St. Andrew the Apostle welcomes new computer club

ROMEOVILLE—St. Andrew the Apostle School in Romeoville has a new computer club for students in grades 7 and 8. The purpose of the St. Andrew the Apostle Computer Club is for students to learn how to fix and repair computer equipment, help maintain the school Web page, test new software programs, write technology articles for the church bulletin, take and post digital pictures of school activities throughout the school and help coordinate the Type Your Heart Out Contest held for the schools in the Diocese of Joliet during February.

The computer club meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month immediately after school until 4 p.m. The computer club coordinator is Janet Zilka, the technology instructor at St. Andrew the Apostle School.

Donations update St. Walter

ROSELLE—An anonymous donor has recently enabled St. Walter School in Roselle to update some of its technology on campus. A $10,000 donation enabled the school to purchase flat screen TVs and monitors to be used as teaching tools in first-fourth grades; the upper grade levels already had some.

The TVs are used like a chalkboard that’s interactive. The teachers are able to type on the screen and stay active on it while they teach the students. They can use the Internet during class to access more information on the subject at hand. For example, if in they are learning about frogs—the teacher could pull up a Web site about frogs to provide more information.

The school also received an anonymous donation last year that it put to good use. The $15,000 donation was used to create a new science lab for eighth graders. The room was redesigned by a team of professionals and includes large experimenting areas (six tables for students to work in small groups), several added electrical outlets and expansive cabinetry for storage of necessary equipment. In addition, the redesign the room was upgraded with new technology including electronic balances, dissecting microscopes and a new video microscope that connects to the computer and television.

Immaculate Conception helps hungry

MORRIS—Immaculate Conception School in Morris and the parish Office of Religious Education co-sponsored a Hunger Walk Nov. 5 to benefit area food pantries during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. Over $700 was distributed to food pantries at the following churches: First United Methodist, First Presbyterian, Immaculate Conception, Bethlehem Lutheran, St. Thomas Episcopal, and Park Street Congregational in Mazon.

Participants sought pledges to sponsor their efforts to walk 6.2 miles on a crisp November afternoon. There were 110 walkers in the event along the I & M Canal beginning and ending at Gebhard Woods State Park.

Several of the participants were doing service projects as part of their confirmation program. Many of the walkers were I.C.S. students and students from the Immaculate Conception Religious Education Program. There were also a number of walkers from area churches, including the youth group from the First United Methodist Church.

A few days earlier, Immaculate Conception School students participated in the Nov. 1 All Saints Day Mass.

In preparation for the Mass, each class selected a patron saint and studied the life of that saint. One representative from each class dressed as that saint. During the liturgy, the students portraying saints processed into the sanctuary and read a short biography of the saint.

The saints chosen by the classes and the student portraying them were as follows: preschool—St. Bernadette—Shaeyle Varner, kindergarten—St. John the Apostle—Hunter Welch, first grade—St. Elizabeth—Elizabeth Vejr, second grade—St. Bruno—Nick Kilgore, third grade—St. Rose of Viterbo—Alicia Boers, fourth grade—St. Vincent De Paul—Nick Borgstrom, fifth grade—Mother Teresa—Hannah Werden, sixth grade—St. Elizabeth Ann Seton—Jackie DesLauriers, sixth grade—St. Jude—Ryan Borgstrom, seventh grade—St. James the Greater—Jimmy Vejr, and eighth grade—St. Mother Theodore Guerin. The sixth grade chose two patron saints because there are two sixth grade classes.

St. Charles Borromeo students gather in prayer

BENSENVILLE—Students in eighth, seventh and sixth grades at St. Charles Borromeo School in Bensenville participated in a Living Scriptural Rosary in honor of the Holy Mother, Mary. Each student represented a Hail Mary prayer and placed a rose in a vase after reading a scriptural passage from the Joyful Mysteries. Adults read the Our Father prayers and placed a candle by each decade of flowers.

Earlier in the school year, the eighth-grade student council held its Great Pumpkin raffle. A pumpkin grown by the Kramer family of St. Charles Borromeo Parish was donated as the grand prize as well as a pumpkin pie to the lucky winner. An assortment of other Halloween related prizes were also donated.

