We are all Newman Cardinals—The City is our Campus

While our Girls and Boys Basketball players made us proud over this past weekend (the girls took on Penguin Hall at Emmanuel College on Friday, and the boys faced Cushing Academy at TD Garden on Saturday), the big Community Spotlight this week shines brightest on exactly what its title inspires: the Newman Community—with its big, open heart celebrating our teams…and so much more. 

It wasn’t all that long ago when large, in-person gatherings could not even be considered (think spring of 2020 and a couple of years following!). What a thrill, then, that we were able to gather last weekend in such great numbers for festivities during which the value of community—and the importance of relationships—that Newman espouses were truly manifest. 

The Athletic Program at Newman has aims far beyond individual or team successes. Like feeling alive in Boston is sometimes synonymous with being a local sports fan, being a Cardinals fan is part of our school’s vitality. Just as we rally together in Boston, and—dare we say—other cities and states, around our beloved professional sports teams, the Newman community also gets to bond and nurture its spirit through our very own sports teams. (And what other school gets to call the New Balance facility their home court, the TD Garden SportsDeck their pre-game venue, and a college court or the Celtics’ famed parquet floor their weekend play space?!)

In that vein, our basketball players gave us an inspiring focal point over the weekend. Current Newman families, trustees, alumni, faculty, and staff, and even a few prospective students and their families, came together—many dressed in Cardinal red—to cheer on our athletes, certainly, but also to celebrate our connection. 

One of the value propositions at Newman is that our size and use of the city as our campus help us achieve excellence in specialized ways—for example, through sports, robotics, or the arts—while nurturing a dynamic community of supporting teachers, students, and parents. Exemplifying this, at the pre-game activities and games themselves, we had a turn-out of about 100 and 400 people on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Students and families not involved in basketball turned out in droves, not simply because our teams are excellent and entertaining to watch, but also because we are a community of people invested in all that our school has to offer, even beyond our particular or personal primary areas of interest. To wit, our artists and their families love to watch the games, just as our athletes and their families love to enjoy our arts; Newman musicians and thespians and their families are inspired by our robotics team, and our robotics team members and their families love to listen to our musicians and attend theater performances. Examples of these exchanges of support go on and on.

And so, we are especially grateful for last weekend’s two well-planned, thoughtful events that included Newman community members in multiple ways—from the delicious pizza party before the girls’ game that included glossy programs and Cardinal swag for the taking (pennants, stickers, and the like), to the girls’ game itself (and their handling of Penguin Hall in dominant fashion), to the raffle and silent auction (which wrapped up on Saturday at the elegant-yet-sporty SportsDeck pre-game reception), to the Halftime Hang during the boys’ game, to more hot-off-the-press Newman swag…there was virtually something for everyone! 

The TD Garden event on Saturday seemed to mirror the School itself—small and intimate, yet global in scope—with two hours of good cheer (plentiful conversation, food, drink, and photo-booth fun) in the intimate space of the SportsDeck, followed by a highly competitive matchup on the Boston Celtics’ world-renowned court. (For many attendees, the vast stands for spectators, bright lights, that unique parquet floor, and the Garden’s jumbotron had only been experienced from their home TV screens!) About 75 lucky youths (as well as some adults in “supervisory” roles) also experienced an extra-special opportunity: attempting free throws and three-pointers at the half, and thus getting to feel that famous squeaky floor beneath their own sneakers! 

Whenever a broad swath of Newman constituents come together, as was the case at the TD garden on Saturday night, there is always a certain sparkle in the room that seems to speak to the shared discovery and appreciation of our little gem of a school on the corner of Marlborough and the World. 

The community thanks the Advancement team for organizing and subsidizing “Newman in the New Year,” and for providing the structure and venue for our shared magic to shine under the spotlight. 

In turn, the Advancement team would like to acknowledge the support of Newman’s Board of Trustees and thank all of those who attended the event (or participated virtually!), with a special shout out to those who contributed raffle and auction items and to those who put in bids or purchased tickets for the raffle; those proceeds will go directly into the Newman Fund, which is an important lifeblood for our school. 

Go Cardinals! Go Newman! Go Boston! We are one big community with the BEST City as our Campus!

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Thank you for such a fantastic time on January 11!  Never thought I would watch a high school basketball tournament at the TD Garden for a second time in my teaching career but thanks to you I did.  The 1/11/2025 event will always be a standout memory of my educational career.  

 

~Newman teacher

The team working on this project was awesome. Everyone was willing to lend a hand and to take anything on and go with it. Everyone's flexibility and willingness to help was inspiring, and that's what made the event so welcoming and enjoyable, helping us achieve the overall vision of creating a community-building experience for Newman. 

 

~Event organizer

After the game I realized that I had just sat on the Celtics bench. That I just used the same elevator LeBron used before his famous game 6. So, yeah, it was a pretty cool experience!

 

~Newman coach