THE
S A I N T J OSE P H
I N SIDER Letter
Volume 4 Spring 2017 from
the
Editors
As the old saying goes, “Variety is the spice of life that gives it all the flavor.” The spring edition of the St. Joseph Insider showcases some of the spice that gives the St. Joseph community its flavor. From the staff spotlights that show us the varied backgrounds of some of our newest staff members to the varied activities offered at St. Joseph, we are truly a blessed community. We welcomed some new reporters to the team who contributed their passion for writing and reporting. A special thank you to Kara Connally for making the newspaper publication a reality. Happy reading! Andrew LeTellier & Emily Weinberg
Student Council By: Sandra Gonzalez, ‘20 & Taelen Sakay, ‘20
The 2017 Student Council is one of the most creative group of students.The participants are Will Thompson (President), Aidan Hayre (Vice President), Gus Ashcraft (Secretary), and Charlie Gwynn (Treasurer). The job of the President is to make final decisions, the Vice President is there to give ideas and thoughts to the President, the Secretary takes notes and keep business in order, and the Treasurer keeps records of the money. To become one of the four positions in the Student Council, you must have good grades, be respectful, be a leader, and of course, campaign for votes. When you are in the Student Council, you must continue to represent yourself as a respectful member of the community, keep the good grades, and be a leader in and out of school.
Has the Student Council done any of that? Well, the decisions Student Council makes can affect the entire school, so they have a big responsibility, and they must take it seriously.
Some of the things the Student Council have done this year is organize Spirit Days, sometimes themed, and organize Spirit Week. Not all of the Student Council ideas are appropriate, though, like t-shirt cannons or selling free-dress tickets to the students.
March 2017 1
sports Jumping Through Hoops By: Luke Ward, ‘20 & Mariah Evans, ‘18 This year the CYO 7th grade boys varsity team had a successful season in many ways. This team made the playoffs because of their wonderful coaches Mr.Vial, David Rothrock, Mr. Rule, and Mr. Vila. The coaches’ patient attitudes helped the boys have a rewarding season. Many times in this season they faced challenges. The biggest ones were definitely the close games. For example, the St. Joseph boys made a stellar 20 point comeback against St. Teresa when the odds were still not in their favor. Even though they lost that game, the boys still kept playing and never gave up. With the coaches’ support, the boys were able to execute a well played game. We asked a varsity player how he wanted his teammates to remember him and Austin Harnetiaux said, “I want my teammates to remember me by my leadership. The boys basketball team had many different personalities, but when they got on the court together, they all blended perfectly.
Dribble, Shoot, Score By: Frances Waltz, ‘19 & Henri Waltz, ‘17 This winter, the CYO girls basketball teams crushed the court and had a winning season with all of the St. Joseph girls varsity teams making it to the playoffs. Basketball is always a highlight of the winter for St. Joseph girls because it’s an aggressive team sport they love.
home in the Wyckoff Gym or at another school’s gym. Playoff games are on neutral courts. Girls and boys basketball begins in fourth grade, but varsity and junior varsity teams do not form until sixth. However, only the varsity teams can go to the playoffs.
“What made this a special season was the community built by the players, coaches and parents as they all pursued a common goal,” says Robert Hayes, the CYO director. CYO basketball brings the community together. Girls basketball is not just open to St. Joseph School kids but the St. Joseph Parish as well. This makes the parish and school feel like one and also allows the school kids to reach out and become friends with new kids who do not go to our school. Also, all of the basketball coaches are volunteers and usually parents. These coaches create a good connection with the players and encourage them to play their best.
This year, all three grades of girls basketball varsity teams qualified and went to the playoffs. Even though none of them won, they competed hard and had fun. Both the sixth and seventh grade varsity teams made it to the quarterfinals, and the eighth grade team made it to the semi-finals. Many girls say making it to the playoffs was a highlight of the season and brought the team closer together. 6th grade varsity player, Riley Floyd, says her favorite moment of the season was when they won the game that allowed them to go to the playoffs. Overall, she “likes that we play with our friends and I enjoy the postgame huddles.”
