Design Contest

Hey! Little mini post here! I know I usually post just once a week but I felt that this needed it’s own special post. So I have been playing around with designs for my blog, and I know you must be thinking “But it looks the same!” Well that’s because I couldn’t really find a design I liked, one that really screamed Nazareth! And after three days of throwing away designs (some where so bad they went to the shredder!) I decided I could use some help. And who better to ask for help from than the people who read my blog!

So! Here is what I need. If you have a google account (yes all you need is gmail!), create a lay out that includes the colors blue and gold (do I even have to explain why?), press “print screen” and send me a copy of your idea! Then I will look through the designs and decide my favorite. How will you know if yours won? Well the one I pick will be the new lay out for SOS!

If you don’t have a google account, no problem. Just head over to the comments and give some suggestions you may have. And no, I can’t place a picture of Nazareth in the background. Yes I have tried…. many times….

So this post is done! Don’t forget that my email in on my click here Blogger Profile click here!! I hope to see new ideas coming in! Of course if you like the current design that’s cool too.

OK well I’m done with that announcement. Go ahead to this weeks post that is actually about Nazareth! Trust me! It’s a really good one!

~Miss Naz~

Ideas on Change

So while I was sitting around brainstorming ideas for my next blog post this week, I was talking with AQ Girl on Facebook. She told me that she had just taken a personality quiz that she thought was very accurate. (Yes, hang on. This does have something to do with Nazareth.) She sent me the link and I took the quiz. The results told me that I “embrace change when it is necessary while still resisting it when you think it is not.” Of course I naturally started to think about Nazareth.

First of all I have to ask the question, “Is this change necessary?” Does a school, that has so many supportive alumni and students have to close? Of course not! Yes I will agree that maybe our school was tight for money, but do we give up the second that little red line on the profits chart starts to go down? Of course not! If we had done that years ago, we might still have been stuck in the Great Depression! (OK maybe not…. But you get my idea!)

But in some ways yes, change is necessary. Our school closed, and apparently we didn’t get any say in it. Now it’s happening, has happened actually. At this point, it doesn’t look like we can reopen the school for next year (although you never know about future years.) In this way, yes, change is necessary. There is no way any of us can go back to Nazareth Academy next year with the same building, same students, same teachers. Change is necessary.

So yes I will embrace the change when I switch to AQ, maybe make some new friends. However I do resist the idea that Nazareth Academy is gone because it is not gone! I also hope that one day Nazareth Academy will reopen where it belongs, at 1001 Lake Avenue.

So this week I leave you with the words of advice that my Freshman self wrote to my Senior self in the letters we all wrote on the first day of high school: Remember this your last year. Do your best to get through.

~Miss Naz~

Exams

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads out there! Also, can you guys believe this is my 20^th post already?!

OK so it has officially been one week since the school closed (it’s OK, Nazareth Academy will always be open in my heart.) Even though school is over, many of us are stuck in the annoying process of final exams, or in this case, Regent Exams. Not fun.

But just a few more exams and then we will have to walk out of Nazareth Academy sadly. As much as I want to get these exams over with, I still really want to stay at Naz. I would like to wish our Seniors good luck too! The very last class to ever graduate from Nazareth, the 139^th graduating class, the class of 2010! I would list your names but I don’t think I’m allowed to do that on a public blog…. But don’t worry, we know who you are.

Now, after that announcement, I have another. My blog, SOS, may also be closing soon, unless I can get some more ideas. But don’t worry! I’ll only be closing for the summer! I will definitely have more to talk about next year! You know I wouldn’t completely abandon you guys, right? Right. I’ll be here for just a few more weeks and then I will see you again in September!

Just one more half a day of Nazareth ever sadly. Well for me. Good luck to everyone while taking their last few exams!

~Miss Naz~

It's not over yet

Well there it is. The last day we will ever spend in Nazareth. Man have I had some great times!

I might have to make this post brief seeing that I am writing this only seconds after I got home from school on Friday and I am not sure how long I will actually be able to see my computer. But one thing I do want to say is I will miss everyone soooo much! Nazareth has shown me some of the best years of my life and I can’t even imagine going to a new school next year!

And, sure, Nazareth Academy the location is over. But Nazareth Academy is NOT over. And no I don’t mean its not over because it is going over to Aquinas, I mean that I don’t think the world has even seen the beginning of what Nazareth Academy can do. Nazareth Academy will always be open no matter what! They can close our school but they can’t get rid of what Nazareth has taught all of us, what makes us different from all the other schools around. At Nazareth we have heart!

I have been talking with a friend of mine who has never attended a Catholic school before, let alone Nazareth and she told me this: “you think you’re crying? I’m graduating!…. ya i could image you are such a close knit group because there are so few of you!” And here is what I had to say to her: “Naz girls love our school. We consider it our home and our sisters. It’s not just the students that are family! The alumni are too! All of us are very close and I know it sounds crazy but there really is a connection between all of the Naz girls, no matter what graduating year!”

Well, I think I am going to have to leave now for the reason stated before. And yes I will continue to post so please come back next week.

Goodbye for now!

No longer a student, but forever an alumni, ~Miss Naz~

New Uniforms?

So if you have been reading my blog, you will remember my post, Naz Girls, where I said, “Being a Naz girl means having the confidence to walk up to anyone wearing a Nazareth shirt, no matter where you are, and starting a conversation.” Well, the other day I had yet another experience of this.

After school, I made a quick stop at a store pretty far from Nazareth. While I was waiting in the check-out line, the cashier saw my uniform and asked, “What year?” After I told her what class I'm in, she started asking me if I knew a family member of hers that went there. That’s what I always look forward to! But you know, there is a little problem. How are these people going to recognize us next year? Well...I mean by other than our amazing personalities and dashing great looks, of course!

Next year, we will be wearing our new schools uniforms (unless, of course, your new school is letting Nazareth students wear the Naz uniforms.) Honestly, I don’t know if I like that or not yet. I think it will be hard next year to wear a shirt that says “Aquinas” or “Bishop Kearney” on the front without dying a little inside every time we see ourselves wearing one. I mean, don’t get me wrong. To all of you AQ and BK people out there: It's not that I hate the uniforms...it's just that after so many years of being filled with Nazareth pride, I think we can all agree it would hurt terribly to become anything else.

Of course, there are many more questions traveling around Nazareth right now. Do the juniors really have to buy all new uniforms for just one year? Are their uniforms even as comfy as the Nazareth uniforms? Can't I wear sneakers any more? Does AQ even have a uniform, or do they just raid JCPenney?

Well last week I asked the question: "Do you think we should have a say from Aquinas students more often?" And since two of you said yes and you were the only voters (Come on people! Show a little support here! Tell your friends!), AQ Girl and I came to an agreement. Now, we figured since the schools are “merging,” (HA! Yeah right...merging. I laugh every time I hear that!) we would NOT want a merge on the blogs. So we decided to have two separate blogs: one for AQ and one for Naz. From now on, every story I write will be complimented by a similar one on the AQ blog (Always Strive for that Which We Were Made). So, to hear AQ Girl's ideas on Nazareth getting new uniforms, head on over to her blog now!

See you next week on SOS and please read, comment, vote on polls, make a sound, wave a flag, light a flare, do any thing! Let me know you are reading and send me some ideas! Actually… don’t light a flare. I love you guys, but I really don’t want to see you on the news tonight…

~Miss Naz~