13 minute read
Introducing Geometry First / 16 Rosie Robinson '20: Running with Cancer
INTRODUCING Geometry First
INTO THE FRESHMAN SCA EXPERIENCE
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Arecent study cited by the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools says that girls’ school graduates are 6 times more likely to consider majoring in math, science, and technology compared to girls who attended co-ed schools.
Not only is this fact confirmed in the lives of many St. Cecilia grads, but often our alumnae speak about how important a particular SCA teacher or class was in sparking their interests in these disciplines.
In the past several years, the Math Department at SCA has devoted considerable effort to studying their course offerings and sequencing, as well as the way math is taught in an all-girl environment. The result is that this strong department will soon be even stronger. Starting in 2021-2022, St. Cecilia will introduce a new Geometry First curriculum for incoming freshmen. The new approach situates Geometry as first in the mathematics sequence, followed by Algebra I and Algebra II. Students then begin to move into the advanced mathematics courses. Why this switch?
Of course, St. Cecilia is not the first school to put Geometry first. Legend has it that over 2,400 years ago, the students Plato’s “academy” were greeted with the words, “Let no one who is ignorant of Geometry enter here!” Since classical times, Geometry has been an essential part of the quadrivium, the four subjects which, along with the trivium, constitute the seven original liberal arts. St. Cecilia’s Math Department chair, Sister Nicholas Marie, notes that Geometry has traditionally been viewed as the intellectual gateway to all subsequent learning because it grounds students in an understanding of basic logic. By introducing incoming freshmen to solid first principles in Geometry, they will become steeped in rigorous mathematical reasoning that makes them adept at analyzing problems and logical arguments not only in math, but in all other academic areas as well. A Geometry First approach allows students a study of logic first through consideration of shapes, which are tangible and understandable by the imagination. “If we can teach students how to grasp mathematical objects, which are simple,” Sister Nicholas Marie says, “and then
(Above) Mr. Donlon discussing proofs with Geometry students.
prove the results using deductive arguments, we’ve taught our students how to reason and to think.”
After receiving a solid grounding in mathematical reasoning through Geometry, students will then embark on a two-year uninterrupted study of Algebra I and Algebra II that allows an in-depth preparation for college-level math courses they can take even before they get to college. This year a number of juniors are already taking AP Calculus BC, while eight freshmen are “doubling up” on math (taking both Geometry and Algebra II), simply because they love it and want to study courses like Multivariable Calculus and Differential Equations during senior year. Geometry First joins the innovative Physics First science course and the cornerstone Fine Arts freshman VAP (Visual and Performing Arts) class to offer all freshman, regardless of background, a well-rounded academic high school preparation that is second to none.
The numbers confirm the wisdom of this next step in the SCA Math program. St. Cecilia has seen significant growth in Advanced Placement Calculus class in recent years, with 42% of seniors last year taking AP Calculus, either AB or BC. This year, the Math department also introduced AP Statistics, with 27% of the senior class currently enrolled. St. Cecilia requires every enrolled student to take the AP test (not always the norm in other schools), and last year students averaged an impressive 88% pass rate on the AP Calculus exam. More than ever, young women need to be well-equipped to think critically and carefully. The SCA math curriculum will help sharpen students’ abilities to make intellectual distinctions and to carefully distinguish truth from falsehood, preparing them not just for college and future careers but also to be confident leaders in the building of culture. Sister Nicholas Marie observes, “Mathematics is a great equalizer; students are not culturally motivated or emotionally attached to mathematical ideas, and so they can learn to pursue the truth without being distracted.” Sister Nicholas Marie says that this experience results in an intellectual confidence in which “students become convicted that their intellects, with perseverance and training, can arrive at truth.” This confidence in one’s ability to perceive truth, including the ultimate Truth, Jesus Christ, is at the heart of St. Cecilia Academy’s “Dominican Difference.”