The basketball teams play different Catholic schools who participate in CYO sports. CYO stands for Catholic Youth Practices were also a time that the Organization. The games are played at girls got great workouts and enjoyed
playing a sport with good friends. All the teams have practices twice a week at Wyckoff Gym. Practices were held for eight weeks throughout the normal season, and there are extra practices if a team makes it to the playoffs. The girls all say they enjoyed that time scrimmaging each other and learning skills. Some 8th graders are sad it is their last season. Mary Meg Cedergreen, an eighth grader, will remember her time fondly: “Playing basketball at St. Joseph’s has been a great experience for me, and has taught me many lessons that I can use off the court. I loved having the opportunity to play with my classmates and it was a great way to relieve stress from school.”
March 2017 2
s ta f f
spotlight
Ms. James By: Millie Cole, ‘18 and Ella Shigo, ‘19 This year, St. Joseph School has acquired many new, helpful teachers, and some students don’t know them or have not met them. Ms. James, the new K-4 music teacher, is a great resource and we thought we needed to get to know her. Ms. James grew up in Puyallup and attended All Saints Catholic School. She performed in choir in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. She was inspired by her mom to become a grade school choir teacher and become a performer. As a child she played many sports, including soccer, gymnastics, basketball and baseball. When she gets a chance, she performs at the Tacoma Opera, or does solos in churches. Recently, she landed the role as a lead in the opera, Dangerous Liaisons. This Summer, she is also the lead in an opera at a nearby college. Overall, Ms. James enjoys educating students with the art of music, so they can have an imagination and create their own music. She wants to have a class where kids do not think of it as a class they have to take, but one they get to take. Lastly, she wants to inspire kids to love and learn the magical skill of art and music.
S e n o r i ta
M i la s i c h By: Alli Hawkins, ‘19 & Lluvia Osorio, ‘20 This year we have an amazing new addition to our staff, Senorita Milasich! As you can guess from her name she is our new Spanish teacher, and she brings a diverse background of experiences to the school community. Senorita has an important role in not only teaching kids the language but also teaching the Spanish culture. As a Spanish teacher, she wants to make sure that all of the kids are learning and having fun. Her favorite word in Spanish is “por ejemplo” which means “for example.” She likes it because of how it sounds. Senorita Milasich is not only a great teacher, but she also has played soccer competitively for 23 years! That’s definitely payed off because for any of you Seattle Reign fans, Senorita was recruited to the team. Due to injuries, she sadly can’t play soccer anymore. But this accomplished teacher is surely a great role model for this school. As a child, Senorita Milasich wanted to be a zoologist, but as she began to travel the world, her dream job changed. She has lived in many different Spanish-speaking countries including Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Spain. Senorita also knows many different languages like Italian, Spanish, French, German, English, and some Portuguese. If she could live in any place in the whole world, Senorita Milasich would choose Buenos Aires, Argentina because it’s a big, beautiful city. Spanish is a very important part of Senorita Milasich’s life, and she hopes one day it will become very important to her students. St. Joseph is lucky to have a world language class because it brings many benefits to the future of the students.
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A D ay
in
the
Life
of
M r . F e nn e s s y
By Ruby Lacktrup, ‘18 & Mika Hagos, 18 You may think that being a principal is really fun, but if you really dig into what they do, you begin to realize that it’s a lot harder than it appears. Let’s live Mr. Fennessy’s life for a day. First, he wakes up around 5:00 or 6:00, but like everyone else Mr. Fennessy enjoys hitting the snooze button a couple of times. He then gets ready for the day by saying a prayer: “God, please be with me and help me through the day.” He gets his three kids-Helen, Jack, and Joe--dressed and gives them breakfast. He enjoys coffee with cream. When we asked Mr. Fennessy where he likes his coffee from, he replied, “Always Fuel.” So he stops at Fuel, then heads to the school to start his day. Throughout the day, Mr. Fennessy loves to watch the learning happen. In the morning he says “Hi” to some of the students passing by his office. You might see him walk into your classroom when he has some free time. His favorite subjects are literature and history. He prefers that the teachers don’t stop teaching when he walks in because it makes him feel like he is interrupting, but if the teacher starts the conversation, he will keep it going. Getting to see all the kids learning and the teachers teaching is the fun part of Mr. Fennessy’s day. Although the hardest and the least fun part about being a principal is all of the never-ending emails he has to reply to and the many, many meetings he has to go to. He refers to his email inbox as a “bottomless pit.” He tries not to reply to all the emails but have a face-to-face conversation when possible. The many meetings he has are normally with his other administration members like Ms. Zadra and
Ms. Bever. He also has them with alumni, supporters, and parents. Everybody knows that lunch is the best time of the day, and all of us get to enjoy it in the lunchroom where we can get chips or any drinks we want. Mr. Fennessy enjoys doing that too, but usually eats in his office. His favorite hot lunch from the lunchroom is Taco Tuesday. Obviously, Mr. Fennessy is very busy, so his day does not end at 3:00 like most of us. For him, times really vary. Sometimes he’ll leave around 2:45, but that’s only when it’s Tuesday. Other times it can even be around 9:45PM. Whenever Mr. Fennessy gets off early, he uses it thoughtfully and goes straight home to spend time with his wife, Anne, and his three kids. After living Mr. Fennessy’s life for a day, we realized that it’s very hard and takes a lot of work. So the next time you think of envying his job, think again.
