November 2023 Student Spotlights

Mobile County Public Schools students got behind the wheel to operate tractors, excavators, forklifts, zero-turn lawnmowers and more recently at the Green Industry Equipment Rodeo at Bryant Career-Technical Center.
“It was a little scary at first, but I really enjoyed it, and it got really fun at the end,” said Bryant High School student Cindy Pena, who operated a skid steer loader for her first time. She used the bucket at the front of the machine to scoop up and move red dirt.
“This is something I’m really interested in, and I know a lot of my classmates are as well,” she said. “I’m really grateful they gave us this opportunity.
Bryant Career-Technical Center provides hands-on skill instruction, related academics, and opportunities for MCPSS students to earn state and national certifications as they prepare for career success.
Bryant hosted the rodeo with support from the Alabama Nursery & Landscape Association, JBT Power, SunSouth, Beard Equipment, the Mobile County office of the Alabama Extension Office, Auburn University – Ornamental Station in Mobile, Big Creek Nursery, Oak Hill Tree Farm, Alabama Community College ACCS Innovation Center, Flowerwood Nursery, and Esfeller Construction.

Seven Mobile County Public Schools seniors have been recognized this year as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. They are: Shahir Latif, Stan Blejwas, Graham West and Linden Berte from Davidson; Henry Bylinowski and Reagan Baggett of Baker; and Marc Leyk of Murphy. These students were entered into this program by taking the PSAT/NMSTQ during their junior year. The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors who earned the highest scores on the PSAT/NMSTQ exam during their junior year.

St. Ignatius schedules multiple outside the classroom activities every single day for students. K-8th students go to PE and recess every day. K-8th also goes to a special class every single day of the week rotating between Latin, Art, Music, Library and Computer. The benefit of getting out of the classrooms multiple times each day is monumental for focusing on content inside the classroom. Although St. Ignatius follows a rigorous academic program, students still need to be kids. St. Ignatius enjoys fostering their energy! #TheCatholicDifference #HisPathTheirFuture #HisPathStartsHere

Congratulations to Murphy High School IB senior Ddwayne Lockett-James. This summer, Ddwayne’s documentary on how the Alabama Dry Dock & Shipping Company impacted the city of Mobile was selected as one of 17 documentaries (out of 100 total entries) to be shown in the Oprah Winfrey Theatre of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. His documentary was also selected by the 400 Years of African American History Commission to be featured in a five-part docuseries created by the organization! His documentary is included in Part One. Visit this link to watch the docuseries: https://secure-web.cisco.com/1IdA3QOByUN0pgdnaXf_XqRtK7IaqqozNkvzPdw-K1DdmrMo1PjBx5KW0l2AQwnFEiz_-0rnVrWCVFkIS5mt3Xcq2Z1lXhyFEQDHwLwjYd2vHE67GOzWHvnDsJdLDlh0Iw31ZPm1CCxhbuWvTR2a4C6l99EBUA5dbybR89oKPV-yQYEBdbrj2cXn0yGB8TRUL0MblzsmZsC-vOWR44fUtJ0o6nMcx3TLeSdBdyQDm5lh5XAVUbGsaFHfosDQcGjHfxxph2Mav5FK7YnZvdH-V4NVWplNsrLJmukCPqLGCTS-aJ9kC125kSRD1eRGg4d77/https%3A%2F%2Fsmogotv.lightcast.com%2F

Five MCPSS JROTC students have been honored with leadership positions in the Cadet Brigade Command for Mobile County for this school year. Their responsibilities will include organizing JROTC events and competitions throughout the school year.
They are:
Cadet Brigade Commander – C/LTC Joseph Dixon of Theodore (pictured)
Cadet Command Sergeant Major – C/CSM Arlessia Holmes of Williamson
Cadet Deputy Brigade Commander – C/LTC Kaydee Barrera of Baker
Cadet Brigade Operations Officer – C/LTC Valeria Portillo of Murphy
Cadet Brigade Logistics Officer – C/LTC Damien Dixon of Vigor
Congratulations to these exemplary cadets!

Congratulations to Causey and Lott middle schools, which won the large school and small school county volleyball championships, respectively.

In September, CHCA celebrated Grandparent’s Day! Thank you, grandparents and grandfriends for the wisdom, love, and laughter you bring to our lives! You truly are the foundation of our families!

Students at McDavid-Jones Elementary and Pathway recently held cereal food drives for Feeding the Gulf Coast. McDavid-Jones collected a total of 564 boxes, while Pathway donated 100. Congratulations!

UMS students celebrated Community Helpers Week in September, so Deputy Humphrey and Deputy Seals spoke about their roles with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office as well as being full-time Campus Safety & Security Officers at UMS-Wright.
The Security Team is led by Campus Safety & Security Director Garrett Humphrey (stationed in the Upper School) and he is assisted by Associate Director of Campus Safety Deputy Thomas Robb (stationed in the Middle School) and Associate Director of Campus Safety Deputy Chrissy Seals (stationed in the Lower School). We are so fortunate to have these three individuals who bring experience, knowledge and preparedness to our campus each and every day!