Students who walk into St. Cecilia Academy pass under the words, “To give truth is the greatest charity.” At St. Cecilia Academy, knowledge of truth is the essential gateway to love because we cannot love what we do not know. ◊
(Left) Sister Nicholas Marie walks AP Calculus students through equations.
ROSIE ROBINSON '20 running with Cancer
In my life thus far, one of the greatest honors has been to walk alongside my younger sister Rosie on her journey with cancer during her senior year at SCA.
I have found that the example of another can lead us to come to know God in a whole new way. To say that Rosie impacted my life would be a vast understatement. She has inspired me, taught me, strengthened my faith and given me new insight about what it means to suffer well.
Rosemary Thérèse Robinson, known to us as Rosie, has been a fiery pistol since the day she was born, but with a soul as sweet as a rose. Her name fits her all too perfectly. She’s the youngest of six and the heart of the Robinson family. She changed our lives not only the day she was born, but in a very significant way again at just 17 years old. Before starting her senior year at St. Cecilia (and after a strange month of potential allergies, a maybe-sinus infection, a possible abscessed tooth, and some very impressive swelling,) on August 9, 2019, Rosie was diagnosed with stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). A grueling 16 months of almost weekly chemotherapy with 6 weeks of radiation followed.
At the beginning, it was as though our whole family had taken a gut punch. We were just kind of hunched over, unable to breathe. There was a surreal pendulum swing between shock and numbness as our family of doers tried to figure out what was the next move in this situation that found us so heartbreakingly powerless. But then, something amazing happened. God heard us. Our community rallied around us in ranks that were bigger and stronger than we could have imagined. The meals started coming, the mailbox was stuffed full each day, prayer groups formed, rosaries and Masses offered for Rosie abounded. Grace was freely flowing. We felt peace mixed in with the anxiety; hope was born new and fresh every morning. It wasn’t long before we learned that people literally across the world were praying for our girl. The support found closer to home, specifically from our St. Cecilia family, was just as astounding. In fact, early on I mentioned
(Above) Rosie Robinson surrounded by her whole family.
(Right) SCA teachers greet Rosie after her treatments ended last spring.
(Above) Hugging mom and dad after treatment.
to Rosie that maybe she should consider a counselor to help her through this process. She answered me with a simple, “Coach P. is my therapist.” Not only did Coach Picklesimer listen to Rosie in his office during all those study hall passes, but he even hand-sewed knee pads into the upper chest area of her athletic shirts to protect her port so that she could still play sports. Truly, the entire faculty, staff, administration, and student body of SCA showed us that they were willing to do whatever it took to support Rosie. She was her happiest when she was living out her senior year. SCA gave us, her family, the joy of watching her play basketball, run track, be crowned the Spirit Queen during Spirit Week, score the winning touchdown in the annual Powderpuff match, go to dances, and finally receive the highest senior honor by being named 2020's St. Cecilia Girl.
Her maturity and character have always been admirable, but over the months of her illness, it shone through. I will always remember walking into her room while she was not feeling well and laying on her bed. Instead of ignoring me or offering a complaint, she instead reached out her hand for mine and took it in hers and just smiled. Her smile then and now completely fills me up and reminds me that not all gestures have to be grand. A simple smile in the midst of pain can be an incredible light, and as Rosie has shown us all, we have no idea how far that light can go and how many hearts it may touch.
I have collected thoughts from my family members about our journey together and what Rosie’s witness has meant to us:
Jeanne and Mark Robinson (Rosie’s Mom and Dad):
“If you didn’t have faith, what would you have? It certainly is our hope. God has not abandoned us, Our Lady is comforting us, St. Therese is interceding for us. And Rosie herself is leading us.
There were a number of times when
Rosie said it was still her best year and that what was in her power was
Our Lady is comforting us,
Rosie’s Mom and Dad
Still with a great sense of humor in a bald eagle costume
(Left) Rosie scored the winning touchdown at the Spirit Week Powder Puff Game.
