Stuart Country Day School

Wishing you a Happy Labor Day from Stuart!

Welcome to Stuart! We are excited to introduce an exceptional cohort of new faculty staff - with two recent alums among them - who bring a wealth and breadth of experience to our community. These are passionate educators who believe in our Sacred Heart mission and bring with them a zeal for educating and empowering young women in an environment designed just for them.

Please join us in giving them a warm Stuart welcome!

Learn more: https://www.stuartschool.org/news/news-posts/~board/all-school-news/post/meet-new-faculty-and-staff-for-2024-2025

"I want every girl to know that her voice can change the world." - Malala Yousafzai

On Women's Equality Day, we celebrate the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Yet, it took another 45 years before all women gained that right. Today, we honor the trailblazers of the past and the women fighting for continued equality, with Stuart students and graduates counted among those who are committed to building a more equal world.

Got plans for Sunday? Senior Juliette Vergara will be giving tours of the newest exhibition, “Princeton Reflected,” at Updike Farmstead. The tour begins at 2:00 PM and is $4 per person. Come support the Historical Society of Princeton!

They’re (almost) back! The Upper School Peer Leaders were back this week to plan for Orientation and other fun activities this year.

Watch for emails today from divisions with info about Orientation, the first day, and other important back-to-school information. 💚

Summer Student Spotlight ☀️ This summer, rising junior Gloria Wang qualified for the U.S. Figure Skating National Solo Dance Finals for the sixth year in a row. Out of 20 talented skaters on the East Coast, Gloria secured second place, earning her spot among the top six from each region. Gloria began her skating career at 7 and started skating competitively a year later. When Gloria heads down to Wesley Chapel, Florida, in September, she will be performing the Westminster Waltz and Argentine Tango. Gloria and a skating partner earned a gold medal in 2023 for a Pre-Gold Shadow Dance, and we wish her the best of luck as she takes the ice this year!

Summer Alum Spotlight ☀️ Angela Cirelli ’22 will be putting Sacred Heart Goal 3 into action this fall as an intern with the Temple University College of Liberal Arts Translation Institute, in partnership with the City of Philadelphia. She will translate documents into Spanish for local organizations, edit peer translations, and shadow professional interpreters. Having just returned from a summer abroad in Spain, she is eager to apply her Spanish language skills in a professional setting.

Angela is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in public health at Temple with a double minor in Spanish and social justice. She is also working toward her Master of Public Health through Temple's accelerated program. During her time at Temple, she served as a peer instructor for the Honors First-Year Seminar course and as a research assistant for a study aiming to increase organ donation in Black communities.

Hey young alums, we’d love to hear from you! Send us a message through social media or email [email protected] with some news or an update.

Fueling eager minds and curious hearts💚🌿

Every aspect of the Stuart experience is crafted to ignite a girl’s intellectual passions and meticulously support her on her academic journey. Learn more at our summer information session on Wednesday, August 21, at 9:15 AM.

Register: https://www.stuartschool.org/admissions/events/summer-coffee-stuart-admissions/summer-info-session

Our newly resurfaced tennis courts are ready for preseason next week … and for something else. Can you see what’s new? 🥒🎾

The application for the 2025-2026 school year is now open! Apply today to be part of our exceptional community at Stuart Country Day School. Visit stuartschool.org/apply to get started. Start your application by November 1 to receive an application fee waiver code. Contact [email protected] for your code.

We look forward to receiving your application and welcoming you to our community. 🎉💚

The joy of curiosity and the thrill of play ignite passions and strengthen skills among our campers. Here are a few moments from July and August camps as we enter our final few weeks of the season.

There is still time to join us this month! Check out our August camps: https://www.stuartschool.org/student-life/summer/summer-camp/august-camps

An Olympic-sized summer update! ☀️💦 Congratulations to rising fifth grader, Aorabdha, who qualified for the Junior Olympics/NJ Gold championship in swimming this summer!

Aorabdha has been swimming competitively with the Princeton Tigers Aquatics Club since 2022 after previously swimming for the Princeton YMCA league. With a commitment of 2 hours a day, five days a week, she swims both long and short course. This season, she made the Gold timing cut for the 10 & Under Girls 50 Freestyle in long course swimming.