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” -Teddy Roosevelt
March 2017 4
school P r e pa r i n g f o r U np r e d i c t a b l e
spotlight the
By: Rasa Audejaitis, ‘17 Earthquakes have been a driving force in Washington, destroying cities causing us to further retrofit our buildings. Because Washington is near a large subduction zone, everyone has to be prepared for an earthquake to strike. At St. Joseph we are doing just that. There are some structural weaknesses that the school has, including that the primary school is made of bricks, which are known to crumble, and St. Joseph is built on a hillside. This should not be too worrisome because the primary and middle schools have been constantly reinforced throughout the years, and the school is also bolted to its foundation, so it won’t slide around during an earthquake. The Wyckoff gym and main office are built with newer earthquake standards. St. Joseph has already survived two earthquakes, which proves that it could live through another. Mrs. Bever and the rest of the administration have adequately prepared the faculty and staff for an earthquake. As a school, we practice responding to natural disasters once a month. Each year, teachers also review different emergency response systems two to four times throughout the year. Mr. Hess, the seventh and eighth grade science teacher, explains, “I believe my classroom is adequately prepared. We have emergency resources easily accessible in the classroom, cabinets are securely attached to walls, and even the walls have been retrofitted with earthquake reinforcement materials.”
H e lp f u l T i p s W h e n P r e pa r i n g Your Child for a Disaster Provided by Swedish Medical Center
P lan A h e a d Children are able to cope most easily with an emergency if they understand what happens and if they know what to do in an emergency.
C r e at e a F a m i ly E m e r g e n c y P lan
Develop a written family emergency plan. Be sure to include where each person in the family will go if a disaster occurs. Include an out-of-town contact person.
Share
the
P lan
Children need to know the exact steps to follow. Children will do better if they have a clear understanding of what is expected of them in the event of a disaster.
Practice Families should practice their emergency plan frequently.
Learn & Laugh Help them find things to laugh about, even when talking about a possible disaster. Laughter is good for our well-being, and helps us provide a feeling of normality in times of an emergency.
Students have to know what to do in the event of an earthquake. First and foremost, everyone must remain calm. Shouting and yelling will not help in the situation, unless you are in imminent danger. It is best if you stay in a group and try not to separate yourself, except if you have a special need.
Safe
Earthquakes are a constant worry along the west coast, and you should remain educated about the subject, even if it seems daunting. St. Joseph and the rest of Seattle must be prepared for the unpredictable.
Have an emergency preparedness kit that lasts at least 72 hours.
zones Establish several safe places for children to go to in times of a catastrophe to drop, cover and hold.
Safety Kits
E d u c at e Y o u r s e l f Parents should know what emergency plans have been made for their children at school. Parents should have some plan to get their children back home if a disaster strikes.
