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Deirdre V. Cryor



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Wildcat Weekly
A Weekly Newsletter from St. Mary's Academy 
The Wildcat Weekly includes news from the Academy and updates on events and activities. Watch for the Weekly in your email inbox every Wednesday afternoon.  If you have news to share, please email Kat Challis in the President's Office at [email protected]. And, be sure to click here to read my weekly blog. 
Deirdre V. Cryor
Academy President 
Diver Alexa Beckwith Wins FOURTH State Title 
Wildcat Swimmers Place Top 10

SMA's top diver Alexa Beckwith '14 won her fourth state championship this weekend at the 4A State Championship meet. With a score of 479.75 she earned the state title in 1 meter diving. Alexa is only the second diver in Colorado history to win four consecutive state championships. She pulled out a big victory over her top opponent Katie Russ (Mullen HS).  Katie is also a teammate and synchronized diving partner with Alexa. Alexa is a 3-time All American looking to earn her fourth honor this year, she holds the SMA 6 dive record, and she is the 2013 and 2014 Sportswomen of Colorado Diving award winner.  Alexa was honored as 4A Diver of the Year and SMA coach Lise Kafka as 4A Dive Coach of the Year. Coach Kafka has coached the SMA dive team since 2011.


We also want to congratulate the relay teams who represented SMA, and top Wildcat swimmers Alex Reddington and Claire State who swam in the finals.  Claire placed 10th in the 200 IM (2:15.39), and Alex placed 7th in the 100 butterfly (1:00.49) and 12th in the 100 backstroke (1:00.85). We will have to update the record boards one more time this season as Alex set new school records in both events!
Model UN Team Brings Home Prestigious
Awards from National Conference

In spite of a major nor'easter on the East Coast last week, our Model UN Team traveled to Washington, DC, February 13 to 16 to compete at the North American Invitational Model United Nations (NAIMUN) Conference. After facing flight cancellations and delays, the team arrived and brought home awards!  Full details next week! 
Concert Pianist to Perform for SMA & Loretto
Concert pianist Dr. Denine LeBlanc will perform for SMA and the Loretto Community on Tuesday, February 25, at 7:00 PM. in the Forum. This free concert will include works by Beethoven, Scriabin, Debussy, Gershwin and a few new works written for her.

 

Dr. LeBlanc shares her love of traditional and new music as an educator and concert pianist. She is an instructor of piano at the University of Louisville and teacher of arts and humanities at a Montessori school. Dr. LeBlanc's performance schedule has taken her to concert stages throughout Europe and the United States plus institutes and summer programs such as the famed Interlochen Arts Camp. Her CDs The Sun Shines Bright and Weep No More show her dedication to promoting new piano works by Kentucky composers. She lectures widely and is a published author.

 

"Denine frequently plays concerts at Loretto Motherhouse so it's wonderful to welcome her to Denver and SMA," says Regina Drey SL. "The concerts at the Motherhouse gather an audience from the counties in Kentucky and always feature very accomplished musicians. We are happy to host Denine in Denver."

 

Click here to read more about Dr. LeBlanc and enjoy videos of her performances

Peter Pan - SMA's All Academy Musical
Reserved Seating Still Available!
Pre-sale tickets are available in the Advancement Office (Sanders House, 2nd floor) during school hours. Tickets will also be available at the door.

Performance Schedule:
  • Thursday, March 6, 6:00 PM 
  • Friday, March 7, 7:00 PM 
  • Saturday, March 8, 7:00 PM 
  • Sunday, March 9, 2:00 PM 

For more information please click here. 

Class of 2014: The College List...
For the past few weeks in the High School, students have announced on the PA system their acceptances to colleges. The list is impressive! We will begin running that list here in the Wildcat Weekly.