Aorabdha’s biggest inspiration is Summer Macintosh, and she hopes to someday establish a name for herself and compete in the Olympics. We know she can!

When you realize September is right over the bridge!

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☑ Time for a check-in! Since there is still plenty of summer left, this is a friendly reminder to visit stuartschool.org/parents for summer assignments, book lists, Cor Cordis summer reading, handbooks, and more!

Summer Spotlight ☀️ It makes us proud to see how our students represent the Sacred Heart Goals through their summer endeavors. Rising senior Sophia Feng has been exceptionally busy since the spring, earning accolades in music competitions, leading various causes, and deepening her intellectual curiosity. Here are some highlights of her activities:

Spring: In April, she won second prize in the 2024 US Starlight Youth Talent Musical Theatre Competition. In May, as president of Music Unite, she led their Seeds 4 Hope program, raising $811.48 in a day through a flower and plant sale. In total, they have donated $1461.48 to HomeFront.

June: She performed at Princeton Summer Opera Night alongside notable music directors and voice faculties. Additionally, she performed at Carnegie Hall as a first-place composition winner and Grand Award voice winner with APEX International Music Competition. She closed the month by representing Music Unite at the 2024 Chinese American Convention and Congressional Day to showcase their volunteer activities.

July: She co-hosted the 2024 MISS China International Competition, securing $500 in donations for Music Unite. She participated in Rutgers University's WISE summer research program, submitting gene research data to GenBank, the international repository of DNA sequences maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

We look forward to sharing more about Sophia’s work with Music Unite and her summer research later this year.

Empowering young voices through music. 🎶 At our songwriting camp this week, girls learned from Stuart’s music teacher/choral director Kelsey Lewis how to express themselves and make their unique voices heard. Join us in August for more empowering camps, where girls will discover and develop their talents through theater, writing, entrepreneurship, cooking, and more!

Browse August camps: https://www.stuartschool.org/student-life/summer/summer-camp/august-camps

Sacred Heart for the gold! 🥇 We join schools worldwide in cheering on Sacred Heart Olympians as they compete in Paris this week! Check the comment for the list of athletes and their events.

The Olympics in Paris kick off this week and we are so excited to cheer on our who will be competing! Follow Sacred Heart alumnae Katie Ledecky, Phoebe Bacon, Erin Gemmell, Tierna Davidson, Beth Yeager, Isabella Russekoff, Daisy Mazzio-Manson, Anabelle Smith, and Gaby Lopez as they look to bring home gold medals in swimming, soccer, field hockey, equestrian show jumping, rowing, diving, and golf! Paige Greco also returns for another go at gold in cycling at the Paralympics next month! Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart Sacred Heart Greenwich AASH - Associated Alumnae and Alumni of the Sacred Heart Sacré Cœur Glen Iris Colegio Sagrado Corazón México

This summer, STEM Coordinator Anna Kachmarski presented on Stuart’s new Integrated Math Curriculum at the International Coalition for Girls School annual conference in Baltimore. Integrated Math re-imagines the way we teach mathematics, allowing students to bridge connections between topics and apply math concepts to real-world situations. This fall, we’ll be implementing this transformative curriculum for grades 7 and 9, aiming to fulfill our mission of empowering our students to be innovative thinkers and change makers.

“Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat wanted to educate girls so they could have a transforming influence in society,” remarked Ms. Kachmarski. “We believe that our Integrated Math curriculum will be living the words of Saint Madeleine Sophie to help each of our current and future Stuart students build connections to math in their everyday lives and propel them to be more innovative thinkers and change makers in society. I am incredibly grateful for all of the hard work that members of our math department have put into making our new integrated math curriculum truly signature to Stuart and our students.”

Learn more about Integrated Math: https://www.stuartschool.org/academics/math-computer-science-department/integrated-math-introduction

Future Tartans alert! 🚨Field hockey athletes took to the turf this week for camp with Coach Bruvik and both current and former Stuart players. After a week of skill building, developing good sportsmanship, and just having fun, these girls are ready to put their learning into action this fall!

