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Dates to Remember | |
Thursday, February 9
Faculty Meeting Schedule
School Starts at 9:00 A.M.
Monday, February 20
Start of Winter Vacation
School Resumes on
Monday, February 27th
Wednesday, February 22
Thursday, March 1
Progress Reports Mailed During Lent Meat
Will Not Be Seved
In the Cafeteria on Fridays
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Black History Month:
Robert Gould Shaw
by Patrick Dougherty '16
Robert Gould Shaw was born in Boston in 1837. His family became involved in the anti-slavery movement. They moved to West Roxbury and bought a property near Brook Farm, where they would be with family and friends.
 | Robert Gould Shaw
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Robert grew to be manly, healthy, high-spirited, and good hearted.
He loved art
and literature and was given a lot of support by his parents. He entered Harvard in 1856 and left in 1859 to join a counting room in New York in preparation to become a merchant. When the Civil War started in 1861, Robert joined the 7th New York Regiment. After Fort Sumter was attacked, Abraham Lincoln asked for 75,000 men to defend the capital. The 7th New York was one of the first to respond to the call. He left for Washington in 1861 but only served 30 days. In May 1861 he joined the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment as a 2nd lieutenant. He was quickly promoted to 1st lieutenant and then promoted to captain in 1862. He fought in several battles including Antietam, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. He also barely escaped death in the battle of Winchester.
 | | Patrick Dougherty |
In the spring of 1863 Robert was promoted to colonel and was appointed commander of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first all African American regiment. In July of 1863, the 54th Massachusetts was ordered by General Quincy Gilmore to attack the south end of Morris Island, South Carolina. The attack was a success, but a couple of days later five companies were attacked by a force of Confederates. This little skirmish was extremely important to the 54th because it made them one of the best fighting regiments in the Union. They pushed the confederate forces back and saved the 10th Connecticut Regiment which was also fighting with the 54th. On July 18th, 1863, the 54th was ordered to attack Fort Wagner on Morris Island again. Robert led the 54th in the charge to the fort. When they made it to the walls of the fort Robert was shot through the heart and died where he stood.
Robert Gould Shaw was a very important man in the war and a very important figure in Boston. There was a school named after him called the Robert Gould Shaw Middle School in West Roxbury, which is today the Lyndon School. Also, there is the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial in front of the State House designed by the famous sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. It is inscribed with the words: "He relinquished everything to serve the Republic."
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Robert Gould Shaw Memorial
in Boston Common
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Super Size Me Project
By Harrison Morrill '17
The "Super Size Me" project we did in Mrs. McGauley's science class was based on the movie "Super Size Me." The point of this project was to make a poster board with colorful pictures and answer the four questions of our choice from the packet. The questions from the packet were filled in, so we needed to give a more detailed answer for each question. Also we were to pick four clip art pictures off of the internet to go along with the questions we had.
 | | Harrison Morrill |
The questions we picked should have influenced us in a certain way to pick them. I started off with the title and moved on from there. "Old McDonald has a Fat Farm" was the title I choose for my project. Next I gathered my clip art from the internet. When I started to really put the whole project together I realized how nice it was coming along. I thought "why not go bigger?" So I did. My mom and I took a trip down to McDonalds, not to purchase any food, just to get some materials. From McDonalds we used a soda cup, burger wrapping, ingredient sheet, McNugget's box, etc. The poster quickly became three-dimensional.
When my project was finished and I brought it to school the next day, I was proud of my work. It is nice to feel proud about something you worked hard on and put a lot of effort into.
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Alcohol Abuse by Brendan Sullivan '16 For my science project on "Making Healthy Life Choices," my group did a power-point presentation on alcohol abuse in Mr. Murray's science class. I worked with Jack O'Brien, Ryan Jenson, John Marino, and Steven Azumes. Each person had their own job for the project. We had a few days in class to put together the structure of our project. All of us had to bring in information about alcohol abuse into class, which was a homework assignment.  | | Brendan Sullivan |
We learned several things about alcohol abuse by doing this project. We learned never to drink and then drive. It is all right to have a few drinks at dinner or socially, but excessive drinking limits your judgment. Very often when people drink too much they say things that they don't actually mean and offend their friends or members of their family. Also, alcohol affects your brain and causes memory loss. As the chart shows above, it definitely limits how a student will do in school. 