Congratulations to the Class of 2014! Please click here to see the full list and check back for updates!
Community Center Parent Open House
Please join us for an Open House for Parents to get the inside scoop on the new building, the Community Center.  Lower School Parent Suzanne Shaw will host these two gatherings. Come to look at the plans, to ask questions, to learn more about the campaign and the construction. 
This is an informational session.  Choose from one of these dates: 
  • February 28, 8:45 to 9:45 in the Sanders House Board Room
  • March 4, 2:00 to 3:00 in the Sanders House Board Room  
Please RSVP to Jackie Neal at [email protected].  We look forward to seeing you! 
Community News
  • High School Science teacher Lauren Watel was in Fairbanks, Alaska last week for orientation for her Arctic research experience with PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating).  Please click here to check out Ms. Watel's PolarTREC expedition website and read her journal entries. This June, Ms. Watel will head to Toolik Field Station which is located far north in Alaska for four weeks to work with Dr. Byron Crump of Oregon State University assisting with his project titled: What controls long-term changes in freshwater microbial community composition? The research team will collect water and soil samples and analyze the bacterial communities makeup (using DNA analysis) to determine how they change not only throughout a year, but how larger climate changes impact them as well. 
  • St. Elizabeth's School presents Welcome to the Magical Middle School Years on February 20 from 5:45 - 7:15 PM at neighboring Loyola Church in Denver. Veteran middle school principal, Marsha Hirsch, will share her expertise and provide sound advice for parents as they and their children begin this journey into their teens. With eight years experience as a middle school counselor and 22 years as a middle school principal, Marsha's career has been with the age group she most loves.  Appreciating the uniqueness of the middle school years, Marsha's tips for parents have stood the test of time.  Please click here for more information and to RSVP. 
  • Denver Jewish Day School is hosting a Girls Leadership Institute 2nd/3rd Grade Parent & Daughter Series: Nine Tools for True Friendship this March.  Participate in fun, engaging workshops where you and your daughter will build a common language, practice healthy approaches to conflict and learn authentic communication skills.  Each workshop is 90 minutes long, once a week, for four consecutive Mondays starting March 10.  Please click here for more information and to register. 
  • The Center for Women's Health Research and University of Colorado Hospital invite you to a Let's Talk event about Growing Strong Women -- Physically, Mentally and Emotionally, March 15, 5:45 - 8:15 PM.  Let's Talk is a campaign to educate women and girls on topics of health. The topics are presented by a panel of nationally-renowned experts, physicians and researchers who are teaming up to focus on important health questions that girls and women face every day.  This specific event will cater to girls and women, ages 10 to 99, about caring for yourself and making healthy habits that will last a lifetime. Please click here for more information and to register. 
Lower School News Events

News:

  • SMA's Cub Scout Pack #861 held their "Cross Over" Celebration last week.  The second year Webelos (5th grade) "Crossed Over" from Cub Scouts into Boy Scouts.  Those crossing (pictured from right to left) are, Noah Johnson, Nathan Davis, Ryan Quinette, Taylor Rael, Ethan Carr, Patrick Barney, Kevin Reyes and Aidan Gregoire. Most of the boys will stay together in their next troop.
  • The Destination Imagination "Helping Hands" Team is collecting playground toys for our sister school, Escuela de Guadalupe for Late Start Great Start, February 26. Please help by donating new toys: balls, frisbees, hula hoops, chalk, jump ropes and toy trucks.  Cash donations are also being accepted to purchase these items and bins to store them in
  • Next week fourth and fifth grade students will head to AmeriTowne, where they will learn about the free enterprise system and the basics of financial literacy. Prior to the AmeriTowne field trip on February 25, students filled out job applications, interviewed for jobs and ran for Town Hall offices. Fifth grader Kevin Reyes was elected Mayor and fifth grader Nicolas Rodriguez was elected Judge.  Additionally, the students will establish laws, learn how to write checks/use a debit card, learn to record and balance an account in the checkbook register, be a consumer and producer at an AmeriTowne shop and help evaluate profit or loss of the shop.  "It is a wonderful day and an extensive curriculum," said teacher Darla Hamilton.

      

Events:

  • February 20, 7:30 AM, School Store Open for Fourth & Fifth Grade
  • February 21, 8:10 AM, Assembly, First & Second Grade Dance
  • February 25, Fourth & Fifth Grades to AmeriTowne
  • February 26, Late Start, classes begin at 9:05 AM  
  • February 28, 8:10 AM, Assembly, Science  
  • March 5, Ash Wednesday, No After School/Evening Activities 
  • March 5, 10:00 AM, LS/MS Mass, MS Commons
  • March 6, 7:30 AM, School Store Open for All Students  
  • March 6 - 8, 7:00 PM, All Academy Musical, Peter Pan, Forum
  • March 7, No Classes, Faculty Work Day
  • March 9, 2:00 PM, All Academy Musical, Peter Pan, Forum 
  • March 12, Late Start, classes begin at 9:05 AM     
  • March 13 - 14, Lower School Conferences, No Lower School Classes   
  • March 21, 8:10 AM, Assembly 
  • March 21, No ASA/EDC/JKAC
  • March 22 - 30, Academy Closed, Spring Break     
  • March 31, Classes Resume  
Middle School News & Events

News:

  • Last week, the Middle School hosted the annual Courage for the Journey.  This event, organized and presented by Middle School Dads is an event designed only for the fathers and sons of the Middle School.  A special and unique event on the calendar, Courage for the Journey "is an event to bring together our sons and fathers to talk about things that are important to them.  It opens the door for further conversation, for true conversation among dads and sons," said Mrs. Ashley, Middle School principal.  Please click here to read more about Courage for the Journey.    
  • The Junior Kindergarten visited the Middle School Orchestra practice last week in the High School to listen and learn about string instruments.  The JK students sat down on the floor in between the older students and listed curiously and attentively. 

