Aspinwall's Christ the Divine kicks off new year

It wouldn’t be the first day of school at Christ the Divine Teacher Catholic Academy without the traditional Popsicles-with-the-principal celebration.

Nearly 170 students in kindergarten through eighth grade kicked off the new school year on Aug. 25, ending the day with a sweet treat.

School leaders said everyone appeared excited to be back at it.

It was the first time in two years, since the covid pandemic first hit, that routines returned to normal, according to Katie Lovett, director of marketing.

“Students are eating lunch together, we’re back at school Mass as an entire school community and masking is optional,” Lovett said. “The students are excited to get back to field trips together too.”

There are plenty of improvements for students and staff to look forward to at the Aspinwall school this year.

The gym was painted and new bleachers will be installed this fall. New entrance doors will be installed at the main building as will water bottle filling stations.

“We’ve added 90 new Chromebooks for our second to fourth grades and new laptops for all of the faculty,” Lovett said.

Principal Mark Grgurich said he was excited to kick off the school year and see the kids’ smiles.

“The upgrades to our buildings and technology continue to allow CDTCA to offer the very best to our students and staff,” Grgurich said.

Lovett said everyone is looking forward to resuming service projects and outreach in the community.

“Our students and staff have been resilient over these past two years and everyone is looking forward to getting back to normal,” she said.