May 3, 2012
News
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Xavier students complete National Latin Exam Twelve Xavier Latin students participated in the National Latin Exam on March 15. Over 149,000 students from across the nation, as well as from other countries, completed at least one of seven different exams. Students at Xavier completed the Introduction to Latin Exam, which consists of 40 multiple choice questions over a range of topics such as grammar, comprehension, mythology, life, history, and derivatives. Of the twelve students who took the exam, sophomore Grace Busse and junior Carolina VonKampen earned perfect scores. Only 252 out of the 18,600 students who took the Introduction to Latin Exam got a perfect score. For their achievement, they won a purple ribbon as well as the Perfect Paper Certificate. Eight other students who completed the exam garnered awards as well. They were led by sophomore Josh Blanck,
year. Xavier will offer both Latin I and Latin II for the first time because of the greater numbers. In the past, Latin I and Latin II had been offered only every other year. Mr. Kramer, who has taught Latin both at Regis and at Xavier is excited about the heightened interest of students in Latin. “I have always enjoyed teaching Latin. Latin is my favorite time of the day,” Kramer said. He hopes that students who take Latin at Xavier will use it as a springboard to study in college or later in life. In the future, Kramer is also looking to continue havXavier’s participants in the National Latin Exam display their ing his students take the Nationcertificates for their performance. Jenna Fenske Photo al Latin Exam. Although Latin who only missed one out of forty. offer Latin as a foreign language; might be referred to by many as a This is the first year that anyone the other is West Des Moines dead language, it is certainly alive at Xavier has taken the exam. Valley. The number of students at Xavier. The performance on the exam in Latin tripled from seven to 21 Daniel Pape signals the growth of the Latin from last year to this year. In adAssistant News Editor program at Xavier, led by Mr. Jus- dition, due to increased interest tin Kramer. Xavier is only one of in learning Latin, 24 students are two schools in the state of Iowa to registered for the 2012-2013 school
Xavier juniors listen to host John Quinones of ABC Show “What Would You Do?” On April 18, nine Xavier students and Mrs. Barb Sullivan, one of Xavier’s theology teachers, attended the Diversity Focus SHIFT Luncheon Speaker Series with John Quinones at the Coralville Marriott. Xavier was given a free table at the luncheon, even though tickets were $50 per person. Sullivan heard about the opportunity through people who work for Diversity Focus. They told her about their series of speakers called the SHIFT speakers, who were trying to help “shift” the way people looked at the world. Sullivan told them how Xavier uses John Quinones’ “What Would You Do?” videos in class, and they asked her if she would be interested in bringing students to the presentation. Juniors were chosen to attend the luncheon because the junior theology class Ethics and Morality is currently using Quinones’ “What Would You Do?” videos. “The goal of Ethics and Morality class is to help students with the decision making process by teaching the steps used in discernment,” Sullivan said. “Those steps are then applied to different scenarios, some of which come from the ‘What Would You Do?’ show.” Sullivan spoke with the junior theology classes to see who would
be interested in going. After collecting names of interested students, she randomly drew nine. The juniors selected to attend the luncheon were Anna Busse, Hannah Gibbs, Noah Hagen, Braxton Hall, Bianca Kesselring, Nicole Lang, Michaela Powell, Zach Schowalter, and Liz Tursi. The students and Mrs. Sullivan listened to Quinones speak about his experiences growing up as an immigrant and his dream to be on TV. He also discussed the undercover work he has done as a reporter and the injustices he has helped bring attention to. After the talk, he signed copies of his book Ordinary Heroes: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Choices and took time to speak with the Xavier students. He took pictures with the students, answered their questions, and gave a personal message about believing in
yourself and never giving up on your dreams. “It was so cool to see a news anchor and TV show host who seemed like a normal guy,” Lang said. “His talk got me thinking about how there are so many incredible people out in the
world, and I can be an ‘everyday hero’ myself.” Carolina VonKampen News Writer
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