January 25, 2013 - The Catholic Commentator

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January 27 - February 2, 2013
Catholic Schools Week
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The Catholic Commentator
January 25, 2013
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CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2013 The Catholic Commentator
Characteristics define Catholic identity
T
he Center for
to makes our Catholic
Catholic School
schools so excellent is
Effectiveness lists
formidable. At the core of
nine essential Characterthis enterprise are our beistics of Catholic Schools.
loved, priceless children,
They are: 1) Centered
who form the students
in the person of Jesus;
of our schools. Insepara2) Contributing to the
bly intertwined are our
evangelizing mission of
dedicated parents, clergy,
the Church; 3) Distinadministrators, teachers
guished by excellence; 4)
and staff members, school
Committed to educate the
boards (parochial and diwhole child; 5) Steeped
ocesan), home and school
in a Catholic worldview;
associations, alumni,
6) Sustained by Gospel
volunteers, benefactors
witness; 7) Shaped by
the personnel of a
Bishop Robert W. Muench and
communion and commuDiocesan Schools Office,
nity; 8) Accessible to all students; 9) Eswho work tirelessly to make our schools
tablished by the expressed authority of
a bright beacon of light in a world filled
the bishop. These characteristics define
with darkness.
the Catholic identity of Catholic schools
Perfection is an achievement virtuand serve as the platform on which the
ally impossible to humans, but the purstandards and benchmarks rest.
suit of it is what motivates and inspires
I am so proud of our Catholic schools
the Catholic Church to contribute to the
in the Diocese of Baton Rouge. Recently
measurable well-being of our students.
a father of two children, whom his wife
Thank you, parents and educators,
and he send to Catholic schools, menfor all you are and all you do for our
tioned to me how important it is to their
Catholic schools. Thank you, students,
family that their children receive their
for being the lifeblood of our schools
education and formation from such
and hope, today and tomorrow, for our
attendance. He also stated, without
Church and our world. I congratulate
complaint, that this required a financial
you and stand in awe of your accomsacrifice for them, but one which they
plishments.
willingly incur due to its short- and longCatholic Schools Week 2013 provides
range benefits. (As I have written before, another opportunity to recognize all
these benefits are for both a lifetime and
who make our schools such a gift to
an eternity.)
God, the Church and our community.
The community of faith that works
Peace, everyone!
From The Bishop
January 25, 2013
National norms show local
Catholic students above average
T
he focus of Catholic schools in the
Diocese of Baton Rouge is threefold: to evangelize hearts, educate
minds, and embrace the future. Our
schools join with clergy, parents and
students each day to achieve that vision
in alignment with the 2013 National
Catholic Educational Association’s
Theme: Catholic Schools
Raise the Standards.
Catholic schools are respected for their academic
excellence and high moral
standards, and this year’s
theme celebrates the consistent attention of Catholic
schools to continuous
improvement in faith
formation, academics and
preparation of students for
a future as a contributing
member of the community.
Recent data gathered on
faith knowledge using the
Assessment for Catechesis
and Religious Education
(ACRE) indicates that
our students score above
the national norm in all
eight domains in all grades tested. High
schools are working together to implement the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops’ Framework for Religious Instruction as they standardize
the curriculum. Service performed by
students in all grade levels in Catholic
schools is amazing, and many students
reflect on the service component of their
Catholic education as a life-changing experience. Our Catholic schools evangelize
hearts as they raise the standards in faith
formation.
The academic accomplishment of students in the diocese continues to be outstanding,
as evidenced in daily classroom work, performance
assessment and standardized testing. The Class of
2012 scored above both
state and national results
on the ACT, and elementary and middle schools students continued to score
above average in all core
subjects (reading, math,
language arts, science,
and social studies) on the
national Terra Nova Standardized Test. The rigor
of the instructional program ensures academic
excellence in our schools,
and educators across our
diocese participate in professional development to better meet the needs of
their students. As nationally-accredited
schools in the Diocese of Baton Rouge,
our schools identify annual goals for
SEE VERGES PAGE 3B
From The
Superintendent
Dr. Melanie B. Verges
HOLY GHOST CATHOLIC SCHOOL
507 North Oak Street • Hammond, LA 70401 • 985-345-0977
“Building God’s Kingdom: Every Child, Every Day, in God’s Way”
Mission Statement:
To promote a Catholic environment of loving, learning, and living in Christ, through academic excellence,
Gospel values, and a nurturing community.
New Student
Registration!
Begins Feb. 18 online at
hgschool.org
Pre-K – 8th Grade
Catholic Schools Week
2013 Celebration!
January 28 - February 1, 2013
In-School Programs:
Accelerated Reader, Quizdom, Classroom Starboards,
Wireless Campus, Writing Lab, Computer Lab,
Four Laptop Labs
Enrichment Programs:
Music, Band, Art, Title 1, Spanish, P. E., Library,
Count-On, Computer, Gifted/Accelerated B-Quest
Extra-curricular Activities:
Dance Team, Cheerleading, Drama Club, Student
Council, Garden Club, Choir, Quiz Bowl, Flag Patrol,
Altar Servers, Game Club, A Full Athletic Program,
National Junior Honor Society
After School Care:
Children may attend after school care from 2:45-6 p.m.
Religion:
Weekly Mass with Students: Liturgy, Choir
Faith Development: Daily Prayer, First Communion,
Reconciliation, Rosary, St. Joseph Altar,
Celebration of Liturgical Seasons
Catholic schools do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin in the administration of their educational policies.
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2013
January 25, 2013
00
3B
MORONEY: Pastor works with school, church and civic communities to achieve what is best for all
FROM PAGE 1
dimensions of education as well
as the importance of academic
excellence.” The pastor who grew
up in Ireland, encourages input
from parishioners, parents, staff
and school board members on all
spiritual, financial and economic
decisions that will impact St. Alphonsus church and school.
Since Ryals was hired three
years ago as St. Alphonsus principal, she has had the advantage
of Father Moroney’s advice from
his experiences as a school counselor, teacher and pastor at other
schools.
Some of the schools associated with the churches where
Father Moroney has been pastor
have experienced financial difficulties. “He has led these schools
to financial recovery,” according
to Ryals, and provided assistance
in the rebuilding of St. Isidore
School and additions to Our Lady
of Mercy and St. Thomas More
schools. Since he is involved in
each school’s annual operating
budget, he takes an active role
in managing operations with the
budget. Currently, he is at the
helm of the new eight-classroom
addition at St. Alphonsus.
During the school year, Father Moroney hosts a lunch
each month for St. Alphonsus
seventh- and eighth-graders interested in learning more about
the priesthood or religious life.
With the middle school students
around the dining table, Father
Moroney regales the students
with “anecdotes and stories of
his experiences and adventures,”
said Ryals.
“The children look up to Father Mike as a role model,” said
Stephanie de la Houssaye, St. Alphonsus school counselor.
“Father Mike provides tireless, effective leadership that led
to the recent rejuvenation of our
school community,” said Stephan
Whitlow, a St. Alphonsus school
in the church parishes.
Later, Bishop Robert W.
Muench asked Father Moroney
to revisit the study and make recommendations.
In addition to serving numerous terms on the Diocesan School
Board, Father Moroney served as
director of the Office of Religious
Education for three years.
St. JoSeph
CatholiC SChool
175 North 8th Street • Ponchatoula, LA
985-386-6421 • www.sjscrusaders.org
Father Michael Moroney, pastor of St. Alphonsus Liguori Church in
Greenwell Springs, meets monthly with seventh- and eighth-graders
during the school year to talk about vocations to the priesthood and
religious life. Photo by Barbara Chenevert | The Catholic Commentator
board member.
“St. Alphonsus was experiencing a decrease in enrollment
and enthusiasm arising from
the opening of a local community school system and questions about the direction of (St.
Alpohnsus) school,” Whitlow
stated. “Father Mike provided
the spiritual, financial and economic leadership that resulted
in renewed enthusiasm in the
school and the stabilization of
the school’s finances and enrollment.”
Whitlow credited Father Moroney and Ryals with stabilizing
“the education staff while boosting the academic success of the
students. There is no doubt that
the resurgence of our school is
due, in large part, to the wise
and effective leadership of Father
Mike.”
Through Father Moroney’s
involvement in and regular attendance at various athletic
events and the retreats he gives
for the students, he has built
trust and rapport with the youth,
explained Henry Sabbagh, a St.
Alphonus School parent. He said
every time his daughter, Kelsey,
a former St. Alphonsus student,
participated in functions with
Father Moroney she came home
filled with the Holy Spirit and
grateful for Father Moroney’s
guidance.
On a personal note, Sabbagh
mentioned Father Moroney’s
personal attention to him and
his family when his son died on
a Sunday in 2007. Despite having to celebrate three Sunday
Masses, Father Moroney visited
the family twice that day to make
sure they had “the emotional and
spiritual support we needed,”
said Sabbagh. “He made the time
for us as he always does with
anyone in need.”
At the invitation of two Baton
Rouge bishops, Father Moroney
served as chair of Blue Ribbon
committees to study and make
long-term recommendations for
Catholic schools in the Baton
Rouge Diocese. He was chosen
because of his interest in and
commitment to Catholic education. When Bishop Alfred C.
Hughes in consultation with the
priests, religious and laity of the
Baton Rouge Diocese, decided to
look at the ministries that would
be critical to the success of this
diocese, he selected Father Moroney to lead the study on education, both in Catholic schools and
VERGES: Schools blessed to have dedicated volunteers
FROM PAGE 2B
for improvement and are working toward common
core adoption. Such initiatives indicate long-term
commitment to the vision of educating minds, as
our schools continually raise the standards in academics.
Catholic schools in the Diocese of Baton Rouge
are blessed to have dedicated volunteers serving
on advisory boards. The talent provided by board
members enables schools to plan for the future in
areas such as facility renovation and expansion,
technology implementation, and financial planning. By working with all stakeholders for the
common good, Catholic schools in this diocese
embrace the future as they plan for growth, raising
the standards for the students we serve.
During Catholic Schools Week, we celebrate the
work of our schools in raising the standards as they
evangelize hearts, educate minds and embrace the
future. We are grateful for the leadership of Bishop
Robert W. Muench and for the support of clergy,
administrators, faculty, staff, parents, students,
and all who are partners in the work of the schools.
Through the support of the community, Catholic
education can continue to be a gift to generations in
the Diocese of Baton Rouge.
Catholic Schools Raise the Standards
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Monday, February 18, 2013
10 a.m. – 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
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4B
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CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2013 January 25, 2013
Distinguished Principal Gerard Toups preserving the innocence of children
By Laura Deavers
Editor
In Mark’s Gospel Jesus says the kingdom of God belongs to children. “Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God
like a child will never enter it” Mark 10:15.
St. Joseph School’s Dr. Gerard J.
Toups, who is the 2013 NCEA Distinguished Principal in the Diocese of Baton
Rouge, believes the most important role
for Catholic schools is to protect and preserve the innocence of children, and the
school principal is the one to set the tone
for this.
“The document ‘To Teach as Jesus Did’
gives us the road map to this end,” stated
Toups. “The message is salvation through
the one great commandment of love of
God and love of your fellow man.” He
added that the school community must
not only preach the message but reflect it
in its care and concern for every person,
especially the children.