Typically, over 1.5 million students in about 21,000 high schools enter the National Merit Scholarship Program each year by taking the PSAT/NMSQT test in the fall of their junior year. In September , officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation formally released the names of Semifinalists in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. CHCA celebrated Emily Newton for her success in being named a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist! Emily is a great ambassador for our school, as she has completed her entire educational experience – 14 years – as a student at Cottage Hill Christian Academy.

Members of the McGill-Toolen Catholic Green Club spent their Saturday morning picking up trash and recyclable material around the entrance to Dog River. The Green Club is just one of many organizations at McT that offer opportunities for our students to give back to their community.

Thanks to the McGill-Toolen Catholic class of 2023 this year’s seniors got to start the new tradition of painting the cannon following a McT victory over Murphy High School. The Jackets won 42-0 in the states oldest rivalry game.

Corpus Christi Middle School Choir was recently invited by Msgr. Skoneki to sing at the Daily Mass at the Cathedral-Basilica of The Immaculate Conception. This was such an honor and wonderful experience for our students. Thank you to our choir directors, Miss Caitlyn DeMouy and Mrs. Sharon Finn, your musical direction has lifted the hearts of so many.

Cottage Hill students, Skylar Shreves, Elouise Hays, Gracie Mills, and Emma Rose Tillman, auditioned and were selected as finalists for the 2024 High School Honors Performance Series. Elouise, Gracie, and Emma Rose will have the opportunity to perform in Carnegie Hall. Skylar received the opportunity to travel to London, England at the Royal Festival Hall. This selection is a result of talent, dedication, and achievements demonstrated in their application. We are proud of these girls!

St. Ignatius is excited to have Toy Bowl royalty for the epic 75 year fundraiser for McGill-Toolen’s CYO organization. This year’s royalty is represented by Queen Anya Hilpert, King George Nappi and Fourth Lady to the Queen Anna Kidder! The Catholic Youth Organization is a wonderful way to bring Catholic youth from the diocese together for spirited competition, friendships and the coveted Toy Bowl trophy. St. Ignatius always competes well in the sporting competitions and is very proud to be champion of the fundraising side this year. St. Ignatius- Forming Leaders in Mind, Body & Spirit.

Congratulations to Collin Everritt, selected as the Red Ribbon Leader for his exceptional academic excellence and remarkable leadership at Council Traditional School. We look forward to participating in all of the fantastic activities and the community service project that will be led by Collin.

During Manners class at Heart of Mary, our students learned the difference between Rules and Protocol as well as how to honor God through our actions and how we treat others.

We are always thankful to Mrs. Gina Finnegan, our Heart of Mary School board member, who volunteers to teach Spanish to our PreK-2nd grade students. Allowing them to expand their linguistic capabilities

Congratulations to Corpus Christi Catholic School 8th grader, Amelia Schwarz, who was selected for our Red Ribbon Leadership Award.
Red Ribbon Week, a week devoted to learning how to live a healthy and drug-free life, will be celebrated October 23rd-27th. Each fall, Red Ribbon Week is celebrated across America to promote the importance of a healthy, drug-free lifestyle among our youth. As part of the awareness program, the Drug Education Council, Inc honors outstanding students from Mobile and Baldwin County who are selected by their schools as the Red Ribbon Leadership Award recipient. These students exemplify the 6 pillars of Character promoted by the Character Counts initiative and the Drug Education Council. These include trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

The Middle School House Mentor Program is inspirational in so many ways. Joining together 6th-8th grade students to compete on teams together breeds inclusivity, teamwork and social skills. St. Ignatius fosters these character building blocks through many house competitions throughout the school year: theme dress out days, food packing projects, pep rally contests, service projects, and more. Each of the five middle school houses is named after a saint and prioritizes a Catholic virtue. The complete cohesion of academics, religious formation and character development is a path of education that cannot be replicated. #TheCatholicDifference #HisPathTheirFuture #HisPathStartsHere

1.3 million Juniors in 21,000 high schools nationwide entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Qualifying Test. Out of the 1.3 million students, 16,000 were chosen as semi-finalists, and we are thrilled to announce that Jerrick Phan, Nathan Martin & Ish Chakroborty (L to R) were chosen from UMS-Wright!
Jerrick, Nathan, and Ish will now have the opportunity to advance in the competition for National Merit Scholarships valued in excess of $28 million dollars.
Please join us in congratulating these students on such an outstanding accomplishment!

The Barton Academy Vex V5 league represented well in their first competition at the MCPSS district office. These 7th-9th graders compete in the high school division. The league is cumulative throughout the school year. We are excited to see them grow and accomplish much together! (One is an action shot from the competition, and the other is a group shot upon returning to school.)

St. Mary Catholic School 6th Grade Science teacher, Juli Reece invited Evelyn DeAngelo with the Osprey Initiative to class this October to tell them about the litter in Mobile. The Osprey Initiative has teamed up with Mayor Simpson and the City of Mobile to help keep litter out of our watershed. A little trivia….the city pays $1,000,000 a year to keep litter out of our streams, rivers and our bay!