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My Trip to the Nation's Capital
By Domenic Scialoia '16
On January 20th 2012, twenty Catholic Memorial students, accompanied by Mrs. Ramsdell and Mrs. McCourt, departed from CM. These twenty students and two chaperones would be on the road for the next eleven hours. Where to? None other than the nation's capital, Washington D.C. This would be the first BERSI trip of 2012.
 | | Domenic Scialoia |
After arriving at the Comfort Inn in Hagerstown, Maryland around ten thirty, CM unloaded, unpacked, and got some needed rest. Saturday's adventure started with a buffet breakfast and a train ride in to the National Mall. We split up into several groups and headed for the Smithsonian Museums. The first stop was the Air and Space Museum. This was my favorite museum. The first thing I did was take part in an air force simulation ride. My friend Jack O'Brien and I controlled a plane. We did 360's and remained upside-down for most of the ride. Next, we observed the exhibits that the Air and Space Museum had to offer. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay there all day, it was time to meet back up with the rest of the Knights. From there, we continued on to the Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and the Vietnam War Memorial. The Vietnam Memorial touched me the most. As we were observing the 50,000 names of the soldiers who gave their lives for us, I witnessed a couple laying flowers down at the memorial. At this point I realized what this memorial was all about. The evening brought us to the Lincoln Memorial. This was an incredible display. I had seen it on television and I had read about it in school, but I had never had the experience of witnessing this monument with my own eyes. It is a great tribute to our sixteenth president.
Sunday morning began what I think was the highlight of the trip; mass at St. Peter's Church on Capitol Hill. It was great to celebrate with young people from all over the country. At the conclusion of mass, we headed to the American History and Natural History Museums. After a brief visit to those spectacular museums, we headed back to the hotel to catch the Patriots game.
 | | CM Knights on "March for Life" |
Our final day in Washington started out with an early wakeup call to attend the March for Life. We gathered at the National Mall with thousands of other participants in this walk. After an inspiring pep rally, the boys from CM took part in this Pro Life march. What a great way to cap off a fantastic BERSI trip.
On behalf of all of the students who were fortunate enough to take this adventure, we would like to thank Mrs. Ramsdell and Mrs. McCourt for chaperoning the trip and getting us to D.C and back to Boston safely. We also want to thank Mr. Murray for making this trip possible. Thank you to all of you for giving us an experience that we will never forget.
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National Geographic Geography Bee
On January 9, 2012 seventy-eight grade 7 students, under the direction of Mr. Smith, participated in the geography bee in hopes to be the last geographer standing. Each student was given materials to study throughout November and December for a January 9 showdown.
 | (L-R) Paul Trahon, Bryce Conner, Mr. Smith,
David Carlson, and Benjamin Applegate |
The four grade 7 classes would send one winner each to the final four. The winners in each class were Benjamin Applegate, David Carlson, Bryce Conner, and P.J. Trahon. Each student was strong in his geography knowledge and displayed good sportsmanship. By the end of the Geography Bee it was P.J. Trahon who took gold. He has recently taken a test mailed to National Geographic and he will be notified if he is a finalist and top one-hundred in the state of Massachusetts. If P.J. is a finalist in the state he can move on to a local university for further testing and competitions. Our last CM student to reach Clark University in 2006 was John Federico. Good luck to P.J. Trahon in 2012.
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The Speech Team on the Road
Nineteen 8th Graders competed at the Pike School Speech Competition in North Andover on January 22nd. Although all our 8th graders are novices --competing inter-scholastically for the first time this year-- they entered categories where all other entries were seasoned performers.
