angelus had begun her career at St. Peter’s as a teacher in 1966. Maureen Janetta was principal from 2000 until 2007. Joan Sickinger, who began teaching at St. Peter’s in 1980, is the current principal, having taken over from Maureen Janetta.

St. Peter’s has grown through the years in other ways as well. The school boasts a top-notch technology program (you can follow St. Peter’s School activities on schooltube.com). Also, the study foreign language is begun far earlier than most other area schools, with Spanish instruction beginning in formally second grade, but taught by volunteer staff in both kindergarten and first grade. They also have an active extra-curricular sports program thanks to volunteer coaches. The middle-school plays in leagues for both lacrosse and basketball.

Additionally, music instruction is taught from kindergarten through eighth grade. Eighth graders participate in the state science fair, and both seventh and eighth-graders participate in the Rhode Island History Fair. The school also starts science curriculum early, and has an active robotics program running, where children compete in the national Lego Robotics Competition.

To celebrate the achievements of fifty years, the school has organized a committee of alumni chaired by Susan Mantuori Algeo (class of 1975). Mrs. Algeo has one child currently attending the kindergarten at St. Peter’s. She is supported by Nancy Madden Moreira (1986) who has three children at St. Peters; Katie O’Brien Spolidoro (1985), who has two children in attendance; Bethany Mascena Tracy (1987) who also has two children in attendance; and Jennifer Sickinger Galasso (1987) who has a daughter in first grade. Mrs. Galasso is the daughter of Principal Joan Sickinger. Principal Sickinger has a total of three grandchildren currently attending St. Peter’s School.

The alumni committee planned to integrate alumni into school events this year, which included an invite to the kick-off concert back in September. The big anniversary celebration, however, will be held in February.

Billed as “a social event, a spiritual event, and a school event”; Mrs. Algeo and her alumni board will host a dinner dance, mass, and brunch over the weekend of February 6-7, 2010. The highlight of the event will be a “Decades” themed walk-through of the school. They plan for five classrooms to each highlight a different decade from the school’s history. A tribute to teachers, music of the era, class photos, and student work will be on display in each room.

The idea is to reconnect alumni to both the parish and school. The alumni committee has been hard at work, using personal networking as well as technology to locate as many alumni as possible. Approximately 1,200 students have graduated from St. Peter’s in the last 50 years. Amazingly, of those aged greater than 22 (adult-out-of-college alums), 600 of them still live within 25 miles of the Parish.

St Peter’s School has and enrollment of 200 students. Nineteen alumni have children who attend St. Peter’s. This legacy is in the neighborhood of 30 children total. St. Peter’s attributes their strength over 50 years to a tight knit community founded and based in faith and also to the parish ties that carry from generation to generation.

Russo, a Rhode Island-based songwriter and performer, recently completed his third solo release, a six-song EP guided by the Nashville-based artist/production team of Watson & Nash. Songs from the new EP will be included in the concert on the 25th. His usual stylings blend Christian and inspirational, positive, upbeat themes into a melodic and energetic pop/rock package, and can range from serious reflections on life and faith to fun, carefree rants, such as his signature “Child of the 80s.”

In November of 2008, Russo traveled to Guam for a series of concerts and workshops with youth and adults in the Archdiocese of Agana.

Besides writing and recording, Russo is also a music ministry leader at St. Peter’s Church, and is a frequent performer in a number of local and regional venues. For more information, visit www.barryrusso.com.