“I believe the academic subjects themselves reveal the mystery and complexity
of the Lord and he is revealed in all our
studies,” Toups said. “The staff must integrate this into the every day academic
program of the school.”
Toups has been principal at St. Joseph
since 2006. Prior to accepting the position at St. Joseph he was principal of St.
Robert Bellarmine in Arabi, La., St. Agnes in Jefferson, each for seven years, and
of Our Lady of the Lake in Mandeville
for four years. He taught at Archbishop
Chapelle High School in Metairie for
seven years and at St. Joseph Benedictine
School in Chauvin for a year.
He earned his BA at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, and his master’s
and doctorate at University of Louisiana
Lafayette.
Prayer punctuates St. Joseph’s school
life, with prayer at each morning’s assembly, at the beginning of each class,
before meals and at the end of the day. At
the end of each week, Mass is celebrated
on Friday, what Toups described as the
“ultimate celebration of community and
thanksgiving.”
Since academics are emphasized in
this community of faith, “I believe the
academic subjects reveal the mystery and
complexity of the Lord ,and he is revealed
in all our studies,” said Toups.
St. Joseph students set the stage for
what they want to do to help those outside
of the school family, said Toups. Students
collect money for epilepsy because a student’s younger brother has the disease;
for EB, a rare genetic disorder, because a
child in Ponchatoula was born with it; for
the St. Jude Math-a-Thon because they
identify with others their age.
Explaining his understanding of reliance of other’s experience so he does
not have to “reinvent the wheel”, Toups
said he spent hours on the phone with
the assistant superintendent of schools
and much time in his office with the experienced teachers on his staff. “I learned
much and have had the philosophy from
the beginning that there is someone on
staff who can do just about any job better
than me, and I just needed to find those
individuals,” explained Toups. “Teachers
know they have my support. They enjoy
working with me. Supported and engaged
teachers bring out the best from students
who achieve.”
In 1979, Toups started the Summer
Reading and Math Clinic where for five
weeks students who were recommended
by their teachers for remediation and others who wanted to review material attended 50-minute classes each day. The programs, that were started in St. Bernard
and Jefferson civil parishes, served 150 to
180 students. For 30 years Toups supervised the program and in 2008, when he
left the area, turned it over to three teachers who still operate it.
Increased enrollment has been one of
Toups’ accomplishments at every school
where he has been principal. St. Joseph
has grown from 301 to 429 in the six years
he has been principal, and he foresees enrollment reaching 500 in the next four
years. While principal at St. Robert the
student population went from the smallest in St. Bernard Civil Parish, 367, to the
largest when he left at 519.
“Staffing the school with qualified and
passionate educators that shape the faith
and academic foundation for young students has been a top priority” for Toups,
stated former St. Joseph Advisory Board
members Denise West and May Ransom.
West and her husband Carl have two
sons who graduated from St. Joseph and
are now in high school. Ransom and her
husband James have an eighth-grader
at St. Joseph and a son who graduated
from there and is a high school senior.
The two women expressed their satisfaction that St. Joseph School offers the
opportunity for students to earn high
school credit while in eighth grade, giving them an academic advantage in their
freshman year.
Toups analyzed and evaluated the
costs associated with educating a child
to propose a balanced budget based on a
steady rate of growth at St. Joseph. He has
also attracted quality educators and successfully operates the school with a profit.
He has been able to raise salary scales 92
to 100 percent of the diocesan scale.
“I still work because what I missed
most for the nine months after Hurricane
Katrina was the children – their innocence, their wide-eyed view of life, their
goodness. Jesus said it all in the Gospel,”
said Toups about his many years in education.
“I thank parents regularly for entrusting us with their children. It is a great
responsibility to ensure that trust is
earned,” said Toups.
Catholic education is the mission of the
Toups family. Along with his career as a
Catholic educator, his wife taught English
and was head of the English department
at Archbishop Chapelle High School for
42 years, and his son, who is currently
employed at Catholic High School, has
taught English and coached basketball at
boys’ schools for 15 years.
NOLA VISITS – St. Jude School alum Austin Nola visited Katie Romig’s kindergarten
class recently, where he read to the students and had a question and answer session. Nola is a former member of the LSU baseball team and was a part of the team
in 2009 when LSU won the College World Series. He is now a member of the Miami
Marlins, but still finds time to visit St. Jude School when he is in town. Photo provided by
St. Jude School
January 25, 2013
Sinanan named 2013
distinguished teacher
By Laura Deavers
Editor
Beth Sinanan is a fourth-grade
teacher at St. Theresa of Avila
Middle School and the Diocese of
Baton Rouge 2013 NCEA Distinguished Teacher. Before joining
the St. Theresa faculty in 2005, she
taught at St. Peter Chanel for four
years.
Catholic educators have the
privilege to nurture and guide students on their Catholic faith journey while enlightening and challenging their minds in all academic
areas, said Sinanan about her philosophy of Catholic education.
“Teaching in a Catholic school is
not one’s occupation but one’s ministry, a calling, which prompts us
to join with parents, the primary
educators of our students, in educating God’s children in matters
both spiritual and temporal.”
Whether in a science or religion
class, Sinanan brings God into all
of her lessons. In her students’ vegetable garden she uses the story
of the mustard seed to help them
understand how the tiny okra seed
will grow into a tall plant. And in
another lesson they “witness God’s
gift of new life as they watch their
chick hatch from the eggs they
have taken care of, ”Sinanan commented.
Prayer provides Sinanan what
she needs to fulfill her calling as an
educator. “Teaching my students
to pray, and praying with them,
brings them closer to Christ and
builds our student-teacher relationship,” Sinanan said. “Prayer
with my students in class, schoolwide prayer with our school community, prayer with fellow teachers and staff, personal prayer and
journaling and prayer with my
family, all strengthen me to continue my teaching ministry.”
She believes planning meaningful learning experiences and
connecting them to real world situations are vital to building a strong
foundation for her children. At all
times she is thinking, preparing
and working on tasks to help her
students understand and grow,
both spiritually and academically.
“Collaborating with fellow
educators, communicating with
parents and researching new student activities are just a few tasks
that usually fall outside of regular
school hours,” said Sinanan.
At St. Theresa, Sinanan has
served as a leader of the school’s
4-H Club and has been a member
of St. Theresa’s principal’s advisory
committee, the fair committee, individual needs committee, crisis
team and discipline committee,
and helped design a new discipline
program for the school. She also
served as one of St. Theresa’s accreditation coordinators during
the 2009-10 school year.
A member of St. Mark Church in
Gonzales, Sinanan teaches religion
and serves on the second-grade
retreat team, preparing these students for first reconciliation and
first Eucharist. She presents baptismal seminars, helping new parents understand the importance of
their roles as their child’s primary
educator.
NEW ST UDENTS
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SACS Accreditation
St. Alphonsus Liquori Catholic School Since 1963
13940 Greenwell Springs Road, City of Central, LA 70739
225-261-5299 • www.stalphonsusbr.org
Mrs. Cynthia Ryals, Principal
Catholic Schools do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, or ethnic origin
in the administration of the educational policies.
5B
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Hanks chosen for NCEA education award
By Laura Deavers
Editor
Dr. Jason Hanks, Catholic
High School assistant principal
for instruction, has set new standards locally as well as nationally
for developing a multi-faceted
plan for using data to enhance
education and transform curriculum and instruction, student
outcomes and teacher effectiveness. This has led to CHS adopting a different process for creating and grading exams and its
students to experience positive
measurable results in improved
college readiness scores in ACT
series of tests.
Hanks is the Diocese of Baton
Rouge NCEA Catholic Secondary Education Award recipient
for 2013. He has taught English
for 10 years and has held various
administrative positions at CHS
during his tenure.
In addition to his responsibilities at CHS, Hanks is an educational consultant working with
other schools on data-informed
decision making.
Taking his research to the
next level, Hanks engages parents and students by educating
both groups on the meaning of
the data, thereby creating significant buy-in from both groups.
An NCEA presenter in 2011
and at this year’s upcoming conference in April on this topic, he
is expanding his work to higher
education, where his position as
an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco allows
him to teach educators about
the effective use of data to inform decision making in Catholic
schools.
He is a member of the Boys
Hope/Girls Hope board and
serves on their program committee, which helps guide and
mentor these students. And,
he has completed the Coindre
Leadership Program through
the Brothers of the Sacred Heart
that culminated in mission work
in Zambia where he taught students and gave workshops for
the teachers in a school under the
direction of the Brothers of the
Sacred Heart.
Catholic High School officials
state that Hanks’ greatest gift is
his ability to work with young
people and his determination to
help them reach their potential
as both a student and a child of
God. “His commitment to Gospel
values and to Catholic education
is the backbone of his energy
and focus within his daily work,”
school officials state in Hanks’
nomination for the secondary ed-
ucator’s award. “He considers his
work as a vocation of service and
it is this perspective that makes
him such a gift.”
The trip to Zambia and the
time he spent with the students
and teachers at the Brothers of
the Sacred Heart Schools transformed Hanks’ view on education for students in poverty.
Subsequently, he has educated
the CHS faculty and students on
his trip so they could gain awareness of and help support schools
staffed by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart around the world.
Hanks has a bachelor’s degree
in education focusing on English
from LSU, a master’s degree in
Catholic school leadership from
the University of San Francisco
and a doctor of education in educational leadership from Southeastern Louisiana University. His
doctoral dissertation focused on
Catholic schools and using data
informed decision making.
School officials stated one of
Hanks’ gifts is his ability to look
forward and determine the future direction of the school and
then put that direction into motion. He was also instrumental
in moving CHS teachers to use
common exams in the same subject areas, enhancing the school’s
academic excellence.
6B
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January 25, 2013
Health/physical education program enhances student learning
Through St. Joseph’s Academy health and physical education curriculum, students en-
hance their academic knowledge
of important health issues as
well as enjoy meaningful oppor-
tunities to experience the benefits of physical fitness and grow
in appreciation of individual,
lifetime and team sports.
Academy students are required to take four years of health
CatholiC
SChoolS
A Gift for Life
* 98% of the Class of 2012 entered college
“
Catholic schools
upon graduation
* More than $37 million in scholarships
*
*
*
*
combine education with
awarded to Class of 2012
Catholic School students achieve higher
a ‘lens of faith’
than
through which children
national and state averages on the ACT
view the world and
Nationally-normed Terra Nova test scores
exceed national average in all subject areas
act as living examples
”
of Christ.
ACRE test scores on faith knowledge above
national norm for all domain and grade levels
Mrs. Stacey Brenner Keaton
Approximately 185,000 service hours to
2013 DiSTiNguiShED gRADuATE
our community in the 2011–12 school year
EvangElizing hEARTS
EduCating miNDS
EMBraCing ThE FuTuRE
A S C ENSioN
|
www.csobr.org Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Schools 225.336.8735
A S Su m p T ioN
|
C EN T R A l
|
E A S T B AT oN RougE
|
iBERv il l E
|
p oiN T E Cou pEE
|
S T. JA m ES
|
TA NgipA hoA
|
W ES T B AT oN RougE
and physical education in which
they are exposed to a wide variety of health topics and physical
activities.
Health topics covered in ninth
and 10th grades include nutrition and diet, drugs, alcohol, eating disorders and CPR. Juniors
and seniors study heart disease,
cancer, communicable diseases,
CPR, safety and the aging process.
