Dear Parents and Students of Maurice Hawk for the 2019-2020 school year,

I have to begin by saying it has been my privilege to serve as President of the Maurice Hawk PTA for this last year and look forward to making next year even better! I can’t stress enough how much being a part of the Hawk family means to me.

I have repeatedly witnessed what a devoted community can do to expand their children’s environment for success. Dozens of volunteers devoted hundreds of hours to make our PTA events, programs, and activities a huge success.

On behalf of the PTA Executive Board, I want to thank our entire school community for their support of our many programs and events for the students at Maurice Hawk Elementary School. From basic membership to chairing an event or program, from volunteering to simply attending an event, your contributions of time, effort, and/or money validates and broadens your child’s educational experience. Further, your support of the PTA expands every child’s opportunity for growth.

From September through March, our children enjoyed learning in their classrooms and throughout the school, socializing with classmates on the playground, and participating in many wonderful events. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, New Jersey Schools were required to close for the safety of the community in mid-March. The teachers and administrators in the district worked together to create a remote learning program for the students, and our children spent the remainder of the school year in a virtual classroom at home. It’s been a very unique experience that they will never forget! While they can’t say farewell to everyone in person, we hope they enjoy the memories of their time at Hawk.

Here are some highlights from 2019-2020:​

The PTA funded student assemblies which showcased The Little Engine That Could, Earns Her Whistle (performed by ArtsPower) and Lasers In Space (presented by Prismatic Magic Laser Program). Our final assembly scheduled in May (The Fairy Godfather) needed to be postponed until next fall due to school closure. Some of the PTA special events for parents included: Inside the Cafeteria lunch line, Room Parents Breakfast and our Superintendent Dr. Aderhold gave an update on the construction at Maurice Hawk School.

Parent Volunteers put on very successful events including our Back to School Nights, Family Movie Night, Candy Bar Bingo, our Fall Book fair, Story Time with teachers, Ice-Skating Family Outing, Faculty Appreciation Coffee, Plainsboro Food Pantry Drive, Science Fair and a virtual Staff Appreciation week. I have to add without the help of our custodial team the set-up of these events wouldn’t have been possible.

Our annual teachers mini-grants ($10,226) helped fund Math Workshop supplies for our Kindergarten and First Grade Classrooms, Building Equity and Inclusion through Literature for our Second Grade Classrooms, Enhanced Instruction with Osmo for our Tech Resource Center, Non-Fiction texts for Social Studies and Science for our Third Grade classrooms, Literacy Resources for our Dual Language Immersion Program ,and more. Again, this was only possible due to the funds raised through our various events during the year.

Join our Facebook Page to check out all the fun and memorable moments from this year. To join the PTA (starting August 1 for next year), sign up to volunteer, or for more information on events, please visit ​hawkpta.org​ or contact a board member.

None of this would have been possible without your membership and support from the staff, teachers, parents, and many volunteers, not to mention the significant contribution and exceptional talents of my fellow board members: Padma Katapalli, Minhwa Cho, Vasanti Anand, Neelam Kapoor Khanna, Gaurav Saxena, Veena Pathak and Mamta Kashyap. I would like to thank our outgoing board members, Neelam and Minhwa for all their support during their time here at Hawk. In addition, I would like to welcome Gina Zhang and Nasira Safdar to the Executive Board and are grateful to them for volunteering their time to continue to make Maurice Hawk a school of which we are all proud.

To the families who are moving on to new locations and new schools, we wish you happy and healthy new beginnings. You will be missed and thought of with great fondness for the memories you have left at Hawk.

Have a great summer and remember “Stay Safe and Healthy! Have fun and enjoy your family and loved ones”. I encourage you to sign up for something new next year, and you can see for yourself what an amazing school we have the privilege of calling our own.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409054ea5a622a20-hawk25

Sejal Pandya,
President MH PTA
You can always reach me at ​president@hawkpta.org​ for further information.

2019-2020 PTA Executive Board

• Sejal Pandya, President
• Padma Katapalli, Vice President
• Veena Pathak, Secretary
• Minhwa Cho, Treasurer
• Gaurav Saxena, VP Communications
• Neelam Khanna, VP Events
• Mamta Kashyap, Membership
• Vasanti Anand, By-Laws