This summer marked Stuart’s 44th official year of making homes "warmer, safer and drier" through the Appalachia Service Project. This opportunity is open to Upper School students and Stuart faculty, staff and parents, and it is one of the most transformational experiences for all who participate. Amanda ‘25 and Betsy ‘27 shared their experience working with the community of Greenbrier County, WV. Visit stuartschool.org/news for their full reflections.

“The joy and satisfaction of coming together as a group, supporting each other to accomplish something so meaningful and impactful, and being able to do things I never thought possible, along with experiencing raw, heartfelt moments that resonate long after we say goodbye, have changed my heart forever. As I reflect on my last two years with ASP, I can say that being able to do God's work and build upon the foundation of His love to make a positive contribution to someone's life is both humbling and deeply fulfilling.” - Amanda ‘25

“This trip was an opportunity for me to live and act on the five Goals of the Sacred Heart, specifically Goals 3 and 4. While the trip can be a challenge, mentally and physically, it is more than worth it to be able to leave your site Friday afternoon knowing you made a difference in your homeowner's life. Whether it's leading devotional or sleeping in a gym with three other volunteer groups, ASP provides you with a truly unique experience you won't be able to find anywhere else.” - Betsy ‘27

Still looking for an August camp? 👀

We know the struggle to find camps that run through the end of the summer, and we have the solution! Our summer programs run through August 30, and there is a camp for every grade level through high school. Act fast! Some have moved to the waitlist or have limited spots left. Browse camps at stuartschool.org/summer. ☀️

A peek at our week 🎨💻📐

Our Millie’s Magazine camp got to know the ins and outs of the publishing industry while reporting on the people and happenings at Stuart (more to come on that!) and our artists in Collage and Mixed Media hosted a showcase for family and the Millie’s girls to share the impressive portfolios they produced in a week. Word at Stuart is that they channeled the brief downpour on Friday with their rain sticks.

We still have a month of camp to go this season! Check out availability at stuartschool.org/summer.

☀️ Summer Student Spotlight: This spring, Maya Dev, a rising senior at Stuart, embarked on a transformative Girl Scout trip to Pune, India, as part of the Sisterhood of Sangam program. Selected through a rigorous application process, Maya was the only participant from the tri-state area and one of the few from the United States to participate. This unique opportunity allowed her to form bonds with Girl Scouts from the USA, Japan, Singapore, China, and many other places while connecting deeply with India’s culture and each other.

The Sisterhood of Sangam program is designed for Girl Scouts in grades 9-12 and offers an immersive cultural experience at the Sangam World Centre in Pune, India. Participants engage in traditional and modern Indian celebrations, explore the city’s historical and cultural sites, and participate in community action projects at the Snehalaya Center for differently-abled individuals. A highlight of the trip was Holi, celebrating the triumph of good over evil, with the throwing of colored powder adding to the jubilation. The experience was both a fun and life-changing lesson for Maya as she witnessed the remarkable effect of sharing cultural experiences on uniting others through the universal language of hope, peace and joy.

In reflecting on her journey, Maya said, “Traveling to India with Girl Scouts was a humbling and eye-opening experience. It reminded us of our privileges and the disparities that exist in the world. Seeing firsthand the challenges others face, such as the need to walk miles for clean water, inspired me to work towards making the world a more equitable place.”

Learn more: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/princeton/sections/education/articles/a-girl-scout-trip-from-princeton-to-pune-india-becomes-a-humbling-and-eye-opening-experience

Sacred Heart sisters in service! 💚

Last week, we hosted our first summer Sacred Heart collaboration with Convent of the Sacred Heart - 91st Street. With one day in NYC and one day at Stuart, campers performed acts of kindness and service for their communities and surrounding areas. Below are a few of the girls’ favorite things from the experience:

⁃ Going on the train. Lily, 91st Street
⁃ Meeting girls from different school bc it’s fun to travel and go different places and compare our schools and we got to share experiences. Eve, 91st Street
⁃ All of the projects- making utensil kits and today packing the bags because I knew it would help people and it was also fun. Paige, 91st Street
⁃ I liked having a real New York experience like being able to go on the subway and seeing Central Park and stuff I wouldn’t usually do when I go to NY. Madison, Stuart
⁃ I liked hanging out and meeting the other kids. Sophie, Stuart
⁃ I liked comparing and contrasting the schools- not all Sacred Heart schools are the same but we have so many things in common. Mia, Stuart

Yesterday's Macy's July 4th fireworks show opened with a breathtaking rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner performed by Stuart alum Ashley Loren '06. Ashley is an accomplished actress and singer known as the longest running Satine in the Broadway hit Moulin Rouge The Musical - Broadway. Congratulations, Ashley!