Events:

  • February 20, 11:40 AM, MS Mass, Commons   
  • February 21, 6:00 PM, MS to The Island
  • February 26, Late Start, classes begin at 9:05 AM
  • February 26, 7:00 PM, MS Concert, Forum
  • February 27, MS Health Fair
  • February 28, 2:30 PM, MS Trimester 2 Ceremony   
  • March 5, Ash Wednesday, No After School/Evening Activities  
  • March 5, 10:00 AM, LS/MS Mass, Commons
  • March 6 - 8, 7:00 PM, All Academy Musical, Peter Pan, Forum
  • March 7, No Classes, Faculty Work Day
  • March 9, 2:00 PM, All Academy Musical, Peter Pan, Forum  
  • March 12, Late Start, classes begin at 9:05 AM
  • March 13 - 26, MS Peru Trip 
  • March 21, No ASA/EDC/JKAC
  • March 22 - 30, Academy Closed, Spring Break    
  • March 31, Classes Resume  
High School News & Events
News:
  • Emily Ragan's ceramic sculpture Serengeti Sunset, that received Honorable Mention at the Regional Scholastic Awards Competition, was chosen as a very select group to be put on display at the Denver Art Museum! These select works were chosen by museum representatives from the Denver Art Museum who viewed the current Scholastic Art Awards Show at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design (RMCAD) and chose over 90 pieces to be placed on display in the museum.The opening will be on March 7th.  Congratulations Emily! 
  • Mouse Mischief has entered the first-ever White House Student Film Festival, a video contest created just for K-12 students, and whose finalists will have their short films shown at the White House.  Videos entries highlight the power of technology in schools and address either how technology is used in the classroom or school or the role technology will play in education in the future. Click below to watch their video.
  • Mouse Mischief
  • Last week was the 13th Annual Diversity Day, a cultural diversity celebration, in the High School. This year's theme Women of the World... We Can Do It! sparked great conversation and reflection. The day was sponsored by the Common Ground Club and included keynote speakers Reverend Heidi McGinness, an ordained Presbyterian Minister and Director of Outreach for Christian Solidarity Movement, and Dr. Kamleh Shaban '02, a Fulbright Scholar who studied Islamic medical ethics in Jordan and is a psychiatry resident at the University of Louisville. Along with breakout sessions on topics including modern day slavery, investing in girls education and starting and sustaining a non-profit, there was an international fashion and talent show as well as food sampling. The day ended with two sets of panel sessions, made up of alums, teachers and parents, and a slam poetry performance.  "We hope understanding diversity and appreciating it is not just a one day event but rather something we continue to talk about and work to make a difference however we can," said faculty member and Common Ground Club Advisor Debbie Horning.

  • Events:
  • February 22, 6:00 PM, HS Father/Daughter Dance, Forum
  • February 24, HS Spring Sports Practice Begins
  • February 25, 10:00 AM, StuCo Town Meeting
  • February 26, Late Start, classes begins at 9:05 AM   
  • February 27-28, HS Community Days
  • February 27, 8:30 AM, Senior Seminar    
  • March 4, 9:55 AM, Honors Assembly
  • March 3, 9:30 AM, Honors Assembly 
  • March 5, Ash Wednesday, No After School/Evening Activities   
  • March 5, 10:00 AM, HS Mass
  • March 6, Presentations of Learning
  • March 6, Junior Retreat 
  • March 6 - 8, 7:00 PM, All Academy Musical, Peter Pan, Forum
  • March 7, No Classes, Faculty Work Day
  • March 9, 2:00 PM, All Academy Musical, Peter Pan, Forum
  • March 10, 6:30 PM, HS Winter Sports Awards Ceremony, Forum
  • March 11, 10:00 AM, HS Concert, Forum
  • March 12, Late Start, classes begins at 9:05 AM  
  • March 12, 11:30 AM, HS Clubs
  • March 15, 8:00 PM, HS Prom
  • March 18, College Night for Juniors
  • March 20, 10:00 AM, STUCCO Town Meeting 
  • March 22 - 30, Academy Closed, Spring Break
  • March 31, Classes Resume  
Admissions News

  • If you have not returned your 2014-15 registration, please do so as soon as possible. If you have any questions, please call Gracie Carr at: 303-762-8300 ext. 205.
  • High School Admissions decisions are mailed on February 20, Middle School decisions on February 27 and Lower School decisions on March 6.
Advancement News
  • Thank you to our Gala sponsors, especially to our Title Sponsor, Mike Shaw Subaru and Suzanne & Michael Shaw. For a complete list of our sponsors, click here. Interested in being a sponsor? Benefits include reserved seating and complimentary drink tickets at the Gala, recognition on SMA's website and in the Gala invitation and an advertisement in the Gala program. For more information and to sign-up, click here.   