St. Jude student excel in academics

NEW LENOX—Eighth-grade and seventh-grade students from St. Jude School in New Lenox, recently competed in team and individual events at the Providence High School Academic Bowl. The areas considered were mathematics, language arts, science, social studies and geography. All of the questions were on the high-school level.

Seventh graders Katherine Formentini placed fifth and Sammy Giglio placed sixth in mathematics. Seventh grader Rachel Andrews took sixth place in science. Eighth grader Ryan Kuna received a first place in geography.

Placing seventh out of 22 teams was the eighth grade team of Mardez Smith, Cassie Barnas, Matt Ruettiger, Madeline Schmidt, Kuna, Sarah Formentini, Bryanna Garwood, Maggie Ruettiger, Ann Grossmayer and Jessica Glennon.

The seventh grade team placed seventh out of 20 teams. Members of the team included Mike Helmke, Rachel Johnson, Annie Wegrzyn, Formentini, Jake Holzhauer, Bobby Golinvaux, Shane Senyeard, Andrews, Reanna Peterman and Giglio.

St. Mary students help soldiers

WEST CHICAGO—The students of St. Mary School in West Chicago recently mailed 43 boxes of donated items to soldiers serving in Iraq. Everything from candy to deodorant and bug repellant to Christmas decorations were donated. Many of the students included personal and hand-made cards and letters to accompany the packages. Postage was entirely donated by many school families and faculty.

The mailing of the packages coincided with the students learning about Veteran’s Day and its intention to honor and celebrate those who serve the country in the United States and abroad. The school community prayer continues to be that all soldiers come home safely and soon.

Nancy Coughlin, principal of St. Mary’s Parish School, came up with the idea for the collection after hearing about the plight of her nephew’s unit, the members of the U.S. Army 172nd Stryker Brigade. They were thrilled to learn they were going home in August from Iraq and eagerly awaited their orders to return to their families. Their replacements arrived, but the order never came for them to go home; instead the 172nd Stryker Brigade was ordered to serve yet another tour in Baghdad.

St. Michael hosts fantastic fiesta

WHEATON—On Nov. 17, St. Michael School’s Parent Organization raised $145,000 at its 14th annual auction fundraiser. This year’s theme was “Friday Fiesta Fantastica” and held at The Hilton in Lisle. Funds raised from the 300 bidding paddles at the auction were designated to be used to enhance the overall educational experience for St. Michael students and staff, including the installation of an elevator for students, teachers and guests at the school. The funds also assisted with teacher bonuses, tuition assistance, cultural events and art awareness.

St. Petronille assists convention

GLEN ELLYN—St. Petronille School in Glen Ellyn played an active role recently in the annual convention of the Illinois Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. The 75th annual convention was held on Nov. 16-18 at Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Illinois. The convention was attended by teaching professionals from all over the state of Illinois. IAHPERD is a group that is committed to improving children’s health through physical and health education.

In addition to taking advantage of the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with other physical and health educators, St. Petronille physical education and swim instructor, Christine Giunta-Mayer, conducted two of the IAHPERD workshops on the topics of “Team-building Activities in the Pool” and “Pool Games and Fun.” The workshops were instructive and interactive, using some of Mayer’s own seventh and eighth grade students to demonstrate the activities.

The convention’s keynote speaker, George Graham, launched the event by talking about “Remodeling Physical Education for the Future.”

St. Jude teacher earns honor

JOLIET—Terry Jostes, kindergarten teacher at St. Jude School in Joliet, recently received the honor of being named in “Who’s Who Among American Teachers.” Jostes has dedicated over 30 years to the teaching profession. The last 25 years have been spent with the Joliet Diocese, and for 13 of those years she has taught at St. Jude School in Joliet.

Other recent announcements included the election of the 2006-2007 student council representatives. Eighth grade co-presidents are Chris Andrae and Aryel Adelmann, eighth grade vice-president is Amy Klipsch, seventh grade vice-president is Laura Fox, secretary, Jake Jankowski, and Treasurer Rebecca Schroeder.

Representatives for eighth grade are Dan Harvey and Emma McGee, seventh grade reps are Nick Clark and Alexandra Wyss. Sixth grade representatives are Adam Janusz and Nicki Kesselring. Fifth grade representatives are Alex Pettenuzzo and Max Jankowski.

