Happy Thursday! It was another exciting and busy week around the halls of ESK! Special kudos to the Fourth and Fifth Graders who completed their CTP testing this week! Great job!

APRIL EVENTS AT ESK

4/16                   Portfolio Night - 6:30-7:30 p.m.

4/18                   11th Annual Saints' Gala: Headmaster's Dinner & Auction

4/20                   Mandatory LS Talent Show Rehearsal - 3:30-4:30 p.m.

4/21-22              4th Grade Trip to Nashville

4/20                   MS Algebra I ERB - 8:00-9:00 a.m.

4/21-23              ERB Testing - Middle School - 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.

4/22                   Holy Eucharist in Honor of Earth Day - 8 a.m./10:20 a.m.

4/26                   LS Soccer Play Day - 3 p.m.

4/27                   8th Grade Algebra I Tennessee End of Course Assessment - 8:00 a.m.

4/28                   Lower School Talent Show - 1:30 p.m.

4/28-5/1             8th Grade Trip to Washington D.C.

4/29-5/1             6th Grade Trip to Chattanooga / 7th Grade Trip to Atlanta

Sean Grace to Represent Tennessee in National Chemistry Competition

ESK Fifth Grader Sean Grace bested a field of 30 fifth to eighth grade students Monday afternoon to become the 2015 Tennessee State You Be The Chemist Challenge Champion. Sean will represent Tennessee at the National You Be The Chemist Challenge in Philadelphia this June.

Developed by the Chemical Educational Foundation, the You Be The Chemist Challenge is an exciting question-and-answer competition that motivates fifth to eighth grade students to sharpen their knowledge of chemistry concepts and their real-world applications.

The 2015 Tennessee State Challenge was held at The Episcopal School of Knoxville and was sponsored locally by Dow Chemical. After correctly answering dozens of chemistry and general science questions over multiple rounds of competition, Grace was declared the Tennessee Challenge Champion. Eighth Grader Thomas Simunovic and Seventh Grader Luke Fowler earned the titles of first and second runners-up, respectively.

National Junior Honor Society Induction

Monday was a special day for the ESK Middle School as 18 students were inducted into the National Junior Honor Society, the second class of its kind for ESK. NJHS represents excellence in five qualities: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Citizenship, and Character. 7th and 8th graders with a 93% cumulative average in their academic classes through middle school were invited to complete an application packet. The application asked candidates to demonstrate their Leadership, Service, Citizenship, and Character through a list of activities, a personal essay, and references. The newly inducted members will meet soon to organize a project to serve the community.

The following students were inducted during Wednesday's ceremony: Eighth Grader Riley Schumaker along with Seventh Graders Davis Clem, Will Pensky, Ali Pensky, Addie Dewhirst, Laura Kirk, Ansley Letsinger, Ashton Mayo-Beavers, Darby Schiek, Emmy Moyers, Veronica Killeffer, Bailey Musrock, Erin Conley, Leoni Kunz, Molly Majors, Saad Mohammad, Ben Lovely, Luke Fowler.

Congrats to Duke University Talent Identification Program State Recognition Qualifiers

Twelve ESK Seventh Grade students took the ACT or SAT through the Duke TIP earlier this spring, and four students scored high enough to be invited to the state recognition ceremony on May 11 at Belmont University in Nashville. These students are Veronica Killeffer, Laura Kirk, Emmy Moyers, and Abraham Ullrich. To qualify for state recognition, ACT scores must be greater than or equal to 21 in English, Reading, Math or Science. SAT scores must be greater than or equal to 530 in Math, 510 in Critical Reading, or 500 in Writing. Duke TIP has set the state level criteria at approximately the 50 percent NPR and the grand level criteria at approximately the 90 percent NPR. Congratulations to all of the Seventh Graders who participated in the Duke TIP, and most especially to these four outstanding scorers.

Dr. Beaker Wows Lower School Students With Show

In conjunction with the You Be The Chemist Challenge, ESK welcomed Kevin Benner a.k.a. Dr. Beaker, a analytical operations leader, from Dow Chemical, to its campus Monday to share a unique and fun science show with Lower School students in First through Fifth Grades. Students watched as he performed several different science experimentss ranging from the ever-class Mentos in a 2-leter bottle of Coca-Cola to making a clock from an onion and an apple. It was a great show!