On a daily basis, students are
responsible for summarizing
current news articles pertaining
to women’s health issues. To enhance learning, guest speakers
are invited to share their expertise. Teachers also utilize lectures,
internet research, class presentations, projects and videos.
The physical education component of the curriculum enables
students to develop better health
and physical fitness; learn and increase movement skills; develop
good sportsmanship and teamwork; and increase knowledge
and appreciation of the sports in
which they participate. Students
also learn the history of sports,
safety procedures and rules.
Department chair Brenda
LeBlanc said the program’s goal
is to offer a range of activities and
learning opportunities to appeal
to all students. “It is our goal that
during her four years, each young
woman finds an activity or a few
activities she enjoys,” she said.
“Whether that be ballroom dancing, bowling, basketball or badminton, we want our students to
be ‘movers’ for life.”
The academy now employs
a full-time athletic trainer, a
cutting-edge enhancement on
the high school level. In addition to caring for SJA’s studentathletes, she also teaches the
school’s sports medicine elective.
Year one of the course provides
an overview of the field of sports
medicine and exposes students
to the fundamentals involved in
a sports medicine healthcare setting. Year two offers an overview
of the pathology of sports injuries
and basic injury-management
skills. Students learn about the
body’s response to injury and how
to apply basic emergency action
principles and skills. Emphasis is
placed on an athlete’s psychological and sociological responses to
injury and the strategies utilized
by healthcare professionals to assist in their recovery. Faculty member Elizabeth
Fontenot developed a six-week,
SEE HEALTH PAGE 7B
January 25, 2013
7B
00
Holy Family School cheerleaders perform in Capital One Bowl
HEALTH: Online class
FROM PAGE 6B
online health and physical education
course. Offered to a select number of students with unavoidable schedule conflicts,
the course covers the health and physical
education components taught in the traditional classes. Participants spend a minimum of 90 minutes per week on off-campus physical education assignments and at
least 60 minutes per week on off-campus
health education assignments. Additionally, they must meet with the course supervisor in 12 two-hour meetings on campus.
OLOM strives for academic excellence
This year, Our Lady of Mercy School is
focusing its efforts on enhancing academics through differentiated instruction and
curriculum development.
Eleven OLOM pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first-grade teachers attended an Orton-Gillingham training
program from Jan. 14 – 18. In this comprehensive 30-hour program, teachers
learned how to incorporate into their
daily lessons the components essential
to an effective reading program, including phonics, vocabulary development and
comprehension strategies. The training
will enable teachers to help every child
achieve his or her reading potential.
OLOM has recently developed an Alternative Enrichment Program as a way
to provide individualized challenges and
self-directed learning projects for the
school’s highest student achievers. Students meet with a faculty moderator an
average of three times per week for these
sessions, during which students may prepare for advanced mathematics competitions, such as MATHCOUNTS, or explore
curricular interests such as space, myth
ology and creative writing.
The school has also designed a studyskills program for students who need
additional assistance in developing the
organizational and test-taking skills so
important for academic success. Kristy
Monsour, former OLOM fourth-grade
teacher, has returned to direct this program, which is currently offered daily as
an enrichment course.
In order to assist OLOM faculty in cur-
Carol Giurintano, Our Lady of Mercy School
second-grade teacher, assists Chandler
Young and Vivian Toups while using iPads
for a classroom research assignment. Photo
provided by Our Lady of Mercy School
riculum development, Valerie Comeaux,
who will complete her PhD in curriculum theory at LSU in the spring, joined
the OLOM faculty in January to serve as
the school’s curriculum specialist. She is
working to align the curriculum to meet
the rigorous standards of Common Core.
Resources from the school’s very successful annual appeal are being used for
teacher professional development and
technology acquisition to support OLOM’s
focus on curriculum development and enhanced instruction for all learners.
Holy Family fifth- and sixth-grade cheerleaders perform at Capital One Bowl. Photo provided by Stefani Lorena | Holy Family School
During their free time the girls visited the Walt Disney World theme parks
with their family and friends, where they
enjoyed the rides, meeting theme characters, watching fireworks on New Year’s
Eve and making countless memories.
While in Orlando, the girls were able
to tour the Citrus Bowl Stadium, where
they met girls from other cheer squads,
high school and collegiate mascots, col-
St. Louis King of France
Catholic School
St. Joseph’s Academy’s health and physical
education curriculum provides a variety of
learning opportunities, including archery.
Photo by Callie Limes | St. Joseph’s Academy
A trip to Orlando to appear in the
pregame show at the Capital One Bowl
was the way Holy Family School’s fifthand sixth-grade cheerleaders spent their
Christmas holiday.
The squad was selected for the Jan. 1
bowl game because of the Superior Blue
Ribbon ratings they received every day
at the Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) summer camp in 2012. Only
cheering squads with consistent superior performances received an invitation
to the bowl game, which saw Georgia defeat Nebraska 45-31.
The Holy Family cheering squad had
the youngest girls on the field with more
than 700 performers from all over the
United States.
The cheerleaders traveled to Orlando
after Christmas for a week of rehearsals to prepare them for their Capital
One Bowl pregame performance. They
practiced at several area football fields,
as well as at Disney World Resort. The
hours of rehearsals proved to be quite
valuable when they performed in front of
the tens of thousands of fans in the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium and the ABC
television audience.
legiate band members, cheerleaders and
football players from the University of
Nebraska and the University of Georgia.
“We would want to thank everyone
who supported us along this journey
with their well wishes, financial assistance and prayers,” said Stefani Lorena,
Holy Family School teacher. “The experience was one that our girls will never
forget.”
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LIMITED OPENINGS IN
GRADES Pre K - 8TH
225-273-3932
2311 N. Sherwood Forest
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Ascension Catholic Diocesan
Regional School
Pre-K through 12th grade
2013-2014 Registration
March 11-15, 2013
Call 225-473-9227 for information.
“educating the mind,
body, and spirit
of each student to
know, love, and serve God, self,
and others in a safe and caring environment.”
Nondiscriminatory Admission Policy
Holy Family ScHool
open HouSe and RegiStRation
pK4 and KindeRgaRten
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
9 a.m. – noon School Library
Registration for current and new students
grades 1-8: Feb. 18 – 27
Email: [email protected]
335 N. Jefferson Ave., Port Allen
225-344-4100
Fax 225-344-1928
www.holyfamilyschool.com
January 25, 2013
St. Michael High named Today’s
Catholic Teacher school of the month
St. Michael High School was
chosen as the Today’s Catholic
Teacher magazine’s National
School of the Month for January
because of the school’s Catholic
identity and student service program.
“Catholic identity is evident
at St. Michael High School, not
just with the presence of our
chapel or our religious statues
and classes, but also through our
faculty and students who know
exactly who we are and what we
stand for,” said St. Michael Principal Ellen Lee.
Today’s Catholic Teacher is a
national publication that is distributed six times during the
school year. The magazine shares
insights and best practices with
Catholic teachers on topics such
as technology in the classroom,
best practices, continuing education for teachers, fund raising
ideas as well as prayer and reflection to share with students.
Each edition also includes a
parent partnership section for
teachers and administrators to
use as a guide to Catholic parenting as well as the school-of-the
-month feature.
The author of the feature on
St. Michael High School, Ruth
Matheny, believes that the way
St. Michael has taken its school
charisms to further the school’s
Catholic identity and enhance a
strong student service program
is what defines this national
school of the month as a model
for others to emulate.
In her article, Matheny wrote:
“St. Michael High School has
taken its school charisms – fides/faith, veritas/truth and ministerium/service, and integrated
them so its students are learning
about and living out these founding principles. The charisms are
the forefront for teacher and
student planning. Each charism
is being taught to the students
and referred to at every opportunity. They each express a part
of the mission and purpose of
St. Michael High School with a
school code recently developed
to further highlight the three
charisms. The code now serves
as a constant reminder of what it
means to be a St. Michael Warrior.”
Religion teacher, Kim Anson, said, “I have seen our
school focus on the charisms
and have personally witnessed
the focus of fides (faith) literally
change some students’ lives.”
In addition to changing lives
internally, the St. Michael High
School charisms also touch
those outside of the school walls.
“Just as faith without works is
dead, so too will faith and truth
always be incomplete if they do
not enable and motivate us to
minister to others, to serve the
poor, and to bring joy and love to
the lonely,” said Assistant Principal Peter Fletcher. “We celebrate
our charisms by facilitating a
year-round service program to
encourage students to give back
and celebrate all for which they
have to be thankful.”
Each St. Michael student is
required to serve others through
community service and volunteerism while they are in
school. Each year, students give
back through their clubs and
sports teams, as well as complete
a designated number of service
hours on their own. Freshmen
must complete 10 hours; sophomores at least 15; juniors, 20
hours; and seniors, 25 hours.
“Everyone knows that high
school changes you, but St. Michael gives you the opportunities
to change for the better – both
in your faith and in the way you
serve others,” said junior Sarah
Major.
Local student community
service includes visits to nursing
homes; the organization of food,
clothing and toy drives; weekly
prayers at the local abortion
clinic among other community
programs.
Students also take trips
to participate in the annual March for Life in Washington,
D.C., and to a mission in Nicaragua to serve an area referred to
as the garbage dump community. In all, students give back
more than 23,000 hours collectively every year.
Seniors culminate their four
years of service with a multi-media presentation to their peers
on the cause that has meant the
most to them from their service
experience while at St. Michael
High School.
Guaranteed to get a bite! Perron returns to classroom to become a teachBy D. Elaine Crowe
Our Lady of the Lake College
Child Nutrition Program
At a time when many people
are contemplating retirement,
Marsha Perron is a 60-year-old
student who has just completed
a bachelor of science degree in
nursing (BSN) at Our Lady of the
Lake College. Perron plans to begin work on her master’s degree
next.
“I went back to get a BSN after 24 years in nursing because I
want to ultimately teach nursing,”
explained Perron. “Nursing has
been my calling, and now that I
am older I want to help to guide
the next generation of nurses to
become the best that they can be.
Marsha Perron received at her
college graduation the President’s Medal, awarded to the
bachelor’s degree student with
the second highest grade point
average. Photo provided by Our Lady of the
Lake College
I believe this will give the rest of
my life integrity and a fuller, richer meaning.”
Always approaching everything with excellence, Perron has
distinguished herself academically during her bachelor’s degree
work. She graduated on Dec. 19
with the second highest graduating GPA, earning herself the prestigious President’s Medal.
“God has allowed me the
strength and fortitude to finish
projects, write papers and do well
on tests that I would have not
been able to accomplish without
his help,” Perron said of the role
her faith has had in her education. “Nursing has been a proSEE OLOL COLLEGE PAGE 9B
January 25, 2013
9B
00
Sacred Heart
embraces the
Year of Faith
When Pope Benedict XVI declared a
Year of Faith beginning on Oct. 11, 2012
and ending Nov. 24, 2013, Sacred Heart of
Jesus School embraced the concept to renew and strengthen the students and faculty in their practice of faith.
To renew and strengthen Catholics in
their practice of faith, SHS embraced the
unique history of Sacred Heart of Jesus
Church Parish, which includes a wealth
of religious art, sculptures, carvings and
architectural elements. All students in prekindergarten through eighth grade toured
Sacred Heart Church and through various projects in art and computer classes,
learned more about Sacred Heart Church.