Ashley Loren | Star-Spangled Banner | Full Performance | Live @ Macy's 4th Of July Fireworks 2024 Ashley Loren Performs The National Anthem (The Star-Spangled Banner) Full Live @ Macy's 4th Of July Fireworks 2024

Wishing you and your families a happy July 4th holiday weekend! 🇺🇸

As a reminder, Stuart is closed Thursday, July 4 and Friday, July 5.

We are pleased to announce that Missy Bruvik will serve as Interim Director of Athletics for 2024-2025. Missy Bruvik brings over 35 years of experience in athletics education and coaching at Stuart, where she has taught elementary and middle school physical education and coached many championship field hockey and lacrosse teams. During her tenure, Missy has been named by The Trenton Times as the Mercer County Field Hockey Coach of the Decade and has been recognized as the state and county Coach of the Year multiple times in both field hockey and lacrosse.

During this interim period, Missy will be immersing herself in the athletics department, learning from the staff, coaches, student-athletes, and Stuart leadership. Her goal is to ensure a seamless transition and to uphold the high standards of excellence and personal growth that define the Stuart Athletics program. We are deeply grateful to Missy for her unwavering dedication to Stuart and our student-athletes. Her appointment brings stability and promises to inspire continued success in our athletics program.

When asked about the opportunity to lead Stuart Athletics this year, Missy said: “Stuart has been an integral part of my life as a coach, physical education teacher and parent for over three decades. As Interim Director of Athletics, I am excited to work with our student athletes to ensure they have positive and successful athletic seasons. I am fortunate to work with talented coaches and be surrounded by committed and supportive colleagues.”

Goal V: Personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom | Katharine Murphy

There are so many remarkable things about the transformation the Goal 5 recipient has undergone throughout upper school. She’s always had excellent qualities—fierce loyalty, a sense of responsibility, independence, and an impressive work ethic. She has a core set of values she adheres to and won’t stray from—the foundation of her rock-solid moral integrity. Visible every single day are her sense of right and wrong and her dependability. Indeed, if she tells you she’s going to do something, you never have to doubt that she will do it—and do it well.

Her loyalty to her school is witnessed daily. She steps in to help wherever she can - from organizing spirit events to taking on the school newspaper to helping teachers with tasks - and she loves doing so. Peers and faculty alike recognize that she can be counted on to do an exceptional and efficient job in countless realms. Her multi-year commitment to the Appalachian Service Project really opened her eyes to how others live.
Her participation was a huge step for her in navigating an uncomfortable space, and was transformational in seeing how she could impact someone else’s life through her hard work.

Goal IV: The building of community as a Christian value | Layna Tarbotton

It is rare to encounter a student as genuinely exuberant as the Goal 4 award recipient. When I asked in a meeting with one of her teachers, “What brings you joy?” she answered, “Life!” And she consistently remains true to herself, radiating joy in all she does. Her key to doing so? “Tap into what makes you happy,” she says.

Being in front of a crowd has always been her thing. From the stage to student government, guidance and leadership are her way to “just be yourself.” That also applies to doing her best in all she pursues and in how she treats others. She stands out for her remarkable maturity, kindness, and empathy. She is someone who simply treats everyone with respect; her virtues never waver. And yes, this is all in addition to a stellar student who gives her all in the classroom.

She consistently shows her compassion for others through various other outreach programs such as leadership in student government, participation in fundraisers for women’s education, and service with the Appalachia Service Project.

Her dedication to making a positive impact on her community is a reflection of her kind and generous heart.