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STE A M
in
Action
By:Tomas Audejaitis, ‘19, Christian Badillo, ‘20, Dylan Koa, ‘20 & Cline Dolson, ‘19 St. Joseph has not been the same since the STEAM Club has shown up. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. This year Mrs. Laun decided to start a club to teach kids to learn to code, build robots and do other fun projects. She is passionate and knowledgeable about STEAM, so she decided to bring her love and expertise to the school. Not only is she the STEAM teacher, but she also runs most of the after school clubs like chess, Minecraft, junior robotics, and Lego. Mrs. Laun loves to travel with her family, read about the world, and play tennis. She used to be a consultant, but now she has the honor to teach STEAM to middle schoolers, which has been very rewarding. She thinks it is very important for students to problem solve and be critical thinkers. Coding is a very important skill for the STEAM program. Not only is it fun for the kids, but it also is an investment in their future. Coding is an important skill to learn and coding can be taught on different levels. The Club uses block based coding for beginners and typed coding for students who are better. The reason kids love coding is because it involves problem solving. The students have to solve a lot of small problems to finish the one big one! The STEAM Club weaves together science, technology, engineering and math in creative ways. The activities will give students an art that they appreciate on a day to day basis. They do hands on experiments such as making a compass and airplanes. The technology is the device being used. The engineering is the knowledge used to create something. Math is the algorithm used to calculate. The science part deals with the organization of knowledge and how to test the technology being created.
“Coding is a very important skill for the Steam Program. Not only is it fun for the kids, but it also is an investment in their future.” The STEAM Club happens from 2:00-3:15 on Tuesdays for 1st and 2nd grade in the 8th grade science lab. It costs $50 for the equipment. STEAM not only happens in the after school Club, it is also a part of the Tech Exploratory Class in the middle school. Most of the coding taught at St. Joseph School is during Tech Exploratory in which students learn to program the Lego Mindstorms robots to solve various challenges. This year, the kids have new kits that let students build and program circuits using lights, buzzers, buttons, motors, displays and much more. St Joseph also teaches a few coding activities throughout the year for students in other grades who are not in the Tech Exploratory classes. For the last three years, St. Joseph School has joined schools across the country in participating in the Hour of Code. During Computer Science Education Week in December, we hosted four after school events for anyone in grades 1 and up. Laura explained, “I sometimes use the activities from Hour of Code, which can be found online at www.code.org, in class to introduce some of the core ideas of coding.” STEAM is happening in many different ways at St. Joseph School. The school is fortunate to have Mrs. Laun at the helm of many new and exciting STEAM experiences.
Congratulations to STEAM Exploratory students Esme Campbell, Emma Nisbet, and Sally Swanson for receiving the Honorable Mention award at the ExploraVision National STEM Competition. The team’s project, a Police Assistance Device, was among the top 10% of all ExploraVision projects submitted this year and 1 of over 5,000 submissions. (Click photo for more) STEAM Exploratory students Ben Roberts and Annie Mirkin also participated in the National STEM competition and submitted an outstanding project on the Graphene Battery and Beyond. Their creation competed in the 7th – 9th grade division and was recognized alongside 2 other Washington State schools, including Evergreen and Nikota Stem High School. These projects were additional projects taken on by the students as a part of the STEAM exploratory class which focuses on new ideas and solutions to challenges facing God’s creations today. Thanks to Laura Laun, STEAM exploratory teacher, for advising and accompanying these students on the creation and submission of two amazing projects. Special thanks to Officer Jim Britt for this expertise! Read the abstracts on the Police Assistance Device and the Graphene Battery & Beyond on the school website.
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D r a m a O n s ta g e By: Salma Elouaddane, ‘17 Cowritten by: Millie Cole, ‘18 & Ella Shigo, ‘17
St. Joseph drama exploratory is not for the timid. It is full of singing, dancing, and silly moments. Only a select few actors or actresses can make it to drama, leaving twenty-eight excited students. This year, the St. Joseph drama is putting on the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard of Oz is about a young girl from Kansas, named Dorothy. She gets caught in a tornado and ends up in the land of Oz. In order to get home, she must find the powerful wizard, Oz. On her journey she bumps into munchkins and meets Glinda the Good Witch, who instructs her to take the yellow brick road. She, along with her dog Toto, meets a cowardly lion, the tin man, and a scarecrow.
Now that the play is coming closer and closer, actors are feeling the pressure of fully knowing their lines and stage presence. Mrs. Carlsen instructs them to bring notebooks and become fully prepared and engaged for the challenge ahead. In order to get everything done, the actors have to attend rehearsal after school and during lunch.
