Student Spotlights – February 2022

The National Junior Honor Society at Dunbar Magnet School of Performing Arts collected items for Penelope House Inc. The ladies at the Penelope House were extremely grateful for the many items donated, such as, shoes, toiletry items, hand sanitizer, diapers, and bed sheets.

Classes are in full swing at Heart of Mary Catholic School to kick-off the new year, and Mr. West’s Computer Science elective is no exception! Our middle school students met with Mr. West in the Computer Lab, and each student had the opportunity to choose between game design, graphic design and website design. Pictured are our 8th graders in their creative elements. We cannot wait to see what our students accomplish next!

December 16th was “Ms. Voncile Day” at Corpus Christi Catholic School.  Ms. Voncile Smith was the crossing guard at the school for 16 years. She kept students safe while also being a blessing to so many parents and commuters along Hillcrest Road with her contagious smile and positive attitude each and every day.  She had announced her retirement at the start of the school year and December 17 was her last day as the crossing guard.  Her retirement is well deserved but she will be greatly missed! The school held a parade in honor of Ms. Voncile and students had the opportunity to share cards and hugs with her.  8th-grader Cate Veasey is pictured giving Ms. Voncile a card.

December holds our annual Christmas Program for Kindergarten-8th grade at St. Ignatius. Each grade level performs a special Christmas song along with an entire play choreographed by beloved music teacher, Mrs. Bailey. Such is tradition at St. Ignatius that our Kindergarten students form the live nativity. Their nativity debuts at the Christmas program and has an encore at Christmas Eve Mass.

St. Dominic Catholic School Little Eagles made Winter Wonderland snow globes as part of their unit studying the Winter season.  They also learned about many different Winter animals.

Students at Little Flower Catholic School took advantage of a perfect playground day to climb on their favorite climbing platform.

Congratulations to Davidson’s NJROTC Operations Officer Lieutenant Junior Grade Blessings Kibet! She was selected as one of 25 NJROTC students nationwide for the summer 2022 Commander Naval Air Force Private Pilot Scholarship Flight Academy Program. The scholarship will pay for round-trip airfare, room and board, collegiate academics, and flight hours required to potentially earn a Private Pilot’s Certificate (PPC) through an in-residence collegiate program that is approximately eight weeks in length at Embry Riddle or Delaware State University.

The Sixth Annual Gulf Coast Spotlight Talent Showcase, hosted by Distinguished Young Women, will return to an in-person showcase on Sunday, March 13! After two years of digital showcases, students have will perform at Murphy High School for a chance to earn funds for the arts programs at their schools. All applications and audition videos are due March 12, 2021. All applications are due by February 11. The program was launched in 2017 as an effort to shine a light on talented young performers in Mobile and Baldwin counties, encourage and reward their pursuits and give funds to local schools to support arts programs, thereby reaching more children in the Gulf Coast region. Local students in grades 1-12 will compete in four divisions. The winners in each division will be given a $500 gift made in their name to an arts program at their school. For more information on SPOTLIGHT, visit GulfCoastSpotlight.com or contact Tara Principe at Tara@DistinguishedYW.org.

Students in grades 9 through 12 who are part of DHS’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program met in the gym for festive, fun fellowship in December! Activities included a hot chocolate bar and cookie decorating (courtesy of the DHS culinary department), basketball, volleyball, and giant Jenga. To show appreciation for their teachers, students wrote notes of gratitude and donated candy used to fill treat bags that were delivered to faculty before the holiday.

Clark-Shaw students had a chance to play Santa for the “Stuff the Bus” Toy Drive! In just a few days in early December, we collected over 200 toys for the MCPSS Magical Christmas Toy Drive. Members of the National Junior Honor Society helped organize the collection efforts, and National Junior Honor Society officers (pictured here) stuffed the bus on December 8th. This was part of a larger effort by the Mobile County Public School System which eventually collected over 7,000 toys county-wide. Pictured from left to right are Victoria Howell, Ava Grace Gibson, Madeline Borchert, Addison Everett, Olivia Watson, and Addison Jones.

Congratulations to Raeed Hossain, Council’s 2021-2022 Spelling Bee winner!  Raeed is in 5th grade at Council and he received a perfect score in the spelling bee. We are confident that Raeed will do an excellent job at the next level.

Barton Academy is proud to announce that Mr. Will Edmonds is their inaugural teacher of the year! Mr. Edmonds exemplifies what it means to be an explorer. He was selected by his peers because they appreciate how helpful and generous he is as a coworker, how he goes above and beyond to create learning experiences that are engaging for his French students and the entire school as a teacher, and how positive and professional he is to work with as part of the Barton family. Congratulations! Merci, Monsieur Edmonds!

Phillips Preparatory School’s Beginners Band, Concert Band, and Symphonic band students, led by Ms. Galemore, dazzled the crowd during their Winter Concert performance at Davidson High School.

Each year at St. Ignatius students volunteer to be on the flag committee. These dedicated volunteers learn about the sanctity of our American flag, its history, how to care for it and each day, raise and lower it with a smile on their face.

St. Dominic Catholic School 6th grade art students had fun creating symmetrical gingerbread houses. Students created an oil pastel resist and completed the gingerbread house with puff paint for the “royal icing” made from equal parts of shaving cream and white school glue.

Congratulations to Isabel Oldshue for winning first place in the regional Poetry Out Loud Anthology Poem Competition. She will now qualify for the state competition in February. Isabel competed by memorizing, reciting, and acting out two poems – “Catch a Little Rhyme” by Eve Merriam and “A Poison Tree” by William Blake.

Saint Pius X Catholic School wrapped-up a great first-half of the school year with our annual “Singalong”! Each class has the opportunity to choose their song and costume, and they perform their selection for the entire school, family and friends. Each one did an amazing job!

St. Luke’s fine and performing arts department hosted a Wildcat Winter Extravaganza featuring the Upper School Concert Band, drama program, choir, 6th grade band, string ensemble, and many guest performers!  The event provided great music and a gallery showcasing St. Luke’s student art, as well as a viewing of the completed phase I of the auditorium lobby project.

Little Flower Kindergarten students came to school in their pajamas, but not because they forgot to get dressed for school.  They came in their pajamas because there was a Polar Express theme day in their class.  For those unfamiliar, The Polar Express is a much-loved story about a boy who gets to ride the train to the North Pole while he is still in his pajamas.  While the students didn’t get to ride to the North Pole, they enjoyed the magic and mystery of hearing the story read to them by their teacher, Miss Lilly.

Día de Velitas, or in English, Day of the Little Candles, is a tradition in Colombia. It is celebrated each year on the evening of December 7th, which is the day before the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception. It is the official start of the Christmas season in Colombia.  Mrs. Pettway, the Spanish teacher at Corpus Christi Catholic School, created the Day of Little Candles at the school.  The students in grades 3 – 8th designed their own luminaires just like the towns and neighborhoods in Colombia design their unique luminaires.  Throughout the day, classes visited the luminaires for quiet prayer time.

St. Mary Catholic School partnered with St. Mary Church and St Mary’s St. Vincent de Paul Society to purchase Christmas gifts for children and seniors in our community in need through the annual Angel Tree Project.  These groups also collected food items for the annual Christmas food baskets for families in need. Pictured are St. Mary Middle School students after loading the last car of perfectly wrapped gifts for delivery to Catholic Social Services.