Dear Parents and Students of Maurice Hawk for the 2018-2019 school year,

I have to begin by saying it has been my privilege to serve as President of the Maurice Hawk PTA for the last couple years. What a ride these 5 years have been for me and my children. I can’t stress enough how much we have enjoyed being part of the Hawk family.

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.

Here are some highlights from 2018-2019:
We welcomed Officer Shane with open arms. He has become a big part of the Hawk Family and a total Rockstar among our students.

The PTA funded student assemblies which showcased Tony Memmel (A special needs Guitarist), Mad Science, Sister and Brother Make a Show (miming). Some of the PTA special events for parents included: Inside the Cafeteria lunch line, Meet the Specials, Room Parents Breakfast, Volunteers Social, PTA Breakfast.

Parent Volunteers put on very successful Field Days, Candy Bar Bingo, 2 very successful Book fairs, Story Time with teachers, Blanket the World, Literacy Festival, Our first ever Ice-Skating Family Outing, Faculty Appreciation Coffee, Plainsboro Food Pantry Drive, Science Fair, A very successful themed Staff Appreciation week with a staff lunch, International Fair (sold-out event), Family Carnival, 3^rd Grade Picnic, produced an awesome yearbook for our graduating 3^rd graders. I have to add without the help of our custodian Eli and Met the set-up of these events wouldn’t have been possible.

Our annual teachers mini-grants ($10,300) helped fund Ukulele’s, Books in Special Needs classroom, Math books for Read Alouds, Dual language book collection, Diverse texts for book clubs, 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: Sejal Pandya, Padma Katapalli, Graelynn McKeown, Minhwa Cho, Vasanti Anand, Neelam Kapoor Khanna, and Stephanie Thomas. Though myself and Stephanie Thomas are moving on and Graelynn McKeown is stepping down from the board, We welcome Gaurav Saxena, Mamta Kashyap and Veena Pathak 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! Have fun! Read! Do math every day! Above all else, do the right thing!” And speaking of doing the right thing, 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-hawk22

Sonia Gawas, President MH PTA
You can always reach me on my personal email at sonia.gawas@gmail.com or 609-647-9948.

P.S. Back to School Social will be here before we know it. See you then!

2019-20 PTA Board

The Nomination committee presented its report on the slate of the nominees for the 2019-20 PTA Board.

The Slate of nominees are:
President – Sejal Pandya
Executive VP – Padma Reddy K
Secretary – Veena Pathak
Treasurer – Minhwa Cho
VP, Events – Neelam Kapoor Khanna
VP, Communications – Gaurav Raj Saxena
VP, Membership – Mamta Kashyap

Additionally, they recommend Vasanti Subramanian Anand for the By-Laws Standing Committee Chair

At this point, nominations can be taken from the floor on the day of the election; therefore, if you have intent on running for the above positions, you must email the committee, your intent to run (in writing) by May 15. Elections will be held on May 23 at our last general meeting of the school year.

Thank You!