Compiled by Paul McMullen and Erik Zygmont
2013
The year senior Katie Sauter, now at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., began a “Pink Out” basketball game at Mount de Sales Academy in Catonsville to honor her late mother Carol’s battle with cancer. The Sailors held their fourth annual Pink Out game Feb. 3, when all proceeds were donated to the St. Agnes Breast Cancer Foundation to help breast cancer patients and their families. Money was raised through a bake sale, raffle, and a “Wall of Hearts,” where Pink paper hearts were sold for $1 in memory of someone affected by cancer. The gym entrance was decorated in pink balloons and Sailor players wore jerseys with pink lettering and pink socks (pictured below). The 59-50 victory over St. John’s Catholic Prep in Frederick made for a memorable Senior Night for Maise Birrane, Sam Kenjorski, Becca MacDonald, Josie Whelan and Madi Wrisk.
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The enrollment at Monsignor Slade Catholic School in Glen Burnie, which began Catholic Schools Week Jan. 31 by encouraging students to wear their uniform to Sunday Mass. Shown pictured below are Amaya and Aria Stewart with Monsignor Jay O’Connor at Our Lady of the Fields in Millersville, and Joey and Connie Angerome with Father John Williamson at St. Augustine in Elkridge.
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Voices in the Institute of Notre Dame’s choral group, pictured below, which visited Baltimore’s City Hall Feb. 22 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first performance of the city’s municipal anthem, “Baltimore, Our Baltimore.”
The song was written by Folger McKinsey of Elkton, Maryland, a century ago. The journalist and protégé of Walt Whitman submitted the lyrics as an entry in the city’s municipal anthem contest that was being run by a local radio station. Emma Hemberger, a wife of a violist, composed the music.
According to a news release from the school, few knew of the song’s existence, let alone having heard it performed. “It is a somewhat strange melody and definitely has some difficult harmonies. It isn’t as accessible as a community song should be, although it’s beautiful once you get used to it!” said Dan Meyer, IND’s music teacher and choir director Dan Meyer.
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Years JoEllen Gray, pictured left, has taught at Elizabeth Seton High School in Bladensburg. Gray, a parishioner of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Crofton, joked to the Catholic Standard that she “can’t get away from” the first native-born American saint. Founder of Seton High’s LEAD (Learning Engineering and Design) program, she received an Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award from the Washington Post and in March will receive a Lead, Learn, Proclaim award from the National Catholic Educational Association. Gray was profiled in the Catholic Standard, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. 6
The students from Catholic schools earning recognition in the 29th annual Champions of Courage essay contest, including Sia Lessis, a sixth-grader at Our Lady of Hope/St. Luke School in Dundalk, who shared third place for her thoughts on the inspiration of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. Also recognized: Therese Bailey and Katherine Munter, both of St. Augustine School, Elkridge; Sara Green, Our Lady of Hope/St. Luke School; Tyrese Saunar of St. Agnes School in Catonsville and Charleez Simcik, St. John School in Westminster. Lessis and Green are shown pictured below with Vytas Reid of WBFF Fox 45 TV, among the sponsors of the contest.
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Number of years St. Louis School in Clarksville has held an annual STEM Family Fun Night. Held during Catholic Schools Week, this year’s event, pictured below, featured special guest Eric Energy, who introduced the group to frozen carbon dioxide, bubbling potions and electronic voice alteration software. STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – is an integral component of St. Louis School, a certified X-STEM institution by the USA Science and Engineering Festival.
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Awards won by Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Towson at the Future City competition, in which middle school students from the Mid-Atlantic region design and build cities of the future that showcase solutions to a sustainability issue. Team moderator and Immaculate Heart teacher Mary Renehan was named Outstanding Educator; the team won Most Innovative.
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Educators honored at Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn in recognition of Catholic Schools Week. Social studies teacher Daniel McGrain won Educator of the Year, by vote of Spalding faculty, staff, students and parents. A teacher of several courses including AP courses, as well as moderator of Spalding’s “It’s Academic” team, McGrain’s teaching style was described by a student as promoting “understanding, rather than simply memorizing the facts.”
Winning the Kathy Sanders Spirit of Spalding Award, named for a selfless and faith-filled school nurse, was Marcie Gibbons, Spalding’s licensed clinical social therapist. Gibbons is known for teaching resiliency and self-management skills at Spalding and in the surrounding community.