In other school news, the third graders in Bonnie Ramsay’s class at St. Jude School recently participated in a program sponsored by Scholastic Book Clubs. The program is called Classrooms Care, Reading Is Giving. The class read 100 books and as a result, 100 books are slated to be donated to kids in need. The students received a certificate of participation from the book club.

Checkmate is uttered often at St. Joseph

LOCKPORT—On Nov. 17, the St. Joseph School in Lockport Chess Club participated in the St. Mary, Mokena Annual Chess Tournament. It was the students’ second year attending the tournament consisted of four rounds of chess.

The members representing the school were: sixth grader—Gabbie Liskovec, fifth graders—Antonio Rivera, Collin Russell and Andre Simon, and fourth grader Eric Hennenfent.

On the same day, the Lockport school held its annual Soup Day. Each student in the school, along with the help of their teachers and many volunteer adults, played an important part in the much-anticipated event.

The day began with entertainment provided by the first grade class that performed the play, “Stone Soup.” Fifth through eighth graders acted as narrators for the performance. Following the play, representatives of second grade, third grade and fourth grade presented choral readings.

Upon completion of the program, the students and staff proceeded to the lunchroom where they shared in a meal of homemade soup, cornbread and cookies. The student body carried out preparations for the meal. First grade students made real butter from whipping cream. Second and third graders baked cornbread, while fourth and fifth grade made cookies. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders shared in peeling and chopping vegetables for the soup.

Third and fourth grade students made placemats and kindergarten students made turkey centerpieces. Prior to sharing their meal, the kindergarten class led the assembly in prayer.

St. Patrick fifth-graders take part in holiday baking tradition

JOLIET—Fifth grade students at St. Patrick School in Joliet recently spent the afternoon creating a holiday dessert no Thanksgiving table would be without—pumpkin pie. The annual pie-making event is a tradition for fifth-grade teacher Kathleen Delach, one that begun in her own family when her children were young that transferred over to her school class.

Prior to “pie day” students and their families donated many of the necessary ingredients: eggs, sugar, piecrusts, etc. Delach and her students also took advantage of the fall harvest and use only fresh pumpkins for their pies.

Each student took part in the pie-making process, from cracking eggs to measuring spices to mixing the pumpkin concoction and pouring it into the waiting piecrusts. The process also offered an impromptu math lesson for the students. When the pumpkin dwindled down to only half of what the recipe calls for, Delach had students figure out in their heads what each ingredient measurement would be if it were halved.

After parent volunteers baked the pies in the school’s kitchen, the class was able to enjoy the fruits of their labor—complete with whipped topping, of course.

Another annual holiday celebration at St. Patrick School included the All Saints day Mass. Because the school’s student body is as culturally diverse as the thousands of Catholic saints, this year St. Patrick School chose to honor saints whose ethnic backgrounds are representative of the student population during the school’s All Saints Day Mass.

Nine holy people were chosen for this year’s celebration, and portraits of their lives were read at the start of Mass. The saints were portrayed by St. Patrick students whose own ethnic backgrounds matched those of the saints they represented.

The saints/backgrounds represented at the Mass, and the students who portrayed them were: Mother Teresa of Calcutta/Indian (Radha Patel, fifth grade); St. Martin de Porres/African-American (Devin Ingram, fifth grade); St. Stanislaus of Cracow/ Polish (Nick Jagodzinski, sixth grade); St. Katherine Drexel/American (Trisha Schultz, fifth grade); Our Lady of Guadalupe/Spanish-Mexican (Julia Liceaga, fifth grade) and Juan Diego/Aztec Indian (Michael Becerra, fifth grade); Our Lady of La Vang/Vietnamese (Vicky Nguyen, sixth grade); Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha/Native American (Valerie Richards, third grade); and St. Patrick/Irish (Patrick O’Malley, kindergarten).

Holy Trinity math team adds success to equation

WESTMONT—What is the square of the reciprocal of 0.0625? This was one of the questions in the 80-minute math contest Nov. 18 at Nazareth Academy in LaGrange Park, Ill. For the third year, in a row, the Holy Trinity team from Westmont won first place.

Team members were Allie Bugajski, Rachel Elliott, Mark Fuentebella, Kelly Lickteig, Marisa Raineri, and Margaret Scheidel(alternate). Individually, the team members earned the following honors: fifth place—Marisa Raineri, third place—Kelly Lickteig, second place—Rachel Elliott and first place—Mark Fuentebella.