School news: College cuts energy costs, students raise funds for cardiac care for orphans, etc.

 

St. Mark School in Catonsville is raising money for Teresa Bartlinski’s “Love You More Heart Home” in Beijing, China, during “Color Week” May 19-23.  

The heart home is named in memory of Teresa Bartlinski, a 6-year-old St. Mark parishioner who died July 1, 2013 after a lifelong struggle with congenital heart disease. Born in China on Christmas Day 2006, Teresa was adopted by Ann and Ed Bartlinski in 2010. She was the fifth Chinese girl with special needs adopted by the couple, whose family also includes four other children.

The Bartlinskis are in the process of opening the heart home in China. The facility will provide life-saving cardiac care to orphans waiting to be adopted and to poor families who want to keep their children, but can’t afford medical expenses, the Catholic Review previously reported. The Bartlinskis are helping orphanages identify children with cardiac disease so they can be transferred to the center and have the surgery before their hearts and lungs become so damaged that they’re no longer operable.

During “Color Week,” St. Mark students donate money for every day they are out of uniform and participate in the fundraiser. Proceeds benefit the heart home.

The theme May 19 was rainbow color day because Teresa loved rainbows; May 20 was pink day, her favorite color; May 21 was field day, with a “Royal T” race for students; May 22 is red day, which represents the color of a heart; and May 23 is purple day, a color in the Believe in Miracles Foundation.

More than 50 volunteers – students from Maryvale Preparatory School and The Catholic Business Network of Baltimore – helped prepare 10,000 meals in less than two hours May 15, according to the Lutherville school.

Maryvale senior Jasmine Brown, who organized the service event, her classmates and Catholic Business Network volunteers participated in the Stop Hunger Now Meal Packaging Event and local food drive.

Maryvale Preparatory School students Jennifer Wojeck ’19 (left), and Mary Christa McWright ’19, participate in a Stop Hunger Now Meal Packaging Event May 15. (Photo courtesy Maryvale)

Stop Hunger Now is an international hunger relief agency that has been working to end hunger for more than 15 years, according to Maryvale. Since 1998, the organization has coordinated the distribution of food and other life-saving aid to children and families in countries across the glove.

The meal packaging program is an assembly process that combines rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a flavoring mix that includes 21 essential vitamins and minerals into small meal packets, according to the Catholic Business Network. The food stores easily, has a shelf-life of two years and transports quickly. Stop Hunger Now works with international partners that ship and distribute the meals throughout the world.

Volunteers formed an assembly line and made the meals from dried goods, including rice and dehydrated vegetables, according to Maryvale.

Loyola University Maryland one of 10 schools to reduce electricity consumption in national conservation competition

Loyola University Maryland finished in the top 10 of more than 100 schools in North America that competed in Campus Conservation Nationals 2014, the world’s largest electricity and water reduction competition program for colleges and universities, according to the Baltimore institution.

Loyola saved more than 130,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in its residence halls during the CCN monitoring period from March to April, according to Loyola. The reduction is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 18.9 passenger vehicles or the CO2 emissions from 96,361 pounds of coal burned. 

To save energy, students used less hot water, unplugged appliances when not in use, turned off lights and turned off HVAC units in nice weather, according to Loyola.  

Students participated in CCN through the Loyola Unplugged initiative, a mini electricity conservation competition among residence halls organized by the facilities department, according to Loyola. Claver Hall reduced its average consumption by more than 55 percent to take first place, followed by Tantallion Court and Gallagher Court. 

“We were confident this effort was an ideal way to make sustainability fun and more interesting,” Elle Everhart, a program assistant in the facilities department who ran the Loyola Unplugged initiative and entered Loyola into CCN, said in a statement.

In addition, Loyola won two real-time building electricity-monitoring dashboards, according to the school. 

“The dashboards are incredibly valuable because we’ll be able to identify peak times for energy usage, which will help us determine how to reduce and ultimately save on energy costs,” Everhart said in a statement.

This is the first time Loyola participated in the competition, which is in its fourth year.

CCN is sponsored by Lucid, the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, the National Wildlife Federation and the Alliance to Save Energy. 

Our Lady of Perpetual Help student places first Math League competition

Andrew Sontag, a seventh-grader at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, recently placed first place in the Catholic Math League’s Northeast Division 5, Algebra 1, the Ellicott City school announced. He also placed fourth nationally, among 1,206 students.

“He has now distinguished himself on a national scale with this award,” Victor Pellechia, the school’s principal, said in a statement. “Andrew is a testament to the support of his parents, the hard work of his teachers and is an inspiration to his peers.”

Andrew currently serves as treasurer for the school’s student council.

Victor Pellechia (left), principal of Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, and Andrew Sontag, a member of the seventh-grade. Andrew placed first nationally in the Catholic Math League. (Photo courtesy OLPH)

St. Thomas More Academy announces STREAM initiative 

St. Thomas More Academy recently announced it has launched a STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) initiative, according to the Middletown school. 

St. Thomas More, in alignment with its Classical curriculum, is incorporating art and religion, along with a strong focus on literature, history, Latin and language arts, according to the school.   

As part of the STREAM initiative, students will be able to use technology in the classroom and participate in hands-on science and engineering projects, according to the school. In addition, after school STREAM programs will be held to engage families. 

St. Thomas More offers advanced math classes to allow students to take algebra or geometry by the end of eighth grade, according to the school. The school plans to partner with local businesses to bring in outside expertise for certain projects and teachers receive professional development and support that encourages their innovation and creativity in the classrooms.   

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