  • THANKS for reloading!  Here's an update on the results for the month of January from our King Soopers Reloadable Grocery Program:
    Number of cards reloaded: 55
    Total $ amount reloaded: $19,385
    SMA Net: $969.25
    Thanks to everyone who is participating in our Grocery Certificate program - every dollar helps. It's never too late to join in by using the card we gave you last fall! Let's all use our cards, RELOAD and support SMA! Need a reloadable King Soopers card? Contact Amy Albi at 303.762.8300 ext. 285. Thank you! 
  • Thank you to all of our families who have made a commitment to the 2013-2014 Annual Fund. To make your Annual Fund contribution click here, or pick up a donation envelope in any school office. Thank you! You may click here  to see a list of our contributors as of February 11, 2014.

Alumnae News
  • Many alumnae were on the campus last week for the High School 13th Annual Diversity Day, a cultural diversity celebration. This year's theme Women of the World... We Can Do It! sparked great conversation and reflection. The day was sponsored by the Common Ground Club and included keynote speakers Reverend Heidi McGinness, an ordained Presbyterian Minister and Director of Outreach for Christian Solidarity Movement, and Dr. Kamleh Shaban '02, a Fulbright Scholar who studied Islamic medical ethics in Jordan and is a psychiatry resident at the University of Louisville. Along with breakout sessions on topics including modern day slavery, investing in girls education and starting and sustaining a non-profit, there was an international fashion and talent show as well as food sampling.  The day ended with two sets of panel sessions and a slam poetry performance.  Many alumnae took part in the day as speakers and panelist presenters including, Rebecca Britz MS '10, a senior at Heritage High School, abolitionist and defender of human rights, Allison Grenney '06, founder of  EduKate, Taylor Carver '06, founder of Calico International,
    Latrice Lee '02, Sales Account Coordinator for Rocky Mountain PBS, Nancy Cruz '07, Grant Administrator/Quinceanera Program Coordinator for FRIENDS FIRST, INC.,
    Indya Clark '08, Assistant Director of College Counseling at Arrupe Jesuit High School and Sarahi Hernandez '11 community organizer and activist.
  • All Academy Musical Alumnae Reception
    Thursday, March 6
    5:00 p.m. Reception in the Graham Family Volunteer and Alumnae Room in the Sanders House
    6:00 p.m. Peter Pan in the Forum
    Join your fellow alumnae for a glass of wine and light appetizers before we head over to the Forum to see Peter Pan. All alumnae receive two complimentary tickets to the production. For more information and to RSVP, click here.
Athletic News

 

Games:

  • February 19:
    • 3:45 PM, Girls 7th Navy & Girls 8th Navy Basketball vs. Kent Denver @ KD
    • 3:45 PM, Boys 7th & Boys 8th Basketball vs. Kent Denver @ SMA  
  • February 22:
    • 1:00 PM, Varsity Basketball @ League Tournament Play-in Game
  • February 25:
    • Varsity Basketball @ League Tournament Quarterfinals 

 

 

Inclement Weather Policy and Notification
In the 2013-14 school year, SMA implemented a Notification System through the Infinite Campus program.  We will use this notification system in the event of a school closure or delay due to weather.  Notification can go via text, voice and email according to the information the school has on your Infinite Campus profile. If you would like to change that information, please call the division office.  
 
St. Mary's Academy encourages parents to use their own judgment about the safety of roads on snowy days. Teachers waive late arrivals and tests on severe weather days.

 

In the event of inclement weather, St. Mary's Academy might call a "Delayed Arrival" for the campus. On a Delayed Arrival day, all classes will begin at 9:05 a.m.

 

For students who might arrive earlier than the 9:05 a.m. start time, school personnel will be present in the school buildings beginning at 8:00 a.m. In the Lower School, students should go to the gym.

 

The decision to announce a Delayed Arrival day will be made according to the following factors:

  • quantity of snow fallen or forecasted;
  • ability of students and staff to travel to school;
  • ability to clear and maintain parking lots and pathways;
  • ability of school function (heating, water, etc.)

As soon as the decision is made to change the schedule, we will send a message via Infinite Campus Notification System, record a message on our main phone line: 303.762.8300, and post an announcement on our website, www.smanet.org.

 

Additionally, we will share any school closing or schedule change with the television stations including: KCNC (TV) Channel 4, KDVR Fox 31 (TV) Channel 31, KMGH (TV) Channel 7, KUSA (TV) Channel 9, KWGN (WB2 TV) Channel 2; and on radio station 850 KOA Storm Center.

 

When school is in session and we have inclement weather, decisions related to activities/athletics will not be made until after 1:30 pm. Weather changes quickly in Colorado, and we will do our best to make the decisions as efficiently as possible. If school is cancelled due to weather concerns, activities and athletics will be cancelled. Information about cancellation of events or school closing is available by calling the school at 303.762.8300.

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