Four CM students earned trophies:
Aidan Twomey, 3rd Place: Demonstration
Andreas Dimacopoulos, 6th Place: Demonstration
Josh Mullins, 3rd Place: Poetry
Will Moriarty, 6th Place: Poetry
 | (L-R) Will Moriarty, Aidan Twomey, Joshua Mullins,
and Andreas Dimacopoulos |
Another twenty 8th Graders competed at Nashoba Brooks in Concord, MA, on Super Bowl Sunday. We thank Mrs. Eberly and all our parent volunteers for their patience and sense of humor!
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The Team at the Pike
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Winter Sports Update:
Middle School Basketball
by Sidney Sarfo '16
The Catholic Memorial Middle School basketball team has been doing great this year. We are currently 4-4 with about 3 games left in the season. Our first game we fell to Saint Sebastians on January 6. Eventually we shook off that lose and the next day went to work against the Belmont Hill School, beating them by about ten points. We were at our best against the Lyndon School, defeating them by more than twenty points to go 2-1.
 | | Sidney Sarfo |
The whole team was shocked that we weren't able to beat Belmont Hill again on January 13. We might have lost because it was Friday the Thirteenth. Are whole team was devastated to lose at home on January 17 against our rivals, BC High. It was a very close game that day because at halftime we were down twenty, but came back and cut the lead to five points.
After more than a week, it finally came, The Roxbury Latin Tournament on January 28. Our first game was revenge against Saint Sebastians, since we finally beat them by about ten points. Then we had a game against Belmont Hill, right after our first game of the tournament. We barely pulled it off, beating Belmont Hill 22-21 to get into the championship game. After an hour, we played in the championship against Roxbury Latin. Unfortunately, we fell to them by ten points to come in 2nd place in the tournament. We did a good job getting the middle school noticed, but we know we have a lot to learn. The team hopes to avenge this huge lose against Roxbury in their house, on Monday, February 6.
Our next three games we hope to win, especially against BC High in their house, just like they did to us. We hope to go 7-4 this season, but we'll have to keep working hard to do this.
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Middle School Wrestling
by Benjamin Applegate '17
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Benjamin Applegate
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This season is going well so far for Middle School wrestling. There have been a few meets, competing against Roxbury Latin, Belmont Hill, and the Park school. We lost both meets, but two matches were won by Jimmy Kim and Domenic Scialoia. We are looking to strike back in a big way in the next two weeks.
We have a meet next Wednesday at 4:30, here at home, and we are looking to beat B.C. High. On Sunday, February the 5th we'll be going to Hanover for the State South sectionals. They will be at ten in the morning and we hope to end the season on a good note. The weigh-in will be the night before at the Hanover Police Station. Wish us luck!!
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Middle School Hockey:
"The Pitch Black Warriors"
by Cameron Stacey '16
Every Saturday morning at 6 and 7 a.m. people drive in the pitch black morning to play hockey at the Canton Sportsplex.
 | | Cameron Stacey |
Let me introduce you the Middle School Saturday League Hockey Program led by Mrs. Eberly. This year the league is surprisingly good with every team having good players to lead them to the championship game. The Saturday League has four teams with two goalies on each team. After each game the Middle School Travel coaches pick a travel team to compete against other schools. Last week I was on the team and we played B.C. High and lost 5-4 with a third period comeback. I think the travel team has great potential. Let's get back to the Saturday league team though. I play on the "Green" team which right now lost the first couple of games but are on a winning streak winning the last two games and one was in a shootout.
If a player is really good from the Saturday league they may get called up to play for the Freshman team for a little bit. There are many players capable of making this team. The travel team plays six games and has playoffs. The playoff games are played after school at the West Roxbury rink, called the Roche Rink. This rink is right around the corner of the school and is located on the V.F.W. Parkway right by Millennium Park and Home Depot. Last year I made it to the championship game and lost 5-4, but it came down to the final seconds. The atmosphere is amazing for that game because the students show up to watch the game sometimes too. Overall the Middle School Saturday League is going well and I intend for it to continue that way.
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