Bishop McHugh Regional School celebrated Catholic School’s Week, from Jan 25-31, with a whole slate of activities aimed at “celebrating service” in Catholic education. Community members and parents visited throughout the week for events like a book fair, Alumni day, Mass, “Donuts with Dad,” and “Muffins with Mom.” But the highlight for the proud parents of the school’s preschoolers through second graders was Wednesday’s performance of “In the Beginning,” a musical program about the biblical creation story.
Music teacher, Beth Walls, began rehearsing with the school’s young stars in November. Each grade sang a series of songs that helped narrators retell the well-known tale about God creating the world in seven days.
“It’s really a nice cross-curricular program,” Wall said, and in learning their songs students learned a bible story; picked up some music skills; helped art teacher, Lisa Barry create the set; and improved their vocabulary.
The script, written by Caroline Hoile, of Great Britain contains some advanced word choices, Walls said, but with practice, phrases like “sumptuous colors,” “shimmering silver moon,” and “majestic golden eagles” were almost rolling off the young students’ tongues.
The story also emphasized the “celebrate service” theme of the week, with a reminder that “God has made us an exquisitely beautiful world. He wants us to look after it, for Him, as well as we can,…forever.”
The show was performed on Wednesday morning for the student body, the students’ grandparents and community members, who are supportive of the school’s mission. Later that night, parents crowded into the auditorium for an encore performance.
After the young performers took their bows, Principal Barbara Byrne thanked the many students, faculty and staff members who made the event possible, and she thanked the audience for coming. “Thank you for supporting us,” she said.
Catholic Schools Week is held the last week of January every year, as an annual outreach to the community and a celebration of Catholic education.
“it is a time to remember what Catholic education is all about,” Byrne said,