A Year In Review

No same year ever occurs on the Hill. From the new coffee shop to the full usage of the Innovation Center, many notable changes occurred this year.

Vice Principal Mr. Mark Matthews and Principal Mrs. Julie Barthel are grateful for the new additions this year, and the similarities from previous years. This school year is the foundation for new ideas for the future.

For the second year, a four day rotating schedule was implemented to ensure flexibility for both teachers and students. This new schedule allowed for office hours, more class material time and more opportunities for school activities. Barthel said, “We think it has worked out well, we like having the flexibility of office hours.” Also newly implemented is the Andre projects, a replacement for service hours during a students junior and senior year. This idea allows for students to form a service project based on their specific passions. This replaces the previous requirement for individual service hours. Students plan and pursue these projects during their Catholic Social Teaching class junior year, and are required to have them completed by December of their senior year.

Catholic Social Teaching teacher Mr. Cole Hepp has worked alongside fellow Religion teachers for the formation of these projects. He said, “Implementing a new program can initially seem daunting but we have been very impressed by how the juniors have adapted to the new St. Andre Project this year. Seeing the students engaged and excited about their projects is amazing and we can already see the ripple effect this is creating in our community. We are excited to continue to see the fruits of these projects next year!”

What was previously known as the Library also faced new changes. The new Unified Media Center was implemented this year and housed the Newspaper, Yearbook and Broadcasting class. The goal of this change is to allow students to collaborate with fellow students working on various projects regarding media.

“It is the first year for our Unified Media Center, which is using the media center as a hub, and we hope to continue to make that a better program to serve the needs of our students,” said Matthews.

Another recent addition to the school year was J-Term. This idea was initially implemented during the 2021-22 school year, and is continuing to be improved on. This year, students were able to travel far distances, or stay on the Hill. students were able to visit HBCU colleges and universities and others were able to travel to Florida for marine biology and to Italy. “We worked really hard to continue to make J-Term better,” Matthews said.

For the next school year, Cathedral will be welcoming a Holy Cross Priest and Brother. Matthews understands this addition will provide the ability to strengthen our Holy Cross “ties and identity.”

New teachers have left an impact on this school year. These teachers have stepped up to coaching, teaching, working retreats and helping serve our community. Matthews said, “We hired a great bunch of new teachers who have fit in with Cathedral and acclimated to our school climate and helped out in numerous ways.”

Companions on the Road to Excellence (CORE), an improved approach to counties was implemented. The addition of CORE has the goal to allow for students from all four grades to be able to collaborate and form relationships outside of their norm. For the future, more CORE days are planned to be implemented as well as a built in day for Christmas on the Hill. Numerous surveys have been sent to administration and students for future planning and development. Barthel said, “I think it has been a good transition. I like that the CORE team has given a survey every time to get feedback from the teachers and students on how they feel it’s going. We definitely have more CORE days built in the schedule next year so students will hopefully be able to build stronger relationships.”

Cathedral teachers will also be in collaboration with the Notre Dame ACE Academies. This is the first time that new teachers are already graduates. This program helps new teachers become acclimated to Catholic schools and adapt to any occasions. English teachers Mrs. Lizabeth

BY CAROLINE SCHILLING

Bradshaw, Ms. Megan Howell and Mr. Matt Panzer are graduates of the ACE program.

“We have several teachers on staff who are graduates, we have never had them as fellows. This is the first time that we have had new teachers be graduates of the program. We have a lot of new Holy Cross connections,” he said.

The Johnny Mac Coffeehouse was opened during the second semester of this year. This coffeehouse is a dedication to lifelong Cathedral graduate John McCormick ‘90. The coffee shop is completely student ran and under the supervision of Social Studies teacher Mr. Craig Blanchet and Business teacher Mr. Kurt Freytag. Students were able to collaborate for the planning and opening. The shop is currently open on Day One’s during office hours and lunch. In the coming months, there will be more open hours and student opportunities.

Barthel said, “I think (the coffee shop) has been amazing. Mr. Freytag and Mr. Blanchet, even before opening, helped the students be a part of something authentic, specifically planning the menu.”

As this year closes, Barthel and Matthews wish good luck to the Class of 2023 and to all current Cathedral students. Success and greatness can always be found on the Hill, especially as the school year wraps up. He said, “It’s the second year for a lot of things. It is the second year for the Innovation Center, everything is getting to be a little better because we are coming out of Covid and getting back into our routines.”