Annie, Jr.

The Middle School Chorus production of "Annie, Jr." was a wonderful success! Music Director Deb Sousa led another hit production in the classic tale shown twice on Friday. Philip Hoffman and students designed the sets. Congratulations to Dr. Sousa, Meagan Langford and the talented cast which included Ali Pensky, McLean Stooksberry, Anna Spates, Addie Dewhirst, Bailey Musrock, Alden Haun, Alex Carter, Allie Hull, Paige Gleason, Buchanan Underwood, Mason Stivers and Audrey Moran! Choreography for the musical was provided by Seventh Graders Erin Conley and Karina Ottaviano.

8th Grade Portfolio Night

Please join students from the Eighth Grade tonight (Thursday, April 16) from 6:30-7:30 p.m. as they share their portfolio projects with the ESK community. For the yearlong project, each student selected a topic of personal interest. He or she then wrote an MLA-style research paper that includes an interview with an expert, envisioned and carried out a service project, and produced an artifact related to their chosen topic.

Blue and Green Day

Wednesday, April 22, will be Blue and Green Day in Honor of Earth Day. Students can wear blue and green attire if they donate $2.00. All proceeds go to Friends of The Smokies. This service project is headed up by Second Grade. They will be visiting Cades Cove and learning about the environment and life in the GSM National Park. Please come to the Second Grade School Store to purchase tickets.

ESK will also hold special Earth Day Holy Eucharist at both Lower School and Middle School Chapel on Wednesday. The Reverend Pat Grace, the Canon to the Ordinary for the Diocese of East Tennessee, will serve as preacher and celebrate during the service that will be held at the outdoor chapel at both 8 a.m. and 10:20 a.m.

Great Llama Race

A special thanks goes out to all those who participated in the Great Llama Race this past Saturday at World's Fair Park. The ESK llama looked great and a fun time was had by all!

Alumni News

ESK Alumni Honored

The following ESK graduates received honors during the Knoxville Catholic High School Honors Ceremony April 13, 2015:

Abby Bower: Knoxville News Sentinel Academic Achievement Award, National Merit Commended Scholar, Honor of Sedes Sapientiae*, Senior Scholar Athlete Award, The United States Army Reserve National Scholar-Athlete Award, President's List Recognition, French AP Award, Ecology Award

Austin Piper: The President's Award in Mathematics

Caylyn Reed: Senior Scholar Athlete Award, Psychology Award

Danny Loftis: Pre-Calculus Award

Elise Walker: Calculus Award

Emily Thompson: English 3 AP Award

Ethan Adkins: The Fred Waring Award (Outstanding choral member)

Garrett Conti: Ecology Award

Graham Hardison: Film as Literature Award

Jacob Wike:Senior Scholar Athlete Award, English 4 AP Award, European History AP Award

Molly Richards: Painting 1 Award

Nancy Brown: President's Volunteer Service Award - Gold Recipient (250+ hours)

Nick Lovely: President's List Recognition

Riley Clem: School Yearbook & Newspaper Award, School Photojournalism Award

Zac Byers: Physics Award

*This award is the highest honor Knoxville Catholic High School confers on its graduating seniors and the selected student will speak at graduation.

Summer Math Workshops

Lower School

Mrs. Cathy Stivers will be holding her annual summer math workshop for rising 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders on Tuesdays from June 2nd - July 28th**. Students will work on their summer math requirement, play math games, and review math skills. Students will meet in Mrs. Stivers' room from 10-11 a.m. each Tuesday. The cost for the summer workshop is $200, payable by the first session. To ensure individual attention space is limited to the first 12 students. (**No session on June 30th) Feel free to contact Mrs. Stivers at stivers@esknoxville.org with questions or to enroll your child.

Middle School

This summer, Mrs. Barb Quaint will be offering a weekly math class to help keep students' minds sharp. Students will complete the summer math requirement, as well as preview next year's textbook. Class will meet in room 111 in the middle school on Tuesdays. The cost for this class is $200 (payable to Mrs. Quaint by the first day of class) and meets from for Tuesday, June 2 through Tuesday, July 28*. Please contact Mrs. Quaint (quaint@esknoxville.org) if you would like your child to participate. *There will be no class Tuesday, July 7.