On Thursday, April 10th, Bigelow 7th graders were invited to watch and participate in the engaging and inspirational performance of the Mayhem Poets. The Mayhem Poets offer timely, youthful, humorous, and hip spoken word poetry that reflects the thoughts, issues, and concerns of young people today. 

“Let’s go see a poetry show.” That is a sentence rarely proclaimed and usually responded to with cringes and excuses. The Mayhem Poets are on a mission to change that. Having been dubbed “an amazing ride” by the New York Times, this mind boggling performance has been described as “The Simpsons meets Malcolm X at a Notorious B.I.G. concert”. These theatre-trained, comedically-gifted, lyrical virtuosos seamlessly blend raw elements of hip hop, theatre, improv and stand-up comedy to tell gut-wrenching truths that leave audiences forever changed.

The Mayhem Poet’s unique approach to spoken word has landed them feature spots on The Today Show and Eyewitness News, after winning 1st place and a grant for 100K in the Microsoft Idea Wins Challenge in 2006. Since then they’ve been touring internationally from legendary venues like Lincoln Center, the Apollo Theatre, and Broadway’s New Victory Theatre; to hundreds of universities and local schools of all grades.

Please see below videos from their performance at Bigelow as well as samples of their events:

Bigelow Video 1
Bigelow Video 2
Video Sample (22 minutes)  (performance/audience participation)
Video Sample – short (audience participation)
Video Sample – short (performance) 

Creative Arts and Sciences (CAS) presentations are made possible by your generous donations to the PTO. Thank you!

Last Friday’s “Tropical Twist” Dance Party and Social was a HUGE success!

Many thanks to Paul Chin for spearheading this amazing event.

Special thanks to Principal Green, Student Council Advisor Mr. Leone, Mr. Mogensen, Bigelow Custodians, and Student Council Members for all their help.

Finally, thank you to the MANY parents who volunteer at the dance: Hai Ly, Rachanee Nelson, Erica O’Toole, Alex & Aparna Rolfe, Eugene Rhee, Mandy Carozza, Dominique Fowler, Alberto Pina, Jordan Wu, Angela Trimmis, Victoria Peake, and Anna & Neil Donnelly.

Tickets to Friday’s much anticipated “Tropical Twist” Dance + Social are now available! Tickets are $10 and include a slice of pizza and a drink. Additional refreshments will be available for purchase at the event.

Pre-Sale Tickets are available via:

• Cash: In school at lunch this week
• Venmo: @BigelowPTONewton
  • Please include student name and “dance” in the note
  • Pre-sale tickets via Venmo will be accepted until 5 pm on Friday, 4/11.

Tickets will also be available for purchase at the door (Cash or Venmo) until 7:55 pm. No Admittance after 7:55 pm.

Parents & Caregivers: It is not too late to sign up to volunteer! We need chaperones to be able to put on this popular event!

A few notes to keep the event running smoothly:

• Students are not allowed to leave the dance by themselves. An adult must be present at pick up.
• This event is open for current Bigelow students only.

On Tuesday evening, the Bigelow PTO held our third PTO meeting of the year via Zoom. We discussed planning for the Bigelow PTO budget and officers, as well as how families can support Newton Public Schools (NPS) by advocating for next year’s NPS budget.

• PTO Planning: We are incredibly grateful for the dozens of Bigelow community members who contributed to PTO events and activities so far this year—and those planning ahead for what’s still to come! Bigelow PTO needs more volunteers for the 2025-26 school year! Please see this form for more information and to express interest in volunteer opportunities. 

• NPS Budget: We encourage all Bigelow families to contact Newton Mayor Fuller (rfuller@newtonma.gov) and their City Councilors to urge them to provide adequate funding for NPS in the upcoming year.

You can view the meeting presentation slides via this link. The presentation includes an overview of PTO events and open PTO volunteer roles, as well as details on easy ways Bigelow families can voice their support for the NPS budget to Newton’s elected officials.

Thank you for being an active part of the Bigelow community!

Please Support our 2024-2025 Yearbook!

To order your copy of our yearbook, CLICK HERE or go to https://ybpay.lifetouch.com and enter our yearbook ID code 14403625.  Then enter your name and grade. Click next and follow the online prompts to complete your order.  Enter your payment directly on the website with a credit card.

All personalized yearbook copies and hardcover upgrades must be placed by Sunday, May 11, 2025.  After this date, our final yearbook order has been placed and the number of available copies left online will be limited to a first-come first serve basis.  Thank you!

Thanks to Bigelow PTO’s amazing volunteers, we enjoyed two awesome community events last weekend!

Ten Tables
Many fellow Bigelow parents gathered together to enjoy food & drinks at the Ten Tables progressive dinner and fundraiser on Saturday night. Huge thank you to Kathy Shields for pulling off this spectacular evening! And a big thank you to our gracious hosts:

• Katherine Liao & Eugene Rhee
• Kathy & Dave Shields
• Mandy & Michael Carozza
• Samantha Morton & Mike Champion
• Rodrigo & Fabiola Canales

Bigelow FORJ at Boston Bowl
On Sunday, many Bigelow families enjoyed an afternoon of bowling and arcade games in Boston. Special thanks to our Bigelow FOJR Team, Jeanne Choe-Arrieta, Angela Brooks, Hai Ly Burk, and Rachanee Nelson, for bringing families together for this event.

We are grateful for our Bigelow Commmunity!

Enjoy some photos from Boston Bowl:

Every first Wednesday, we’ve been encouraging students to walk, bike, carpool or take the bus to school with our Walk and Roll days. They get more exercise and it is better for the environment. In honor of Earth month in April, we are devoting a whole week to this!  Does your child have trouble getting up in the morning and need a ride to get to school on time?  Drive them partway and have them walk the rest, or drive them in the morning and ask them to walk home.  If your route is too dangerous, arrange to carpool with neighbors, friends, or family.  The fewer cars idling, the better!  We are encouraging staff to do this as well!

Save the Date for NewtonServes at Bigelow Grounds: Sunday May 4, 2025 NewtonSERVES is a city-wide day of building community through service. NewtonSERVES projects focus on cleaning and improving our parks, school grounds, open space areas, and conservation lands. Save the date, Sunday, May 4th, to build our Bigelow Community while reinvigorating the green areas around the school.

Learn more: https://www.newtonma.gov/government/parks-recreation-culture/newton-serves

Greetings Bigelow families!

My name is David Padgett, dad to Charlie (8th grader), and I’m just a few weeks away from taking on the 129th Boston Marathon! I’m running to raise money for the Newton School Foundation and I’m hoping you can help me reach my fundraising goal of $10,000!

Click here to support David and the Newton School Foundation

Thank you!