“The students were inspired by the
beauty of the church,” said SHS art teacher
Dorothy Calandro. While all grade levels
have produced various types of art based
on the church’s art and architecture, the
fifth- through seventh-grade students are
currently capturing the church art and architecture through photography.
“There are a lot of things in the church
that I’d seen a million times, but never
thought of what they mean,” said seventhgrader Claudia Pickell. “Everything in
there (the church), even the smallest thing,
has a meaning.”
The church tours were so successful that plans are underway for a Spring/
Lenten event, “The Sacred Vessels,” according to SHS religion coordinator Marylyn Dietz. “Through ‘The Sacred Vessels’
students and faculty will hear the unique
history of some of Sacred Heart’s treasures
and understand the purpose of each, “ said
Dietz.
Students will also examine the art, his-
Sacred Heart School students and their family members are honored during the Generation Celebration. Photo by Lisa Cosse | Sacred Heart School
tory and symbolism of the paschal candle.
Sacred Heart parishioner and archivist
Mary Lee Eggart creates one-of-a-kind
paschal candles each year that are designed to reflect the symbols in the church.
To inspire the world with their example, SHS had only to turn to the Sisters of
St. Joseph, who have taught at the school
since its founding in 1929. SHS initiated
a program reflecting the vision of Father
Jean Pierre Medaille, who in 1650 founded
the order of religious women, “to serve our
neighbors with the same loving concern St.
Joseph had shown in caring for Jesus and
Mary.”
SHS’s “Dear Neighbor” Program now
serves as an umbrella for the school’s philanthropic efforts and is based on the concept that neighbors include those physically in our neighborhood as well as those
who are neighbors in a broader sense. Food
items are collected weekly for the church’s
food pantry and are distributed to those
in need who live within the parish boundaries. Each October, the P.E. Department
organizes the “Dear Neighbor” Walk for
Diabetes, with collections going to the local chapter of JDRF to assist with research
for Type 1 diabetes.
Another of the many projects operat-
ing under the “Dear Neighbor” umbrella
began in November, the “Dear Neighbor”
Veteran’s Day project. Items were collected
for Raven Outreach Center for Homeless
Veterans, which is located a few blocks
from the school.
Sacred Heart School also inspires by its
academic legacy and its long history and
presence in the Diocese of Baton Rouge. In
October the school held a generation celebration to recognize 32 current students
who are second, third or fourth generation
SHS Tigers.
“I thought it was amazing that some
of our current students have great-grandparents who graduated from SHS back in
the 30s and 40s,” said development direc-
tor Michelle Schroeder. “That really says
something about a school.”
First-grader Caroline Campbell is one
of the school’s fourth generation students. Her mother Kecia Kling Campbell,
class of 1991, said, “It gives me an overwhelming sense of pride and gratitude to
know that four generations of my family
have walked through the doors of Sacred
Heart, and I was one of them.”
“We are proud to adopt and truly live
the Year of Faith at Sacred Heart School,”
said Principal Joan Hutson. “We don’t
expect it to end in November 2013, as we
will continue to embrace the concept and
the many gifts of our school and church to
move forward.”
OLOL COLLEGE: It is never too late to learn
FROM PAGE 8B
found gift from God for me and I plan to
share the skills and information that I have
learned if it continues to be his will.”
Perron’s commitment to God and to
serving her patients is a testament to the
kind of nursing cultivated at Our Lady of
the Lake College, the only Catholic college
in Louisiana outside of New Orleans. “If
nurses are to be effective, they must come
from the standpoint of a ‘wounded healer’
as explained by Henri Nouwen,” Perron
stated. “This means that in order to give
quality care for an individual, nurses must
be willing to go beyond their professional
role and allow themselves to be open –
vulnerable human beings with the same
wounds and suffering – in the same way
that Christ did in his suffering.”
Perron first thought about becoming a
nurse when she was 8 years old. She rode
with her grandmother on a bus to Charity
Hospital in New Orleans where her grand-
mother received her (at that time experimental) radiation and chemotherapy treatments for cancer. Her grandmother also
allowed her young granddaughter to give
her insulin injections for type I diabetes
and take care of her after her treatments.
Perron earned a diploma in nursing in
1988 at Our Lady of the Lake College, then
went on to work with different healthcare
organizations including Lane Memorial
and Woman’s Hospital, mostly specializing
in pediatrics. While working on her bachelor’s degree, Perron became the primary
caregiver for her mother, who suffered
from emphysema and was eventually diagnosed with brain and bone cancer. Perron’s
mother rode with her when she turned in
her “intent to graduate” form. According to
Perron her mother “. . . was as proud as if
I had already graduated!” Her mother had
hoped to live to see her finish, but that was
not meant to be. She died one week before
her daughter’s last semester began.
Open House
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Tour Campus and Visit Classes / Meet Administrative Staff
Application Information Available
www.olomschool.org
Limited Openings for 2013-14
Our Lady of Mercy Catholic School does not discriminate
on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin.
400 Marquette Avenue

Baton Rouge, LA

225-924-1054
10B
00
January 25, 2013
Hands-on and hats off to science
MPTO
ence with a tasty edible end product to
entice student interest. Whether it’s a solar
oven made out of pizza boxes or a slushy
created while studying physical changes,
having a tangible treat to eat holds students’ interest. Errors in calculation or
handling show up more noticeably when
the end results are eaten.
In the upper grades, sixth graders learn
about chemical properties by studying
a mystery powder. Using deductive reasoning and analysis, students determine
properties such as pH, color change and
solubility of the mystery powders, then
use the process of elimination to narrow
down and confirm what the mystery powders are, based on the results they achieve.
Use of the science laboratory’s collection of
microscopes, instruments and tools, along
with the Internet for research, brings science alive for the students.
Every other year, all STAM school seventh- and eighth-grade students participate in a science fair where purpose, hypothesis, experiment, procedure, analysis
and conclusion are used to learn more
in-depth information about a subject in
one of multiple fields of science. Students
present what they learned to their classmates and also to judges. Younger grades
get the opportunity to view all the re-
search boards and materials on display.
Science allows St. Theresa Middle students to step beyond the boundaries of
books and learn to face the challenges of
our increasingly complex yet fascinating
world.
Pre-K – 6th grade
Founded1945
A
E
ENT
✔ NSECD Pre-K Program
✔ Language Science Lab for
Dyslexic Students
✔ Christian Environment
✔ Extended Day Care
✔ Computer Education
✔ Enriched Curriculum &
Athletic Program
✔ Starboard Programs
✔ Transportation Available
✔ Non-discriminatory admission policy
St. Thomas More School fourth-grade teacher Kristen Baldridge, center, and fifth-grade
teacher Brant Ruiz, right, demonstrate to their peers the Promethean ActivBoard tools
and share ways to incorporate the technology in different subjects during a mini technology session held on Jan. 8. Photo by Kerry Hunt | St. Thomas More School
STM revolutionizes classroom learning
Limited Openings stiLL AvAiLAbLe
Open House
January 31, 2013 • 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Redemptorist Elementary . . . experience
thebenefitsofCatholiceducation.
Beth Sinanan’s fourth graders at St. Theresa Middle put the scientific method to use as
they perform various experiments, such as this “lava lamp” experiment by Tyler Legendre. Classmates, from left, Legendre, Nicholas Noel, Olivia Sclafani, Bynnan Bell, Sinanan, Emily Poché and Emma Madere, are intrigued by the display, caused by the reaction
of Alka Seltzer tablets to the water and oil in the bottle Tyler used for his experiment. Photo provided by St. Theresa Middle School
Redemptorist
Elementary
Catholic School
RY
ST
EL
M
RI
RED
E
Actively engaging students to help them
develop a love for science is a passion for
fourth-grade teacher Beth Sinanan at St.
Theresa of Avila Middle School. Her motivation is to get students more involved
in projects that capture their interest,
moving the students away from sitting in
a desk listening to a lecture. St. Theresa’s
other science teachers share her desire.
Problem solving abilities, creative
thinking and developing a love for the scientific world are the skills promoted in science classes throughout the campus.
One of the challenges that Sinanan puts
forth to her students is to seek out their own
science experiments to perform for their
classmates so they can teach other students what they themselves have learned.
This ownership in their own research and
experimentation has created a new level of
interest in science in Sinanan’s class.
Another yearly tradition among the
fourth graders is the planting and maintenance of a garden outside the fourth-grade
classrooms. Measurements of height, leaf
structure, and differences in plant growth
and care are all written down in a scientific
fashion as students learn about photosynthesis and how plants are such an integral
part of our world.
Fifth graders sometimes combine sci-
Phone: 225-355-1437
Fax: 225-355-1879
As more students grow up in a digital
world, schools must adapt to technological changes. Teachers at St. Thomas More
School are staying abreast of new techniques in technology to provide the education their students need for the digital age.
STM teachers are participating in a
series of mini-technology sessions to enhance their educational skills. The educators are learning about the array of
technology available for their classrooms,
such as digital whiteboards, interactive
software, digital imaging, audio and video
creation tools, on-demand video libraries,
computers, laptops and LCD projectors. During the first mini-technology session held on Jan. 8, teachers shared insights, ideas, methods and expertise with
their peers on how to use the ActivBoards
and StarBoards in the classroom. They
explored the basic “how to” of using the
boards and the best way to incorporate the
technology into different subjects.
“Using these exciting interactive whiteboards, you can create multimedia lessons
that engage learners and address their diverse needs,” stated Sara Wisdom, thirdgrade teacher. “We demonstrated to the
teachers how to plot ordered pairs, play
games, find websites to enrich the lesson,
create space figures, and homophone and
high frequency word games”.
St. Thomas More School plans to hold
more in-depth technology sessions on
the interactive whiteboards on Feb. 4 and
5. These sessions will allow the teachers
more hands-on experience and show them
other resources available to use with their
whiteboards in their daily lessons.
“With these technologies, plus the passion and inspiration of our teachers, STM
is committed to continuing our legacy of
excellence academically and spiritually,”
said STM Principal Dr. Judy Armstrong.
January 25, 2013
11B
00
Inspiring excellence and enthusiasm through music education
John Gerbrecht and Jan Dupre, who have been St. George
School’s band directors for
10 years, have developed the
school’s band program into the
cornerstone of the St. George
performing arts department.
Gerbrecht, a St. George parishioner for 46 years, retired
as the director of one of the St.
George choirs after 33 years and
returned to the classroom in
2003 to teach at St. George. In
1972 he started the first afterschool St. George Band while
still teaching full-time in the
East Baton Rouge Parish Public
School System.
“When I was approached
about becoming band director
at St. George, I was enthusiastic about being able to give to
my (church) parish and to work
with my two grandsons, who
were both St. George students
at the time,” said Gerbrecht. “It
also allowed me to work along
with my daughter, Jan, doing
what we both love – teaching
young people how to develop
and appreciate their musical
talent while learning to play an
instrument.”
Being a member of a St.
George band takes commitment
since classes are after school.
“Our band students are multitalented – many participate in
dance, choir, swim team, baseball, track, etc.,” said Dupre. “We
are always delighted to hear of
their many accomplishments in
school and the community.”
