FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Back to Bapst and Back to Normal

As I refl ect on the coming end of the school year, I can’t help but be amazed at what we’ve all been through and accomplished together. Th e class of ’22 has had four diff erent schedules and four diff erent kinds of school across their years here. Th ey’ve been fully online, partially online, in-person with masks, and in-person with masks optional. We’ve had pooled testing, masking, social distancing, and more cancellations than we care to count over the past two years. Th e pandemic has thrown many challenges at the school yet our community has always found ways to thrive. I’ve been impressed by how much we have been able to restore. I hope you are too. In this year alone, we have sent students to Greece and the Galapagos Islands (a trip to Spain and Italy is coming up in June!). We’ve had a robotics team go to the world championships. We have had students return to Mount Desert Rock to continue fi eld research on marine life. We have concerts, art shows, and dramatic productions again. Our teams are on the fi elds and on the courts again. It could go without saying, but I’ll add that we have had the fantastic in-person education going full tilt. If you walk the halls at John Bapst today, you will see and hear happy, smiling students and teachers and know that we are ending this year back at full strength. It feels great to be back! In this issue of Th e Round Table, you will read stories about what has been happening this past year, plus some great stories and quips from our alums. Like every year, we have made great memories this year, and we are always excited to share them from past years. Enjoy!

This community has always found ways to thrive...this year has been especially refreshing in how much we have been able to restore.

Students (top, clockwise) in the Galapagos Islands, on the way to Mount Desert Rock, in Greece, and on the PBS program High School Quiz Show: Maine

The 2021-2022 academic year has been a busy one at John Bapst. Starting the year with mandatory mask wearing and social distancing and slowly pivoting, following Maine CDC guidelines, to a mask optional campus, members of the John Bapst community, as always, pulled together. We didn’t miss a day of classes and got back to enjoying each other and the many opportunities that make a John Bapst education so special for both our domestic and our international students. Here are a few of the highlights.

Seventeen John Bapst students qualified to participate in the Mathematical Association of America’s challenging AMC 10 and 12 competitions, covering trigonometry, advanced algebra, and advanced geometry. One of the country’s most prestigious mathematics competitions, the AMC 10 and 12 are designed to promote the development and enhancement of problem-solving skills.

Congratulations to John Bapst’s five teams competing in the Simmons Windstorm Challenge, including team “The Flat Earth Society,” comprised of Tyler McGoldrick ‘22, Shannon Murphy ‘23, and Claire Metzger ‘25, with instructor Mike Dudley. The FES scored first in the wave testing portion of the high school division and earned a score of 97 out of a possible 100 points in the challenge. The Matthew R. Simmons Windstorm Challenge requires teams to design and construct a floating platform for a 1:100 scale wind turbine. Designs maximize stability under various wind and wave conditions. The FES winners were awarded a paid internship at Advanced Structures and Composites Center worth $20K yearly contingent upon their attendance at UMaine. Eighteen John Bapst science students participated in the Maine State Science Fair (MSSF) at Colby College in March. Students exhibited a diverse range of research projects and thirteen earned awards. MSSF is an opportunity for Maine high school students to pursue their interest in science and engineering and present results of their projects to fellow students and expert STEM professionals. It’s organized by The Jackson Laboratory and Reach, a program of the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance. The “Flat Earth Society, “ one of John Bapst’s four robotics teams, has competed in the VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas, Texas. (See story, next page.) A subject of statewide news coverage, this all girls team is a winning rarity on the robotics world stage. The Fine Arts Department has been busy with both virtual and in person events. The fall virtual art show saw many online visits, while the fall play (”Pillow Talk”), and spring musical (“Legally Blonde”) filled Sekera Auditorium, as did the beautiful holiday concert. Next up are the spring concert and spring art show.

Each of the seven fall sports programs were successful and qualified for the postseason on the merit of their seasons (despite an open tournament format.) The boys’ cross country team was runner up at regionals and the girls finished in the top five; both teams qualified for the state championship meet. Field hockey was the #7 seed in northern Maine and won a firstround playoff game. The golf team had a very competitive season and had three individuals (Ellie Kuhl ’24, Travis True ’22, and Justin Solomon ’22) qualify for the state tournament. Football and cheer landed in the Campbell Conference quarterfinals. Girls’ soccer was the #6 seed in our region and won a first round playoff game, before succumbing in the semifinal round. For the first time since 2016, the boys’ soccer team qualified for the postseason as the #4 seed in northern Maine, and won three playoff games on the way to a regional championship game. There was more success to be had in the winter season. The boys’ varsity basketball team qualified for a prelim game as the #11 seed and won their first postseason game since 2008. They followed that up with a semifinal win (for the first time since 1996) until falling, valiantly, in the semifinals. The girls’ varsity basketball team won their play-in playoff game before falling in the prelim round. The ice hockey team finished #5 in Northern Maine Class B with a tough loss in the quarterfinal round. The indoor track program enjoyed a successful season with some great individual successes at the PVC and state championship meets. The girls’ 4 x 800 relay team (Audra Brooks ‘22, Lucrezia Andres ‘23, Sherry Foster ‘23, Amber Stokes ‘22), and Sherry Foster ‘23 in the 600m, qualified and competed in the New England Championships in Boston. The girls’ and boys’ swim and dive teams both finished 4th in the PVC, and 8th in the State in Class B.

