apublicationofelizabe - Elizabeth Seton High School
apublicationofelizabe - Elizabeth Seton High School
apublicationofelizabe - Elizabeth Seton High School
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Dear Friends,<br />
In the seven and a half years that I<br />
have worked at <strong>Elizabeth</strong> <strong>Seton</strong> <strong>High</strong><br />
<strong>School</strong>, I have learned so much. This<br />
is an amazing community of students,<br />
parents, alumnae, and faculty and staff.<br />
Our students come from 5 counties and<br />
over a dozen elementary and middle<br />
schools. Few have gone to a single sex<br />
school and may view that change with<br />
some trepidation. Our feeder schools<br />
are public, private, religious and nondenominational.<br />
<strong>Seton</strong> has a well-deserved reputation<br />
for high academic standards. We offer<br />
classes from bio-ethics to ceramics,<br />
karate to honors physics and photo<br />
journalism to Advanced Placement<br />
calculus. <strong>Seton</strong> is constantly evaluating<br />
its courses to offer the students the latest<br />
in technology and science to both meet<br />
the demands of the students for more<br />
challenging courses and to prepare them<br />
for a smooth transition to college. Our<br />
students excel in the most demanding<br />
courses and do well in the AP exams.<br />
What is most amazing to me is the<br />
way that our families give back. The<br />
students collect a mountain of food at<br />
Thanksgiving for SOME. Throughout<br />
the year, the <strong>Seton</strong> girls make sandwiches<br />
on a regular basis for a shelter.<br />
They visit nursing homes and day<br />
care centers and volunteer as translators<br />
for Back to <strong>School</strong> Night at<br />
our neighboring elementary schools.<br />
They donate money for areas around<br />
the world that suffer devastating<br />
events like the Asian tsunami and the<br />
Haitian earthquake. The students are<br />
required to perform 10 hours of service<br />
each semester, but they average about<br />
twice that each year.<br />
Parents and students are very generous<br />
with their time for the varied activities<br />
at <strong>Seton</strong> throughout the year. Their<br />
work is invaluable to the music and<br />
athletics programs through the various<br />
parent organizations. They volunteer<br />
their evenings to make phone calls to<br />
contact <strong>Seton</strong> graduates about making<br />
financial donations to support <strong>Seton</strong>.<br />
The alumnae enjoying hearing about the<br />
<strong>Seton</strong> of today and respond generously<br />
to the phone calls. <strong>Seton</strong>’s Gala last year<br />
required hours of planning and many<br />
people to make it the success that it was.<br />
Parents, students and graduates gave<br />
willingly of their time, made donations<br />
to support the event, and attended to<br />
make the Gala a great success.<br />
Last fall, we received a matching grant<br />
from the State of Maryland to upgrade<br />
the field and add lighting and new<br />
bleachers. We needed to raise $25,000<br />
in a short period of time as a condition<br />
of receiving the grant. The <strong>Seton</strong> parents<br />
and graduates responded and made the<br />
grant and those improvements possible<br />
through their generous support.<br />
<strong>Elizabeth</strong> <strong>Seton</strong> <strong>High</strong> <strong>School</strong> is a<br />
community of people who value the<br />
education that <strong>Seton</strong> provides and the<br />
commitment of the faculty and staff to<br />
the students. <strong>Seton</strong> has a wonderful<br />
history of accomplishments: being<br />
named a Blue Ribbon school, winning<br />
championships in volleyball, track and<br />
basketball, to name a few, and music<br />
groups that take the top prizes at each<br />
adjudication that they enter. Most<br />
importantly, we are a community that<br />
values diversity and teaches our students<br />
to be educated women of character who<br />
support <strong>Seton</strong> and their community<br />
with their time and resources.<br />
Truly yours,<br />
Maureen McCart<br />
Executive Manager<br />
<strong>Seton</strong> Advancement<br />
Expect the <strong>Seton</strong> Fund (<strong>Seton</strong>’s Annual Appeal) in your mailboxes in April.<br />
The <strong>Seton</strong> Fund is a pledge program; pledging enables our friends to give<br />
more generously with their other economic responsibilities.<br />
A Warm new welcome<br />
From <strong>Seton</strong><br />
Melissa Davey ’99<br />
took her seat as <strong>Seton</strong>’s<br />
Director of Admissions<br />
in August of 2010.<br />
She spent her first<br />
years at <strong>Seton</strong> teaching<br />
psychology and sociology as well as<br />
directing the Bayley Program. As she<br />
began her new position, Melissa found<br />
herself in a first-class operation thanks to<br />
the successful work of her predecessor,<br />
Dawn Schiavone. At the same time,<br />
she discovered some challenges as<br />
she familiarized herself with the many<br />
details of her responsibility and as she<br />
learned the current statistics of the<br />
surrounding area’s Catholic elementary<br />
and middle schools.<br />
Her goal as Director of Admissions is<br />
to pique the interest and to increase<br />
the entrance of prospective students<br />
who come to visit the school. She has<br />
continued to expand recruitment into<br />
Anne Arundel and Calvert counties.<br />
She has been successful in identifying<br />
and recruiting young girls who have<br />
the potential to grow and thrive in the<br />
<strong>Seton</strong> community.<br />
Melissa loves being the spokesperson<br />
for <strong>Seton</strong>. She believes that <strong>Seton</strong> has a<br />
nurturing environment in which parents’<br />
daughters can develop into their own<br />
person. Furthermore, she finds it “easy<br />
to be the spokesperson for a school in<br />
which she believes.” As a graduate and<br />
former teacher of the school, Melissa<br />
possesses a keen understanding of the<br />
environment, the mission, and the<br />
faculty and staff. She is aware of both<br />
the sacrifices and the benefits of an<br />
excellent Catholic education, and she<br />
believes in its value for today’s young<br />
women. Likewise, <strong>Seton</strong> believes that<br />
Melissa will be successful in recruiting<br />
students who will bring talent and<br />
creativity to <strong>Seton</strong>’s classrooms and<br />
flourish into future leaders.<br />
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