Phillips Preparatory IB Learner Profile highlight for the month was “Balanced.” Our standout student for this trait is Cayleigh Humphrey, a remarkable 8th grade student, recognized by her teachers. Additionally, kudos to Mr. Steven Faralli, our 6th-grade Individuals and Societies teacher, and Mrs. Kristen James, our 8th-grade Science teacher, who were both acknowledged by their students.

An ASMS student and her biology teacher recently discovered a 30-million-year-old fossil whale skeleton on a farm owned by the student’s family in Monroe County, about 80 miles north of Mobile, AL. The whale, which could be 20 feet long, will take at least three to four years to excavate and could be a first-of-its-kind find in Alabama.
Lindsey Stallworth, now a junior at the Alabama School of Math and Science (ASMS) in Mobile, AL, has been collecting fossils on her family’s land for as long as she can remember. “We would go out and pick up shark teeth and fossil shells, but we never knew anyone that could tell us anything about them,” said Stallworth. “We just thought they were cool.” Fortunately, one of the biology faculty members at ASMS, Dr. Andrew Gentry, is a paleontologist who has studied Alabama fossils since childhood. He is part of a distinguished three-member department at the school, and just last year, Gentry made headlines for leading the research into a previously unknown species of giant freshwater turtle that inhabited the state during the time of the dinosaurs.
Gentry, Lindsey, and a few helpers spent most of June and July carefully excavating the fossilized remains and transporting them back to ASMS’s newly renovated Makerspace, where students and faculty collaborate on projects while sharing ideas, equipment, and knowledge. Thanks to a unique ASMS Research Fellows Program available to high-achieving students at ASMS, Lindsey can now work alongside Dr. Gentry in cleaning, repairing, and studying the fossil whale.

Pre-K – 2nd Grade: Front Row – Lyla Byerley, Sophia Johnston, Kyle McCall, Alannah Patterson, Zayden Robinson, Ashlynn Stanley, and Justin Walter. Middle Row – Milena Djurdjevic, Ana Lucia Pulido-Ocampo, Wyatt Robinson, and Journee Stallworth. Back Row – Jason Becker, Hayden Culbreth, Maddilyn Culp, Allison Diego, and Camille Jones. Not Pictured – Sadie Atwell, Brooklyn Barnett, McKenzie Longstreet, and Zakaryah Reed.
3rd – 5th Grade: Front Row – Benjamin Cox, Callie Emrich, Charleigh Matthews, Samantha Rangel, and Charleigh Sievering. Middle Row –Taite Culbreth, Anaya Inge, Drew Lofton, Bella Montalvo, Jackson Singleton, and Abigail Snyder. Back Row – A’Ryah Childs, Jordyn Godfrey, Jayden Jackson, Madisyn Mayo, Marli McLean, and Lincoln Stewart.

Clark-Shaw Magnet School students work hard to succeed, and we wanted to celebrate those who achieved a Level 4 on at least two ACAP subject tests last year. These students were invited on a surprise field trip to WonderWorks in Panama City, Florida during 1st quarter. We are extremely proud of our Eagles soaring to excellence in all areas!

Congratulations to Rishita Bachu, a Phillips Preparatory 8th-grade student, for being selected as our Red Ribbon Leader. Rishita consistently demonstrates exceptional leadership qualities, and we are incredibly proud to have her represent our school.

St. Mary Catholic School 4th grade students learned about renewable resources in October. Students learned how algae is being used for future innovations as a renewable resource. The learning week ended with students growing their own algae! Students will collect samples and observe as they grow. St. Mary Fourth Grade Teacher, Camellia Neely attended an Algae academy over the summer that sent all resources to the class for this project.

Phillips Preparatory’s Lady Pirates concluded their volleyball season with a remarkable 16-1 record. Despite their undefeated run as division champions, they secured a second-place finish overall. We are so proud of our girls and their coaches, Coach Owens and Coach James for their unwavering dedication and effort throughout the season.

A huge thank you to TriNova, Inc.!! MCS was awarded the 2023 Community Career Education Forum Grant to support STEM education. We also would like to congratulate John McGilberry and Gradon Normand who both won door prizes at TriNova’s CCEF event last week! picture included

Congratulations to Josue Zuniga who was selected to represent Barton Academy at a Red Ribbon Superintendents’ Leadership Program event. Josue displays exceptional leadership at school, in the classroom, and in his extracurriculars on the soccer field. We are proud to have him represent our school!

At St. Mary Catholic School, Fall means it is time for all things pumpkins! Under the instruction of St. Mary’s art teacher, Mrs. Charlotte Fibbe, third graders created Zentangle pumpkins in the Mastro Art House!

St. Mary Catholic School celebrated World Space Week the week of October 4. To celebrate, St. Mary gave a shout out to Mrs. Camellia Neely for training like an astronaut this summer at Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville! St. Mary students are so lucky to have passionate teachers like Mrs. Neely!

Mobile Christian’s 3rd grade class enjoyed a visit from the BeeKeeper of Honey Hill. They learned all about bees.

Congratulations to Mrs. Bolton and five of our Barton Explorers for being recognized and awarded prizes through participation in the STEM challenges in the TriNova CCEF STEM event held this fall. Mrs. Bolton also received a $1,000 STEM grant! Way to go, Explorers!