“Not only do I enjoy acting, but I enjoy making new friends who are outgoing and like me. We bond together as a group and enjoy fun and silly experiences that make school life complete,” says Emma Brooksbank, starring as Dorothy in the upcoming Wizard of Oz play.
With the play so near, the actors are seeing how being in it has influenced them. Some are more confident in front of people than others. Jack Crisera justifies this by sharing how being in the play has helped him get rid of his “slight fear” of public speaking. Even though it was a “tough process,” he says, “it was totally worth it in the end.”
Some actors in drama say that the hardest part of drama was the competition for each role in the audition process, and becoming the character. “The audition process was not super hard,” Brooksbank claims excitedly. “Memorizing monologues is usually pretty easy, but getting the character down can be hard. There is definitely some stiff competition, but it is always worth trying out just for the fun of it. Drama is worth being a part of.” Allie Pettijohn, starring as Glinda the Good Witch, takes the role very seriously. ¨When I become a character,” she says, “I try to fully become them and look at the world through their point of view. Without doing so, I feel as though you can’t truly be that character.¨
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F r i day N i g h t L i g h t s : T h e H i s t o r y an d F u t u r e of Ski Bus
Ask
a peer m e d i ato r
By: Sally Swanson, ‘17, Autumn Henson, ‘17 & Gracie Lebold, ‘17
Every Friday night, for about 40 years now, two buses crowded with kids head up to Alpental. It all started with our former principal, Mr. George Hofbauer, who started hauling kids up to the mountain in a rented van back in the 80s. Ever since then, the ski bus program has continued to grow due to the efforts of our parents. During the Friday evenings, 6th-8th graders are able to participate in skiing or snowboarding, as long as they sign up by the deadline. After Pat Grimm’s, the former director of this program, children graduated, Ms. Clance Casad decided to step up to the plate. As the director, her job is to organize buses, and purchase lift tickets and food vouchers. Sophia Zaboukos, a two year running member of the 7th grade ski bus, says that her favorite part of the experience is “being able to hang out with [her] friends until 10 o’clock and ski with them.” When asked whether or not ski bus has improved her skiing, she replied saying that “[her] friends help [her] to step outside of her comfort zone.” We also asked Zaboukos if she had realized anything about her peers from this non-academic program. She mentioned that “some of them are a lot more athletic than [she] had thought,” and “there are some risk-takers.” Another member of ski bus said that they really look forward to ski bus because they are usually very bored on Friday nights and ski bus gives them something to do. When we asked a group of students what kind of attitude there was around the actual bus ride they said, “It is all really friendly. Everyone is very nice. Everyone becomes friends on ski bus.” “I ended up running the ski bus because no other parent wanted to take over. It was going to dissolve so I chose to save the bus and take on this large task,” says Clance Casad. If we did not have the ski bus, many students at St. Joseph’s School would not have the opportunity to experience their favorite sport with their favorite people. Ski bus truly is a gift to our student body.
St. Joseph is . . . .
What do I do when my friend ignores me? (from a 5th grader) If your friend is ignoring you, then you should confront them. Ask them why they have been ignoring you and what you can do to fix the situation. If they still continue to ignore you, talk to a peer mediator, Mrs. Moyer- Taylor, your parents, or a teacher. What do you do when a person is telling on you all the time, but you aren’t doing anything? (from a 2nd grader) You should ask them to stop, or ask them what you are doing wrong. Maybe you did something that you didn’t know you did, and they had their feelings hurt. What do you do if you don’t have anyone to play with? (from a 3rd grade) To anyone reading this, invite anyone that looks lonely at recess! Be a person for others. If you don’t have anyone to play with, go up to someone that also needs a friend. It’s a good thing to make new friends. What if your best friend turns on you? (from a 6th grader) If your best friend turns on you, maybe he/she heard something that wasn’t true about you and had his/her feelings hurt. Talk to an adult about how you should address the situation if your friend continues to be mean. Remember to be kind as you are speaking to your friend, because maybe his/her feelings are hurt, too. You two are still very close friends--it’s probably just a misunderstanding!
COMMUNITY
March 2017 8