The St. George music department offers instruction to
students in grades four through
eight at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Students receive instruction on individual instruments, in music
theory, scales and fundamentals, and acquire a diverse repertoire. As they advance, they
have numerous performance
opportunities and may audition
for the All-Parish Honor Bands
or take part in the spring Jazz
Program. Students receive the
training and skills necessary to
participate in high school music
programs.
“We do our best to send (high
school bands directors) the student who has it all – the ability
to read music, a solid foundation
on the instrument and the technique to begin performing high
school-level music,” commented
Gerbrecht.
Former students Melanie
Holeman, who made first alto
St. George School Band at St. Michael Band Night 2012
saxophone in the St. Michael
High School Jazz Ensemble as a
freshman, Bryson Lejeune, who
is Catholic High School’s drum
major, Therese Arceneux, who
became first chair trumpet in
the St. Michael Jazz Band and
was selected for All-Parish Jazz
and Concert bands, and Lindsay Marquette, who as an LSU
freshman was selected for the
drumline, give credit for their
success to what they learned at
St. George School.
“The incomparable St. George
band program helped me grow
both musically and mentally,”
said Arceneaux. “It always made
my day to see Mr. Gerbrecht’s
and Mrs. Dupre’s smiling faces
bright and early on band mornings to teach me about music and
critical life lessons. High school
band is fun and enjoyable, and
you meet lots of new friends.
However, it is also a rewarding
challenge that the St. George
band definitely prepared me for.
The St. George band program
taught me that hard work pays
off and practice really does make
perfect.”
As the instrumental music
director, Gerbrecht stressed the
importance of the bands being
present in the school, church
and city. Performances include
the annual Christmas and spring
concerts, the annual Grandparent’s Day Program, the St.
George Fair, SGS Open House,
SGS Talent Show, the feast of
the Epiphany, Loyola Jazz Invitational, interfaith celebrations
and the Catholic Schools Showcase, to name a few.
“Preparing and performing
for an audience is part of their
music education experience, and
it is always a proud moment and
a stellar representation of the
outstanding talent we have in
our school,” said Gerbrecht.
In 2005, a Spring Jazz Program was started and the first
SGS Jazz Combo attended the
Loyola Jazz Festival. The next
year, in addition to returning
to the Loyola Jazz Festival, the
SGS Combo was the first middle-school combo to be invited
to perform in the University of
North Texas Jazz Festival. This
year will mark the ninth year St.
George students participate in
the Loyola Jazz Festival.
Seven years ago, two St.
George band students, Stephen
Arceneaux and Jacob Dupre,
took their duo to the Beta Talent
Dyslexia and Related
Learning Differences
Free Conference
Sponsored by the Dyslexia Association
of Greater Baton Rouge
Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013
7:30 a.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Hosted by The Brighton School
12108 Parkmeadow Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA
Guest Speaker and Presenters:
Dr. Alicia Pellegrin, Psychologist
Dr. F. Charles Frey, Psychologist
Dr. Donald G. Hoppe, Psychologist
All interested parents and educators
are invited to attend.
Pre-registration only. Space is limited.
Please call 225-291-2524 or
email [email protected].
Teaching Students the Way They Learn!
Competition and won first place
in district, state and national
competition.
St. George band students also
continue to make a fine impression on the community when
they participate in All-Parish
Ensembles. Top middle school
instrumentalists throughout the
civil parish are chosen by audition to perform in these groups.
This year, three Advanced Band
II students were chosen to participate in the All-Parish Band
– Paige Bourg and Sarah Johnson, flute; and Jessie Penouilh,
clarinet.
A vital aspect of the St.
George band is sharing the beauty of God’s graces with students.
“Your musical talent is God’s gift
to you; what you do with that talent is your gift back to him,” said
Dupre.
The band directors’ philosophy remains steadfast – they
give their students the opportunity to study music, develop
their talent, learn to play an instrument and value the amazing
beauty of music. “They will not
all become professional musicians or music educators, but if
we can teach them to love and
appreciate music, then we have
given them a priceless gift that
will last their lifetime.”
RecognizeD DiffeRences
of Dyslexia
Visual dyslexia is when incomplete
information to the brain results in poor
reading comprehension and poor memory
of visual information.
Phonological (auditory dyslexia)
involves difficulty with sounds of letters or
groups of letters.
Dyspraxia is a motor condition
characterized by impairment of immaturity
of the organization of movement with
associated problems of language,
perception and thought.
Dysgraphia refers to an inability to hold
or control a pencil so that the correct
markings can be made on paper.
Dyscalculia is an impairment of the
ability to solve mathematical problems.
www.thebrightonschool.org
Elementary k - 6 • 225-923-2068 | Middle/High School 7 - 12 • 225-291-2524
Non-discriminatory admissions policy. Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
12B
00
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2013 January 25, 2013
Redemptorist High School
college prep curriculum
and strong Catholic identity set in a
diverse school community of faith
Come see the value of a
Theology classes that challenge and inspire
Campus ministry that changes the lives of our
students so they can change lives in the world
Service programs that make a difference in the
community
REDEMPTORIST HIGH SCHOOL
(7th grade - 12th grade)
225-357-0936 www.rhsbr.org
Join the tradition...
Build the future
Spend a day on campus in our
popular “shadow” program
Call the Admission Office at 225-357-0936 x240 to set up your visit
Families with dyslexic children: For decades the heralded STAR Dyslexic Lab has helped dyslexic students find academic success in a Catholic School setting
Find your place in our community, and you can say proudly
I am Redemptorist!
Redemptorist High School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, or national/ethnic origin in its education programs, activities, or employment policies.
Redemptorist High School provides Catholic formation in which students enhance spirituality,
pursue academic excellence, and create caring community as they develop their God-given potential.
January 25, 2013
13B
00
Distinguished graduates named for 2013 Catholic Schools Week
By Laura Deavers
Editor
By Barbara Chenevert
Staff Writer
Every year each Catholic school in the
Baton Rouge Diocese selects one of its
alumni as its distinguished graduate. This
year these people will be honored at a dinner on Monday, Jan. 28, at the Renaissance
Hotel in Baton Rouge.
The 2013 Distinguished Graduates are:
Father Matt Dupré frequently returns to his alma mater, Ascension
Catholic High School, to reach out to
the young people. As vocations director for
the Diocese of Baton Rouge, he encourages
young people to answer
God’s call to service.
A 1989 graduate of
Ascension
Catholic,
Father Dupré attended
Loyola University for
two years, entered
St. Joseph Seminary
College in 1991 and
received a bachelor
of arts degree in phi- Dupré
losophy in 1994. He
received a master’s of divinity from Notre
Dame Seminary and was ordained a priest
for this diocese in 1998.
“Fundamentally, Catholic education is
about forming persons into the image and
likeness of Jesus Christ himself,” Father
Dupré said. “This is done only through
discipleship. The Catholic school must
teach children the importance of learning
from Jesus Christ, himself, so that Jesus,
who is the embodiment of love, becomes
the model for the young person. And as
children grow, they begin to take on more
and more of those characteristics, such
as compassion, that make them uniquely
Christian. Christ is the leader. We are his
followers. He is forever the teacher, we his
students,” Father Dupré said.
Father Dupré serves God and his people
as a leader in the Church. His duties as Director of Vocations and Seminarians is to
reach out to young people and encourage
and teach them to answer the call to God,
Ascension school officials said.
Catholic High School’s distinguished graduate, Dr. Keith Comeaux,
has made an impact on “the entire world,
not just the CHS community,” the school
said.
“His use of his education combined with
hard work and determination made his
dreams a reality,” and
that is what Catholic
High wishes of all its
graduates.
Comeaux was thrust
into the limelight reComeaux
cently when the Curiosity rover successfully landed on Mars and
began sending pictures back to Earth. As
flight director and chief engineer for the
Mars Science Laboratory, Comeaux oversees the rover’s cruising, engineering operations, flight and landing.
“Catholic education is tantamount to
exceptional schooling, an instilled sense of
personal integrity and community service,
and a tradition and faith shared around
the globe,” said Comeaux, a 1985 CHS
graduate.
Comeaux has distinguished himself in
the community through his most recent
work with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His work with the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory has made history, Catholic
High officials said.
Comeaux attended St. Thomas More
School and Catholic High, where he recently returned to speak with students
about the Mars mission.
He earned a degree in mechanical engineering and physics from LSU and master
and doctoral degrees in aeronautics and
astronautics from Stanford University.
He and his wife, Cecilia, have 3-yearold twins.
“If my memory serves me correctly, this
is my first” honor or award, said Samuel
Paul Lorio when named the 2013 Distinguished Graduate from Catholic High
School of Pointe Coupée.
A 1967 graduate, Lorio has distinguished himself through his service to his
church parish, St. Mary of False River in
New Roads as altar server trainer, lector
and usher. At CHSPC,
he teaches honors algebra II, advanced mathematics and calculus,
providing his students
with the knowledge
and tools necessary for
them to become moral,
responsible and productive adult citizens.
Lorio
“I want to help my
students achieve their goals,” said Lorio.
“If they want to be an engineer, a lawyer, a
doctor, they will have to take some math in
college. I don’t want that to hold them back
from what they want to achieve.”
Catholic schools teach the importance
of God in our daily lives and the importance of traditional Catholic values, said
Lorio. “Catholic schools provide for the
education of the soul of the student, supplementing and developing the foundations for strong moral development. This
provides the spiritual tools necessary for
students and future adults to recognize the
difference between right and wrong, and
to make the correct moral and responsible
decisions in life, especially when faced
with a choice between right and wrong.
“As an educator, I hope I have been
a good example to the students I have
taught,” said Lorio, who taught for 28 years
in public school before joining the CHSPC
faculty. “One of my goals is to provide them
with at least some of the knowledge and
tools necessary for them to become moral,
responsible and productive adult citizens.”
He has coached high school teams and
volunteered with youth athletics in football, basketball, baseball and soccer for
more than 20 years.
Lorio believes his biggest personal accomplishment is that he and his wife,
Lynda, have raised six children with traditional Catholic values, who as adults are
now providing for and preparing for their
own families.
Courtney Zito Elliott said the spiritual and academic foundation she received
at Holy Family School has helped her
in her daily life as a professional, a wife, a
mother, a daughter and
a friend.
“Catholic education
develops an individual
both spiritually and
intellectually providing a solid foundation
for best fulfilling God’s
ultimate gift of life,”
she said. “The lessons
I learned as a child are
Elliott
key to who I am today.”
Elliott, a consultant in the area of tourism and hospitality, serves as chairman
of the 2012-13 Holy Family Development
Committee and produced the school’s
alumni newsletter in 2011. She is a member of the Plaquemine Service League and
chaired the Reading is Fundamental program for two years. She is a member of
the Iberville Parish Image Committee that
sponsors veterans’ activities including the
Iberville Wall of Veterans and the annual
parade.
A graduate of St. Joseph’s Academy and
Southern Mississippi University, she is
involved with the Southern Miss alumni
association and frequently speaks to students majoring in hospitality management. She was Miss University of Southern
Mississippi, a top five Southern Living Rising Star in tourism and named volunteer of
the year in Collierville, Tenn.
She and her husband, Ryan, have two
children, ages 5 and 2. Their oldest daughter attends Holy Family School.
At the age of 80, Frances Cardinale
Cinet feels she would not be where she is
today without her Catholic faith and the
foundation she received at Holy Ghost
School.
“Without it, I don’t think I would be
here today. It has kept me going,” she said.