“Rosie not only held hope and joy high in her daily battles, but her example and her words also encouraged us as her family to do the same.” —Gracie Robinson '11
Rosie’s Sister
to be happy. So that’s what she chose. It was a selfless act of love for her to be thinking of us during her time of need. We are so incredibly proud of her and beyond grateful to see her on the path of healing.”
Brooks (brother) and Lindsey (Brooks’ wife): "Rosemary and I are 13 years apart, so she has always been a
“little kid” to me. In some ways she always will be, but something about how she handled her battle changed that. Rosemary showed my wife and I not only how to be positive and persistent in the face of extreme adversity, but also how to rely on faith in God in times that seem too tough to handle.
Barry (Hayley’s husband): "To use the word "inspirational" is almost not enough. This call to holiness was something most people would not be able to handle.
Not only did she handle it, she never wavered in her faith and trust in God."
Gracie ‘11 (sister): "Looking back on living with Rosie while she fought cancer, it amazes me that my overall impression of her during that time is one of optimism. Yes, fear, anxiety and pain were certainly present and had their crowning moments. But for the most part, Rosie not only held hope and joy
Sister Anna Laura and Sister Thomas Aquinas deliver Rosie’s St. Cecilia Girl award to her home
Speaking at graduation With brother Reed, a seminarian for the Diocese of Nashville
(Left to Right) The Robinsons: Reed, Gracie, Jeanne, Mark, Rosie, Brooks, Quinn
high in her daily battles, but her example and her words also encouraged us as her family to do the same. In one conversation, Rosie talked about how instead of thinking along the lines of what cancer took from her, she worked to focus on what it gave her — time with family that otherwise wouldn't have been, meeting the incredible nurses and doctors that took care of her, to name a couple."
Quinn (brother):
God and the whole rest of the world when Rosie was diagnosed. But, as only
God can do, he worked with me and my anger in the strangeness of cancer and the pandemic to weave His healing. The forced slowdown of daily life was a source of introspection and reflection on my sister’s situation as well as my own spot in life. And based on the response of the community in middle Tennessee and around the world, I would venture it is safe to say that I am not the only person whom she impacted and inspired.
Reed (brother): "When Rosie found out at the beginning of her senior year of high school that she’d been diagnosed with cancer, the first thing I heard her say coming through the front door was, “Well, at least no one can make me run cross country anymore.”
This was spoken with a wry smile on her face, despite the tumor on her cheek. From then on, her continued perseverance and trust in the Lord never ceased to amaze me. To accept a cross of suffering from the Lord the way she did, with a smile and a joke, is something that I will always remember. Sometimes we spoke about it explicitly, but mostly it was something that I picked up on from her disposition—one of peace and strength. Rosie has always been strong. She takes after our Dad, who always set the example for us to work hard and do what is right. She truly modeled how to suffer as a Christian should, accepting her cross and giving it as an offering to the Father for those whom
she loved. ◊
THE DOMINICAN DIFFERENCE AT St. Cecilia Academy
The Dominican Difference is an expression of the charism of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, whose legacy lives in the daily life of Overbrook School and St. Cecilia Academy.
This difference flows from the person of St. Dominic, who founded the Dominican Order in the heart of the Church for preaching and the salvation of souls.
• It is an academically rigorous approach to educating students in truth and charity within a nurturing community marked by grace, friendship, freedom, and confidence. • It elucidates the rich harmony of faith and reason, encouraging students to contemplation of the simple splendor of reality through the pursuit of truth wherever it may be found. • It emphasizes that true learning leads to wisdom and that a life of virtue grounded in friendship with Jesus Christ, who is truth, leads to happiness, fulfillment, and joy.
Friendship with God in turn invites us into friendship and communion with our neighbor, inspiring us to communicate His goodness and love to the world as we become more of one mind and heart in our journey toward heaven. Be a part of the difference.
OFFICE OF ADMISSIONS P: 615-298-4525 admissions@stcecilia.edu