Competition cheer finished

A scene (left) from the fall play, “Pillow Talk”; (above) students celebrating Lunar New Year.

second in the PVC Championship, third in the Class B Northern Maine Regional Championship, and fourth in the MPA Class B competition. Finally, the alpine ski teams finished fourth (boys) and fifth (girls) in the MPA Class B State Competition races. Seniors Olivia Rand ’22 and Quinn Breen ‘22 were both bronze medalists in the state competition. Olivia also qualified for the All-State Shootout race and was named to the All-State team for her efforts. And not to be overlooked, the ever-popular senior-staff basketball game was played before an enthusiastic full house, with all proceeds benefiting Project Graduation. In our boarding program, students celebrated Lunar New Year with music, games, food, and fun, enjoyed many outings, including hiking in Acadia National Park and skiing at Hermon Mountain, saw the spirited play of the Harlem Globetrotters, and so much more. The Harlow “Joe” Floyd Chapter of the National Honor Society inducted thirty-six students at the 2021-2022 induction ceremony held in Sekera Auditorium. The ceremony included a history of the society, speeches regarding the criteria of the organization, presentation of inductees, and musical performances. The John Bapst Chess Team enjoyed victories in championship competition, including the Claude E. Webber Cup Championship and a first place finish in Maine’s first Scholastic Grand Prix. Madisson Higgins ‘24 was named 2022 Miss Maine Teen USA. Madi’s passion is in advocating for first responders. Nik Hachey ‘22 placed first in the SkillsUSA Maine and United Technologies Center statewide Collision Repair competition of the SkillsUSA Maine Championships. SkillsUSA Maine provides students with workplace and technical skills development. Cyrus Iarrobino ‘23 was honored by the American Red Cross with a Certificate of Extraordinary Personal Action and by the Penobscot Regional Communications Center with a Lifesaving Commendation. Cyrus made a tourniquet out of a shoelace to save his mother who had severely injured her wrist in a fall. Read more of these stories and additional content at johnbapst.org or visit John Bapst on Facebook.

The all-girls “Flat Earth Society” competes against the world’s best at the VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas

Shannon Murphy ‘23, Samantha Ismail ‘23, and Julianna Clark ‘24 make up the team that is “The Flat Earth Society.”

Having just returned from the exciting competitions of the VEX Robotics Championship in Dallas, Texas, the John Bapst robotics team “Flat Earth Society” has much to celebrate. At the recent world contest, the team placed a very respectable 50th out of 82 teams in their division of teams from across the globe. And what adds to the excitement is that this team is the first all girls team at John Bapst. Samantha Ismail, Julianna Clark and Shannon

Murphy are the trio that make up The Flat Earth

Society, one of four robotics teams at John Bapst.

Ismail, a junior, is the team captain. “She’s probably one of the best if not the best captain I’ve worked with in the 15 years that I’ve been here,” says Coach

Michael Murphy, also the school’s Director of

Technology. Shannon Murphy is the driver, builder, and designer of the robot. She runs the remote control for the robot during tournaments. “I do get very nervous,” Murphy admits. “Especially driving, it’s very scary for me. But after the first couple of matches, I tend to be okay.” Clark. a sophomore at Bapst, is new to the team and robotics at the school. “I do documentation,” a process that is imperative to the competition process. Clark estimates she’s spent more than 160 hours just on

“the notebook,” a record of the team’s progress. “If someone else was to look at it, they could replicate the entire process.” “Troll” is the name of the robot built by the girls for competition. There are two troll dolls on each end along with a googly eyed face on the back, and pink rubber duckies on top. One might think this is a distraction tactic for the other teams, but Murphy explains with a chuckle, “Yeah, it’s more just decoration...it looks really cool and we like to bling stuff out a bit.” Prior to VEX, Coach Murphy found that the team “really gelled quickly and were able to have some early successes to build the confidence,” winning more than 50% of the tournaments in the state. Clark added, “As we progressed, people started to really notice like – oh wow, you’re an all girls team? That’s crazy.” At the world championship, “there are 810 or so teams in all and roughly 80 in a division,” Coach Murphy explained. “[Our team] was in the division that was ranked the toughest by the match results.” “Every match here is like the finals at states,” team member Ismail said. “[The world championship] has been a whole new level of competition that we haven’t really experienced yet. [We didn’t win] as many matches as we normally do, but we’re meeting so many people, and we’re still doing well.” Similarly, team driver Shannon Murphy said the competition was different than she and her team are used to going up against in Maine. “I’m actually kind of surprised, as the driver, to have won any matches here because the quality of competition is just insane,” Murphy said. “Like, every single robot is the best of the best.” Back home, Coach Murphy said that the team is looking forward to next year’s competition and already has several robot designs on paper. “The competition was challenging, educational, and inspiring,” he added. -From John Bapst and media reports