Cinet credits Sister Mary Conrad OP
with teaching her “what we were supposed
SEE GRADUATES PAGE 14B
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225.751.1831
Academic Excellence in a
Community of Faith
The McLeod Family placed the winning bid at the 2012 SJV Gator Gala to win a “Picnic
with the Principal” last fall. Students, parents, faculty and staff come together at events
throughout the school year epitomizing the mission of St. Jean Vianney Catholic School.
Pictured from left is, Michael McLeod (K); Ashlyn Peters (K); Erikson Auxt (K); Harper
Ricker (2nd); Abigail McLeod (2nd); Sophie Jatho (2nd); and Principal Wendy Gilmore.
Prospective Student Open House
Thursday, Jan. 31 • 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Join us at: www.stjeanvianneyschool.org or follow us on
Facebook or Twitter
Qualified students admitted regardless of race, gender or nationality.
14B
00
Graduates
From page 13B
to do. She made us walk the straight and
narrow,” she said.
“My Catholic education was the foundation that prepared me for the challenges of
life,” she said.
A 1945 graduate of Holy Ghost and a
life-long parishioner
of Holy Ghost Church,
Cinet has been active in
Catholic Daughters of
the Americas, the Rosary Altar Society, and
serves as a lector and
an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. Before her retirement 15 years ago, she
Cinet
worked in accounting
at Southeastern Louisiana University.
A single parent, she sent her now grown
children to Holy Ghost School and was active in the school’s Mother’s Club. “I took
my lunch hour to do what I needed to do at
school,” she said.
In naming her for the award, Holy
Ghost School said Cinet believes strongly
in Catholic education and has committed
her life to strengthening the presence of
Catholic education in the Hammond area.
“Love. Pray. Help those in need. It
seems so simple, and maybe even juvenile,
catholic schools week 2013 but if we could remember to do this, we
would all be happier, kinder and living the
way Jesus taught us,” said Charlotte Navarra Phillips, a 1997 graduate of Mater
Dolorosa School.
“My Catholic education is so rooted
within me, it’s second nature, it’s not
something separate that only applies to
certain aspects of my life. And while my
formal education has ended, I am still constantly growing in my knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith,” she said.
“Being a mother has made me even
more aware of the importance my formal
education played in
who I am today. I look
forward to providing
the same education
for my children when
the time comes,” she
added.
Phillips is currently a religion teacher at
Archbishop Chapelle
High School in Metai- Phillips
rie.
Phillips credited Catholic schools with
instilling the importance of Catholic social
teachings in its students through service
projects. “It is quite clear Catholic schools
feel it is very important that we help those
who are in need and do so with dignity for
all people involved,” she said.
Phillips, who has been a youth min-
ster and director of religious education,
has been of service to all in continuing her
faith journey and spreading God’s word,
said Mater Dolorsa officials. Phillips attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School
and Spring Hill College where she received
a bachelor of arts in theology and a master’s in pastoral studies.
She and her husband, Kevin, have a
daughter and are expecting a second child
in April.
Most Blessed Sacrament School
nominated one of its own teachers as its
distinguished graduate because she not
only has achievements in education, but
has “brought back the skills she acquired
to share with MBS students who will become our future leaders.”
Emily Zeringue, who graduated from
Most Blessed Sacrament in 2003, has returned to the school as
a kindergarten teacher,
and serves as a role
model for students, the
school said.
Zeringue
said
Catholic
education
has greatly influenced
her life. “Catholicism
is the reason for my
conscience and is the Zeringue
foundation for my own
personal morals and goals in life. It is the
reason that I aim to treat others the way I
January 25, 2013
would like to be treated, and it has made
me a family-oriented individual.”
“I have learned that you can never judge
someone before you get to know them, and
also to be kind to everyone because that
will get your further in life than retaliation
or being bitter,” she added.
Zeringue is a member of the anti-bully
committee at MBS and serves as a lector and extraordinary member of Holy
Communion at Most Blessed Sacrament
Church.
After graduating from Most Blessed
Sacrament, she attended St. Michael the
Archangel High School and Southeastern
Louisiana University in Hammond where
she received a degree in elementary education in 2012.
Sister Helen Cahill OSF often can
be found comforting inmates at the St. Gabriel Women’s Prison, reading to students
as a Volunteer In Public (VIP) schools or
meeting with students at Our Lake of
the Lake College.
The 1970 graduate of Our Lake of the
Lake College said she believes Catholic
education gives a foundation for future
learning and also fosters Christian values,
which helps give meaning and purpose to
one’s life.
“Sister Helen spends time each week
volunteering at St. Gabriel Women’s Prison. She offers grief support, a faith sharing
See graduates Page 15B
January 25, 2013
GRADUATES
FROM PAGE 14B
group, a loving ear and hope and direction to the women prisoners,” officials
at the college said. She gives freely of her
time, and has been a VIPS Advisory Board
member and, at Magnolia School, a “Reading Friend,” or mentor,
for a young student just
learning to read. She
has served on the Provincial Council and the
Board of Directors of
St. Francis, as well as
the Board of Trustees
of the FMOL Health
System.
When asked about
her accomplishments,
Cahill
Sister Helen prefers
not to focus on awards but on how she has
been honored to serve others. She said
she is proud of the work she has done as a
nurse and a counselor.
Sister Helen attended Catholic schools
in Ireland before coming to the United
States in 1962. She was named by the college as one of the “85 Who Made a Difference,” the designation of 85 alumni on
the 85th anniversary of the Our Lady of
the Lake College who have distinguished
themselves in serving the community
since the school’s inception in 1923.
“Throughout our lives we are constantly faced with many trials and as
such, one’s education is often times considered necessary to help mitigate such
hardships. However, the one indispensable tool for such times, beyond question,
are the teachings of holy mother church,”
stated Father Mark Beard, pastor of
St. Helena Church in Amite and the 2013
Distinguished Graduate from Our Lady
of Mercy School.
“Father Beard is a
dynamic priest, a caring person, a zealous
evangelizer and a studious apologist of the
Catholic faith,” commented Father Miles
Walsh, pastor of Our
Lady of Mercy Church.
“He has always taken
seriously the goal of Beard
the New Evangelization, that is, to announce the Gospel to believers and non-believers alike ... and not
take for granted that baptized members of
the Church possess either a deep knowledge of the faith or a living, personal relationship with the Lord.”
“Father Mark is a real apostle of Catholic faith in an age of compromise and unbelief, and you’ve got to admire that kind
of zeal,” said OLOM school officials.
“He isn’t the kind of priest who is con-
tent ‘to let it rest’ when he meets with a
lukewarm faith-response,” said school
officials. “Personally on fire with love for
the Lord and for his bride, the Church, he
wants others to experience the blessings
of faith he has received.”
Father Beard has a BS and MBA from
LSU, a MDiv from Notre Dame Seminary
in New Orleans and a master’s in spirituality/spiritual direction from Creighton
University in Omaha, Neb.
“My Catholic education reinforced the
values I was taught at home and provided
me with a strong spiritual and academic
background,” said Tammy Sharkey
Starnes, a graduate of St. Isidore School,
which is now part of Redemptorist Elementary School. “Catholic schools provide an environment of acceptance and
compassion. The teachers are committed
to the intellectual and
spiritual development
of their students.”
After
graduating
from
Redemptorist
High School, Starnes
went to Southeastern
Louisiana University.
Her first academic interest was marketing,
but she decided to maStarnes
jor in accounting because of job opportunity. She graduated
magna cum laude in accounting.
15B
00
As a student she went to work for the
Louisiana Legislative Auditor, became
a certified public accountant, and now
works for the Louisiana Secretary of State
in the Department of Elections. In her
area of state work, Starnes said she uses
the values of compassion, dedication and
commitment that she learned in school
and at home so she can make the best decision and do the right thing.
“Tammy has chosen a career as a public servant where the beliefs and values
she learned in Catholic school help guide
her in her daily decision making,” said Redemptorist school personnel.
She has been married for 20 years to
Jason Starnes, who is a Louisiana State
Police captain. They have a son, Justin,
who is a student at Southeastern.
Howard Carter’s basketball career
started at Redemptorist High School
in 1975 when his
mother, Beverly Carter, decided to take him
out of public school
and enroll him in the
Catholic high school
where he graduated
in 1979. He went on
to LSU where he was Carter
a standout basketball
player from 1980-83 and was a member of
t
n
crame
Most Blessed SaCatholic
School
MBS is a SACS accredited K-8 school which strives to strengthen a
partnership with our parents, the primary teachers of the faith and values,
to guide all facets of their child’s development. Our school community is
centered in worship, prayer, Catholic doctrine, Christian service projects
and an outstanding academic curriculum.
• Comprehensive K – 8 program • Extended Day Care available
• Non-discriminatory admissions policy
8033 Baringer Road • Baton Rouge, LA 70817 • 225-751-0273
www.mbsbr.org
00
16B
GRADUATES
FROM PAGE 15B
the Dale Brown’s team that played in the
1981 Final Four.
Carter garnered many basketball honors at LSU. In 1983, he was the NBA first
round 15th pick by the Denver Nuggets,
where he played for a year before moving
to the Dallas Mavericks, then teams in
Pau, France and Crete, Greece.
In 1999 he moved back to Baton Rouge
and went to work in the East Baton Rouge
Tax Assessor’s Office.
As a RHS freshman, Carter had to adjust to the school because “there were not
many African Americans or Baptists,”
which is the church he belonged to. Carter
said this experience helped him later as he
had to deal with all types of people.
Family values are strong for Carter who
spends a month each summer with his
four children who now live in Richmond,
Va., Pau and London.
A quiet, humble man, Carter gives a lot
of his time to those who are at St. Christopher’s Addiction Wellness Center. He
openly talks about his demons of drugs
and alcohol as a professional athlete and
now talks with young people about how
he turned his life around and uses what he
learned from the failures in his own life to
help others improve their lives.
For Debbie Mix Lynch, Catholic education is a “gift as well as a blessing.”
“My Catholic education continues to influence my life on a daily basis. I received
a strong academic foundation, and I was
able to grow spiritually through learning
and living my faith,” said the 1969 gradu-
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2013 ate of Sacred Heart of Jesus School.
“I was taught to incorporate my faith into
all aspects of my life
through love and service to others.”
Sacred Heart officials said Lynch “distinguishes herself daily
by evangelizing hearts
and educating minds
so that her students can
embrace the future.”
A member of St. Lynch
Thomas More Church,
Lynch has been a kindergarten teacher at
St. Thomas More School for 15 years after
retiring from the East Baton Rouge public
school system with 20 years of service.
She is an extraordinary minister of
Holy Communion. With her husband,
Francis, she has co-chaired a booth at
the St. Thomas More fair for 16 years and
served on the Lenten Fish Fry Committee,
which helps to fund the STM youth group.
She is a former parishioner of St. Alphonsus Church, where she served as a
Bible school teacher, a Brownie and Girl
Scout leader, a member of the liturgy committee and the RENEW committee, a fair
worker and a school volunteer.
After graduating from Sacred Heart,
Lynch attended St. Joseph’s Academy and
received a bachelor of science in elementary education and a master’s in elementary
reading with a minor in special education
from LSU.
Married for 35 years, she has three
grown children, all of whom attended
Catholic schools.
