HARTSDALE — Maria Regina High School is celebrating National Catholic Schools Week, January 27-31, with events engaging students, families, faculty, administration, alumnae, and the community in highlighting Catholic education’s distinctive qualities.

“Maria Regina is raising the bar with this year’s program that will truly fulfill the overarching theme, ‘United in Faith and Community,'” said Maria Carozza-McCaffrey, principal of the all-girls Catholic high school and a 1999 graduate.

Members of Maria Regina’s Foroige Leadership for Life Club launched the weeklong celebration Monday, January 27, outside “The Today Show” studios in Rockefeller Center, displaying a banner supporting Catholic Schools Week. This repeats their successful appearance on the national morning show last year.

Other highlights include:

— Launching a communitywide campaign honoring the “Greatest Generation” on the 80th anniversary of World War II victory. Students will research and create a virtual Wall of Honor featuring family members of the administration, faculty, alumnae, and community who served during World War II. They plan to dedicate the Wall of Honor, which will be archived on the school’s website, on May 8, Victory in Europe (VE) Day. With fewer than one percent of the Greatest Generation still living, students will honor survivors and their families at a special ceremony, with details forthcoming.

— Hosting a dress-down day fundraiser for the Capuchin Food Truck Ministry, supporting California fire victims.

— Organizing a diaper drive collecting diapers and wipes for Birthright in Peekskill, which provides confidential support to women experiencing unplanned pregnancies.

Students will pray a student-written litany for those affected by the California fires and participate in a two-day workshop led by the Dobbs Ferry-based JCK Foundation, which promotes mental wellness in schools, businesses, and communities.

“We’re also recognizing our outstanding students with periodic PA announcements and certificates acknowledging their classroom and community achievements,” Carozza-McCaffrey said. “Faculty members will present students with small tokens of appreciation.”

The schedule follows the National Catholic Educational Association‘s model with daily themes: Monday: Celebrating Your Community Tuesday: Celebrating Vocations; Wednesday: Celebrating the Nation; Thursday: Celebrating Your Students; Friday: Celebrating Faculty, Staff, and Volunteers.

Maria Regina High School is a Catholic institution encouraging young women to achieve academic excellence, empowering them to be compassionate leaders, and enriching them with the Spirit to live lives of charity, truth, and service to others.