St. Aloysius Assistant Principal Stacey
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Brenner Keaton is being honored by her
alma mater because she is “committed to
maintaining a stable home for her family, a
nurturing environment within the school
and a supportive framework for parishioners within the church,” school officials
said.
The 1982 graduate of St. Aloysius
School who is in her first year as assistant principal believes Catholic education
has had a profound impact on her life. “It
provided me with an excellent education in
a nurturing and joyful environment with
a consistent focus on faith. The continued
reinforcement of Catholic ideals established
a ‘lens of faith’ through
which I view the world
and make decisions,”
she said.
“The most important thing that I learned
from my time in Catholic schools is that we
are all responsible to be
Keaton
a living example of our
faith. Our actions are a mirror of our beliefs, values and morals. We are all called
to be servants to others and to demonstrate our faith on a daily basis,” she said.
Keaton has been active as a sponsor for
engaged couples at St. Aloysius Church,
a confirmation small group leader and a
committee member for Boys Hope/Girls
Hope. She has also volunteered at Catholic
High School, St. Joseph’s Academy and the
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
After graduating from St. Aloysius
School, she attended St. Joseph’s Academy
and LSU, where she received a bachelor of
January 25, 2013
science in psychology and a master’s in social work. She worked as the SAS middle
school counselor for 17 years before becoming assistant principal.
She and her husband, Danny, have four
children.
“My years at St. Alphonsus taught me
what it means to live a Catholic life – to
be honest and trustworthy in my dealings
with others,” said Keith Gulino, an electrician who graduated from St. Alphonsus Liguori School in 1970.
“The foundation of faith that I learned
in those early years has stayed with me
throughout my life, and in my work I have
always tried to remember that we must live
with integrity to be with God some day in
heaven,” he added.
Gulino said he knew
that when he and his
wife, Marianne, had
children, they would
send them to St. Alphonsus because, “I
knew that a strong
grounding in faith and
academics would serve
them well throughout
Gulino
their lives.”
In nominating him as its distinguished
graduate, St. Alphonsus school officials
cited Gulino’s dedication to the church.
“Whenever called, he is there,” they said.
“He has a smile for everyone.”
Gulino is a member of the St. Alphonsus Maintenance Committee and a past
member of the Baton Rouge Electrical Examining Board. After graduating from St.
Alphonsus School, he attended Glen Oaks
January 25, 2013
GRADUATES
FROM PAGE 16B
High School and The Baton Rouge Electrical Apprenticeship Program. He and his
wife have two children.
Trapped in a hospital in New Orleans
with 200 patients for almost six days after
Hurricane Katrina, nurse Charles Jarreau said he leaned on his Catholic education that taught him to put others first and
care for the ill.
“I’ve always had a soft heart and caring demeanor for the ill. As I reflect on my
Catholic teachings, it brings great pride to
see how much I impact my patients’ lives
daily,” said the 1992 graduate of St. Elizabeth School.
Jarreau said he helped to rescue the patients and their families
before he ever thought
of leaving the hospital,
which he called “truly a
test of my faith.”
It wasn’t the first
time Jarreau faced
tragedy with faith. At
the age of 18, he was
diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis, which
Jarreau
kept him paralyzed
from the waist down for almost two years.
Being wheelchair bound for that time
made him realize the importance of his
Catholic education.
Without the teachings of the Catholic
Church, Jarreau said his faith would have
faded easily. He continued to turn to God
for guidance, and he now looks back on
this experience as one of the most chal-
lenging times of his life and knows how
strong faith can be.
Jarreau is a member of Sigma Theta Tau
International Honor Society of Nursing,
the American Nurses Association, Louisiana Association of Nurse Practitioners and
the American Association of Critical Care
Nurses.
He is married and has two children.
Lester Pourciau said the discipline
instilled in him at St. Francis Xavier
School has helped him through life.
“The school taught me that I have to be
a responsible individual. There are rules,
and rules have to be followed. All you have
to do is follow the rules and do the right
thing,” said the 1963 SFX graduate.
“On the academic side, the school gave
me all the basic elements. It taught me a
process of education that has followed me
in business and everything else in my life,”
added Pourciau, who is the vice president
of human resources for the Southern University System.
Pourciau now works to continue that
type of education as a
member of the Friends
of St. Francis Xavier, a
group working to ensure the school’s preservation.
The school chose
to honor Pourciau because he is “a man of
his word. He follows
through on all projects.
Pourciau
His attention to detail
and his tenacity set him apart from others,” school officials said. “He is a humble,
faithful servant to our church and school.
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He is hands-on. He not only spearheads
projects, but he can be seen, numerous
times, doing the actual work.”
One such time was the renovation of the
school bathrooms. Pourciau, who is also a
licensed contractor, coordinated the renovation personally and did a lot of the work.
Pourciau attended Southern University
Laboratory High School and Xavier University where he received a degree in business administration. He received a master’s from Troy State University.
He and his wife, Venessa, have three
children and four grandchildren.
The first lesson St. George School
graduate Rick Bayhi learned in Catholic
School was to never hide cafeteria food you
don’t like in a milk carton and throw it away –
especially when a nun
is on duty.
Bayhi, who was in
St. George’s first graduating class, said he
learned that lesson in
first grade at Sacred
Heart of Jesus School.
“That became one of
Bayhi
the greatest lessons I
learned through my
Catholic education and through my parents. Catholic schools teach the lesson of
right from wrong,” he said.
“In addition to all academic subjects
taught, my Catholic education did an excellent job of teaching human values, caring for one another and understanding
there are consequences for making wrong
decisions. In today’s society, this is a lesson
that is greatly needed,” said Bayhi.
17B
00
“My 12 years of Catholic education ...
instilled in me a commitment to want to
be involved with my church parish and
live my Catholic faith. Also as an adult one
realizes that a Catholic education is truly
a gift given through sacrifices by parents.”
Bayhi has a long history with St. George
as his aunt, Sister Marie Ann Farris CSJ,
was the founding principal, and his mother worked as a secretary for the school.
Now an active member of St. Gabriel
Church in St. Gabriel, Bayhi has been
chairman of and served on many committees. He has served as a lector for liturgies,
and for the past nine years, chaired the
St. Vincent de Paul golf tournament fund
raiser.
He graduated from Catholic High
School and Southeastern Louisiana University.
In 2004 he retired and started a private
chemical consulting business, Louisiana
Vegetation Management Association, an
organization of chemical applicators.
He and his wife, Frieda, have two
children and three grandchildren with a
fourth due in April.
Eliska Addison Dumas said she
not only learned valuable lessons from
Catholic school, she learned to repeat them
by sending her own children to Catholic
school.
“I really appreciate Catholic education
more as an adult when I see how happy and
thriving my own children are in Catholic
school,” she said.
A 1994 graduate, Dumas was among
the first graduating class to go from kindergarten through eighth grade at St.
00
18B
St. Francis Xavier
Catholic Elementary School and
Early Childhood Learning Center
1150 South 12th Street, Baton Rouge
Grades P-K thru 8th • 225-387-6639
Monday-Friday
Early Childhood Learning Center
Ages 2 thru 4
225-387-4877
St. Elizabeth School
Serving area children since 1876
A Catholic Christian family devoted to spiritual growth and
academic excellence in a caring and safe environment.
St. Elizabeth School serves children
Pre-K 3 through 8th grade.
•
•
Daily Religious Instruction
● Sacramental Preparation
Family Oriented Environment ● Sodality of Mary
Students Score an average of 50th percentile or above on
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GRADUATES
FROM PAGE 17B
Jean Vianney. She continued her education at
Bishop Sullivan High School (now St. Michael the
Archangel) and attended LSU.
“I love these kids,” said Dumas, who is a Girl Scout leader,
Bible school volunteer and frequent substitute teacher. “I’m
around the school a lot. I think
I have gotten to be in every class
as a sub,” she said.
“I feel like Catholic school has
made me the person I am today.
It taught me to have a kind word
Dumas
for someone. I try to say out loud
what I am thinking when it is good. And I try to always have a smile,” she said.
The mother of two, Dumas also credits her Catholic education with teaching her patience as a mom
and giving her a moral foundation to answer the
questions her children ask.
She and her husband, Will, are parishioners of
St. Jean Vianney where they send their children to
school.
Van Joseph Junot is an example of what is
means to be a St. John Eagle, according to St. John
School officials, who nominated him as the distinguished graduate for 2013.
“He is a man of outstanding character in both his professional and personal life,”
the school said.
A 1955 graduate of St.
John, Junot served on the
school’s finance committee for 16 years, working to
provide the “best education
with the least amount of burden on the family. Since we
Junot
are a small school and not a
large community, we are cognizant of trying not to
increase tuition beyond what parents can pay,” he
said.
Junot, who attended St. John from first through
12th grade, said this Catholic school has given him
good values and a good education to carry him into
his professional life in accounting and his personal
life as a father and grandfather.
“I have always been strong in my Catholic faith.
Catholic school has provided a good background for
my children going into their professional lives. I appreciate it more and more as I get older,” he added.
Junot, who has been married to his wife, Louise, for 51 years, said his three children graduated
from St. John, and each of his seven grandchildren
have either graduated or are now attending Catholic
school.
Junot is also active in the Knights of Columbus
and Alhambra, an organization that supports children with disabilities.
Courtney Hotard Roth, whose incredible
faith has inspired the community of Ponchatoula, is
being honored by St. Joseph School.
Roth accepted God’s will when her child, Tripp,
was born with epidermolysis bullosa, a genetic disorder that affects 1 in 50,000 people. Tripp was
missing skin on much of his body and what skin he
did have was fragile and would easily erode. He was
missing a protein that binds one layer of skin to another. Roth gave up a nursing career to care for her
child, who died in January 2012 at the age of 2 years
and 8 months,
January 25, 2013
“To me, my Catholic education was more than
just religion class. It was an environment of discipline, love and learning to respect others. My Catholic education not only taught me how to
love God, but how to love myself
and others as well. It has made
me the person I am today. And
for that, I am very grateful,” said
the 2000 graduate of St. Joseph.
School officials said Roth has
blessed the community, church
parish, school and the world
Roth
with a visible example of how to
graciously accept God’s will. Her incredible faith has
united the entire community in prayer, compassion
and hope to form a bond of love around one of God’s
precious angels.
Roth is the author of a popular blog titled “EB”ing
a Mommy. She won first place in a Reader’s Digest
“Your Life” Contest and received a 2011 Moms Who
are Changing the World Award for Babble.com and
was named one of ABC’s Personal Heroes of 2011.
She received the 2012 Spirit Award for DebRA, a
fund raising group for EB, and spoke at the annual
DebRA event in New York.
Pat Brignac Talbot learned her faith from
the people who surrounded her in elementary
and high school – her parents and the Sisters of
St Joseph.
A 1984 graduate of St. Joseph’s Academy,
Talbot said she has found that you can face anything in life if you have faith.
“Those lessons don’t end when you leave
school. They still influence me today,” said the
president and owner of Baton Rouge Duplicating Service, a company founded by her father.
She said the church and the sisters were their
first customers, and her parents were always
willing to help Catholic schools and the sisters.
“My Catholic education provided the foundation for my faith and instilled
in me a strong sense of community, service to others and
Christian values,” she added.
Talbot has served as chair
of the St. Thomas More School
Board for five years and on
the development campaign
committee for the church and
school. She was active in the
St. Joseph’s Academy “Always
Talbot
the Academy” campaign. She
is active in Rotary of Baton Rouge, on the Board
for Pennington YMCA and the Catholic Youth
Organization.
She was the recipient of the 2006 Douglas
Manship Sr. Torch Award for Ethics in Business,
named the Sales and Marketing Executive International Marketer of the Year for 2006, received
the 2009 Entrepreneurs Organization Marshall
B. Klein Entrepreneurship of the Year Award
and was named a 2011 Baton Rouge Business
Report Influential Women in Business.
She and her husband, Todd, have two children who attend SJA.
St. Jude School is honoring 1991 graduate
Alexis Rogers Williams.
“She is a walking example of what it means to be,
not only a servant of God, but a servant of the community, especially of St. Jude School,” where she is
now employed as the administrative assistance and
extended day director, school officials said.
GRADUATES
tion, “What can I do to make this better?” said St.
Michael the Archangel Diocesan Regional
FROM PAGE 18B
High School in naming him its 2013 distinguished
“Having the opportunity to attend a Catholic graduate.
school greatly affected my grade school and high
Ragusa has volunteered in many areas of his
school education. I was taught community such as Boy Scouts, president of the
by some wonderful teachers SMHS Advisory Board, a volunteer for medical supwho showed me how to live ac- port at Camp Bon Coeur, an elementary school volcording to the Gospel teachings,” unteer coach, a St. Jude Church
Williams said. “It has enabled Men’s Club member and other
me to meet many people who church functions and fund raisshare my same commitment ers for St. Jude Church Parish.
to faith and Christian values.” Catholic education is the
Catholic education “taught foundation upon which Ragusa
me foremost to have a genu- has built his career, cared for his
ine respect for the people with community and raised his famWilliams
whom I share my life. Catholic ily, the school said.
education enabled me to develop my faith through
“As a graduate of the class of
daily prayer for others, which changes how I see and 1989, Ragusa has not only been Ragusa
interact with those around me. The service aspect a success professionally, but perof the parish community taught me to reach beyond sonally as well. He has taken his Catholic education
myself and look at areas where I am being called to and applied it to all aspects of his life from career to
serve God’s people,” Williams added.
family. Through the generous giving of his time and
She has been a Girl Scout assistant leader, a young talent to St. Michael, we feel that he embodies the
adult Small Christian Community leader, an RCIA meaning of this award,” the school said.
sponsor, a confirmation team leader, a babysitter
Ragusa’s willingness to give unselfishly back
for the mother’s prayer group and an extraordinary to the community, his church parish and his alma
minister of Holy Communion for St Jude. She is also mater helps to set him apart from others. There
a personal caregiver for her grandparents.
are many times where one can find him going from
She graduated from Bishop Sullivan High School something for his children, to a meeting, then on to
(now St. Michael the Archangel) and attended work, the school said.
Southeastern Louisiana University.
A physician at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Ragusa is
She is married to Keith Williams.
married and has six children.
Melissa Montealegre Egan graduated from
Catholic education helped to “set the values as to
St. Louis King of France School in 1988, which how I live my life and how I treat others,” said Kim
puts her among one of the first classes to graduate Bordelon Bourgeois, a 1981 graduate of St. Pefrom SLKF. After graduating from Bishop Sullivan ter Chanel Interparochial School.
High School she studied journalism at LSU, which
“A Catholic education is a gift for life. It provides
led her to Washington, D.C., where she worked in
the moral guidance we need to
print journalism until 2003 when she went to work
navigate our journey through
for Good Will Industries in Bethesda, Md. She now
life,” Bourgeois said. “It provided
works as a freelance writer so she can be at home
a good foundation for me, and I
with her two children.
am very appreciative of my parTalking about her Catholic education, Egan said
ents for giving it to me.”
it taught her “that living as a Christian begins with
Currently the business deviewing every person as a child of God, regardless of
velopment coordinator for Louicircumstance or status.”
siana Federal Credit Bureau,
Egan added that she appreciates that her parents
Bourgeois has used her talents to
sent her to Catholic school because of the formation Bourgeois
serve St. Peter School for many
she received in the tenets of the Catholic faith, ethics
years. “Even after my children
and good conscience.
finished school, I felt called to use my abilities and
energy to help,” she said.
A real Catholic education
In nominating her for the award, St. Peter Chanel
must come from a person’s famschool officials called Bourgeois “an extraordinary
ily, mostly the parents, in advolunteer. She has an engaging personality that endition to the classroom, Egan
courages others to participate.”
stated.
At St. Peter Chanel, she has served as class coEgan and her family are memchair, a member of the school board and the rebers of St. Francis Assisi Church
cruitment committee, and, along with her husband,
in Dearwood, Md., where she is
Marcel, co-chaired the capital campaign to raise
a member of the Welcome Comfunds for a new gymnasium.
mittee and past member of the
She is a volunteer with the River Region ChamStewardship Committee. She Egan
has volunteered for more than 10 years with Youth ber of Commerce, the United Way and the 4-H Club.
Bourgeois, her husband and her two children all
for Understanding USA, a youth exchange organization, and served as orientation coordinator in Mary- attended St. Peter Chanel.
Bourgeois is a graduate of Lutcher High School
land.
She is the recipient of the 2005 Silver Inspire and Southeastern Louisiana University.
Andrew Bertrand said he feels he was both
Award in Employee Communications Competition,
Top 50 Employee Publications of 2005 designation academically and spiritually prepared for college
from the League of American Communications Pro- and for his professional career as a pharmacist
fessionals and 2001 Best Local/ State Government through his education in Catholic schools.
“I hope to instill these values in my children
Coverage Award for news article “Welfare Rolls
Shrinking” from the Associated Press of Maryland. through the same opportunities with Catholic edSEE GRADUATES PAGE 20B
Dr. Steven Ragusa never fails to ask the ques-
in
alk
eW
W
19B
00
with Our Eyes on G
Faith
od”
“
January 25, 2013
UPCOMING EVENTS
Open House
January 30
6:30 pm
For more information
call 225-869-5778
www.stpchanel.org
Friends Day
February 6
In-house Registration
February 4-6
New Student Registration
February 7-8
2590 Louisiana Hwy. 44
Paulina, LA 70763
Spring Festival
March 15-17
St. Jude
the Apostle School
9150 Highland Road | Baton Rouge, LA 70810
www.stjudebr.org | 225-769-2344
New Student Open House
Tuesday, Jan. 29, 9 a.m. – Activity Center
† Highly Qualified and Certified Faculty
† Challenging Academic Curriculum
† Enrichment Classes
† Extracurricular Activities and Athletics
† Extended Day Care
Faith
Academics
Excellence
Now accepting applications for the 2013-2014
school year. Deadline to apply is Feb. 1.
St. Jude the Apostle School does not discriminate on the basis of
race, color, national and ethnic origin in its policies, admissions and programs.
00
20B
GRADUATES
FROM PAGE 19B
ucation,” said the 1982 graduate of St. Theresa of Avila/St.
John Primary School.
“Being in health care, I learned
to help other people, especially
those who are less fortunate,” he
said. “You get a background in
Catholic school education that
you wouldn’t otherwise get.”
STA/SJP school officials said
Bertrand is
compassionate,
generous, and truly
cares for the
people in the
c om mu nit y
… His familyrun business,
e s t a bl i s he d
by his father, Bertrand
continues to
work with local churches to help
APPly
now
community members in need
of medications. “We chose Bertrand because of his compassionate spirit and his unwavering support of our church and
school.”
Bertrand serves on the St.
Theresa School Finance Committee and is involved in the annual fair. He is a member and
past president of the Lions Club
of Gonzales where he serves as
chairman of the committee that
• Founded in 1923, we are a private,
accredited four-year college.
• 85 percent of our students receive
financial aid, including TOPS.
• Our total enrollment average
is 2,000, with class sizes of 17–20.
• We offer over 25 areas of study
in the arts, sciences and
health professions.
Distinguished in 2010 by the
Carnegie Foundation as a
Community Engaged Campus.
For more information, call (225) 768-1700 or go to ololcollege.edu.
collects eyeglasses for those in
need. He is also a member of
the Gonzales Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club and the
Capital Area Pharmacists Association.
Bertrand graduated from Ascension Catholic High School
and the University of Louisiana
at Monroe Pharmacy School.
He and his wife, Jeanne, have
three children, all of whom attended or are now attending
Catholic schools.
J. Brooks Moore is one of
those graduates who truly remembers from where he came,
said St. Thomas Aquinas Regional Catholic High School
in honoring the associate dean at
Indiana State University.
“He learned much about life
skills while at St. Thomas Aquinas and has
incorporated
them into his
daily life as
an adult,” the
school said.
“Moore is a
perfect
example of our
mission statement at STA:
Moore
his experience
was spiritual, academic and extracurricular. He embodies the
idea of the development of the
whole person, which is an integral part of the mission of STA.”
Moore credits the Dominican
tradition of truth as an essential
element that has influenced his
life since graduating from St.
Thomas Aquinas, a school that
was staffed by Dominican sisters
when it opened in 1986. His experience at STA has molded the
spiritual and professional aspects of his life today and given
him a strong foundation, both
spiritually and academically.
“Catholic education instills a
values-based approach to living,
learning and community building,” said the 1994 graduate of
STA. “It focuses on human development with guidance and direction from Christian principles.”
Moore is currently the associate dean for students for student
engagement and leadership development at Indiana State University.
While in high school, Moore
January 25, 2013
was captain of the soccer team,
lettered four years and was voted by his peers “Most Likely to
Succeed.” He was also student
council president and a member
of several service organizations.
He attended the Hugh O’Brian
Leadership Conference and
earned the Knights of Columbus Catholic Youth Leadership
Award.
Father C. Todd Lloyd frequently returns to St. Thomas
More School to give retreats,
celebrate Mass and encourage
vocations. It is the place where
he says he started the discernment process for the priesthood.
“Catholic schools are not just
interested in
teaching certain facts, but
they are interested in teaching the truth,
par ticularly
the truth enlightened by
Jesus Christ,”
he said. In sciLloyd
ence you may
learn how something exists, but
in religion you learn why it exists, he added.
The 1998 graduate of St.
Thomas More attended Broadmoor High School and the University of New Orleans for one
year before entering the seminary in 2003. He was ordained
a priest for the Diocese of Baton
Rouge in 2011 and is currently
the parochial vicar at Our Lady
of Mercy Church.
Officials at St. Thomas More
School said Father Lloyd serves
as a religious role model for students through his presence and
his commitment to their faith
formation. He assists the school
in sacramental preparation for
first reconciliation and first Eucharist, helps with retreats, in
particular with the eighth-grade
passion prayer day, and leads the
youth group in many activities.
“He gently models the life of
Christ in all that he does,” the
school said. “He lives the STM
mission through his legacy of
excellence in faith formation in
a nurturing environment as he
brings the knowledge of Christ to
others through his example and
his prayer.”
Did you or someone you know forget to pick up or
was unable to get The Catholic Commentator
at Mass this past weekend?
If your church ran out of copies, call your church office.
If you would prefer to receive The Catholic Commentator in
another way, phone us at 225-387-0983 or go to our website
thecatholiccommentator.org.

January 25, 2013 - The Catholic Commentator

Transcription

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